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.

Russia told Ukraine it is ready to halt military operations “in a moment” if Kyiv meets a list of conditions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week.

He said Russia’s demands were “an ultimatum” which he is not prepared to engage with, instead he called on Mr Putin to be open to dialogue. He said he was open to “discuss and compromise” on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk. “The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” he said, adding that he did not want Ukraine to be a country “begging (for) something on its knees”.

A close-up view of Putin's face from the side as he gazes into the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 2, 2022. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/ ...

Markus, whose research investigates what Russia’s oligarchs want and how they try to influence the government, told Recode that part of the reason they haven’t pushed back often against their government is that the existing global financial playground lets them keep so much capital offshore. “Over the last few years, Putin has become increasingly distant from the old so-called inner circle and the Russian elite in general.” “So if Sergey Naryshkin is that frightened of Putin, seemingly that distanced from him, there’s very little chance for those businessmen to simply walk in and stop him.” “[The sanctions] may indeed cause grumbling and dissatisfaction and fear in the political system,” he continued. Evgeny Lebedev, who owns British newspapers the Independent and the Evening Standard, wrote an op-ed in the Standard imploring Putin to stop the war. Lebedev holds dual Russian and British citizenship; he’s also a member of the British peerage. Meanwhile, a new kind of oligarch gained power: the siloviki, which mainly describes businessmen who have connections to the Federal Security Service, the police, and the military. That’s why the limited number who have spoken up so far about the war are ones who hold foreign passports or reside outside of Russia. Some oligarchs, and even their children, have called for peace — but without explicitly condemning Putin. In 2003, Putin arrested and jailed Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who owned a 78 percent stake in Russia’s massive Yukos oil company and was at the time Russia’s wealthiest man. Mikhail Fridman, founder of Alfa Bank, called the invasion a tragedy during a press conference. These punishing sanctions have so far prompted only muted comments about Ukraine from a few oligarchs, many of whom are based outside of Russia. That changed their entire approach to politics.

VENGEFUL Vladimir Putin hit back at the West's crippling sanctions yesterday by threatening to send global food prices soaring and imposing his own export ...

If this could be scaled up it could make a big difference for cutting the climate impact of food production. How is an older person on a low fixed income supposed to make up the difference?” But one thing is for sure – if they are, consumers will see through it pretty quickly and in some cases, vote with their feet.” Further pump price rises are likely in coming days as a result of crude oil hitting $139 a barrel earlier this week – the highest it has been in 14 years. In a Kremlin address he said: “Russia and [its ally] Belarus are some of the biggest suppliers of mineral fertilisers. That is expected to soar to 91 percent in April if no intervention comes. So the best thing for dealing with the cost of living, I mean big picture, is to have a strong economy, good high-wage, high-skilled jobs.” The UAE and neighbouring Saudi Arabia are among the few nations in Opec with spare capacity that could increase output and potentially offset supply losses. Governments need to consider what measures they can take to ensure price inflation doesn’t put good food beyond the reach of even more people.” Wheat rose to £300 a ton from £215 in a few days. Russia is the UK’s 19th largest trading partner, with deals totalling £15.9billion over a year. The Russian President warned of rocketing costs if economic pressure intensifies on his country as UK experts claimed inflation here could hit 9.5 percent.

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.

Carl von Clausewitz famously asserted that war is the continuation of politics by other means. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the continuation of ...

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. The billion-ruble question is: How does a guy who has spent his life battling against feelings of shame and humiliation react as large parts of the world rightly shame and humiliate him? My fear is that Putin knows only one way to deal with humiliation, which is by blaming others and lashing out. Putin brought this humiliation on himself and on his country. It would destroy the bloated and fragile personal and national identity that he has been building all these years. This grand strategy seemed to be fully vindicated that year with the successful invasion of Crimea. Having reclaimed this land, Russia could strut like a great power once again. How does a guy who has spent his life trying to appear powerful and farseeing react as he increasingly appears weak and shortsighted? He reclaimed parts of the Soviet legacy as something to be proud of. By parading as a powerful figure on the world stage, Putin could make Russians feel proud and part of something big. Carl von Clausewitz famously asserted that war is the continuation of politics by other means. The war in Ukraine is not primarily about land; it’s primarily about status. Maybe we should see this invasion as a rabid form of identity politics.

A key reason for the decision by the White House to issue its chilling warning that the Kremlin could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in ...

We should be in no doubt that chemical weapons form part of the Kremlin’s thinking.” It is believed its chemical arsenal also includes limited quantities of blistering agents such as mustard gas. The Syrians would routinely blame jihadist groups whenever there was a chemical attack.

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.

Talks between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers produced no apparent progress towards a ceasefire, but the West has so far been reluctant to get ...

"It's agonising. We may have a choice of confronting Mr Putin now or later. "This is about ultimately toppling the government in Ukraine and replacing it. It's absolutely agonising. "But then I think this will just start again. "The difficulty is that there is a line beyond which, quite frankly, the UK and NATO would be deemed to be in conflict - direct conflict - with Russia. "We can handle it in economically - it will be tough - but that price would be very low and a tiny price compared to the loss of freedom if we do not act now." He has been so steeped in his own propaganda. He said: "First of all I would declare economic war against Russia. I think that is what is needed now to stop the oil and revenue to completely cut Russia off the international economic system. "I think we should follow the developments very closely and if Russia continues to target civilians as we have seen, I would consider that crossing a red line." "I think in order to demoralise the population, I think as a false flag operation he will use chemical weapons. "I think Ukraine is going to fight, unfortunately to the last drop of Ukrainian blood.

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”.

Boris Johnson has accused Vladimir Putin of a "cynical" attempt to manufacture a pretext for using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"In the Black Sea and Azov operation zones, the occupiers continue to isolate the combat area. And now it is said openly that the aim is to destroy Russian statehood.” The Wall Street powerhouse has maintained a presence in Russia in recent years, but the country doesn’t amount to a meaningful portion of its global banking business. The result of the shelling killed three villagers, including a minor boy,” he said. Duda, for his part, said "it is obvious to us that in Ukraine Russians are committing war crimes." We are here today to restate that commitment," the vice-president added. "These sanctions would have been imposed in any case," Putin told a meeting of the Russian government. The World Bank has warned Russia is “mighty close” to default on sovereign debt. They had made their way to the crossing in the snow, carrying just a small rucksack each, their birth certificates – and a laminated document giving Cope legal guardianship of them for one year. Shares in it were transferred to a former employee at LetterOne, the investment company he co- founded, the filings show. Attacks on Mariupol have been relentlessand several attempts to evacuate civilians and deliver aid have fallen through, with NGOs warning a “humanitarian catastrophe” is imminent. She said the IMF had no programme or policy relations with Russia at this point and its Moscow office was not operating.

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

In response, Russia has called on the US to stop the "extremist activities" of parent company Meta.

☝️We demand that 🇺🇸 authorities stop the extremist activities of— Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) @Meta, take measures to bring the perpetrators to justice. "We demand that US authorities stop the extremist activities of Meta, take measures to bring the perpetrators to justice," Russia's embassy in the US tweeted. The owner of Facebook and Instagram will allow users in some countries to call for violence against Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers.

Western intelligence officials had predicted victory for Russia in less than a week after it invaded Ukraine. But more than a fortnight later Moscow and ...

Such a stalemate, and the huge impact of western sanctions imposed on Russia in recent weeks, has prompted western officials to speculate that Putin himself could be a casualty of a failed invasion. The alliance has been at pains to demonstrate that it is not directly engaged in the conflict. This was followed by his decision to put Russia’s strategic nuclear forces on a higher level of readiness. If Russia were to attack and capture the port of Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city and long identified by Nato as a potential Russian target, it could cut off a rump Ukraine from the sea, crippling a crucial export route. But some form of settlement could tempt both sides if the war became a quagmire where both made little progress and suffered mounting losses. Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff, Ihor Zhovkva, said this week Kyiv was “ready for a diplomatic solution”, provided Russia withdrew its troops. They have mooted Lviv, close to the Polish border, as a possible new capital for a rump Ukrainian state. “If he tries to enforce such a puppet regime by keeping Russian forces in Ukraine, it will be a long, bloody, drawn-out mess through which Russia will continue to suffer grievously.” Dmytro Kuleba, his Ukrainian counterpart, said seeking ceasefire promises from Lavrov was impossible as “there are other decision makers for this matter in Russia”. But Putin will pay a far higher price than he initially calculated, both in terms of military losses and the reputation of his armed forces, say analysts. Talks between Ukraine and Russia since the invasion began have mainly focused on specific humanitarian issues such as evacuation corridors from besieged cities or short-term ceasefires. Ukraine is mounting a stronger than anticipated defence and western countries are supporting it with arms supplies.

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.

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.

As first high-level diplomatic meeting between combatants continues, EU leaders prepare to meet at Versailles.

In an update on Thursday, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the large Russian column north-west of Kyiv had made “little progress in over a week” and suffers continued losses at the hands of Ukraine forces. The MoD added that there had been a noticeable drop in Russian air activity in recent days, probably due to the “unexpected effectiveness” of Ukraine’s forces. Recounting a phone call he had with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Kuleba tweeted that he had “underscored the historic importance of granting EU membership to Ukraine which now fights for itself and entire Europe”. The day after the attack, the International Red Cross reported that conditions in Mariupol were ‘“increasingly dire and desperate”, as hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water, heat or electricity. He also claimed without evidence said the Mariupol children’s hospital had been seized by far right “Ukrainian radicals” who were using it as a base and denied that any patients were present despite photographs from the aftermath showing pregnant women and children at the site. Talks got under way near Antalya amid an outpouring of international outrage over Russia’s attack on a children’s hospital in the strategically-important city of Mariupol that killed at least three, including one child.