Ukraine island defenders who told Russian navy ‘go fuck yourself’ may still be alive

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the troops on Snake Island ‘died heroically’ but border guard service says it holds out hope they are alive

Ukrainian soldiers believed to have died while defending an island after telling a Russian warship to “go fuck yourself”, may still be alive, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard.

Initial reports said the 13 border guards had died after refusing to surrender Snake Island, which sits 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, from a Russian air and sea bombardment on Thursday.

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Ukraine oil terminal near Kyiv and gas pipeline in Kharkiv on fire after attack – video

Videos posted to social media are believed to show an oil terminal outside of Kyiv on fire after a Russian attack. There are also reports that a gas pipeline in Kharkiv has been targeted after the city came under heavy fire. Residents have been advised to keep their windows shut against hazardous chemical fumes

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Zelenskiy and Johnson welcome move to cut off Russian banks from Swift – video

The US, Canada and key European countries, including Germany, have agreed to remove ‘selected Russian banks’ from the Swift international payments system. UK prime minister Boris Johnson welcomed the move, saying: 'More countries are joining the call of the UK to use Swift … to tighten the economic ligature around the Putin regime'. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that cutting off some Russian banks will 'effectively block Russian exports and imports’. The move was welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. ‘This is billions and billions of losses for Russia, a tangible price for this vile invasion of our country,’ he said

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Armed with hammers and pistols, Ukrainians wait at barricades for the Russians

At makeshift checkpoints, motley crews of citizens vow to do everything in their power to halt the Russian advance

Russia/Ukraine latest

The barricade started as a few men waiting nervously in the road on Friday, and grew gradually over the course of Saturday. By the afternoon, this modest attempt to stop a Russian advance on the capital of Ukraine was complete: sandbags, wooden crates and bricks piled high, with a blue-yellow national flag flying above them.

The motley crew had no illusions about the level of resistance they would be able to offer to one of the world’s most ruthless and technologically advanced armies, but like thousands in and around Kyiv they were determined to do what they could anyway. “I practised shooting yesterday and I came out here today for my first shift. I’ll be honest, I’m terrified,” said Alexander, 50. He was brandishing a US-made Remington shotgun he said a friend had acquired for him.

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Putin shunned by world as his hopes of quick victory evaporate

Russian troops facing fierce resistance as Germany abandons its postwar military stance to supply arms to Ukraine

Ukraine crisis live

Vladimir Putin was facing growing international isolation and the prospect of pariah status on Saturday night as long-term allies dramatically turned against him following the invasion of Ukraine, and western nations planned further decisive military and financial action against Moscow.

As his hopes of a quick victory evaporated in the face of fierce resistance by Ukrainian soldiers and armies of citizen volunteers, Russia’s president was deserted by his key ally, China, and had his ultimatum demanding Kyiv’s surrender defiantly brushed aside by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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From partygate to Putin’s war: Boris Johnson rides on a rare wave of unity

The prime minister’s stirring rhetoric on the crisis in Ukraine earns him a reprieve from his woes… for now at least

It was the silence in the House of Commons – more than the words spoken from the dispatch box – that captured the magnitude of the moment, and the dramatic shift of political mood, on Thursday evening.

Boris Johnson had been woken at 4.10am that morning to be told Vladimir Putin’s troops had crossed the border into Ukraine. It was what military intelligence had prepared him to expect.

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‘Can I tow you back to Russia?’: Ukrainian confronts soldiers by broken armoured vehicle – video

A Ukrainian citizen confronted Russian soldiers after their armoured vehicle broke down on a country road in the Sumy region, close to the border with Russia.

After spotting the hapless soldiers, the driver pulled alongside them, and asked: 'Can I tow you back to Russia?' 

Further along the road at another broken down vehicle, a Ukrainian told the Russians that the invading army was lost.

Read more in Luke Harding's latest report from Ukraine. 

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How Ukrainian defiance has derailed Putin’s plans

It’s too early to describe the Kremlin operation as a failure, but it has not succeeded yet in its mission to seize and subjugate its neighbour

Three days after the invasion there are signs that Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is not quite going to plan. In the Sumy region, close to the border with Russia, a local resident came across an extraordinary sight. On a country road lined with birch trees, a Russian armoured vehicle had broken down.

He pulled up in his car and stopped. There was then a surreal conversation.

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Poll: US majority believes no Russian invasion with Trump as president

Caps-Harris poll shows 62% of respondents believe Putin would not have ordered troops into Ukraine with Trump in White House

A clear majority of Americans think Vladimir Putin would not have ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine had Donald Trump still been in the White House, according to a new poll.

The poll, by the Harvard Center for American Political Studies (Caps)-Harris, found that 62% of those surveyed believed Putin would not have sent troops into Ukraine with Trump in the White House.

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At the Ukrainian border, a mother brings a stranger’s children to safety

The ban on men aged 18 to 60 leaving the country leads one father to take drastic action

Clutching a mobile phone number of a woman she had never met, Nataliya Ableyeva crossed the border from Ukraine into Hungary entrusted with a precious cargo: a stranger’s children.

Waiting at the border crossing on the Ukrainian side, Ableyeva had met a desperate 38-year-old man from her home town of Kamianets-Podilskyi, with his young son and daughter.

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Elderly resident reprimands Russian soldiers: ‘You have your own country’ – video

A man who claimed to be Russian was filmed apparently reprimanding a group of Russian soldiers in Melitopol, Ukraine. Russia has made claims to have taken the coastal city, where an airbase and a hospital were hit on Saturday morning.

He says to the soldiers: 'Russians invading Ukraine is so fucked up! What are you doing here? We have our life and you have yours. I’m Russian too, but I live in this country.

'You have your own country and we have ours. Don’t you have any problems in your own country? Are you all rich there? Shame on you!'

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy stands defiant in face of Russian attack

Analysis: Ukraine’s president has won over critics with his courage and resilience as his country fights for survival

He looked gaunt and unshaven after another sleepless night under Russian attack and bombardment. But Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, struck a defiant tone in a video address on Saturday morning. “I’m here,” he said simply. And he was – in the centre of Kyiv, three days on from Vladimir Putin’s invasion, unbowed and going nowhere.

“Good morning everybody! Ukrainians: there’s a lot of fake information online that I call on our army to lay down arms, and that there’s an evacuation,” he said. “I’m here. We won’t lay down our arms. We will defend our state, our territory, our Ukraine, our children. That’s all I have to say. Glory to Ukraine!”

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Russian strikes pound Kyiv as Zelenskiy refuses US offer to evacuate

‘We are successfully holding back the enemy,’ says Ukraine’s leader amid fierce fighting around the city

Russian troops continued to press their offensive against Kyiv as well as other cities across Ukraine on Saturday, as residents sought shelter in the capital’s metro system and in basements during a third day of fierce bombardment.

As Russian strikes continued to pound Kyiv, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, refused a US offer to evacuate, insisting he would stay. “The fight is here,” he said as street fighting continued, largely around the edges of the city.

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Zelenskiy calls on ‘all friends of Ukraine’ to help fight Russian invasion – video

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has invited Ukraine's 'friends' to join the fight against Russia's assault, adding that weapons would be provided for them. Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian president clarified that Ukraine was not surrendering. 'I’m here. We won’t lay down our arms. We will defend our state,' he said in a video posted on social media.

Fierce fighting broke out in Kyiv as Russian forces failed to push their way towards the city centre from multiple directions in the early hours of Saturday

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Kyiv apartment building hit as Ukrainians fight off Russian attacks – video report

Fierce fighting broke out in Kyiv as Russian forces failed to push their way towards the city centre from multiple directions in the early hours of Saturday. An airstrike hit a residential building in Lobanovsky Avenue 6, in the centre of Kyiv. Video shared by the Ukrainian president's press service showed the missile exploding in a private flat

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Explosions and gunfire across Kyiv during Russian night assault – video

Footage shared on social media appears to show explosions, gunfire and anti-aircraft tracer fire across multiple areas of Kyiv. The invading Russian forces tried to push their way towards the city centre and were met with resistance. The Ukrainian military said Russian troops attacked an army base on a main Kyiv avenue but the assault was repelled.

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The antisemitism animating Putin’s claim to ‘denazify’ Ukraine | Jason Stanley

The Russian leader’s pretext for invasion recasts Ukraine’s Jewish president as a Nazi and Russian Christians as true victims of the Holocaust

When Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at dawn on Thursday, he justified the “special military operation” as having the goal to “denazify” Ukraine. The justification is not tenable, but it would be a mistake simply to dismiss it.

Vladimir Putin is himself a fascist autocrat, one who imprisons democratic opposition leaders and critics. He is the acknowledged leader of the global far right, which looks increasingly like a global fascist movement.

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Ukrainian ambassador calls for a moment of silence at UN security council – video

Ukraine's UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, addressed an emergency meeting of the UN security council on Friday 26 February in New York. During his address, Kyslytsya called for a moment of silence to pray for peace, and for the souls of those already killed after Russia invaded his country on 25 February.

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Russian forces advance inside Ukraine: what we know so far

Russian forces have pressed towards the capital, Kyiv, as the death toll in the conflict rose to at least 198

Russian troops pressed towards Ukraine’s capital on Saturday after a night of explosions and street fighting that sent Kyiv residents seeking shelter underground.

The death toll so far in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is at least 198, according to the Ukrainian health ministry. Three children are among those dead. The ministry’s head was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying 1,115 people had been injured, including 33 children.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said at press briefing that his country would triumph over Russian forces. He said Ukrainian forces controlled Kyiv and key areas, adding: “We are defending our land and the future of our children.”

More European countries are in favour of cutting Russia out of the Swift global payments system, Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, have said. France supported the move, said Kuleba, while the Cypriot finance minister said his country was not opposed. In Italy, the leader of PD, a main coalition party, said Rome would support a block.

Germany is in talks over approving the delivery of 400 RPGs to Ukraine by a third country but a decision has not been taken yet.

Russia now has at least 50% of its invasion force inside Ukraine but is making slow progress due to unexpectedly stiff resistance, a senior US defence official has said. The official said that the Russian military had still not taken control of any Ukraine city, nor has it gained air superiority over the country, and the US had “indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours.”

Russia’s former president, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russia could cut diplomatic ties with the west. The Russian RIA news agency reported that the senior lawmaker Andrei Klimov said Russia would decide in which areas it would work with the west and where it no longer made sense to cooperate.

A Russian shell has hit a residential building in the centre of Kyiv, Ukraine says. Video shared by Zelenskiy’s press service shows the missile exploding in a private flat, sending smoke and debris into the living room.

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Video of Ukrainian ‘tank man’ trying to block Russian military convoy goes viral

Thirty-second clip shared by Ukrainian news outlet HB shows a man standing in front of what appears to be military vehicles

A video which apparently shows a Ukrainian man attempting to block a Russian military convoy has gone viral online, with comparisons being drawn to the “tank man” of Tiananmen Square.

The 30-second clip, shared by Ukrainian news outlet HB, shows a man standing in front of what appear to be military vehicles. As the vehicles try to swerve around him, the man jockeys to the side, seemingly in an attempt to block their progress.

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