Russia-Ukraine Putin news

Facebook and Instagram posts calling for Vladimir Putin's death - and violence against Russian soldiers - are going to be temporarily allowed in some ...

"These are temporary measures designed to preserve voice and expression for people who are facing invasion. The message went on to explain that the rules are being changed because "Russian soldiers" is being used as a proxy for the military in relation to this invasion. Meta, which owns both social networks, has reportedly sent emails to moderators that explain the company is making "allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules".

The remarks from the country's president came as figures showed a plunge in shipping imports as more multinational corporations pull out in response to ...

The Russian leader also noted that his country was a major producer of agricultural fertilisers and said there would be inevitable "negative consequences" for world food markets in response to western action. Mr Putin said that countries taking "unfriendly steps" towards Russia were "calling on their citizens to pull in their belts, dress warmer, and point to the sanctions that they are imposing against us as the reason for their worsening situation". The remarks came as new figures showed US inflation at a fresh four-decade high, a situation that looks likely to worsen as a consequence of the war and sanctions, including America's plan to cut off Russian oil imports. "There are some questions, problems and difficulties but in the past we have overcome them and we will overcome them now," the Russian president said during a televised government meeting. But Mr Putin said the sanctions would result in tougher times for consumers in the nations imposing them and that Russia would solve its problems and emerge stronger. Measures announced by western countries include a freeze on the Russian central bank's reserves and the cutting off of major Russian lenders from the SWIFT global messaging system that enables payments, as well as personal sanctions against a string of oligarchs.

It comes as Western officials fear Moscow could deploy chemical weapons in Ukraine.

The previous day they destroyed hospital number nine by artillery shelling. “This is the third hospital that they have destroyed in the city. She said “Russia’s false claims” about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine could be an “an obvious ploy” by the Kremlin to try to “justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine”.

Russia bombed a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, city officials said Wednesday. Ukraine's President Zelensky said the attack ...

Russia also has a track record of falsely accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating," Dalton said. Ukraine labs: Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, US-funded biolabs were established in Ukraine — partly to secure old weapons left behind in the former Soviet republics. The bill also includes provisions for sanctions enforcement. The restaurant is temporarily closed, according to its Facebook page. The report noted that “bias-related signs were affixed to the property.” "Calling us Nazis when we are from Jewish descent is just ridiculous," she said. It’s a clear pattern,” she said. Russia's claims discussed at the UN: The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting Friday at the request of Russia about the allegation the US is developing chemical weapons in Ukraine. The US' UN Mission spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said the move was "exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack." The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting Friday at the request of Russia about an allegation the United States is developing chemical weapons in Ukraine. "We’ve been repeatedly convinced: If you want to know Russia's plans, look at what Russia accuses others of," he said. ... What else have you prepared for us? Some context: The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting Friday at the request of Russia about its false claim the US is developing chemical weapons in Ukraine. The US' UN Mission spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said the move was "exactly the kind of false flag effort we have warned Russia might initiate to justify a biological or chemical weapons attack."

Sky News speaks to military expert and analyst Professor Michael Clarke about the attacks on hospitals in the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Zhytomyr.

Read more: Are war crimes being committed and could Putin stand trial? They've also mobilised a whole community of people all over the world who are fascinated by the forensics of this and they have learned how to do it well. And his methods are to grind on with this offensive even though the cost - in terms of civilians and his reputation - is getting higher. They want to break the city down so they can walk in with their tanks and their armour and claim it as their own. The evidence is that it makes people just as angry and determined to fight back as it makes others want to give up. It's an attempt to create terror in the population and to break civilian morale.

On February 24, Vladimir Putin launched the Russian military on what he termed a “special military operation,” his euphemism for a massive invasion of ...

If the military costs pile up on the Russian side, the Kremlin retains the option — though Putin would not want to exercise it — of calling it quits and going home, perhaps somehow proclaiming victory. For now, the question of Russia prevailing remains an “if,” not a “when.” If the Ukrainians hold out, one outcome could be stalemate, with continued fighting but neither side able to dislodge the other. Germany will hit the NATO-agreed goal of 2% of gross domestic product devoted to defense in its next budget (as opposed to years later) and add a one-time plus-up of 100 billion euros for military needs, more than twice what the country spent on defense in 2021. The Russian military’s operations plan to date has been described by one knowledgeable analyst as “ bizarre” and not exploiting Russian advantages. The ruble crashed, and the central bank, anticipating the coming spike in inflation, doubled its key lending rate to 20%. On March 8, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would ban the import of oil, natural gas, and coal from Russia. The Ukrainians repulsed the effort to make a quick grab of Kyiv and fought fiercely in defense of Chernihiv and Kharkiv. Russian units in the north appear to be preparing to attack Kyiv. On March 8, the Pentagon estimated, albeit with “low confidence,” that the war had claimed the lives of 2,000 to 4,000 Russians soldiers. NATO has deployed thousands of troops to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. The United States, European Union, Britain, Canada, and others, including Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, slapped major financial and other sanctions on Russia, including on its central bank. As of March 9, the United Nations estimated that more than 500 civilians have been killed (likely a vast undercount) and some 2.1 million refugees have fled the country, numbers that grow by the day, particularly as the Russian military conducts indiscriminate artillery and rocket attacks on major cities. The key question: Will Putin agree to a real negotiation, or will he continue to press on with his war of choice? The fighting could continue for weeks or longer, taking more lives on top of the thousands already lost.

Today's main developments: Latest round of Russia and Ukraine talks fail to yield progress, UK sanctions seven more Russian oligarchs including Abramovich; ...

Ukraine's president says Russia is a 'terrorist state' while Karhkiv comes under relentless bombardment.

Maxar said its pictures showed that armoured units had fanned out through towns and forests in the area, with artillery pieces moved into potential firing positions. The world must acknowledge it,” he said, and also accused Russian forces of attacking a convoy of humanitarian aid for the besieged city of Mariupol. The veterans minister, Leo Docherty, called on ex-service personnel not to join the war in Ukraine and instead help Ukrainians from home, either through charity and volunteering. “The world must know it. A total of 48 schools have been destroyed in Kharkiv, its mayor has said, as the city comes under relentless bombardment. Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda said there was a “flavour of disappointment” to the decision by the EU leaders at a summit in Versailles not to offer Ukraine a fast track to EU candidate status in their response to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s request.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said sanctions imposed against Russia would rebound against the West, including in the form of higher food and energy ...

It was trying to halt foreign trade, he said. “They announced that they are closing the import of Russian oil to the American market. President Vladimir Putin says sanctions on Russia would lead to higher food and energy prices in the West.

Amid the shock and horror of Russia's Ukraine invasion, many have sought to blame everything solely on Vladimir Putin. As international audiences try to ...

On the contrary, rising costs imposed by the international community will only encourage more Russians to back the war effort and persuade them that the very existence of an independent Ukraine is part of a vast anti-Russian conspiracy. If the democratic world is serious about stopping Putin, it must abandon any hope of domestic opposition to the war. The chilling truth is that tens of millions of Russians readily accept the Orwellian lies promoted by Kremlin TV and share the sentiments expressed by the country’s pro-war cheerleaders. Indeed, most Russians seem more concerned by the departure of international consumer brands from the country than by the war crimes being committed by their army in neighboring Ukraine. Many Russians simply refuse to acknowledge the atrocities that have accompanied Putin’s invasion. Over the past eight years, the Kremlin has skillfully amplified these deep-seated prejudices and resentments. This nationwide Russian survey was conducted between February 28 and March 3 when the reality of the war was already apparent. Meanwhile, domestic opposition to the invasion has been underwhelming. Ordinary Russians have been queuing up to publicly endorse the war effort. According to state pollster VTsIOM, his rating jumped six percent in the week ending February 27 to reach 70%. Fellow polling agency FOM recorded a seven percent increase over the same period, bringing approval of Putin to 71%. The Russian ruler’s well-documented Ukraine obsession has been instrumental in sparking the largest European conflict since World War II, but his decision to invade Ukraine was no aberration. However, talk of “Mad Vlad” is a comforting myth that disguises a far darker reality.

Venezuela says Putin is a victim, China blames the US, and a South African pundit calls out western hypocrisy.

“Unfortunately, cruelty, barbarity and injustice aren’t unique to Putin and the Russians,” the Brazilian journalist concluded. Unequivocally: yes,” the author argued, before also condemning Putin’s “unjustifiable and illegal onslaught on a sovereign state”. US planes killed them all,” Boechat tweeted, recalling how he had stumbled over body parts while reporting from the devastated Iraqi city six months after the war there. A 21st-century Stalin. A total fucking dickhead. The Chinese academic Wang Shuo saw it as “a US-created crisis”. “The strategic selfishness of the US has brought more disasters to the world,” Wang grumbled on Wednesday in the state-run Global Times, blaming Washington’s “selfish and short-sighted action” for plunging Ukraine into war. A bloodstained aggressor.

The battle for Kyiv has begun, analysts say, after Russia launched two attacks to the west and east of the Ukrainian capital in an attempt to push into the ...

How could we look the Ukrainian people in the eye and calmly give away a part of sovereign independent Ukraine. How will we look our children in the eyes? The city took advantage of a lull in the shelling on Wednesday to hurriedly bury 70 people. Nationwide, thousands are thought to have been killed, both civilians and soldiers, in the two weeks of fighting since Putin's forces invaded. Putin's troops are placing military equipment on farms and amid residential buildings in the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine's military said. One man was hoisted out of a damaged structure on a makeshift stretcher, while another was pushed toward Kyiv in a shopping cart. Battle plans broadcast on TV by Belarus ally Alexander Lukashenko in the opening days of the war seemed to suggest that Moldova could be targeted. Shelling in Kharkiv overnight killed four people, two of them children, with a five-year-old girl injured and rushed to hospital. Troops were also warning civilians not to stray beyond the outskirts of the city, because Russian vehicles had been spotted just a few miles away. Some 35,000 people were able to flee cities under attack by Russian forces on Wednesday, he said, including from the Kyiv suburbs and the eastern city of Sumy. On Wednesday, a Russian airstrike targeted a children's hospital in Mariupol in the south, wounding at least 17 people. A convoy was trying to reach the city today to bring supplies, but there was no word on whether it had managed to get through by early afternoon. Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry, said Ukrainian forces had also managed to stop the attack in Irpin and were counter-attacking on Thursday morning with battles underway.