🔺Putin is in a hurry to end the war in Ukraine but his demoralised army is scrambling for reserves
The Russo-Ukrainian war has reached a crucial stage. Both sides are gearing up for a series of battles that will decide whether Ukraine is to be left partitioned, and whether Russia can rescue some semblance of victory from an apparent defeat.
The longer this war goes on the greater the suffering but also the higher the stakes. Moscow is feeling the most pressure. With the retreat of Russian units from around Kyiv and other northern cities, the cruel rampages of their troops have been exposed, leading to even tighter sanctions.
Its demoralised and depleted army is scrambling around for reserves while being pushed to achieve quick victories in the Donbas region that borders Russia and contains the separatist enclaves of Donetsk and Luhansk. It was their supposed vulnerability to Ukrainian forces that provided Vladimir Putin with his original pretext for this war.
READ MORE
The Russo-Ukrainian war has reached a crucial stage. Both sides are gearing up for a series of battles that will decide whether Ukraine is to be left partitioned, and whether Russia can rescue some semblance of victory from an apparent defeat.
The longer this war goes on the greater the suffering but also the higher the stakes. Moscow is feeling the most pressure. With the retreat of Russian units from around Kyiv and other northern cities, the cruel rampages of their troops have been exposed, leading to even tighter sanctions.
Its demoralised and depleted army is scrambling around for reserves while being pushed to achieve quick victories in the Donbas region that borders Russia and contains the separatist enclaves of Donetsk and Luhansk. It was their supposed vulnerability to Ukrainian forces that provided Vladimir Putin with his original pretext for this war.
READ MORE
👍4
🔺All of Europe is at risk from Russia, says Zelensky
European democracies have a “moral duty” to throw their weight behind Ukraine because Russia’s aggression threatens the whole continent, President Zelensky has said.
The Ukrainian leader used his late-night address to say Russia’s war “was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone” and that the “entire European project is a target for Russia”.
“That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace,” he added. “This is, in fact, a strategy of defence for every civilised state.”
Zelensky’s remarks came a few hours after a meeting with Boris Johnson in Kyiv, at which the prime minister promised new lethal aid for Ukraine including armoured vehicles and anti-ship missiles.
READ MORE
European democracies have a “moral duty” to throw their weight behind Ukraine because Russia’s aggression threatens the whole continent, President Zelensky has said.
The Ukrainian leader used his late-night address to say Russia’s war “was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone” and that the “entire European project is a target for Russia”.
“That is why it is not just the moral duty of all democracies, all the forces of Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace,” he added. “This is, in fact, a strategy of defence for every civilised state.”
Zelensky’s remarks came a few hours after a meeting with Boris Johnson in Kyiv, at which the prime minister promised new lethal aid for Ukraine including armoured vehicles and anti-ship missiles.
READ MORE
😢7👍1
🔺Russia lines up its tanks before launching fierce assault in east
President Putin has all of Europe in his sights, President Zelensky has warned as Ukraine braces for a renewed Russian assault on eastern terrain more favourable to Moscow.
In a televised address, he described the war as “the catastrophe that will inevitably hit everyone because Russian aggression was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone . . . The whole European project is a target for Russia.”
Hundreds of thousands of civilians continued to flee the east of the country by road yesterday after a devastating Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk railway station killed at least 52 civilians and halted all trains.
Officials have urged civilians to take their last chance to leave the southeastern Donbas region as Russian forces mass there, having withdrawn from northern Ukraine after weeks of sustained losses and stiff resistance.
READ MORE
President Putin has all of Europe in his sights, President Zelensky has warned as Ukraine braces for a renewed Russian assault on eastern terrain more favourable to Moscow.
In a televised address, he described the war as “the catastrophe that will inevitably hit everyone because Russian aggression was not intended to be limited to Ukraine alone . . . The whole European project is a target for Russia.”
Hundreds of thousands of civilians continued to flee the east of the country by road yesterday after a devastating Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk railway station killed at least 52 civilians and halted all trains.
Officials have urged civilians to take their last chance to leave the southeastern Donbas region as Russian forces mass there, having withdrawn from northern Ukraine after weeks of sustained losses and stiff resistance.
READ MORE
👍2😢2
🔺Retreating Russians ‘left booby-trapped washing machines and cars’
Russian troops have hidden bombs in washing machines and the boots of cars as they retreated from around Kyiv, Ukraine has claimed as it uncovers further evidence of atrocities.
Denys Monastyrsky, the Ukrainian interior minister, said the Russian troops had targeted the homes of states employees, hiding explosive booby-traps in their vehicles and homes.
“Wherever the occupiers stayed overnight, they would set up tripwires — both at the doorstep and by the fences. Our people are now also finding explosives in houses and apartments where Ukrainian police officers, rescuers, and military servicemen live,” he told Ukrainian television.
Another mass grave, containing 50 bodies, was found at a petrol station in Buzova, a town about 20 miles from Kyiv.
“More than 50 people were killed on the road from Berezivka to Dmitrivka. They were shot at point-blank range,” said Lyudmila Zakabluk, a resident interviewed on Ukrainian television.
READ MORE
Russian troops have hidden bombs in washing machines and the boots of cars as they retreated from around Kyiv, Ukraine has claimed as it uncovers further evidence of atrocities.
Denys Monastyrsky, the Ukrainian interior minister, said the Russian troops had targeted the homes of states employees, hiding explosive booby-traps in their vehicles and homes.
“Wherever the occupiers stayed overnight, they would set up tripwires — both at the doorstep and by the fences. Our people are now also finding explosives in houses and apartments where Ukrainian police officers, rescuers, and military servicemen live,” he told Ukrainian television.
Another mass grave, containing 50 bodies, was found at a petrol station in Buzova, a town about 20 miles from Kyiv.
“More than 50 people were killed on the road from Berezivka to Dmitrivka. They were shot at point-blank range,” said Lyudmila Zakabluk, a resident interviewed on Ukrainian television.
READ MORE
👎2🤬1😢1
🔺Putin ‘purges’ 150 FSB agents in response to Russia’s botched war with Ukraine
A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department responsible for Ukraine was sent to prison.
In a sign of President Putin’s fury over the failures of the invasion, about 150 Federal Security Bureau (FSB) officers have been dismissed, including some who have been arrested.
All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up in 1998, when Putin was director of the FSB to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of keeping them within Russia’s orbit.
The service’s former chief, Sergei Beseda, 68, has been sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow after he was placed under house arrest last month. The prison was used by the NKVD, the KGB’s predecessor, for interrogation and torture during Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s.
READ MORE
A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department responsible for Ukraine was sent to prison.
In a sign of President Putin’s fury over the failures of the invasion, about 150 Federal Security Bureau (FSB) officers have been dismissed, including some who have been arrested.
All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up in 1998, when Putin was director of the FSB to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim of keeping them within Russia’s orbit.
The service’s former chief, Sergei Beseda, 68, has been sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow after he was placed under house arrest last month. The prison was used by the NKVD, the KGB’s predecessor, for interrogation and torture during Stalin’s Great Purge of the 1930s.
READ MORE
🤔1
🔺UK ‘working urgently’ to establish if Russian chemical weapons used on Mariupol
The British government is investigating unconfirmed reports that Russian forces in Ukraine have released chemical weapons in Mariupol after a spokesman for pro-Moscow forces threatened their use to “smoke out” the besieged city’s defenders.
“Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account,” Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, wrote on Twitter. “We are working urgently with partners to verify details.”
Meanwhile in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, local officials said that tanks and armoured vehicles were massing as Russia continues to refocus its efforts there. The UK has warned that fighting is likely to intensify over the next two or three weeks.
READ MORE
The British government is investigating unconfirmed reports that Russian forces in Ukraine have released chemical weapons in Mariupol after a spokesman for pro-Moscow forces threatened their use to “smoke out” the besieged city’s defenders.
“Any use of such weapons would be a callous escalation in this conflict and we will hold Putin and his regime to account,” Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, wrote on Twitter. “We are working urgently with partners to verify details.”
Meanwhile in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, local officials said that tanks and armoured vehicles were massing as Russia continues to refocus its efforts there. The UK has warned that fighting is likely to intensify over the next two or three weeks.
READ MORE
👍8👎1
🔺Viktor Medvedchuk: Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine finally captured
President Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine was captured last night.
President Zelensky shared a photograph of Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch known as the “Grey Cardinal” who has pulled the strings behind pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine for two decades, handcuffed and forlorn in a Ukrainian military uniform.
Medvedchuk had been held under house arrest since last year on treason charges over accusations of attempting to steal natural resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and of handing Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow.
However, he was thought to have fled after Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Zelensky has offered to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia.
“I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this guy of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity,” Zelensky said in a video address on the messaging service Telegram.
READ MORE
President Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine was captured last night.
President Zelensky shared a photograph of Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch known as the “Grey Cardinal” who has pulled the strings behind pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine for two decades, handcuffed and forlorn in a Ukrainian military uniform.
Medvedchuk had been held under house arrest since last year on treason charges over accusations of attempting to steal natural resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and of handing Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow.
However, he was thought to have fled after Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Zelensky has offered to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia.
“I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this guy of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity,” Zelensky said in a video address on the messaging service Telegram.
READ MORE
👍9😢1
🔺Finland and Sweden will make Nato decision ‘in weeks, not months’
Finland will decide whether to apply for Nato membership “within weeks, not months”, its prime minister said today, with Sweden expected to follow suit in short order.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced the two Nordic states to reconsider their traditions of neutrality, as public opinion in both countries has swung in favour of joining the alliance over the past few months.
In the latest poll, released on Monday, Finnish voters backed Nato membership by a margin of six to one. A separate survey published last week found that just over half of Swedes wanted to enter the defensive alliance.
Polls suggest this level of support would be stronger if Finland were also to apply for membership.
The Nato question is particularly acute for Finland, which was occupied by Russia from 1809 to 1917 and invaded by the Soviet Union during the Winter War of 1939-1940.
READ MORE
Finland will decide whether to apply for Nato membership “within weeks, not months”, its prime minister said today, with Sweden expected to follow suit in short order.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced the two Nordic states to reconsider their traditions of neutrality, as public opinion in both countries has swung in favour of joining the alliance over the past few months.
In the latest poll, released on Monday, Finnish voters backed Nato membership by a margin of six to one. A separate survey published last week found that just over half of Swedes wanted to enter the defensive alliance.
Polls suggest this level of support would be stronger if Finland were also to apply for membership.
The Nato question is particularly acute for Finland, which was occupied by Russia from 1809 to 1917 and invaded by the Soviet Union during the Winter War of 1939-1940.
READ MORE
👍9🤯2
🔺Russia’s Black Sea flagship burns ‘after missile strike’
The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet has been seriously damaged after Ukraine claimed to have hit it with missiles, in a blow to President Putin’s navy.
The Kremlin confirmed early this morning that the Moskva, a Slava-class cruiser with approximately 510 sailors, had sustained damage and its entire crew had been evacuated off the port of Odesa.
Moscow claimed the Moskva, armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, torpedoes and naval guns, had suffered an “ammunition explosion”.
But the governor of Odesa claimed the ship had been hit by two Neptune anti-ship missiles launched by Ukrainian naval forces last night. The battery was hidden in or around the Ukrainian port city, which has previously been bombarded from the sea by Russia.
The Russian defence ministry did not confirm the attack and issued a terse statement this morning suggesting there had been no casualties.
READ MORE
The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet has been seriously damaged after Ukraine claimed to have hit it with missiles, in a blow to President Putin’s navy.
The Kremlin confirmed early this morning that the Moskva, a Slava-class cruiser with approximately 510 sailors, had sustained damage and its entire crew had been evacuated off the port of Odesa.
Moscow claimed the Moskva, armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, torpedoes and naval guns, had suffered an “ammunition explosion”.
But the governor of Odesa claimed the ship had been hit by two Neptune anti-ship missiles launched by Ukrainian naval forces last night. The battery was hidden in or around the Ukrainian port city, which has previously been bombarded from the sea by Russia.
The Russian defence ministry did not confirm the attack and issued a terse statement this morning suggesting there had been no casualties.
READ MORE
🔥7👍1
🔺British soldier Aiden Aslin handcuffed and beaten up days after Russian capture
A British fighter in Ukraine has been pictured handcuffed and beaten up two days after he was captured by Russian forces.
Aiden Aslin, 28, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was photographed and videoed sitting in an office in an unknown location with a swollen eyelid and a gash on his forehead.
In footage released of his “interrogation”, Aslin, who appears to be exhausted, is asked if he killed people and replies: “I don’t know, I didn’t fight.”
Aslin, who has dual British and Ukrainian nationality, was fighting in Mariupol with 36th Marine Brigade of Ukraine until his unit ran out of food and ammunition and surrendered on Tuesday.
In his last recorded phone call to a friend yesterday he said he feared he would be used by Russians for propaganda purposes.
READ MORE
A British fighter in Ukraine has been pictured handcuffed and beaten up two days after he was captured by Russian forces.
Aiden Aslin, 28, from Newark, Nottinghamshire, was photographed and videoed sitting in an office in an unknown location with a swollen eyelid and a gash on his forehead.
In footage released of his “interrogation”, Aslin, who appears to be exhausted, is asked if he killed people and replies: “I don’t know, I didn’t fight.”
Aslin, who has dual British and Ukrainian nationality, was fighting in Mariupol with 36th Marine Brigade of Ukraine until his unit ran out of food and ammunition and surrendered on Tuesday.
In his last recorded phone call to a friend yesterday he said he feared he would be used by Russians for propaganda purposes.
READ MORE
Thetimes
Latest news & breaking headlines
The latest breaking UK, US, world, business and sport news from The Times and The Sunday Times. Go beyond today's headlines with in-depth analysis and comment.
😢4👍3
🔺Russia’s Black Sea flagship sinks after ‘direct hits’
The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has sunk in what western officials have described as a “massive blow” to the Kremlin.
Moskva, a Slava-class warship that commanded about 30 vessels in the region, is thought to be the first cruiser lost in conflict since the sinking of the General Belgrano in the Falklands war in 1982 and the first such loss of a Russian vessel since the Second World War.
Kyiv said that the vessel took two direct hits from Ukrainian long-range Neptune anti-ship missiles and was left burning on the water on Wednesday night. Hours later, the Kremlin said the ship’s crew of 510 evacuated, though it claimed that a fire on deck had caused an “ammunition explosion”.
Bob Seely, a Tory MP and Russia expert who visited the Odesa region yesterday, said he was shown images confirming the strike. “It was a Ukrainian attack, it’s just the Russians don’t want to admit it,” he said.
READ MORE
The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has sunk in what western officials have described as a “massive blow” to the Kremlin.
Moskva, a Slava-class warship that commanded about 30 vessels in the region, is thought to be the first cruiser lost in conflict since the sinking of the General Belgrano in the Falklands war in 1982 and the first such loss of a Russian vessel since the Second World War.
Kyiv said that the vessel took two direct hits from Ukrainian long-range Neptune anti-ship missiles and was left burning on the water on Wednesday night. Hours later, the Kremlin said the ship’s crew of 510 evacuated, though it claimed that a fire on deck had caused an “ammunition explosion”.
Bob Seely, a Tory MP and Russia expert who visited the Odesa region yesterday, said he was shown images confirming the strike. “It was a Ukrainian attack, it’s just the Russians don’t want to admit it,” he said.
READ MORE
🔥5👍3
🔺 Russia humiliated as Ukraine celebrates destruction of Black Sea flagship
Russia’s Black Sea flagship has sunk and its captain has been reported killed in a national humiliation for President Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
It has proved another propaganda coup for Kyiv, which has celebrated the ship’s demise with internet memes and a new postage stamp.
The Moskva was named after the Russian capital and therefore carries a special symbolism. Its destruction will weigh heavily on the Russian population, military sources said.
“This ship is supposed to be a killer ship, carrying helicopters and so on — it’s not just a ship, it was the flagship of the fleet,” Captain Natalia Humeniuk of the Ukraine navy told The Times in Odesa.
READ MORE
Russia’s Black Sea flagship has sunk and its captain has been reported killed in a national humiliation for President Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
It has proved another propaganda coup for Kyiv, which has celebrated the ship’s demise with internet memes and a new postage stamp.
The Moskva was named after the Russian capital and therefore carries a special symbolism. Its destruction will weigh heavily on the Russian population, military sources said.
“This ship is supposed to be a killer ship, carrying helicopters and so on — it’s not just a ship, it was the flagship of the fleet,” Captain Natalia Humeniuk of the Ukraine navy told The Times in Odesa.
READ MORE
❤10👍5
🔺SAS troops ‘are training local forces in Ukraine’
SAS troops have trained local forces in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times.
Officers from two battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training from serving British special forces, one last week and the other the week before.
Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use NLAWs, British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.
One Ukrainian special forces commander, who goes by the military nickname “Skiff”, said the 112th battalion, to which his unit was attached, had undergone training last week. The account was confirmed by his senior commander.
READ MORE
SAS troops have trained local forces in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times.
Officers from two battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training from serving British special forces, one last week and the other the week before.
Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use NLAWs, British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.
One Ukrainian special forces commander, who goes by the military nickname “Skiff”, said the 112th battalion, to which his unit was attached, had undergone training last week. The account was confirmed by his senior commander.
READ MORE
👍8❤3
🔺Lessons from history: how Ukraine will be rebuilt
Every day, Maria Avdeeva climbs down 14 flights of stairs to document the ruins of Kharkiv. None of the lifts in her apartment block work because of the threat of airstrikes.
“I count myself lucky,” she said. “There are elderly people who are trapped in high-rises because they cannot use the stairs.”
Avdeeva has lived in Ukraine’s second city all her life. She is research director at a think tank, but since February has been broadcasting the destruction caused by the war to 86,000 Twitter followers.
“No public transport works. People are living in the underground subway shelters. The only shops open are supermarkets and pharmacies,” she said. Her former haunts have become ghostly wrecks.
Long after this war has ended Ukraine will be left with huge scars on its national infrastructure.
READ MORE
Every day, Maria Avdeeva climbs down 14 flights of stairs to document the ruins of Kharkiv. None of the lifts in her apartment block work because of the threat of airstrikes.
“I count myself lucky,” she said. “There are elderly people who are trapped in high-rises because they cannot use the stairs.”
Avdeeva has lived in Ukraine’s second city all her life. She is research director at a think tank, but since February has been broadcasting the destruction caused by the war to 86,000 Twitter followers.
“No public transport works. People are living in the underground subway shelters. The only shops open are supermarkets and pharmacies,” she said. Her former haunts have become ghostly wrecks.
Long after this war has ended Ukraine will be left with huge scars on its national infrastructure.
READ MORE
👍3
🔺Village hero who put down his bottle and became a spy for the resistance
A skinny figure with a shock of grey hair and a soft voice, Igor Mykolaichuk was a familiar sight in the village. He spent most of his time pottering about his ramshackle house and the surrounding forest, often in a state of mild befuddlement because of the bottle he kept close at hand.
He knew the streets, the houses, the woodland paths. A long time ago, he had been a soldier in the Soviet army. That is what made him such a perfect Ukrainian spy.
When the Russians arrived — and almost everyone in the village fled — Mykolaichuk, 59, put down his bottle and began collecting information about troop movements, feeding it by phone to a local territorial defence contact, who passed it on to the Ukrainian military command.
He was part of a largely unknown network of ordinary Ukrainians who stayed behind under Russian occupation, risking their lives to spy on the Kremlin’s troops.
READ MORE
A skinny figure with a shock of grey hair and a soft voice, Igor Mykolaichuk was a familiar sight in the village. He spent most of his time pottering about his ramshackle house and the surrounding forest, often in a state of mild befuddlement because of the bottle he kept close at hand.
He knew the streets, the houses, the woodland paths. A long time ago, he had been a soldier in the Soviet army. That is what made him such a perfect Ukrainian spy.
When the Russians arrived — and almost everyone in the village fled — Mykolaichuk, 59, put down his bottle and began collecting information about troop movements, feeding it by phone to a local territorial defence contact, who passed it on to the Ukrainian military command.
He was part of a largely unknown network of ordinary Ukrainians who stayed behind under Russian occupation, risking their lives to spy on the Kremlin’s troops.
READ MORE
👍5👏4
🔺Captured British fighter Shaun Pinner paraded on Russian TV
A second Briton captured fighting in Ukraine has been paraded by gleeful Russia media.
The state television channel NTV showed video footage of a shattered-looking Shaun Pinner, 48, and said that he had been serving in Ukraine’s 36th Marine brigade “which surrendered several days ago”.
Aiden Aslin, a Briton who was fighting with Pinner in the besieged port of Mariupol, had been shown handcuffed and bruised in a clip released last week.
Only Pinner’s head and shoulders, in a long-sleeved blue top, could be seen in the new video, where he appeared to be seated. He spoke clearly and without emotion. No obvious injuries were visible.
READ MORE
A second Briton captured fighting in Ukraine has been paraded by gleeful Russia media.
The state television channel NTV showed video footage of a shattered-looking Shaun Pinner, 48, and said that he had been serving in Ukraine’s 36th Marine brigade “which surrendered several days ago”.
Aiden Aslin, a Briton who was fighting with Pinner in the besieged port of Mariupol, had been shown handcuffed and bruised in a clip released last week.
Only Pinner’s head and shoulders, in a long-sleeved blue top, could be seen in the new video, where he appeared to be seated. He spoke clearly and without emotion. No obvious injuries were visible.
READ MORE
😢6👍4
🔺German state leader Manuela Schwesig ‘colluded with Russians on gas pipeline’
A regional leader in Germany colluded with Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed energy company, to promote the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline before it was cancelled, leaked documents show.
Manuela Schwesig, chief minister of the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is the latest member of Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) to come under pressure over her links to the Kremlin-backed project. Critics have described her as “Putin’s puppet”.
Schwesig, 47, is accused of setting up an environmental foundation that was secretly designed to lobby for the Russian-backed gas pipeline, deflect it from criticism and circumvent US sanctions.
READ MORE
A regional leader in Germany colluded with Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed energy company, to promote the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline before it was cancelled, leaked documents show.
Manuela Schwesig, chief minister of the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is the latest member of Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) to come under pressure over her links to the Kremlin-backed project. Critics have described her as “Putin’s puppet”.
Schwesig, 47, is accused of setting up an environmental foundation that was secretly designed to lobby for the Russian-backed gas pipeline, deflect it from criticism and circumvent US sanctions.
READ MORE
🤬6😱1
🔺Stolen AirPods give away Russian retreat positions
A Ukrainian man has been able to track the redeployment of Russian troops to the east of the country via a pair of wireless earbuds looted from his home near Kyiv.
Vitaliy Semenets used the “Find my” feature available on Apple products to follow the progress of the stolen Airpod via Bluetooth technology.
The Airpods were taken from Hostomel, 17 miles from Kyiv, towards the beginning of the invasion when Russian forces were attempting to capture the capital.
As Russian troops beat a hasty retreat from Kyiv this month, Semenets traced the devices as they crossed the border into Belarus, eventually ending up near the city of Gomel.
READ MORE
A Ukrainian man has been able to track the redeployment of Russian troops to the east of the country via a pair of wireless earbuds looted from his home near Kyiv.
Vitaliy Semenets used the “Find my” feature available on Apple products to follow the progress of the stolen Airpod via Bluetooth technology.
The Airpods were taken from Hostomel, 17 miles from Kyiv, towards the beginning of the invasion when Russian forces were attempting to capture the capital.
As Russian troops beat a hasty retreat from Kyiv this month, Semenets traced the devices as they crossed the border into Belarus, eventually ending up near the city of Gomel.
READ MORE
👏9👍1
🔺Zelensky says Russian invasion of Ukraine has moved into the next phase
President Zelensky of Ukraine said last night that the long-expected second phase of Russia’s war on his country had begun.
Russian tanks and artillery, which had been gathering since their withdrawal from Kyiv and northern Ukraine last month, opened fire from the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east. The Ukrainian authorities said their troops had managed to “hold the line”, though they admitted the loss of the small town of Kreminna in Luhansk.
“The Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” Zelensky said in a video address to the Ukrainian people. “A significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive. No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”
READ MORE
President Zelensky of Ukraine said last night that the long-expected second phase of Russia’s war on his country had begun.
Russian tanks and artillery, which had been gathering since their withdrawal from Kyiv and northern Ukraine last month, opened fire from the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east. The Ukrainian authorities said their troops had managed to “hold the line”, though they admitted the loss of the small town of Kreminna in Luhansk.
“The Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” Zelensky said in a video address to the Ukrainian people. “A significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive. No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight. We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”
READ MORE
🤬5😢2
🔺China warns EU a long war in Ukraine could lead to its break-up
China’s state media has warned the European Union that an extended war in Ukraine could lead to its break-up, while assuring Moscow of Beijing’s unwavering support.
“Is Europe prepared to see a ten-year war on its own continent? Imagine what would happen to Europe: It would turn into a bleeding decade,” an editorial in the state-controlled Global Times argued, citing remarks by President Zelensky that the war could drag on for years.
It accused Washington and Nato of prolonging the war by supplying Ukraine with economic and military aid, “cheering Ukraine on to fight a ten-year war”.
It added: “By then, Europe, being entangled in a war, will completely lose its security autonomy and become fully reliant on the US umbrella. It will have to confront a ten-year crisis on energy, food, refugees and inflation. Social turmoil will surface. The bloc may even split on the issue,” the party newspaper warned.
READ MORE
China’s state media has warned the European Union that an extended war in Ukraine could lead to its break-up, while assuring Moscow of Beijing’s unwavering support.
“Is Europe prepared to see a ten-year war on its own continent? Imagine what would happen to Europe: It would turn into a bleeding decade,” an editorial in the state-controlled Global Times argued, citing remarks by President Zelensky that the war could drag on for years.
It accused Washington and Nato of prolonging the war by supplying Ukraine with economic and military aid, “cheering Ukraine on to fight a ten-year war”.
It added: “By then, Europe, being entangled in a war, will completely lose its security autonomy and become fully reliant on the US umbrella. It will have to confront a ten-year crisis on energy, food, refugees and inflation. Social turmoil will surface. The bloc may even split on the issue,” the party newspaper warned.
READ MORE
👍2