Category Archives: Russia

Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine claims it struck military facility in Russia – as it happened

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Airforce hits military industrial facility in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in Russia’s Rostov region, says Ukrainian military

Russia and Kazakhstan have sought to temper speculation about the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, with the Kremlin urging people to wait for the results of the investigation, writes the Guardian’s European community affairs correspondent Ashifa Kassam and Pjotr Sauer, the Russia affairs correspondent.

A Ukrainian national security official has claimed that the crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire.

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Russia criticises Canberra’s ‘hostile stance’ as it looks into reports Australian fighter captured in Ukraine

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Family and friends hold grave fears for man identified as Oscar Jenkins who was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers in Donbas region

Moscow is looking into reports that the Russian army may have captured an Australian citizen fighting with Ukrainian forces, while a foreign affairs official noted Canberra’s “hostile stance towards Russia” at a briefing.

Family and friends hold grave fears for Australian man Oscar Jenkins who was reportedly captured by Russian soldiers while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region.

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Officials report 29 survivors and 38 killed as plane crashes in Kazakhstan

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Aircraft carrying 62 passengers and five crew was en route from Baku to Grozny in Chechnya

Twenty-nine people have survived after a passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines burst into flames as it crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after veering hundreds of miles off its planned route.

The flight was carrying 62 passengers and five crew members with 38 killed in the crash, according to Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister, Kanat Bozumbayev.

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Russian cargo ship’s owner says sinking in Mediterranean was ‘act of terrorism’

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Three explosions caused Ursa Major to sink off Spanish coast, says company linked to Russian defence ministry

A Russian cargo ship that sank on Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea was the target of an “act of terrorism”, according to the vessel’s owner.

The Ursa Major sank while it was sailing through international waters between Spain and Algeria, leaving two crew members missing,

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Finland-Estonia power cable hit in latest Baltic Sea incident

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The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations says sabotage can’t be ruled out

An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia broke down on Wednesday, Finland’s prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

The Finnish electricity grid’s head of operations, Arto Pahkin, told the public broadcaster Yle that sabotage could not be ruled out.

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Russia launches major Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy system

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Zelenskyy describes cruise and ballistic missile strikes, which caused blackouts in several regions, as ‘inhuman’

Christmas morning in Ukraine was overshadowed by a massive Russian aerial attack using cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across the country, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”.

“Today, Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhuman? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram.

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Russian cargo ship sinks in Mediterranean after explosion in engine room

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Two crew members from Ursa Major are missing and 14 have been rescued, Russian foreign ministry says

An engine room explosion sank a Russian cargo ship called Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria and two of its crew are missing, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

The vessel, built in 2009, was controlled by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian defence ministry’s military construction operations, which had previously said it was en route to the Russian far-eastern port of Vladivostok with two giant port cranes lashed to its deck.

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Tulip Siddiq questioned over multibillion-pound embezzlement allegations

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Treasury minister denies claims by Bangladesh that she helped broker corrupt deal with Russia to build nuclear plant

The Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has been questioned by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission accused her and family members of embezzling billions for a nuclear power plant.

The Labour MP, who denies allegations that she helped broker a deal with Russia to build the energy project, reportedly told a government official that she was the victim of a “political hit job”.

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Moscow claims ‘external forces’ seeking to escalate violence in Syria

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Statement comes as Ukrainian intelligence says Russia will send mercenaries to support flagging troops allied to Damascus

Moscow has condemned “external forces” seeking to escalate violence in Syria, despite reports from Ukrainian military intelligence that Russia is to send mercenaries to support flagging troops allied to Damascus.

The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova blamed outside actors for instigating a recent sweeping insurgent offensive, after Islamist militants spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of the city of Aleppo at the weekend in a shock advance.

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Up to 100 ‘suspicious incidents’ in Europe can be attributed to Russia, Czech minister says

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Czech foreign minister says Europe ‘needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated’

A senior European diplomat said that up to 100 “suspicious incidents” in Europe this year could be attributed to Russia, as western officials grapple with how to respond to suspected Russian sabotage attempts.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with Nato counterparts in Brussels, the Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, stressed that Europe “needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated”.

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How Ukraine has faced its worst month on the battlefield in two years – visualised

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November was Ukraine’s worst month since September 2022 for territory lost to Russian forces. These charts and maps show the latest developments in the war

Ukraine lost an area equivalent to the size of New York City to Russian forces in November – the worst monthly figure for Ukrainian defenders since September 2022.

After the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia gained ground quickly before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Last year, with the conflict mostly at a stalemate, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows that Russian forces took 2,233 sq km (862 sq miles) of territory. Already in 2024 they have taken about 2,656 sq km.

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China’s share of global electric car market rises to 76%

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Market share increases after strong demand within country offsets risks from western tariffs on Chinese-made EVs

China’s share of the global electric vehicle market reached 76% in October, the country’s automotive trade body said, reflecting strong demand for EVs in the country even as western tariffs risk hobbling exports.

Between January and October, sales of EVs reached 14.1m units, according to the China Passenger Car Association, with 69% of those sales in China. In October, China’s share surpassed three-quarters.

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Seizure of Aleppo threatens Moscow’s foothold in Syria – and the wider region

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Assault on Syria’s second-largest city by Islamist militants may tarnish Russia’s reputation as a global player

The walls of the military office in Aleppo were adorned with pictures of the Kremlin, flanked by Russian and Syrian flags hanging side by side. On the desks, documents detailing the cooperation between the two nations lay abandoned – telltale signs of Bashar al-Assad’s forces’ hasty retreat as rebels closed in on Syria’s second-biggest city over the weekend.

The short clip circulating online was recorded in the office of Russian advisers at Aleppo’s military academy after it was taken by rebels in a surprise offensive. It highlights the escalating threat to the Assad regime and, by extension, to Moscow’s strategic foothold in Syria and the broader region.

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UK underestimates threat of cyber-attacks from hostile states and gangs, says security chief

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New head of National Cyber Security Centre to warn of risk to infrastructure in first major speech

The UK is underestimating the severity of the online threat it faces from hostile states and criminal gangs, the country’s cybersecurity chief will warn.

Richard Horne, the head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, will cite a trebling of “severe” incidents amid Russian “aggression and recklessness” and China’s “highly sophisticated” digital operations.

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Georgian police fire teargas at pro-EU protesters as political crisis deepens

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Tbilisi experiences fifth day of demonstrations amid anger over ruling party’s decision to shelve EU accession talks

Georgian police have fired teargas to try to disperse thousands of pro-EU demonstrators rallying in the centre of Tbilisi amid a deepening political crisis in the Black Sea nation.

The country’s prime minister hours earlier had vowed “no negotiations” with the opposition, enraged by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to shelve EU accession talks after it claimed victory in an election they decried as fraudulent.

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Syria crisis due to Assad’s refusal to engage with opposition, says Turkish minister

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Iran’s foreign minister blamed Israel’s intervention instead, but emergency talks in Ankara said to be ‘constructive’

The crisis in Syria is the result of President Bashar al-Assad’s refusal to engage in political dialogue with the opposition, and not external interventions, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said after meeting his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, for emergency talks in Ankara.

Araghchi, by contrast, blamed intervention by Israel for the crisis. But the two sides appeared to agree on the need to convene an urgent summit between Turkey, Iran and Russia, the three main external powers inside Syria.

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Georgian opposition leader arrested after fourth night of protests

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Police detained Zurab Japaridze as he was leaving rally outside parliament against suspension of EU accession talks

Georgian police have arrested a prominent opposition leader after using water cannon and teargas to scatter anti-government protesters who rallied outside parliament for a fourth consecutive night.

The protests were sparked by the government’s announcement last week that it was suspending talks on joining the EU. Critics saw that as confirmation of a Russian-influenced shift away from pro-western policies, something the ruling party denies.

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German chancellor Olaf Scholz pledges €650m in military aid to Ukraine on Kyiv visit

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Scholz said Germany was ‘strongest supporter of Ukraine in Europe’ and promised speedy arms deliveries

Olaf Scholz has met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an unannounced visit to Kyiv that was his first since the early months of full-scale war as he sought to reassure Ukraine of German support.

The German chancellor announced a military aid package worth €650m (£540m) during the trip amid doubts over his Ukraine policy at home and uncertainty over the upcoming presidency of Donald Trump and what it may mean for the war in Ukraine.

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Syrian and Russian airstrikes hit Aleppo and Idlib after insurgents advance

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Assad regime seeks to repel Islamist rebels in north as Iran’s top diplomat visits Damascus in show of support

Syrian and Russian airstrikes have pummelled areas of northern Syria as Iran’s top diplomat arrived in Damascus in a show of support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime after Islamist insurgents made a sudden advance and seized control of Aleppo.

As the regime attempted to repel the strongest challenge to its authority in years, state media in Damascus shared images of airstrikes across opposition-controlled areas, claiming they were targeting enemy command centres and positions. Syria’s military said they struck close to a stadium in Aleppo in a joint operation with Russia.

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Rebels behind Aleppo’s surprise fall took advantage of Russian and Iranian distraction

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Forces only took three days to take the city from Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but the Middle East’s newest conflict looks set to last

It was not Kyiv that fell in three days, but Aleppo. A surprise offensive launched by Syrian rebels from the north west of the country last week has reignited a dormant conflict – and revealed a change in the balance of power caused not by one but two nearby wars, in Ukraine and Lebanon and the Middle East.

Aleppo was the scene of fierce and destructive fighting between 2012 and 2016 when the Syrian civil war was at its height. Rebel groups were forced out as Syrian government forces supporting the president, Bashar al-Assad, were able to capture the country’s second city, with the help of Russia and its air force.

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