Telegram founder arrest part of cybercrime inquiry, say prosecutors

Investigation into Pavel Durov relates to app’s alleged failure to stop spread of child sexual abuse material

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire co-founder of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested in France in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement, prosecutors announced on Monday.

Durov, who has French citizenship, was detained at Le Bourget airport, just outside Paris, on Saturday evening after arriving from Azerbaijan on his private jet. His surprise arrest has sparked debate over free speech worldwide and led to an outcry in Moscow.

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Russia targets energy sector in huge missile and drone attack on Ukraine

Attack of 127 missiles and 109 drones is ‘one of the biggest’ of the war, Zelenskiy says, causing power and water outages

A huge missile and drone attack launched by Russia across Ukrainian territory has left at least seven people dead, including four children, officials have said.

Power cuts and water outages were reported in numerous parts of the country including in some districts of the capital, Kyiv, as a result of the strikes, which targeted mainly civilian energy infrastructure.

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British man on Reuters staff killed in strike on hotel in east Ukraine

Ryan Evans, a safety adviser and former soldier, was staying at the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk when it was hit by Russian missile

A British man working for the Reuters news agency has been killed in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency has said.

Ryan Evans, who was working as a safety adviser for the agency, was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire on Saturday where he was staying as part of a six-person team.

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Telegram app founder Pavel Durov to appear in court after arrest in Paris

Russian-born billionaire said to have ‘miscalculated’ by visiting France during inquiry into crime on his platform

The Russian-born founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, is due to appear in a French court in the coming days after his arrest at a Paris airport over alleged offences related to the messaging app.

Sources told the AFP news agency that the Franco-Russian tech billionaire would appear in court after being detained by police at Le Bourget airport. French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov’s arrest as part of an inquiry into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, organised crime, promotion of terrorism and cyberbullying.

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Modi tells Zelenskiy he is ready to work ‘as a friend’ to bring about peace deal

Indian PM says he respects and supports ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Ukraine during historic visit

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a historic visit to Kyiv on Friday and told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he was ready to work “as a friend” to bring about a peace deal that would end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Modi said he respected and supported Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “It is our highest priority,” he said, adding that he had told Vladimir Putin during their meeting in July that “problems cannot be resolved on the battlefield”. The war could only end through “dialogue and diplomacy”, he stressed.

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Russian special forces free hostages taken by four men linked to Islamic State

Prisoners who carried out attack that left several guards dead at high-security jail ‘liquidated’, says national guard

Russian special forces have freed hostages taken by four men linked to the Islamic State who carried out an attack at a high-security prison in the southern Volgograd region, resulting in the deaths of several prison guards.

Russia’s national guard announced in a statement that special forces snipers “liquidated” all four hostage-takers before the colony was stormed and the hostages were freed.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says India supports Ukraine’s sovereignty with ‘history made’ in meeting with Modi – as it happened

Indian PM calls on Ukraine and Russia to open dialogue as soon as possible to find way out of conflict

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, has told Reuters that Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv is significant because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.

“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests,” he said.

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Ukraine strikes airfield near Volgograd as Russia presses forward in Donetsk

Marinovka airbase becomes latest target of Kyiv’s ambitious long-range drone campaign

Ukraine has carried out a night-time drone attack on a Kremlin military airfield near the city of Volgograd and announced the capture of another village in Russia’s Kursk region, as Russian forces pressed on with their advance in the Donetsk region.

Volgograd’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, said the strike took place at about 3am. Local people reported a series of explosions. Several hours later, ammunition continued to detonate as a vast carpet of black smoke engulfed the area.

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Russia-Ukraine war: large drone attack on Moscow as Kursk incursion continues – as it happened

Mayor says no damage or casualties reported as 11 drones are downed

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify the Rome Statute, a senior lawmaker said, paving the way for Kyiv to join the International Criminal Court.

In a Telegram post, Yaroslav Zhelezniak said 281 deputies had voted for the measure, a key requirement for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union.

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Fierce fighting in Russia as Ukrainian forces attempt to seize more territory

Pontoon bridge across Seym River blown up as Ukrainian army reportedly captures another village in Kursk region

Fierce fighting has continued inside Russia as Ukrainian troops tried to seize more territory and used kamikaze drones to blow up a Russian pontoon bridge across a strategic river crossing.

Satellite images showed that the temporary bridge on Tuesday had disappeared and there were large puffs of grey smoke. Russian forces built the pontoon between the villages of Zvannoe and Glushkovo after Ukrainian missiles destroyed three bridges across the Seym River.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: civilians flee Pokrovsk as Russia’s army bears down on key eastern Ukraine city

Russian forces advancing so fast families are under orders to leave nearby towns and villages

Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lawmakers said.

The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations “affiliated” with it.

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Three bridges over Seym River in Russia now destroyed by Ukraine

Last major crossing on this part of front in Kursk region hit overnight as Ukraine aims to expand ‘buffer zone’

Ukraine has destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region, as part of an apparent attempt to expand what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” inside Russia.

According to Russian officials, the bridge in the village of Karyzh was damaged overnight by targeted Ukrainian “shelling”. It was the last major crossing on this part of the front, following the destruction on Friday and Saturday of two bridges further east over the same river.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy says Ukraine ‘achieving our goals’ in Kursk as third bridge is hit – as it happened

Ukrainian president says troops meeting their objectives and have taken more prisoners

An update to that earlier map, showing the three bridges hit by the Ukrainian air force:

Ukrainian forces have struck and damaged a third bridge over the River Seym, near the village of Karyzh in the Kursk region of Russia, according to a member of Russia’s Investigative Committee. The hit could seriously complicate Russian military logistics as Moscow attempts to fend off Ukraine’s incursion into the region.

Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has said that Ukraine’s attack on Kursk means Moscow is not ready to hold peace talks for now. Proposed discussions aimed at negotiating a halt to strikes on energy and power infrastructure between the two sides had been planned to be held in Qatar.

RIA News, a state-owned news agency, says Russian forces have captured 19 Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region. The report has not been independently verified.

Ukraine’s air force said on Monday morning that the country’s air defence units had repelled an overnight Russian drone attack on multiple cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy.

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Russia criticises German progress in Nord Stream sabotage inquiry

Moscow official claims Berlin shows little interest in finding those responsible for gas pipeline explosions in 2022

Russia has complained to Germany about its investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream gas pipelines that run between the two countries, accusing Europe’s top economic power of having little interest in finding those responsible.

The head of a European department at the foreign ministry, Oleg Tyapkin, said Russia had “raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligations under the UN anti-terrorist conventions”, RIA news agency reported in remarks cited by Reuters.

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Kursk incursion aimed at creating buffer zone to protect Ukraine, Zelenskiy says

President states he wants to stop cross-border attacks by Russian forces and that counteroffensive was much needed

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

It marked the first time the Ukrainian president had clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on 6 August. Previously, he had suggested it aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling.

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More than 150 Russians captured on some days of incursion, Ukraine official says

Key civilian leader says attack on Russia’s Kursk region is first of ‘several stages’ in taking the fight to Moscow

Ukraine has captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the cross-border military operation that a key civilian official said was the first of “several stages” in taking the fight to Moscow.

Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, said the attack had fared better than expected and there had been only 15 casualties needing hospital treatment on the first day.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine repels missile attack on Kyiv and targets another Kursk bridge – as it happened

North Korean weaponry believed to have been used in Kyiv attack as Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk continues

Russia has denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks with Kyiv about civilian infrastructure facilities.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both sides

The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory

“No one broke anything off because there was nothing to break off,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the Post report.

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Safety at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant deteriorating, IAEA warns

Atomic energy watchdog reports damage after Russia accuses Ukraine of dropping explosive charge nearby

The UN’s nuclear watchdog warned on Saturday that the safety situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was “deteriorating” after a nearby drone strike.

Earlier on Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of dropping an explosive charge on a road near the occupied plant in southern Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine war: key bridges destroyed in Kursk as Ukraine ‘leaves trail of destruction’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Russia has lost 598,180 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

This number includes 1,230 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.

8,501 tanks

16,473 armoured fighting vehicles

22,913 vehicles and fuel tanks

16,985 artillery systems

1,160 multiple-launch rocket systems

923 air defence systems

367 aircraft

328 helicopters

13,714 drones

28 warships and boats

1 submarine

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Ukraine’s extraordinary incursion into Kursk has changed the narrative of the war – but is a high-risk strategy

After months of being pushed steadily back – short of troops and ammunition – a Kyiv offensive to occupy a chunk of Russian territory took the Kremlin by surprise. The move has a clear political logic but is fraught with military danger

The immediate impact of Ukraine’s incursion into the Russian region of Kursk that began on 6 August has been a transformation in the morale of the Ukrainian public and even more so the narrative among Ukraine’s international partners.

The slow but inexorable loss of ground in Donbas that painted a grim picture of retreat has been replaced by images of a dynamic front. While deceptive, this new narrative is important in reminding Ukraine’s international partners that outcomes in war are not inevitable.

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