Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in Kharkiv on Monday as Germany hit out at Vladimir Putin’s warning of a Cold War-style missile crisis.
Zelensky visited Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to pay tribute to Kyiv’s special forces, which have been engaged in bitter fighting with Putin’s forces in the region since May.
“Today, I had the honour to be there to congratulate our Special Forces warriors on their professional day and to present them with state awards,” Zelensky said.
It came as Germany vowed it would “not be intimidated” by Putin’s threat to station long-range missiles in striking distance of the West.
Putin said if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, it would do the same, in a threat echoing the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 which saw Russian nuclear weapons aimed at the US from Cuba.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones flew a record 1,100 miles to a base in Russia’s Arctic far north in order to strike a supersonic long-range missile carrier.
The ambitious raid on the Olenya airfield in Murmansk saw the drones operating just 200km from the Finnish border, officials said.
Key Points
- Zelensky arrives at Kharkiv region front line
- Germany hits out at Putin’s missile crisis threat
- Ukrainian drones fly 1,100 miles to hit Russian supersonic bombers at Arctic base
- Ukraine says missile forces hit Russian air base in Crimea
- Russian drone debris found in Romania but Nato denies intentional attack
Russian forces begin offensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast from two fronts
05:22
Shweta Sharma
Ukrainian forces said Russian troops have begun attacks in the direction of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast after a “long pause” and from two different fronts.
Dmytro Lykhovyi, spokesperson for the Tavria group of Ukrainian forces, told national TV that the assault began from the village of Reshetylivske in the direction of Huliaipole.
“Some reports said that it could be a major offensive with the formation of an offensive group, but according to our intelligence, it is a continuation of the tactics of small assault actions, because the total numbers of the Russian group in Zaporizhzhia Oblast have not changed in terms of the number of troops,” he said.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Russian forces are making attempts to dislodge Ukrainian troops from positions in the Orikhiv and Huliaipole directions.
Debunked: Russia’s fake news campaign targeting the Olympics
05:00
Alexander Butler
US to send another $1.7bn in military aid to Ukraine
04:56
Shweta Sharma
The US will send another $1.7bn in military aid to Ukraine that will include anti-tank missiles and long-term contracts.
The latest tranche of aid will include an array of munitions for air defence systems, artillery, mortars and anti-tank and anti-ship missiles.
The package includes $1.5bn in funding for long-term contracts through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and $200m in immediate military aid taken from Pentagon stockpiles.
It comes a bit more than two weeks after the Nato summit in Washington, where allies focused a significant amount of time on shoring up support for Ukraine as it fends off Russian forces.
However, the US defence department did not elaborate on which specific systems were being sent to Ukraine immediately, and which ones would be funded through contracts.
Russia using unwitting Americans to spread disinformation about US elections, intelligence officials say
04:46
Shweta Sharma
American intelligence officials have accused Russia of using unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the US elections.
Officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told reporters that Russia continues to pose the greatest threat when it comes to election disinformation while there are indications that Iran is expanding its efforts and China is proceeding cautiously.
“The American public should know that content that they read online — especially on social media — could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” an official told reporters on condition of anonymity due to the rules set by the office of the director.
They said that the groups linked to the Kremlin are hiring marketing and communication firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks.
Two such firms were the subject of new US sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.
“Foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand, and getting Americans to do it,” said the official, who spoke alongside officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
West has brought 20,000 sanctions against Russia, Putin minister claims
04:30
Shweta Sharma
The countries in the collective West have imposed about 20,000 sanctions against the Russian economy to make Moscow “weak”, Vladimir Putin’s deputy foreign minister Alexander Pankin told the upper house of the parliament, according to state-run media.
Mr Pankin called the measures “unilateral” restrictions and said these efforts are “not materialising” as he criticised what he called a disinformation campaign against Russia, according to the Tass news agency.
“About 20,000 various restrictive sanctions have already been imposed on Russia. Actually, they cannot be called sanctions, because sanctions are a legitimate measure introduced by the [UN] Security Council, while these are unilateral restrictive measures,” he said.
Mr Pakin said the goal of the campaign by the US and the EU was to make Russia “weak” till the point of “collapse”.
“These expectations are not materialising despite being accompanied by a powerful disinformation campaign waged using all means available,” he said.
Ukraine shows off culture to Olympics fans
04:00
Alexander Butler
Russia kicks off massive navy drills with 300 vessels and 20,000 personnel
03:54
Shweta Sharma
Three fleets of the Russian navy and a flotilla have begun military drills that involve a combined 300 ships and 20,000 personnel, Russia’s Interfax and Tass news agencies reported today.
The drills are aimed at testing the military command bodies of the Russian navy, TASS reported, citing the Russian defence ministry.
They will involve the country’s Northern, Pacific and Baltic fleets as well as the Caspian Flotilla, it said.
Russia’s Putin vows ‘mirror measures’ in response to US missiles in Germany
03:00
Alexander Butler
British army not as strong as it should be because of ‘historic underinvestment’ says defence chief
02:00
Alexander Butler
Ukraine needs the UK just as I needed my team to become heavyweight champion
01:00
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Watch: Ukrainian heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk says, 'UK and Ukraine are a good team'
Monday 29 July 2024 23:00
Alexander Butler
Watch: Kits of Ukrainian athletes killed in Russian invasion displayed outside Houses of Parliament
Monday 29 July 2024 22:00
Alexander Butler
Russian and Belarusian athletes ‘do not exist’ for Team Ukraine says its chief
Monday 29 July 2024 21:00
Alexander Butler
Lammy urged to drop ‘ludicrous’ financial aid to Cuba
Monday 29 July 2024 20:00
Alexander Butler
Russian warships make a new visit to Cuban waters
Monday 29 July 2024 19:00
Alexander Butler
Ukraine says it struck an oil depot in Russia
Monday 29 July 2024 18:00
Alexander Butler
China's Xi calls for cooperation with Italy
Monday 29 July 2024 17:00
Alexander Butler
Debunked: Russia’s fake news campaign targeting the Olympics
Monday 29 July 2024 15:48
Alexander Butler
Ukrainian troops say Russia's front-line push has driven them out of two more eastern villages
Monday 29 July 2024 14:30
Alexander Butler
Thousands in Ukraine honor soldiers killed in blast and urge government to get prisoners freed
Monday 29 July 2024 13:30
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Zelensky arrives at Kharkiv region front line
Monday 29 July 2024 12:25
Alexander Butler
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky visited the frontline in Kharkiv on Monday as Germany hit out at Vladimir Putin’s warning of a Cold War-style missile crisis.
Zelensky visited Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to pay tribute to Kyiv’s special forces, which have been engaged in bitter fighting with Putin’s forces in the region since May.
“Today, I had the honour to be there to congratulate our Special Forces warriors on their professional day and to present them with state awards,” Zelensky said.
China’s Xi meets Italy’s Meloni
Monday 29 July 2024 12:15
Alexander Butler
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Beijing on Monday and called for their two countries to view bilateral relations from a long-term perspective and work together in international affairs.
Meloni said she believed Italy could play an important role in China’s relations with the European Union amid escalating trade tensions between the 27-strong bloc and world’s second-largest economy.
Germany hits out at Putin’s missile crisis threat
Monday 29 July 2024 11:53
Alexander Butler
Germany vowed it would “not be intimidated” by Putin’s threat to station long-range missiles in striking distance of the West.
Putin said if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, it would do the same, in a threat echoing the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 which saw Russian nuclear weapons aimed at the US from Cuba.
“We will not be intimidated by such threats,” Germany’s foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Up to 100 feared injured in Russia's Volgograd area after passenger train derails
Monday 29 July 2024 11:43
Alexander Butler
Up to 100 people could be injured after a passenger train travelling in Russia’s southern Volgograd region derailed on Monday, Russian news agencies reported.
The Interfax news agency said that eight train cars had been derailed and that emergency crews were at the scene.
Russia to punish soldiers using personal phones on the frontline in Ukraine
Monday 29 July 2024 10:25
Alexander Butler
Debunked: Russia’s fake news campaign targeting the Olympics
Monday 29 July 2024 09:19
Alexander Butler
Ukraine launches attack on Russia, authorities claim
Monday 29 July 2024 08:39
Alexander Butler
Kyiv launched more than two dozen drones on the Russian region of Kursk in several waves of attacks that started Saturday night and damaged an oil depot, Russian officials said on Monday.
Nineteen drones launched from Ukraine were destroyed by Russia’s air defence systems overnight, Russia’s defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
That follows 19 drones that Andrei Smirnov, Kursk’s governor, said defence systems destroyed over the region on Sunday.
Putin warns Biden against deployment of long-range weapons in Germany
Monday 29 July 2024 07:27
Shweta Sharma
Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would exit the unilateral moratorium on deploying intermediate-range weapons if Washington begins deployment of such weapons in Germany.
Speaking at a naval parade in St Petersburg, Mr Putin vowed “mirror measures” after the US earlier this month announced that it will start deploying the weapons in 2026.
The US said it was to affirm its commitment to Nato and European defence following Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“If the US implements such plans, we will consider ourselves free from the previously imposed unilateral moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range strike weapons, including increasing the capability of the coastal forces of our navy,” Mr Putin said. He added that Moscow’s development of suitable systems is “in its final stage.”
Both Washington and Moscow have in recent weeks signaled readiness to deploy intermediate-range ground-based weapons that were banned for decades under a 1987 US-Soviet treaty.
The US pulled out of the agreement in 2019, accusing Moscow of conducting missile tests that violated it.
Four Russian journalists lose Olympics accreditation, Tass says
Monday 29 July 2024 07:07
Shweta Sharma
Russia‘s state-run Tass news agency said the Olympic organising committee revoked accreditation for four of its journalists in Paris on Sunday and that the committee attributed the move to a decision by French authorities, but gave Moscow no further explanation.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin’s office declined to comment on the case but noted that decisions to withdraw accreditation lie with the Games’ organiser, Paris 2024, based on information provided by the government.
Paris 2024 organisers had no immediate comment.
One of the four Tass reporters told Reuters they had been informed by Paris 2024 organisers that they would no longer be accredited for the Games. The four journalists are two reporters and one photographer who had come to cover the Games as well as one reporter who works in France.
“They (the organisers) said it had to do with security,” the reporter told Reuters. He said he still had his accreditation but when he tried to go through the security check it was no longer valid. He said the decision left one Tass photographer accredited.
Tass quoted its own public communications and international projects department as saying the move came as a surprise and that the four had entered Paris without incident. Three of those affected had covered the opening ceremony and some other events without any complaints from organisers, it added.
Russia's Putin vows 'mirror measures' in response to U.S. missiles in Germany
Monday 29 July 2024 07:00
Tom Watling
Japan highlights Russia’s ‘aggression in Ukraine’ as Quad meet opens in Tokyo
Monday 29 July 2024 06:48
Shweta Sharma
The Quad meeting of foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States has begun in Tokyo as diplomats discussed issues pertaining to the security of the Indo-Pacific region.
However, it is expected to be overshadowed by the war in Ukraine.
The talks are being attended by Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Japan’s Yoko Kamikawa and Antony Blinken from the US, following security discussions between Tokyo and Washington on Sunday where the allies labelled China the “greatest strategic challenge” facing the region.
“We are charting a course for a more secure and open Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean region by bolstering maritime security and domain awareness,” Mr Blinken said in remarks to the press after the meeting.
“It means strengthening the capacity of partners across the region to know what’s happening in their own waters,” he added.
Japan’s Ms Kamikawa said: “Uncertainty surrounding the international order as well as the international situation has been increasing with Russia continuing its aggression in Ukraine, attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea.”
She highlighted the need to build up cybersecurity capability and provide training opportunities in maritime security to protect and develop prosperity in Indo-Pacific.
Ukraine shows off culture to Olympics fans and looks for wartime support with clubhouse
Monday 29 July 2024 06:00
Tom Watling
Ukraine says it shot down Russia-launched missile
Monday 29 July 2024 05:58
Shweta Sharma
Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed one guided missile this morning, Ukraine’s air force said.
The country’s air defences also shot down nine out of 10 drones launched overnight, it added.
Blinken stresses importance of peace in Ukraine with Indian FM
Monday 29 July 2024 05:43
Shweta Sharma
US secretary of state Antony Blinken stressed the importance of a “just and enduring peace” for Ukraine in a meeting with Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Quad summit in Tokyo.
“Secretary Blinken underscored the importance of realizing a just and enduring peace for Ukraine consistent with the UN Charter,” the State Department said in a statement on Sunday on the meeting between Mr Blinken and Mr Jaishankar.
It comes ahead of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to Ukraine in August, various Indian media outlets have reported in recent days. It would mark the Indian leader’s first visit to the country since the war began.
Social media posts from both Mr Blinken and Mr Jaishankar on Sunday mentioned their meeting but did not specifically mention Ukraine.
Met with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar to deepen U.S.-India collaboration and affirm our shared commitment to regional peace, security, and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/sHSSH3uTtq
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 28, 2024
Ukrainian drones fly 1,100 miles to hit Russian supersonic bombers at Arctic base
Monday 29 July 2024 05:34
Shweta Sharma
Ukrainian drones flew 1,100 miles to strike a supersonic long-range missile carrier in an Arctic base in Russia’s far north, according to reports.
The drones targeted a Tupolev Tu-22M3 Tupolev Tu-22M3, a long-range supersonic missile carrier bomber, which was stationed at the “strategic aviation” base, Ukrainian Pravda reported, citing Ukraine’s intelligence unit.
Russia has not commented on the attack yet.
The attack saw Ukrainian drones operating just 200km from the Finnish border.
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb said: “We have no cause for concern in Finland. We have the situation under control and are able to respond”.
The Olenya airfield has been blamed for Russian cruise missile attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The bomber that was attacked was behind the bombing of the children’s hospital in Kyiv less than a month ago.
Volodymyr Zelensky did not mention the strike directly in his evening address, but said: “Each destroyed Russian airbase, each destroyed Russian military aircraft — whether on the ground or in the air — means saving Ukrainian lives”.
Lammy urged to drop ‘ludicrous’ financial aid to Cuba over concerns troops are fighting for Russia in Ukraine
Monday 29 July 2024 05:00
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Ukrainian drone causes fire at a facility in Russia’s Voronezh region
Monday 29 July 2024 04:42
Shweta Sharma
A utility infrastructure facility in the Voronezh region caught fire briefly from the falling debris of a destroyed Ukraine-launched drone, the governor of the southwestern Russian region that borders Ukraine said on Monday.
“The fire has already been extinguished,” Alexander Gusev, the governor, said on the Telegram messaging app. “According to preliminary information, there are no injuries.”
Russia claims it has captured two villages in Donetsk
Monday 29 July 2024 04:33
Shweta Sharma
Russia claims its forces have captured two villages in eastern Ukraine, while five civilians were killed by Russian shelling in the wider Donetsk region.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky did not confirm the loss of the villages but admitted his troops were under pressure in the region.
“It is extremely challenging in the Donetsk directions, and it is in the Pokrovsk direction that there have been the biggest number of Russian assaults these weeks – the most intense enemy attacks are precisely there,” he said.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of two neighbouring villages, Prohres and Yevhenivka, some 30km (19 miles) east of Pokrovsk.
The day before, Moscow claimed the nearby village of Lozuvatske, one of nearly a dozen it says it has captured in the province this month.
Five civilians died and 15 more suffered wounds following Russian strikes in the Donetsk region on Saturday and overnight, local governor Vadym Filashkin reported on Telegram o Sunday.
Shortly later, other Ukrainian officials said Russian shelling wounded more civilians, including children, in the east and south.
Ukraine strikes oil depot in Russia
Monday 29 July 2024 04:13
Shweta Sharma
Ukrainian forces claimed on Sunday that they struck an oil depot in southern Russia that supplies the Kremlin’s troops.
Ukraine‘s General Staff said in a statement that Kyiv’s security services were responsible for a drone strike in Russia’s southern Kursk region.
The depot was a key military facility that used to meet the needs of the Russian military, and contained 11 tanks with a total volume of 7,000 cubic metres (about 247,202 cubic feet), adding the attack prompted “powerful explosions and a fire — probably involving containers with oil products”.
“The defence forces continue to take all measures to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian occupiers and force the Russian Federation to stop its armed aggression against Ukraine,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian military’s statement came after Russia’s defence ministry said seven Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian territory, while a regional official said a drone strike set fire to the oil depot in the Kursk province.
Firefighters were battling the blaze on Sunday morning after three fuel tanks went up in flames, according to acting regional governor Alexey Smirnov.
Mr Smirnov said nobody was hurt. The Kursk region lies on the border with Ukraine‘s Sumy province where Ukraine has in recent months repeatedly targeted various sites, including oil depots and other military infrastructure, inside Russian territory, with drones and other weapons.
US jets intercept Russian and Chinese nuclear-capable bombers off coast of Alaska
Monday 29 July 2024 04:00
Tom Watling
India’s Modi likely to visit Ukraine in August - report
Monday 29 July 2024 03:56
Shweta Sharma
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Ukraine next month, a local media report said, his maiden visit to the war-torn country since Russia began its invasion and just weeks after he visited Moscow.
Diplomats in the two countries are in talks to finalise the date sometime during the last week of August, sources said, according to The Times of India newspaper.
A visit would represent an important step in India’s balancing act as New Delhi tried to maintain cordial ties with the West as well as with its Soviet-era ally Russia.
India has refrained from directly blaming Russia while urging the two nations to resolve their conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
The visit would be almost a month after Mr Modi met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and told him that the death of innocent children was “painful and terrifying” without mentioning the war.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed unhappiness over Russia Modi’s visit, calling it a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts” to see him hug “the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”.
Agreement with Russia is 'deal with the devil,' adviser to Ukrainian president says
Monday 29 July 2024 03:00
Tom Watling
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
Monday 29 July 2024 02:00
Tom Watling
Oleksandr Usyk: Ukraine needs the UK just as I needed my team to become heavyweight champion
Monday 29 July 2024 00:30
Tom Watling
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
Sunday 28 July 2024 23:30
Tom Watling
Russian media throw shade at Paris Olympics, which TV won't show
Sunday 28 July 2024 22:30
Tom Watling
Lammy urged to drop ‘ludicrous’ financial aid to Cuba over concerns troops are fighting for Russia in Ukraine
Sunday 28 July 2024 21:30
Tom Watling
Russia detains former deputy defense minister on corruption charges in the latest military arrest
Sunday 28 July 2024 20:30
Tom Watling
Ukraine shows off culture to Olympics fans and looks for wartime support with clubhouse
Sunday 28 July 2024 19:30
Tom Watling
The Russia-US divide was on display during Moscow's monthlong presidency of the UN Security Council
Sunday 28 July 2024 18:30
Tom Watling
Mali rebels say they killed and injured dozens of soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries in battle
Sunday 28 July 2024 17:30
Tom Watling
Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels say they have killed and injured dozens of soldiers and Wagner mercenaries in two days of fighting near the Algerian border, after the army said it had lost two soldiers but killed some 20 rebels.
The rebel movement, the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), said in a statement on Saturday that it had seized armoured vehicles, trucks and tankers in the fighting at the border town of Tinzaouaten on Thursday and Friday.
The rebel group also said it damaged a helicopter, which crashed in the town of Kidal, hundreds of kilometres away.
The Malian army said in statements that two soldiers had been killed and 10 injured. One of its helicopters had crashed in Kidal on Friday while on a routine mission but no one was killed, it said.
Several Russian military bloggers reported on Sunday that at least 20 from the Wagner group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border.
“Employees of the Wagner PMC (Group), who were moving in a convoy with government troops, were killed in Mali ... Some were captured,” said a prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, who uses the name War Gonzo.
The Baza Telegram news channel, which has links to Russia’s security structures, reported that at least 20 Wagner fighters have been killed.
In Mali, local fighters defeated a large attack group of the Russian Military Contingent "Wagner" that tried to attack one of the cities they controlled.
— TOGA (@TOGAjano21) July 27, 2024
During the battle, the mercenaries lost several MRAP armored vehicles and a Mi-24 helicopter pic.twitter.com/p8ZD8kI4kI
Putin celebrates Navy Day in St Petersburg
Sunday 28 July 2024 16:30
Tom Watling
Vladimir Putin has been pictured in St Petersburg, western Russia, where he began his political career as deputy mayor of the city in the early 1990s, for Russia’s Navy Day.
Full report: Putin vows ‘mirror measures’ in response to US missiles in Germany
Sunday 28 July 2024 15:31
Andy Gregory
Russia may deploy new strike weapons in response to the planned US stationing of longer-range and hypersonic missiles in Germany, Vladimir Putin has claimed.
Speaking at a naval parade in St Petersburg, the Russian president vowed “mirror measures” after the US announced that it will start deploying the weapons in 2026.
“If the US implements such plans, we will consider ourselves free from the previously imposed unilateral moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range strike weapons, including increasing the capability of the coastal forces of our navy,” Mr Putin said.
He added that Moscow’s development of suitable systems is “in its final stage.”
Five civilians killed and 15 injured by Russian strikes in Donetsk, officials say
Sunday 28 July 2024 14:34
Andy Gregory<