As men of fighting age flee the draft, observers say Kremlin should be more worried about mounting anger away from the cities
In a caricature by the country’s most prominent political cartoonist, Sergey Elkin, Vladimir Putin is standing on top of the Kremlin wall with his arms outstretched.
“So what else do I need to do for you guys to finally start rebelling,” Putin asks, with a look of desperation.
Continue reading...Arrests made in 32 cities at rallies against mobilisation; border crossings from Russia to Finland have doubled and 10km queue reported at frontier with Georgia. This blog is now closed
Russian forces launched new strikes on Saturday, targeting infrastructure facilities, Zaporizhzhia city’s administrative head, Oleksandr Starukh, said via his Telegram channel.
One missile hit an apartment building causing a fire, killing one person and injuring seven others.
But if you get into the Russian army, sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operations, provide us with any important information about the occupiers – their bases, headquarters, warehouses with ammunition. And at the first opportunity, switch to our positions.
Continue reading...UN says Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine; Finland bars Russian tourists amid long queues to cross border after Putin’s military mobilisation
Continue reading...Iain Treloar says Union Cycliste International blacklisted him after he examined its links to a Turkmen autocrat and a Russian billionaire
A respected cycling journalist who was twice blocked from attending the Wollongong world cycling championships believes he has been blacklisted for reporting on the governing body’s links to a notoriously repressive regime and a Russian billionaire under sanctions.
Investigative journalist Iain Treloar’s recent reporting has posed uncomfortable questions for the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – the powerful governing body for world cycling.
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Continue reading...Western officials say true target could be higher but significant hurdles remain to mobilise stated target of 300,000
The British Ministry of Defence has giving its latest intelligence update on how it sees the situation on the ground in the war. It says that “the battle situation remains complex” but that “Ukraine is now putting pressure on territory that Russia considers essential to its war aims”, with fighting along the Oskil River, and a Ukrainian assault on the town of Lyman, Donetsk, which Russia captured in May.
This is Martin Belam in London with the live blog now for the next few hours. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Miles-long traffic jams form as Russia’s neighbours debate whether to welcome those trying to avoid military draft
Long lines of vehicles continue to form at Russia’s border crossings on the second day full day of Vladimir Putin’s military mobilisation, with some men waiting over 24 hours as western leaders disagree over whether Europe should welcome those fleeing the call-up to fight in Ukraine.
The Russian president’s decision to announce the first mobilisation since the second world war has led to a rush among men of military age to leave the country, likely sparking a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain in the coming days and weeks.
Continue reading...Hastily arranged polls in Russia-controlled regions have seen little campaigning, but there are reports of door-to-door searches and repression
With minimal preparation, armed soldiers standing guard and the booms of war often audible in the distance, so-called referendums got under way on Friday in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.
Residents in Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were told to vote on proposals for the four areas to declare independence and then join Russia.
Continue reading...Italian former PM’s party is part of coalition expected to win Sunday’s general election
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s three-time former prime minister, whose party is forecast to return to government after the general election on Sunday, has sparked a row after defending the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over the war in Ukraine.
The 85-year-old billionaire told Italian TV that Putin, an old friend of his, was pushed to invade Ukraine by the Russian people and by ministers who wanted Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration replaced with “decent people”.
Continue reading...Zelensky urges Russians to resist mobilisation; traffic at Russian border crossings surges amid exodus; Putin reportedly directing generals in the field
Continue reading...Vice-president and wife exposed to ‘massive dosages’ of ionising radiation at US ambassador’s residence, declassified files show
Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were exposed to potentially harmful radiation while staying at the US ambassador’s residence in Moscow in 1959, according to declassified Secret Service documents.
Nixon, who was vice-president at the time, was not informed of the threat, and the state department was only informed in 1976, when a member of his Secret Service detail, James Golden, revealed that detection equipment had measured significant levels of radiation in and around the Nixons’ sleeping quarters at the residence, Spaso House.
Continue reading...Turkey, India and China respond cooly to news of planned referendums in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia
Signs that some countries willing to tolerate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are losing patience have emerged as Turkey, India and China responded cooly to the announcement that four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia were planning referendums on joining the Russian Federation.
Turkey, which has been at the centre of mediation between the west and Russia, issued a sharp rebuke, saying in a statement that it was concerned by attempts to stage unilateral referendums.
Continue reading...Commanders who led defence of Azovstal steelworks among those freed in exchange for Putin ally and 55 Russian soldiers
Ukraine has celebrated the release of more than 200 of its citizens from Russian captivity, including the fighters who led the defence of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
It was the biggest prisoner swap since the start of Russia’s invasion in February, and came as a surprise during a week in which the Kremlin raised the stakes again in Ukraine, promising to hold sham “referendums” to annex Ukrainian territory and threatening nuclear strikes if thwarted.
Continue reading...Proposed reforms previously delayed by Boris Johnson reannounced amid accusations Tories are soft on ‘dirty money’
Companies House will be given new powers to challenge incorrect or fraudulent claims made by kleptocrats and their agents in an economic crime bill that was previously delayed by Boris Johnson a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The new bill – the second of two that had to be hurriedly reannounced amid accusations the government had gone soft on dirty money – is backed by the new security minister, Tom Tugendhat.
Continue reading...Queues seen at Russia’s land borders and flights sell out as Moscow begins drafting citizens into army to fight in Ukraine
The partial mobilisation announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin will not generate significant extra combat capability for months, the Institute for the Study of War writes in its latest report. The thinktank’s analysts also believe Putin comments about nuclear weapons did not mean he would use them to defend annexed areas of Ukraine.
Putin’s order to mobilize part of Russia’s “trained” reserve, that is, individuals who have completed their mandatory conscript service, will not generate significant usable Russian combat power for months. It may suffice to sustain the current levels of Russian military manpower in 2023 by offsetting Russian casualties, although even that is not yet clear.
The Zaporizhzhia power plant has faced almost daily shelling and bombardment, raising fears of a nuclear accident.
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that as a result of the separate meetings with Ukraine’s Dmytro Kuleba and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, work has already begun on establishing and shaping the zone.
Continue reading...Pro-Russia separatists had held the prisoners, and it was feared they would be executed for fighting for Ukraine
The five Britons released from Russia overnight are meeting their families after several months of captivity in which it was feared they would be executed for fighting for Ukraine.
Shaun Pinner, who was released alongside Aiden Aslin, was pictured with his family in a hotel room this morning by his mother, Debbie Price, who thanked “all the amazing people” who made his release possible.
Continue reading...Moscow releases 215 prisoners in exchange for former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk and others
More than 200 Ukrainian and foreign citizens have been released from Russian captivity, including fighters who led the defence of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, in the biggest prisoner swap since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
In return, Russia received 55 prisoners from Ukraine, including the former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk, an ally of Vladimir Putin accused by Ukraine of high treason.
Continue reading...Five UK and two US foreign fighters captured in Ukraine among 10 freed after Saudi Arabia’s intervention
A Briton who was threatened with execution after being captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol has been released alongside four other Britons and five other international prisoners after the intervention of Saudi Arabia.
Aiden Aslin and “the other British prisoners of war held captive by the Russian authorities” were already on their way back to the UK, said Aslin’s MP, Robert Jenrick, after being flown from Russia to Saudi Arabia.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy urges UN to adopt five-point plan for peace in Ukraine; more than 1,300 people arrested in anti-mobilisation rallies throughout Russia
Security forces detained more than 1,300 people in Russia overnight at protests denouncing mobilisation, a rights group said, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first military draft since the second world war.
The independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group said that according to information it had collated from 38 Russian cities, more than 1,311 people had been held by late evening. It said those figures included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St Petersburg, Russia’s second most populous city. Unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russia’s anti-protest laws.
Russian interior ministry official Irina Volk, in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, said officers had cut short attempts to stage what it called small protests. “In a number of regions, there were attempts to stage unauthorised actions which brought together an extremely small number of participants,” Volk was quoted as saying. “These were all stopped.”
The Moscow Times is carrying a report that a Russian military recruitment office and an administration building were attacked overnight in two separate locations during the anti-mobilisation protests.
The UK’s ministry of defence has described the mobilisation as an admission that Russia has “exhausted its supply of willing volunteers to fight in Ukraine”. It said “Russia is likely to struggle with the logistical and administrative challenges of even mustering the 300,000 personnel. It will probably attempt to stand up new formations with many of these troops, which are unlikely to be combat effective for months.”
Traffic arriving at Finland’s eastern border with Russia has “intensified” during the night, the Finnish border guard said early on Thursday, while adding that the situation was under control. One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast on Wednesday after Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000 reservists.
Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and prime minister, and currently deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, has threatened attacks on Europe and US, saying “Referendums will be held, and the Donbas republics and other territories will be admitted to Russia. Any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons and weapons based on new principles, could be used [to protect them]. Therefore, various retired idiots with generals’ stripes do not need to scare us with talk about a Nato strike on Crimea. Hypersonic is guaranteed to be able to reach targets in Europe and the United States much faster.”
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described Joe Biden’s speech on Wednesday at the UN as “indecent”, and accused the US president of mis-quoting his Russian counterpart over nuclear threats.
Biden had denounced Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons as “reckless” and “irresponsible” and called Russia’s planned annexation of more regions of Ukraine as “an extremely significant violation” of the UN charter. The US president was speaking to the UN general assembly, where he sought to galvanise the outrage of UN member states at the threat that Putin’s actions and “imperial ambitions” posed to the UN’s founding values.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, shrugged off Russian moves to escalate the war, saying his country’s forces would continue their counteroffensive, not giving Russia breathing space to mobilise and dig in on Ukrainian soil. “We can return the Ukrainian flag to our entire territory. We can do it with the force of arms, but we need time,” Zelenskiy said in a recorded broadcast to the UN general assembly on Wednesday, which Russia had tried to stop but was overwhelmingly voted down by member states.
Continue reading...Foreign minister condemns Russia’s heightened military response in Ukraine as opposition calls for further sanctions
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says the federal government is considering expelling the Russian ambassador as a result of President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear aggression towards Ukraine, as the Coalition opposition steps up calls for further sanctions over the invasion.
Wong said Australia is considering sending further military assistance to Kyiv in the face of Russia’s escalating rhetoric but security and logistical issues were complicating factors.
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Continue reading...UK PM spurns Russian president’s ‘sabre-rattling’ as she prepares call for democratic renewal in UN address
Liz Truss has dismissed Vladimir Putin’s warning that Russia will use “all the means at our disposal” to protect itself as “sabre-rattling” in advance of her UN speech, where she will warn him: “This will not work.”
The Russian president’s threats in a televised address to the nation appeared to suggest the conflict in Ukraine could spiral into a nuclear crisis, prompting a furious response from world leaders, led by the US president, Joe Biden.
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