Tag: Russia-Ukraine

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russian forces weren’t occupying Bakhmut, casting doubt on Moscow’s insistence that the eastern Ukrainian city had fallen. Responding to a reporter’s question about the status of the city at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Zelenskyy said: “Bakhmut is not occupied by the Russian Federation as of today.” “We are not throwing people (away) to die,” Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian through an interpreter. “People are the treasure. I clearly…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the Russian private army Wagner claimed Saturday that his forces have taken control of the city of Bakhmut after the longest and most grinding battle of the Russia-Ukraine war, but Ukrainian defense officials denied it. In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke flanked by about half a dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and…

The International Criminal Court says it is “undeterred” by Russia putting its chief prosecutor on a wanted list. It comes two months after the ICC’s Karim Khan issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a statement on Saturday, the court said the move was an attempt to undermine its “lawful mandate to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes”. Russia, which is not an ICC member, previously described the warrant against Mr Putin as being “void”. Mr Khan,…

Shenderovich then confirmed on Facebook he was “barred from his own performance in London” but still did not explain the reasons behind the incident. He also mockingly thanked “all the idiots” responsible “for such an incredible promotion.”  The author eventually moved to nearby Regent’s Park together with his would-be audience, where he held an impromptu performance “in the natural setting,” Shenderovich himself said in his Facebook statement. The author called the event “one of his best performances” and said that…

Indonesia is launching the flight because “Russia is now looking to the East, so we are also looking towards Russia,” Helmi explained. Also on Friday, the first Russian plane landed in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi after a four-year hiatus. The arrival was met by a small group of anti-Russia protesters at the airport. On Saturday, meanwhile, the first Georgian Airways plane arrived in Moscow, with its pilot saying on social media that “direct flights are profitable and the right thing to…

WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday announced sanctions on more than 300 targets as Group of Seven leaders met in Japan, aiming to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and intensifying one of the harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented. The move, which targets Russia’s sanctions evasion, future energy revenues and military-industrial supply chains, marks the latest sanctions and export controls targeting Moscow, which have already hit thousands of targets and imposed steep curbs on Russia. “Today’s actions will…

MOSCOW – Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor who in March prepared a warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges, Russian media reported on Friday. The British prosecutor, Karim Khan, was added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, state-owned news agency TASS said, citing the ministry’s database. Moscow opened cases against Khan and three ICC judges on March 20, days after the order for Putin’s arrest. The ICC and its office…

New developments: Air raid alerts were declared throughout Ukraine early Friday, with some areas reporting explosions. The U.S. overcounted the total of U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine by about $3 billion, a senior defense official and a military official said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba discussed “ways to stop Russian aggression” in talks with Chinese envoy Li Hui, Ukraine said. Air raid alerts were declared across Ukraine early on Friday, local time, with some areas reporting explosions. Ukraine’s military…

The office of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined the measures in a statement on Thursday, voicing hopes that new restrictions would curtail Russia’s multi-billion dollar diamond trade and a range of other exports, including copper, aluminum and nickel.  “Alongside these trade measures, the government is also preparing new individual designations – targeting an additional 86 people and companies from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s military industrial complex, and those involved in key revenue streams such as energy, metals, and shipping,” the…

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia fired 30 cruise missiles against different parts of Ukraine early Thursday in the latest nighttime test of Ukrainian air defenses, which shot down 29 of them, officials said. One person was killed and two were wounded by a Russian missile that got through and struck an industrial building in the southern region of Odesa, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the region’s military administration. Amid the recently intensified Russian air assaults, China said its special envoy met…

Vladimir Putin had a massive underground lair built beneath his secret palace by the Black Sea, according to plans posted online by the engineering firm behind the project. The Russian president was said to have ordered the construction of tunnels, which lie about 50 metres below the surface, out of concern for his survival in the event of a revolution or war. The underground complex was built before Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014, when Putin was still cultivating…

A cache of classified US documents online last month has shed light on American intelligence gathered about other countries. The documents consist of an elaborate timeline, dozens of military acronyms, including some items marked “top secret,” which give a detailed picture of the conflict in Ukraine, raging since February 24, 2022. “Top secret” is the highest level of classification. Some documents also contain the marking NOFORN, or “Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals,” meaning they cannot be shared with foreign intelligence…

  LONDON – Ukraine has rejected a Chinese suggestion to consider an immediate ceasefire in the country’s war with Russia. In a statement issued on Wednesday after a day of closed-door meetings with Ambassador Li Hui, China’s special mediator in the conflict, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “Ukraine does not accept any proposals that would involve the loss of its territories or the freezing of the conflict.” The failed diplomatic effort comes just as the war is growing in…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched cruise missiles at Ukraine’s capital and the Odesa region early Thursday, officials said, in an escalation ahead of a much-anticipated counteroffensive. Most of the missiles were shot down, and one death was reported from the attacks. Loud explosions were heard in Kyiv, and falling debris caused a fire in a non-residential building. It was the ninth Russian air raid that targeted the capital this month, a clear escalation after weeks of lull and ahead…

  EU member countries are preparing to help their companies to exit Russia, amid a growing risk they will be taxed to fund Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war. Source: This is stated in the proposals for the 11th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, referenced by EUobserver, as reported by European Pravda Details: The proposals include new special permits for financial transactions and legal services designed to help European companies exit Russia. But under the new proposal, EU countries…

Natalia Arno, the U.S.-based chief of the Free Russia Foundation, says there are suspicions she may have been poisoned, “possibly by some nerve agent,” after falling ill during a recent trip to Europe, amid a report that at least two other Kremlin critics have experienced similar episodes since 2020. Arno, who previously kept silent about what she experienced during a trip to Prague in early May, wrote about the ordeal on Facebook on May 16 after the website Agentsvo published…