Putin mentions potential settlement with Ukraine; blasts reported at airbase in Zaporizhzhia region; Brittney Griner ‘in good spirits’ after prisoner swap
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Brittney Griner arrives in US after prisoner exchange with Russia
Basketball star lands at Texas airbase after being swapped for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout
The American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the US early on Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange from nearly 10 months in detention in Russia.
The deal, in which she was swapped for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad and achieved a top goal for Joe Biden. But Washington failed to win freedom for another US citizen, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.
Continue reading...Russian opposition figure Ilya Yashin jailed for denouncing Ukraine war
Politician sentenced to eight and a half years over series of posts about atrocities in Bucha
A Russian court has sentenced the opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison, in the most high-profile case to date of a Russian dissident being jailed for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.
Yashin was tried on charges of spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army, under a law introduced after Russia launched its invasion, due to a series of posts in May about the murder and torture of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in the town of Bucha.
Continue reading...Putin suggests possibility of settlement to end war in Ukraine
Russian president still claims ‘special military operation’ going to plan during Kyrgyzstan press conference
Vladimir Putin mentioned a potential settlement to end his war in Ukraine on Friday while still claiming that his “special military operation” was going to plan.
“The settlement process as a whole, yes, it will probably be difficult and will take some time. But one way or another, all participants in this process will have to agree with the realities that are taking shape on the ground,” the Russia president said during remarks at a press-conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Continue reading...Biden hails release of Brittney Griner from Russian prison: ‘She’s safe, she’s on her way home’ – as it happened
- Basketball star freed in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout
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Russia exchanged Brittney Griner for arms dealer Viktor Bout at Abu Dhabi airport, Politico reports, and the two walked past each other on the tarmac.
Biden said Griner would be back in the United States “in the next 24 hours”. According to Politico, Griner is heading to a military facility in San Antonio, Texas, to be evaluated.
Continue reading...Brittney Griner freed from Russian prison in exchange for Viktor Bout
Basketball star released as US agrees to free convicted arms dealer in dramatic prisoner swap
Russia has freed the jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange for the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called “Merchant of Death” who had been held in a US prison for 12 years.
Joe Biden, who had made Griner’s release a top priority after she spent almost 10 months in jail on drug charges, said in an address from the White House he found her “in good spirits” when speaking after the swap in Abu Dhabi.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv ‘working with UN to demilitarise Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’ – as it happened
This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
Before I hand you over to my colleague, Harry Taylor, here are some of the latest snaps to come out of Ukraine today.
The number of oil tankers waiting in the Black Sea to cross Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait on the way to the Mediterranean rose by five to 16 on Thursday, a shipping agency said, according to a Reuters report.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin says Russia’s war in Ukraine could be ‘long-term process’
President says potential of nuclear war more likely but Russia has ‘not gone crazy’ and will not use nuclear weapons first
Vladimir Putin has admitted Russia’s war in Ukraine could turn into a “long-term process” as he sought to defend an invasion in which Russian troops have been forced to retreat and even airbases deep inside Russia have come under attack.
Speaking to members of his personal human rights council on Wednesday, Putin claimed that Russia would not use nuclear weapons first in any conflict, denied that Russian troops were deserting en masse from the field of battle, and claimed he would not need to mobilise more troops, a process that has caused considerable upheaval in Russia.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Putin hints at ‘long’ conflict and says risk of nuclear war is on the rise – as it happened
This live blog has now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine coverage here
More now on Europe’s energy crisis, via AFP:
Sky-high energy prices have caused numerous factories, particularly in Germany’s chemicals sector, which was highly dependent upon cheap Russian gas, to halt operations. But European nations were able to fill their gas reservoirs and no one has been cut off yet.
Continue reading...‘They want to kill us’: mayor Vitali Klitschko plans for the worst as Russia tries to freeze Kyiv
Klitschko says capital taking no chances, working day and night readying for critical strike on power supplies
In his office in Kyiv’s city hall, mayor Vitali Klitschko is planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
The previous day, in the middle of the sixth mass Russian missile strike against Ukrainian cities that had sent Kyiv’s resident to the bomb shelters and metro stations, no rockets had made it through to hit the capital.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia readies full state pageantry for Xi Jinping visit
Chinese president’s three-day trip to Riyadh will lead to a ‘strategic agreement’ between the authoritarian powers
Xi Jinping will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday on a long awaited visit to a regional ally that has readied full state pageantry and a round of agreements likely to cement ties between China and Saudi Arabia – and deepen alarm in Washington.
China’s president will meet more than 30 heads of state and business leaders during his three-day visit to the Saudi capital, which is set to lead to a “strategic agreement” between the authoritarian powers. The trip is the culmination of decades of cooperation once based on oil sales, which has grown into bilateral trade of close to $90bn a year.
Continue reading...Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak agree to increase gas exports from US to UK
Leaders announce partnership to reduce global dependence on Russian energy
Joe Biden has agreed a deal to ramp up gas exports from the US to the UK as part of a joint effort to cut bills and limit Russia’s impact on western energy supplies.
Sunak and Biden announced an “energy security and affordability partnership” and set up a joint action group, led by Westminster and White House officials, with the aim of reducing global dependence on Russian energy.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia claims Ukraine shelling Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and says there is ‘no prospect for peace talks’
Moscow accuses Ukraine of ‘nuclear terrorism’; Kremlin spokesperson says there is no prospect for negotiations with Kyiv at the moment
The Latvian broadcasting regulator cancelled the licence of Russian independent television station TV Rain on Tuesday, the regulator’s chairman said.
“In connection with the threat to the national security and public order, [the regulator] has made a decision this morning to annul the broadcast licence of TV Rain”, Ivars Abolins said on Twitter, adding the broadcasts will cease on Thursday.
Continue reading...Iran has not sent ballistic missiles to Russia so far, says Ukrainian official
Mikhailo Podolyak says pressure on Tehran from overseas and distraction of civil unrest mean helping Moscow is not a priority
Iran has so far not delivered ballistic missiles to Russia and may not do so, as a result of diplomatic pressure and Iran’s own internal political turmoil, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.
Mikhailo Podolyak also told the Guardian that Russian forces had run short of their first batch of Iranian drones – and only had enough of their own cruise missiles in their stockpile for “two or three” more mass strikes against Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russian TV station in Latvia loses licence over Ukraine war coverage
TV Rain had relocated from Russia soon after invasion but on-air remarks by presenter were deemed to take Moscow’s side
Latvia has revoked a broadcast licence for TV Rain, the independent Russian TV station broadcasting from exile, following a scandal over its coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The liberal television station relocated to Riga, the Latvian capital, as well as Tbilisi and Amsterdam shortly after Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Details of the two Russian military airbases hit by explosions
The Engels-2 and Dyagilevo airbases house aircraft believed responsible for attacking Ukrainian infrastructure
The explosions at the Engels-2 and Dyagilevo airbases, if confirmed as Ukraine’s, would mark its deepest attack so far into Russia and against key military facilities used in the Kremlin’s war.
Continue reading...Ukraine says it has shot down 60 of over 70 missiles launched after explosions at two Russian airbases – as it happened
No reports of missile impacts in Kyiv but two killed in Zaporizhzhia and Odesa hit hard after Russian strike follows blasts at Russian airfields. This blog is now closed
The Chinese foreign ministry has said it will continue energy cooperation with Russia after the G7, EU and Australia imposed a price cap on Russian oil exports.
China, which said it would continue on the basis if respect and mutual benefit, has increased its purchases of Russia’s Urals oil blends this year, reports Reuters, citing Russia’s RIA news agency.
I am more responsible than I am brave … I just hate to let people down.
I just want to catch a carp in the Dnipro River.
Continue reading...Explosions rock two Russian airbases far from Ukraine frontline
Russia confirms blasts at military facilities as Kyiv finds way to target long-range bombers
Explosions have rocked two Russian airbases far from the frontlines as Kyiv appeared to launch a pre-emptive strike on bombers that the Kremlin has used to try to cripple the Ukrainian electrical grid.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed the attacks on Monday, claiming two of its warplanes had been damaged when it intercepted two Ukrainian drones. For Kyiv the strike represented an unprecedented operation deep inside Russia to disrupt the Kremlin strategy of provoking a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine on the verge of winter.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 285 of the invasion
Explosions at Russian airbases raise possibility Kyiv can target Moscow’s long-range bombers; German chancellor cautions against creating new cold war
Continue reading...Kit and morale may prove decisive as Ukraine war enters winter phase
With temperatures expected to plummet to -20C or lower, Russian troops could be most vulnerable
Winter has arrived. Temperatures in the frontline Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, under remorseless attack from the Russians, plunged to -11C (12.2F) this weekend, and at no point got above freezing. Gradually the mud and rain of late autumn will give way to snow and cold of -20C or worse. Yet both sides have their reasons to carry on fighting.
The weather is a neutral party to the near-10-month war, but in winter it inevitably acts as a constraint. Simple operations take far longer to conduct in the cold, cover from foliage is reduced or eliminated, white camouflage is required when snow has arrived and more rations are needed because soldiers consume more calories.
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