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Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin visits occupied Kherson region; US journalist appears in Moscow court | Russia
Putin attends military meeting in Kherson Russian president Vladimir Putin has attended a military command meeting in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region which is partly held by Russia, the Kremlin has said. Putin heard reports from commanders of the airborne forces and the “Dnieper” army group as well as other senior officers who briefed him on the situation in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, both of which Moscow has proclaimed part of Russia, Reuters reported. Russian troops retreated from Kherson, the regional capital, last November, and have been reinforcing their positions on the opposite bank of the Dnipro river in anticipation of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Kremlin did not say when…
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Finland joins NATO, doubling alliance’s border with Russia in blow to Putin
CNN — Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday, marking a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe that adds some 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) to the alliance’s frontier with Russia. The Nordic nation’s accession was sealed during a formal ceremony at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg were on hand as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, established Finland’s accession. “Finland has today become a member of the defense alliance NATO. The era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end. A…
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Petraeus: US would destroy Russia’s troops if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine | Ukraine
The US and its allies would damage Russia’s troops and gear in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black Sea fleet – if Russian president Vladimir Putin utilizes nuclear weapons in the place, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday. Petraeus claimed that he experienced not spoken to nationwide security adviser Jake Sullivan on the probable US reaction to nuclear escalation from Russia, which administration officers have claimed has been frequently communicated to Moscow. He told ABC Information: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by foremost a Nato – a collective – effort and hard work that would acquire out…
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Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Ukraine declares full control of Lyman in latest setback for Putin | Ukraine
Ukraine declares full control of Lyman Ukraine is in full control of the eastern logistics hub of Lyman, Kyiv’s most significant battlefield gain in weeks, which a senior official said could provide a staging post for further gains to the east, Reuters reports. “As of 1230 (0930 GMT), Lyman is fully cleared,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a short video clip on his Telegram channel. There was no comment from the Russian armed forces on Sunday on the status of the city. The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday it was pulling troops out of the area “in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement”. The latest…
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Russia-Ukraine war live: 23 dead in shelling of civilian convoy near Zaporizhzhia; Putin to announce formal annexations | Ukraine
Ukrainian president condemns ‘terrorist state’ rocket attack Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a response on Telegram to the earlier attack on the convoy in Zaporizhzhia. He wrote: The terrorist state fires rockets at the civilian population in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. It strikes Ukrainian regions from rocket launchers and drones. The occupiers fired 16 rockets in one morning in Zaporizhzhia district alone. Only complete terrorists can do this, who should have no place in the civilised world. The enemy rages and seeks revenge for our steadfastness and his failures. It cynically destroys peaceful Ukrainians, because it lost everything human a long time ago. Bloodthirsty scum. You will definitely answer…
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Russia-Ukraine war live: Kremlin-backed officials ask Putin to annex regions; EU announces new sanctions on Russia | Ukraine
EU proposes new sanctions package to ‘make Kremlin pay’ The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced a fresh round of proposed sanctions on Russia. The new package of Russian sanctions is designed “to make the Kremlin pay” for escalating the conflict in Ukraine through mobilisation and “sham referenda that are an illegal attempt to grab land and change international borders by force”, she said. The proposed eighth sanctions package includes further import bans on Russian products, expected to deprive Moscow of an additional €7bn in revenues. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images The EU will also extend export bans…