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🔺Kremlin aide who picked Putin for power flees Russia
A Kremlin powerbroker who plucked Vladimir Putin from obscurity and secured his path to the presidency has become the highest-ranking official to flee Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
Anatoly Chubais, 66, was said to have given his opposition to the war as his reason for leaving the country. One of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s, Chubais has held senior business and political roles under Putin, most recently taking the job of special envoy to international organisations since 2020.
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A Kremlin powerbroker who plucked Vladimir Putin from obscurity and secured his path to the presidency has become the highest-ranking official to flee Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
Anatoly Chubais, 66, was said to have given his opposition to the war as his reason for leaving the country. One of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin’s economic reforms of the 1990s, Chubais has held senior business and political roles under Putin, most recently taking the job of special envoy to international organisations since 2020.
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🔺The experts were wrong: Russia hasn’t won, and it’s not going to
The evidence that Ukraine is heading for victory is abundant, says Eliot A Cohen, but it still needs our help.
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The evidence that Ukraine is heading for victory is abundant, says Eliot A Cohen, but it still needs our help.
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🔺Demoralised Russians could be encircled near Kyiv, says MoD
Russian troops could be encircled in areas near Kyiv and Ukrainian forces have “probably” retaken a key gateway town to the capital, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The intelligence briefing adds further fuel to reports of a floundering Russian invasion after Nato estimated that Moscow has lost as much as a fifth of its combat forces a month into the war.
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Russian troops could be encircled in areas near Kyiv and Ukrainian forces have “probably” retaken a key gateway town to the capital, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The intelligence briefing adds further fuel to reports of a floundering Russian invasion after Nato estimated that Moscow has lost as much as a fifth of its combat forces a month into the war.
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🔺Soldiers in Putin’s own army refuse to join fight
Soldiers with the National Guard, often known as Putin’s private army, have refused to fight in Ukraine, a human rights lawyer has said.
A dozen troops argued that their work contracts only applied to Russian territory and that there was no legal basis to deploy them to Ukraine, said Pavel Chikov, chairman of Agora, a Russia-based human rights group.
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Soldiers with the National Guard, often known as Putin’s private army, have refused to fight in Ukraine, a human rights lawyer has said.
A dozen troops argued that their work contracts only applied to Russian territory and that there was no legal basis to deploy them to Ukraine, said Pavel Chikov, chairman of Agora, a Russia-based human rights group.
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🔺Russia’s attack on Mariupol theatre ‘left 300 dead’
Ukrainian authorities have said they believe up to 300 people had died in the Russian bombardment of a theatre in Mariupol where up to a thousand civilians were sheltering.
Russian bombs hit the Drama Theatre building last week, despite a large inscription reading “children” being posted outside to make it visible from the air.
“From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” the city council wrote on Telegram today. “Up until the very last moment, one does not want to believe this horror. But the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act says the opposite.”
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Ukrainian authorities have said they believe up to 300 people had died in the Russian bombardment of a theatre in Mariupol where up to a thousand civilians were sheltering.
Russian bombs hit the Drama Theatre building last week, despite a large inscription reading “children” being posted outside to make it visible from the air.
“From eyewitnesses, information is emerging that about 300 people died in the Drama Theatre of Mariupol following strikes by a Russian aircraft,” the city council wrote on Telegram today. “Up until the very last moment, one does not want to believe this horror. But the words of those who were inside the building at the time of this terrorist act says the opposite.”
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🔺Russians ‘retreating’ to eastern Ukraine
Russia has given its strongest indication yet that it will scale back its military ambitions in Ukraine to focus on fighting for control of the east after suffering setbacks across the country.
Moscow said it would “focus our core efforts” to achieve the “main goal, the liberation of Donbas” in the east in an apparent admission that attacking Ukraine on multiple fronts was no longer achievable.
The announcement followed a series of defeats for Russia around Kyiv and came as Ukrainian forces showed they were able to launch counterattacks in the north and south.
In other developments:
• Russia lost its seventh general in combat and one of its colonels was injured by his own troops, it was claimed.
• The mayor of Mariupol said about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike hit a theatre where civilians were sheltering last week.
• Germany plans to stop buying Russian oil almost entirely by the end of the year and to cut its gas imports by 90 per cent over the next two years.
• Britain has issued more than 20,000 visas to Ukrainians, the same as the number of Syrians that resettled after fleeing the civil war.
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Russia has given its strongest indication yet that it will scale back its military ambitions in Ukraine to focus on fighting for control of the east after suffering setbacks across the country.
Moscow said it would “focus our core efforts” to achieve the “main goal, the liberation of Donbas” in the east in an apparent admission that attacking Ukraine on multiple fronts was no longer achievable.
The announcement followed a series of defeats for Russia around Kyiv and came as Ukrainian forces showed they were able to launch counterattacks in the north and south.
In other developments:
• Russia lost its seventh general in combat and one of its colonels was injured by his own troops, it was claimed.
• The mayor of Mariupol said about 300 people died when a Russian airstrike hit a theatre where civilians were sheltering last week.
• Germany plans to stop buying Russian oil almost entirely by the end of the year and to cut its gas imports by 90 per cent over the next two years.
• Britain has issued more than 20,000 visas to Ukrainians, the same as the number of Syrians that resettled after fleeing the civil war.
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Putin cannot stay in power, Joe Biden declares
President Biden has declared that President Putin “cannot remain in power” and accused him of butchering civilians.Speaking in Warsaw on the final day of a Euro
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🔺Ukrainians kill Russian general who said war would take hours
A Russian commander who boasted that the war in Ukraine would be over within hours has become the seventh general to die in the conflict.
Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev was killed in a Ukrainian strike on an airfield near Kherson, a Russian-occupied city to the north of Crimea.
Rezantsev was the commander of the 49th combined arms army of the southern military district, headquartered in Stavropol, a city in the south of Russia about 300 miles from the Ukrainian border.
On the fourth day of the invasion, Rezantsev, 48, told Russian soldiers that their campaign to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine would achieve victory in a matter of hours, according to intercepted communications released by the Ukrainian military.
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A Russian commander who boasted that the war in Ukraine would be over within hours has become the seventh general to die in the conflict.
Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev was killed in a Ukrainian strike on an airfield near Kherson, a Russian-occupied city to the north of Crimea.
Rezantsev was the commander of the 49th combined arms army of the southern military district, headquartered in Stavropol, a city in the south of Russia about 300 miles from the Ukrainian border.
On the fourth day of the invasion, Rezantsev, 48, told Russian soldiers that their campaign to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine would achieve victory in a matter of hours, according to intercepted communications released by the Ukrainian military.
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🔺Outnumbered: why are so many Russian troops being killed in Ukraine?
On the ground in Ukraine, Russia is doing everything it can to hide its dead. Yet over the border in Belarus, morgues in Mazyr are reportedly full of the invaders.
On the Telegram messaging app, Ukrainians are sharing details of the killed or captured, for the benefit of their family members back home. According to President Zelensky, the Russians even brought a “cremation chamber” with them.
One month in, even pro-Kremlin analysts agree the invasion has not gone to plan, prompting Russia to refocus on taking control of the Donbas region.
“It’s actually impossible to be able to assess troop casualties with any high-level accuracy from open source data,” said George Barros, from the Institute for the Study of War. Without proper intelligence, we are flying blind, relying on conflicting claims from both sides.
How many soldiers have really died — and can the numbers tell us how long either side may hold out?
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On the ground in Ukraine, Russia is doing everything it can to hide its dead. Yet over the border in Belarus, morgues in Mazyr are reportedly full of the invaders.
On the Telegram messaging app, Ukrainians are sharing details of the killed or captured, for the benefit of their family members back home. According to President Zelensky, the Russians even brought a “cremation chamber” with them.
One month in, even pro-Kremlin analysts agree the invasion has not gone to plan, prompting Russia to refocus on taking control of the Donbas region.
“It’s actually impossible to be able to assess troop casualties with any high-level accuracy from open source data,” said George Barros, from the Institute for the Study of War. Without proper intelligence, we are flying blind, relying on conflicting claims from both sides.
How many soldiers have really died — and can the numbers tell us how long either side may hold out?
READ MORE
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🔺Ukrainians watch astonished at Groundhog Day blunders
Gazing at the Russian helicopters at the airport opposite her ruined house yesterday, Galina Tatarinova shook her head with astonishment.
“They’re just standing there again,” said the nurse, 44, experiencing an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. “The helicopters are just sitting on the tarmac.”
Tatarinova lives in Chornobayivka, today the most famous village in Ukraine because it has become a byword for breathtaking Russian military incompetence.
Ten times in a row Russian officers have moved troops and heavy equipment on to the airfield to secure it. Ten times in a row Ukrainian artillery landed direct strikes on them, killing two Russian generals in the process.
Russian forces have lost so much military hardware at the airport that Chornobayivka has become a meme on Ukrainian social media.
The village lies just outside Kherson, the only major city to be occupied by Russian forces after more than a month of fighting.
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Gazing at the Russian helicopters at the airport opposite her ruined house yesterday, Galina Tatarinova shook her head with astonishment.
“They’re just standing there again,” said the nurse, 44, experiencing an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. “The helicopters are just sitting on the tarmac.”
Tatarinova lives in Chornobayivka, today the most famous village in Ukraine because it has become a byword for breathtaking Russian military incompetence.
Ten times in a row Russian officers have moved troops and heavy equipment on to the airfield to secure it. Ten times in a row Ukrainian artillery landed direct strikes on them, killing two Russian generals in the process.
Russian forces have lost so much military hardware at the airport that Chornobayivka has become a meme on Ukrainian social media.
The village lies just outside Kherson, the only major city to be occupied by Russian forces after more than a month of fighting.
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🔺Roman Abramovich skirts sanctions and radar in role as the go-between
Last Wednesday morning, a private Hawker 800XP jet took off from Ataturk airport, Istanbul, heading east over the Black Sea and entering Russian airspace above Sochi. Soon after, close to the city of Mineralnye Vody, it turned off its flight tracker.
That evening, the same plane departed Vnukovo airport, Moscow, and returned to Istanbul. Aboard was Roman Abramovich, the oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner who has been acting as President Putin’s unofficial envoy in talks with Ukraine.
In Moscow, Abramovich met Putin, presenting him with a handwritten note from President Zelensky, outlining the terms Ukraine would consider agreeing to in order to end the month-long war. Putin’s initial response was unequivocal: “Tell him I will thrash them.”
Back in Istanbul, Abramovich met Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and member of the Ukrainian parliament, to discuss the meeting with Putin. The Times has learnt that Umerov, a former businessman who speaks both Turkish and Russian, is Kyiv’s representative in the negotiations. The men have held a series of meetings at five-star hotels in Istanbul, co-ordinated by Ibrahim Kalin, President Erdogan’s spokesman.
Despite Putin’s response to Zelensky’s note, progress is reportedly being made in the talks, offering the hope of a shaky peace deal in Ukraine, and a major diplomatic win for Turkey.
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Last Wednesday morning, a private Hawker 800XP jet took off from Ataturk airport, Istanbul, heading east over the Black Sea and entering Russian airspace above Sochi. Soon after, close to the city of Mineralnye Vody, it turned off its flight tracker.
That evening, the same plane departed Vnukovo airport, Moscow, and returned to Istanbul. Aboard was Roman Abramovich, the oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner who has been acting as President Putin’s unofficial envoy in talks with Ukraine.
In Moscow, Abramovich met Putin, presenting him with a handwritten note from President Zelensky, outlining the terms Ukraine would consider agreeing to in order to end the month-long war. Putin’s initial response was unequivocal: “Tell him I will thrash them.”
Back in Istanbul, Abramovich met Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and member of the Ukrainian parliament, to discuss the meeting with Putin. The Times has learnt that Umerov, a former businessman who speaks both Turkish and Russian, is Kyiv’s representative in the negotiations. The men have held a series of meetings at five-star hotels in Istanbul, co-ordinated by Ibrahim Kalin, President Erdogan’s spokesman.
Despite Putin’s response to Zelensky’s note, progress is reportedly being made in the talks, offering the hope of a shaky peace deal in Ukraine, and a major diplomatic win for Turkey.
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Thetimes
Ukraine war: Roman Abramovich skirts sanctions and radar in role as the go-between
Last Wednesday morning, a private Hawker 800XP jet took off from Ataturk airport, Istanbul, heading east over the Black Sea and entering Russian airspace abov
🔺‘Russian soldiers raped me as my terrified son cried’
The woman whose case could be the first heard in a war crimes investigation tells Catherine Philp in Kyiv what happened.
Natalya speaks in a hushed voice, fearful that Oleksii, her young son, will wake and learn the terrible truth. Of why they had to flee the little house by the pine forest that his father built for them. Of what the men with guns did to her while the boy sat sobbing in the darkened boiler room. Of who the man was lying lifeless in their front yard as they left home for the last time.
“He doesn’t understand much,” she explains down the phone line from the western city where mother and son fled three weeks ago from their village near Kyiv. “In the playground here, he goes up to people and says that we had to leave our house because there was war and there were bandits in the house but that Papa stayed behind. He doesn’t know his father is dead.”
Natalya is not her real name and her son is not called Oleksii, but those are the names she has chosen to tell the story of how their lives were turned upside down by the Russian soldiers who invaded their home, stole from them and shot dead her husband before raping her repeatedly over the course of several hours on March 9.
The Ukrainian authorities have reported the systematic sexual assault of women by Russian forces since Kremlin forces invaded last month, adding rape to their cruel and archaic arsenal. Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has vowed to seek justice through the International Criminal Court, following the landmark recognition of rape as a war crime in 2008.
Natalya’s case may be the first test.
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The woman whose case could be the first heard in a war crimes investigation tells Catherine Philp in Kyiv what happened.
Natalya speaks in a hushed voice, fearful that Oleksii, her young son, will wake and learn the terrible truth. Of why they had to flee the little house by the pine forest that his father built for them. Of what the men with guns did to her while the boy sat sobbing in the darkened boiler room. Of who the man was lying lifeless in their front yard as they left home for the last time.
“He doesn’t understand much,” she explains down the phone line from the western city where mother and son fled three weeks ago from their village near Kyiv. “In the playground here, he goes up to people and says that we had to leave our house because there was war and there were bandits in the house but that Papa stayed behind. He doesn’t know his father is dead.”
Natalya is not her real name and her son is not called Oleksii, but those are the names she has chosen to tell the story of how their lives were turned upside down by the Russian soldiers who invaded their home, stole from them and shot dead her husband before raping her repeatedly over the course of several hours on March 9.
The Ukrainian authorities have reported the systematic sexual assault of women by Russian forces since Kremlin forces invaded last month, adding rape to their cruel and archaic arsenal. Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has vowed to seek justice through the International Criminal Court, following the landmark recognition of rape as a war crime in 2008.
Natalya’s case may be the first test.
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Thetimes
‘Russian soldiers raped me as my terrified son cried’
Natalya speaks in a hushed voice, fearful that Oleksii, her young son, will wake and learn the terrible truth. Of why they had to flee the little house by the p
🔺Roman Abramovich back at peace talks after ‘poisoning’
Roman Abramovich is attending peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine today despite claims that he and others were poisoned with a chemical weapon during earlier talks in Kyiv.
The billionaire owner of Chelsea FC was pictured in Istanbul as both sides resumed talks to resolve the month-long conflict, although expectations of an immediate ceasefire were said to be low.
Abramovich and two members of the Ukrainian negotiating team experienced temporary vision loss and painful, peeling skin after a meeting on March 3, according to an investigation published yesterday. The apparent attack was blamed on Russian hardliners opposed to a peace deal with Ukraine.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, has warned those negotiating with Russia not to eat or drink following the reported poisoning.
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Roman Abramovich is attending peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine today despite claims that he and others were poisoned with a chemical weapon during earlier talks in Kyiv.
The billionaire owner of Chelsea FC was pictured in Istanbul as both sides resumed talks to resolve the month-long conflict, although expectations of an immediate ceasefire were said to be low.
Abramovich and two members of the Ukrainian negotiating team experienced temporary vision loss and painful, peeling skin after a meeting on March 3, according to an investigation published yesterday. The apparent attack was blamed on Russian hardliners opposed to a peace deal with Ukraine.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, has warned those negotiating with Russia not to eat or drink following the reported poisoning.
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🔺Positive talks do not silence Russian shells, says Zelensky
President Zelensky has warned that “positive signals” in negotiations with the Kremlin would “not silence the explosion of Russian shells” after the first signs of progress in peace talks.
In a late-night address the Ukrainian leader urged his people to “not lose vigilance” against those “who continue to fight for our destruction” after Kremlin negotiators promised a scale-back in Russian operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Zelensky struck a cautionary tone even as he said that Ukraine would press ahead with negotiations after talks in Turkey produced the first signs of a possible breakthrough.
Other key developments:
• Talks will resume in Istanbul today after Ukraine urged its team not to eat, drink or touch anything in response to reports that Roman Abramovich and others were poisoned.
• A Ukrainian serviceman who told a Russian warship “go f*** yourself” early in the invasion received a bravery medal.
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President Zelensky has warned that “positive signals” in negotiations with the Kremlin would “not silence the explosion of Russian shells” after the first signs of progress in peace talks.
In a late-night address the Ukrainian leader urged his people to “not lose vigilance” against those “who continue to fight for our destruction” after Kremlin negotiators promised a scale-back in Russian operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.
Zelensky struck a cautionary tone even as he said that Ukraine would press ahead with negotiations after talks in Turkey produced the first signs of a possible breakthrough.
Other key developments:
• Talks will resume in Istanbul today after Ukraine urged its team not to eat, drink or touch anything in response to reports that Roman Abramovich and others were poisoned.
• A Ukrainian serviceman who told a Russian warship “go f*** yourself” early in the invasion received a bravery medal.
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🔺Destroyed tanks blow hole in Russian military myth
The destruction of an elite Russian tank detachment in Ukraine is further evidence that the Kremlin lacks the military might it was thought to have before the war, defence experts have said.
Ukrainian forces claimed a decisive victory over the 4th Guard tank division in a small town near the Russian border this week.
The armoured unit, famed for fighting in Stalingrad and liberating Poland from the Nazis in the Second World War, was deployed at the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Before the war, Russia pinned its hopes on deploying advanced T-14 tanks, but these became a “dead end” after sanctions crippled access to the high-end systems the vehicle required.
The T-14 “Armata” main battle tank has long been touted as a game-changer for Moscow, but has notably been absent from Ukraine.
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The destruction of an elite Russian tank detachment in Ukraine is further evidence that the Kremlin lacks the military might it was thought to have before the war, defence experts have said.
Ukrainian forces claimed a decisive victory over the 4th Guard tank division in a small town near the Russian border this week.
The armoured unit, famed for fighting in Stalingrad and liberating Poland from the Nazis in the Second World War, was deployed at the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Before the war, Russia pinned its hopes on deploying advanced T-14 tanks, but these became a “dead end” after sanctions crippled access to the high-end systems the vehicle required.
The T-14 “Armata” main battle tank has long been touted as a game-changer for Moscow, but has notably been absent from Ukraine.
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