#russia-ukraine-war

#russia-ukraine-war

A well-known academic with Russia's Hermitage Museum, Butyagin had worked on archaeological digs in the Myrmekion site, located in Crimea, both before and after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. The work helped discover ancient artefacts, including Alexander the Great-era coins.

We want to show people something of the physical reality of the conflict. We hope to bring it home to them that this is a war going on here and now in Europe, and that we ignore it at our peril.

Both the CIA and MI6 had amassed troves of deep intelligence about the impending war and were issuing dire notices to their allies about the inevitability of an invasion by Putin. Those warnings were all but ignored in key European capitals. Why? In large part because US and British intelligence were considered untrustworthy after the extraordinary intelligence debacle in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war. According to our data, there are currently over 1,780 citizens from the African continent fighting in the Russian army. The African soldiers hail from 36 countries and are part of a trend that is crucial to counter Ukraine's military on the front lines.

Around 9pm the evening before, I had received a message from a colleague at another news outlet. It was an unequivocal warning from an intelligence source that the war would start that night. We discussed it among the Guardian's Ukraine reporting team and international editors. My colleague Emma Graham-Harrison, who was on an overnight train from Kyiv towards the frontline city of Mariupol, decided she would get off halfway, in the middle of the night, and beg a spot on the first train heading back to Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin had launched 297 drones and nearly 50 missiles on Sunday, in the latest in a wave of overnight strikes. He said a significant proportion had been shot down as he called on allies to strengthen the country's air defences against enemy attacks. The Ukrainian president said: Moscow continues to invest in strikes more than in diplomacy.

Four years ago Russian troops were a few kilometres away from Leleka maternity hospital, beyond a pine forest and a lake. Vladimir Putin's plan to conquer Ukraine wrapping it into a new Russian empire began just down the road. They were meant to seize Kyiv and topple Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pro-western government. To the Kremlin's surprise, Ukraine fought back. A Russian armoured column was destroyed in nearby Bucha.

Speaking ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion, Johnson suggested the West could 'flip a switch' in Putin's thinking by demonstrating military commitment, emphasizing the significance of timely action for global stability. He said the UK and its allies were working within a 'coalition of the willing' framework, but argued deployment should not be delayed until after a peace agreement, inviting readers to consider their role in shaping future decisions.

Anastasia Kucherova, a Russian living in Milan, voiced her opposition to Russia's war against Ukraine with a highly symbolic, if anonymous, act: Carrying the Ukraine team placard during the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Games. Kucherova was swathed in a long, hooded silver puffer coat, her eyes covered with dark glasses like all the other placard bearers for the 92 nations competing in the Olympics. The Ukraine sign was illuminated for the crowd to read.

They were part of a relentless aerial campaign in which Moscow launched dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, even as Ukraine's air defences shot the majority down. In similar recent multi-vector strikes, Russia has deployed upwards of 70 missiles and more than 400 attack drones in a single night - a tactic designed purely to overwhelm air defences and terrorise population centres.

Germany's economic losses from years of overlapping crises have been mounting to nearly 1 trillion, according to estimates by the German Economic Institute (IW). The employer-aligned research institute said the inflation-adjusted shortfall in gross domestic product since 2020 has totaled about 940 billion (about $1.1 trillion) over six years, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the effects of Russia's war against Ukraine, and confrontational US policy.

A top Russian military official has been taken to hospital after being shot in Moscow, state media reported. Lt Gen Vladimir Alekseyev was shot several times on the stairwell of his apartment on Friday by an unknown gunman in the north-west of the city and remains in critical condition, according to early reports. Alekseyev is a deputy director of Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, a unit in the defence ministry known for organising covert operations abroad, including assassinations, sabotage and espionage.

Thanks for joining as as we look at the latest on Russia's war in Ukraine. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are due to meet in Abu Dhabi as Russia ramps up drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy grid. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the strikes show Moscow is "betting on war," while talks remain stuck over territory in eastern Ukraine, particularly the Donbas. Stick with us for the latest updates on Ukraine.

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UNESCO expressed "serious concern" about recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities "that have caused damage to civilian infrastructures, including heritage sites" in Odesa, Lviv, and Kyiv.

Wadephul said speaking in Latvia that what was seen during the peace talks in UAE is "Russia's stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue." "And if there is no flexibility here, I fear that the negotiations may still take a long time or may not be successful at this stage," he said. He added, "Our commitment to diplomacy does not weaken our determination to support Ukraine."

Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's power grid, generating facilities, and heating infrastructure, in efforts to disrupt electricity, heat, and water services - especially in winter. Clearly, Russia is targeting Ukraine's civilian population. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, recently told that Kyiv, with a population of 3.6 million people, has only about half the electricity that it needs as