Category Archives: Russia

Sunak’s review of aid for Ukraine suggests cracks appearing in UK policy

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The PM seems undecided about delivering the big uplift in military help Kyiv needs to get ready for a possible Russian offensive

Boris Johnson’s Ukraine policy may not have always been sophisticated – “Dobryi den, everybody!” – but his enthusiasm was welcomed in Kyiv. Six months of Conservative party chaos later, his successor but one, Rishi Sunak, is yet to demonstrate he is as supportive at a time when Ukraine needs the west to dig in.

A leak at the start of the weekend said that Sunak had ordered an internal assessment of the significance of British military aid to Ukraine. Revelation of the Whitehall exercise was accompanied by a pointed briefing to the BBC, accusing the prime minister of resorting to a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” approach.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: UN chief believes war in Ukraine ‘will go on’; Putin in Belarus for talks with Lukashenko – as it happened

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Antonia Guterres does not see ‘serious’ peace talks in immediate future; Russian president visits Minsk

EU countries will need to reach a compromise on a gas price cap on Monday, and the latest proposal on the table offers a good basis to do so, Malta’s energy minister, Miriam Dalli, has said.

“What the presidency is proposing is a very good step in the right direction,” Dalli said before entering a meeting of the EU’s energy ministers.

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Rishi Sunak to meet UK troops in Estonia and attend Baltic summit

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UK prime minister joins Nordic and Baltic leaders at summit on countering Russian aggression

Rishi Sunak will meet UK troops in Estonia and Nordic and Baltic leaders at a summit on countering Russian aggression, where he will say leaders must sustain or exceed their lethal aid support to Ukraine and their political backing.

Monday’s meeting will come after the UK prime minister was reported to have unnerved some in Whitehall by asking for a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” on the progress of the war and how UK military supplies are used, according to the BBC.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘fragile morale’ among Russian forces, says UK – as it happened

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British ministry of defence says Russian soldiers also troubled by lack of equipment and uncertainty over war’s objectives

The time is approaching for a negotiated peace in Ukraine to reduce the risk of another devastating world war, but dreams of breaking up Russia could unleash nuclear chaos, the veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger said.

Kissinger, an architect of the cold war policy of detente towards the Soviet Union as secretary of state under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has met Vladimir Putin multiple times since he first became president in 2000.

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Kyiv mayor says heating restored in capital after latest Russian strikes

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Moscow unveils plans to deploy musicians to frontline in bid to boost morale among Russian troops

Heating has been fully restored to Kyiv, the city’s mayor has said, after one of the most intense Russian bombardments of the capital last week robbed it of key civilian energy supplies and forced the national government to implement rolling blackouts.

Vitali Klitschko said on Sunday morning the capital was successfully “restoring all services after the latest shelling” and that “in particular, the capital’s heating supply system is fully restored. All sources of heat supply work normally.”

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‘Our weapons are computers’: Ukrainian coders aim to gain battlefield edge

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Delta software developed to help collect and disseminate information about enemy’s movements

In a nondescript office building on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian soldiers have been honing what they believed will be a decisive weapon in their effort to repel the Russian invasion.

Inside, the weapon glows from a dozen computer screens – a constantly updated portrayal of the evolving battlefield to the south. With one click on a menu, the map is populated with hordes of orange diamonds, showing Russian deployments. They reveal where tanks and artillery have been hidden, and intimate details of the units and the soldiers in them, gleaned from social media. Choosing another option from the menu lights up red arrows across the southern Zaporizhzhia region, showing the progression of Russian columns. Zooming in shows satellite imagery of the terrain in sharp detail.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv ‘preparing’ for Russia to invade from north, says commander – as it happened

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Military commander predicts ‘possible offensive from Belarus at the end of February’, as air raid sirens reported in several regions including Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv and Volyn

Rockets launched by Ukrainian forces killed three civilians in the Russian-occupied town of Shchastia in Ukraine’s southern Luhansk province, according to pro-Moscow officials.

In a statement on Telegram, Russian-installed Luhansk officials claimed US-made Himars rockets had wounded five others, and destroyed four houses.

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Ally of Wagner Group boss hurt in ‘assassination attempt’ in central Africa

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Dmitry Sytii under US sanctions for links to mercenary group founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is close to Vladimir Putin

A Russian businessman believed to be a close ally of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner Group founder, has been taken to hospital in Central African Republic (CAR) after an “assassination attempt”, the RIA Novosti news agency has reported, citing the local Russian embassy.

Dmitry Sytii, who officially works as head of the “Russian House” culture centre in CAR’s capital, Bangui, had sanctions imposed on him by the US in September 2020 for his alleged links to Wagner Group, a private military group that has deployed more than 1,000 fighters in the unstable country to fight rebels.

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Kharkiv left without power, heating and water after new wave of Russian missile strikes across country – as it happened

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‘Colossal’ damage in Ukraine’s second largest city, mayor says, after Russian missile strikes lead to power emergency.

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“Do not ignore air raid alerts, remain in shelters,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s president’s office wrote a few moments ago on Telegram messaging app.

Putin will visit Belarus on Monday, AFP is reporting, citing the Minsk presidential press service. Putin’s visit comes as the UK warns that Belarus is reportedly holding “readiness exercises”. Russia has also deployed extra units of mobilised reservists to Belarus.

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Russia carries out more mass strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

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Power outages reported after barrage of rockets fired at several regions in second such attack in days

A second wave of mass strikes in days has been launched by Russia across Ukraine, with 76 rockets fired at several regions on Friday morning in what appeared to be a continuation of the Kremlin’s attempt to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo said energy consumption had fallen by 50% as a result of the attacks and that it would take longer to restore the electricity supply than after previous attacks. Russia had hit thermal power plants, hydroelectric plants and substations of main networks, Ukrenergo said.

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Ukraine army chief warns Moscow preparing for new Kyiv attack as Putin seeks new economic ties – as it happened

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Valeriy Zaluzhny warns Putin’s forces regrouping before renewed attack in 2023; Russia looking to overcome impact of sanctions. This live blog is closed

European Union member states failed to agree on a ninth package of Russia sanctions in talks late on Wednesday, diplomats said as EU leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday for their last summit of the year.

Countries moved closer to a deal in Wednesday’s negotiations but Poland and some other countries still have objections, one EU diplomat told Reuters, adding a new draft was expected to be circulated on Thursday evening.

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Russia faces ‘critical shortage’ of artillery shells, says UK defence chief

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Tony Radakin said Moscow’s ability to conduct ground operations in Ukraine is ‘rapidly diminishing’ as a result

Russia faces a “critical shortage” of artillery shells and Moscow’s ability to conduct ground operations in Ukraine is “rapidly diminishing” as a result, Britain’s armed forces chief has said.

Adm Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defence staff, told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) thinktank on Wednesday that the Kremlin had only planned for a short period to subjugate Ukraine, and has instead found itself embroiled in a conflict lasting nearly 10 months.

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US ‘has no expectation’ fighting in Ukraine will stop in winter; Russian rockets hit administration building in Kherson – as it happened

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White House spokesperson says war in Ukraine will continue ‘for some time’; no one reported hurt as two floors of central building damaged. This blog is now closed

The Kyiv city administration says another drone has been shot down, bringing the total number of Shahed drones downed in this morning’s attacks to 11.

In a post on Telegram, the administration said that air alerts were still in place.

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Ukraine forces shoot down drones as Kyiv hit by multiple explosions

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Officials say 13 Iranian-made drones shot down as air raid sirens sound in capital and surrounding area

The Ukrainian military shot down 13 Iranian-made drones over Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday as a series of explosions hit the capital in what authorities described as a continuation of Russia’s “energy terror” against the country.

Kyiv’s city administration said two of its administrative buildings had been damaged by the falling debris of a drone. There were no victims, the spokesperson for Kyiv’s rescue services, Svitlana Vodolaga, told Ukraine’s Suspline news.

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Russia-Ukraine war: US finalising plans to send Patriot missile defence system to Ukraine, reports say – as it happened

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European Union countries’ energy ministers must decide on Tuesday if they are ready to reach a deal on an EU-wide gas price cap, the Czech Republic’s industry minister, Jozef Sikela, said.

“This is now purely up to the ministers to show if they are ready to reach an agreement or not,” Sikela said on his arrival to a meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels, where they aim to agree on the price cap.

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Lingerie firm Agent Provocateur under pressure over Moscow franchise stores

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Retailer among companies listed by Leave Russia project but says it does not itself operate there

In its three decades in British retail, the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, the 1990s brainchild of Dame Vivienne Westwood’s son, has rarely shied away from controversy.

Whether it be its daring window displays or that 2001 TV advert featuring Kylie Minogue riding a velvet bucking bronco, the brand has stirred up some strong emotions. But it had not, until now, been accused of inadvertently helping to finance a war in Europe.

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Generators ‘as important as armour’ to Ukraine surviving winter, says Zelenskiy

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Ukraine president calls for more infrastructure aid to counter Putin’s ‘blackout and energy terror’

Generators are as important as armour in helping Ukraine survive Vladimir Putin’s energy terror this winter, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told an emergency conference in Paris convened to coordinate infrastructure and humanitarian aid to the country over the next four months.

The Ukrainian president said the country needed an additional €800m (£686m) to survive the winter and €1.5bn to restore the long-term damage to the energy grid.

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