World

We are given strict instructions before entering the commuter town which has thwarted the Russian entry into the Ukrainian capital. “There may be shelling. You must stay with your army guards at all the times. If there is an attack, hit the ground.” Irpin is still far from safe. The little satellite town that’s refused

Demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine have accidentally shot down their own aircraft, sabotaged their own kit, and refused to carry out orders, a British spy chief will reveal. Sir Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ, is set to use a rare public speech to say it increasingly looks like Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “has massively

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia’s signals it will pull back troops from some areas “do not drown out the ruptures of Russian shells”. In a new video – the first time he has spoken about the peace talks that ended with a hint of some possible progress ahead – he said that only

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed scepticism about peace talks with Russia, saying signals it will pull back troops from some areas “do not drown out the ruptures of Russian shells”. It comes as Russia started withdrawing some forces from around Kyiv, according to CNN. In a new video – the first time he has

Ukrainian soldiers have described the dangers of using a mobile phone at the frontline in the conflict with Russian backed-separatists in recent years. “When you hear a drone, you have about five seconds to leave your position and run. The rocket will fly in that fast.” New evidence suggests the mobile networks are now being weaponised

Roman Abramovich has been seen at peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul. The Russian oligarch, who was allegedly poisoned while attending earlier talks, was seen standing in the background as Turkey’s president greeted delegations from Ukraine and Russia. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the aims of the talks, which Ukrainian TV said

A US official has cast doubt on claims that sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators were victims of a poisoning earlier this month. Three men including Mr Abramovich suffered symptoms including red eyes, constant and painful tearing and peeling skin on their hands and faces, a source confirmed to Sky News. Mr

The Ukrainian city of Mariupol is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe with 160,000 civilians trapped, its mayor has said. Vadym Boychenko said the southern port city must be entirely evacuated and that 26 buses were waiting to begin transporting people away from the area. But he said Russian forces had not agreed to

The near silence and utter wasteland left behind by this Russian invasion is crushingly complete and takes your breath away. The cultural centre of Byshiv village is levelled. There’s a small pile of Ukrainian poetry books which someone has stacked together. Macron warns Biden over regime change confusion – live updates on Ukraine This was

The battlefield in northern Ukraine remains “largely static” but Russian troops are concentrating efforts on the “encirclement” of Ukrainian forces in the east, the Ministry of Defence has said. In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said local counterattacks have hampered Russian attempts to reorganise its forces. It said: “Russian forces appear to be concentrating

Russia claims it has launched missile strikes on a Ukrainian military infrastructure from the Black Sea in the northwestern city of Zhytomyr – around 96 miles from the capital of Kyiv. A crew of a small missile ship off the Black Sea Fleet launched four Kalibr cruise missiles at military facilities belonging to the Ukrainian

It’s taken ten days for the world to learn if anyone survived the bombing of a theatre in Mariupol. Images filmed from inside the building show people covered in dust, clearly in shock, but alive. Only now have those mobile phone pictures made it to the outside world. On 16 March a theatre sheltering more

Those who’ve made it out alive from the city of Chernihiv in north Ukraine call it “hell” – and fear it’s fast turning into another Mariupol by the advancing Russian troops. We witnessed Chernihiv being brutally cut off – from all humanitarian aid and from the outside world. The city has been bombarded for weeks

President Joe Biden visits Poland later today – home to more than two million Ukrainian refugees – after earlier warning that NATO would respond “in kind” if Russia uses chemical weapons. The refugee crisis will be one of the key issues as he meets Poland’s president, while he will also visit US troops stationed in

For a man who spent five years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Anoosheh Ashoori laughs a lot. Snatched off the streets of Iran while visiting his sick mother in 2017, the British-Iranian father was interrogated and held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. But, last week, almost out of the blue, he and

Britain and its Western allies will increase the economic pressure on Russia and are looking to see if more can be done to “shorten” the war in Ukraine such as preventing President Vladimir Putin from accessing his gold reserves, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. Speaking ahead of a NATO meeting in Brussels, he said

As the US president left the White House for Europe he had a stark answer for one of so many troubling questions. “How concerned are you about the threat of chemical warfare right now?” “I think it’s a real threat”, the president replied. NATO issues nuclear war warning to Moscow – live updates Despite denying

Some 100,000 people are stuck in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol with no food or water, Ukraine’s president has said. In a speech overnight, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “As of today, there are about 100,000 people in the city, in inhumane conditions, in a complete blockade. “No food, no water, no medicine. “Under constant shelling, under

Investigators looking into the China Eastern Airlines crash face a “very high level” of difficulty due to the severe damage to the aircraft, an official has said. Authorities do not have a clear assessment of the cause of Monday’s crash, said Zhu Tao, director of aviation safety at the Civil Aviation Administration of China. He

Russian forces attempting to encircle Kyiv have partially occupied three north-western suburbs, as Ukrainian forces continued to defend the besieged city of Mariupol. The Ukrainian army said in the early hours of Tuesday that it had forced Russian troops out of Makariv – a strategically important Kyiv suburb – after a fierce battle, retaking control