Page 128 - Russia

At least 21 injured in third night of Russian air attacks against Ukraine

A third night of Russian air attacks targeted Ukraine's southern cities, including the port city of Odesa, and wounded at least 21 people, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. At least 19 people were injured in Mykolaiv, a southern city close to the Black Sea, the region's Governor Vitalii Kim said in a statement on Telegram. Russian strikes destroyed several floors of a three-story building and caused a fire that affected an area of 450 square meters (4,800 square feet) and burned for hours. Kim said two people were hospitalised, including a child. In the port city of Odesa, at least two were injured following a Russian air attack that damaged buildings in the city center and caused a fire affecting an area of 300 square meters (3200 square feet), said Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper. The attacks come one day after an intense Russian bombardment using drones and missiles damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa, including grain and oil terminals. The attack destroyed at least 60,000

Explained: The Crimea bridge attack and its significance

Russian authorities reported that a section of 19km long Kerch Bridge linking Russia and Crimea was destroyed by an explosion, resulting in two fatalities and a child injured.

What has become of Western carmakers' Russia assets after Ukraine invasion

Here is an overview of the fate of foreign carmakers' assets in Russia

Russia preparing for attacks on civilian ships in Black Sea: White House

Days after Russia suspended participation in a wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries around the world, the White House on Wednesday warned that the Russian military is preparing for possible attacks on civilian shipping vessels in the Black Sea. Since leaving the Black Sea Grain Deal this week, Russia has already struck Ukraine's grain export ports in Odesa with missile and drone attacks. Some 60,000 tons of grain were destroyed in the attacks. "Our information indicates that Russia laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports," White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said in a statement. "We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks." The Russian Defense Ministry has declared international waters in northwestern and southeastern parts of the Black Sea "temporarily dangerous" for shipping. That followed Ukraine's .

Video appears to show Prigozhin for first time since short-lived mutiny

A video released Wednesday appears to show Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time since he led a short-lived rebellion last month, and he is seen telling his troops they will spend some time in Belarus training its military before deploying to Africa. Messaging app channels linked to Prigozhin's Wagner private military company said he spoke at a field camp in Belarus and ran a blurry video purported to show him there, his silhouette seen against the sky at dusk. His gravelly voice was clearly distinguishable. "Welcome guys! I am happy to greet you all. Welcome to the Belarusian land!" the video showed him saying. "We fought with dignity! We have done a lot for Russia." Prigozhin's mutiny, which posed the most serious threat to President Vladimir Putin's 23-year rule, was billed by the mercenary chief as being aimed at ousting Russia's top military leaders whom he accused of incompetence. Prigozhin's criticism of the conduct of the fighting in Ukraine was repea

Upper house of Russian parliament gives nod to ban on gender changes

The upper house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill outlawing gender-affirming procedures, sending the measure to President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law. The move extends the Kremlin's drive to protect what it views as the country's traditional values. The bill, which already was approved in the lower house, bans any medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person, as well as changing one's gender in official documents and public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies. It also annuls marriages in which one person has changed gender and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. Lawmakers portray the measure as protecting Russia from the Western anti-family ideology, with some describing gender transitioning as pure satanism. Russia's crackdown on LGBTQ+ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on traditional family values, supported by the

Putin to skip summit next month because of ICC arrest warrant: South Africa

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS economic summit in Johannesburg next month, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement Wednesday. The decision means South Africa will not face the dilemma of whether it should carry out an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the Russian leader. South Africa is a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC and would have been obliged under that to arrest Putin, although the country had given strong hints that it would have likely not executed the arrest warrant. But Wednesday's announcement allows South Africa to avoid the problem and comes after Ramaphosa spoke with Putin by telephone in recent days. The decision for Putin not to attend was by mutual agreement," Ramaphosa's office said. Russia will instead be represented at the Aug 22-24 summit by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The BRICS economic bloc is made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South Africa

Chechen leader's nephew made head of seized Danone subsidiary in Russia

According to a decree signed by Putin on Sunday, the Russian state had taken control of Danone's Russian subsidiary along with beer company Carlsberg's stake in a brewer

India's imports of sunflower oil to fall as Black Sea grain deal expires

The drop in sunflower oil imports would force the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils to increase purchases of palm oil and soyoil to compensate

Russia launches intense attacks across Ukraine, targets southern port city

Russia launched an intense series of night-time air attacks sending drones and missiles toward places across Ukraine, and targeting the southern port city of Odesa for a second night in a row, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials in Crimea said that over 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at a military facility. The fire also caused the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of the region, which was annexed in 2014. He did not specific a cause for the fire at the facility in Kirovsky district, which came two days after an attack on a bridge linking Russia to the peninsula that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine. A difficult night of air attacks for all of Ukraine, said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration in a statement on Telegram. Ukrainian authorities reported more drones and missiles sent against more parts of Ukraine than in recent ...

Russia bans iPhones for government officials amid espionage fears: Report

The trade ministry has prohibited all use of iPhones and other Apple devices for work purposes, starting this week

Russia targets Ukraine's Odesa, day after halting grain export deal

Ukrainian forces shot down scores of exploding drones and six cruise missiles from a pre-dawn Russian attack on the port of Odesa on Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities said, a day after Moscow broke off a deal that had allowed Kyiv to ship vital grain supplies from the Black Sea city during the war. The Russians first sought to wear down Ukraine's air defenses with the drones and then targeted Odesa with six Kalibr cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military's Southern Command said. All six missiles and 25 drones were shot down by air defences in the Odesa region and other areas in the south but their debris and shock waves damaged some port facilities and a few residential buildings, injuring an elderly man at his home, officials said. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said the attack showed the Kremlin is ready to endanger the lives of millions of people around the world who need Ukrainian grain exports. Hunger is a growing threat in Africa, the Middle East and Asi

India may prefer Middle East crude as Russian oil becomes costly: Report

India and China have been the two dominant buyers of Russian crude since the invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago after the war prompted other countries to shun the OPEC+ producer

Russia halts grain deal as bridge to Crimea struck, claims Ukraine strike

The grain deal was hailed as preventing a global food emergency when it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last year, halting a de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia

What is the Black Sea grain deal that is at risk of falling apart?

Russia and Ukraine are among the world's top grain exporters, and their conflict sent food prices surging around the world

Traffic on key bridge connecting Crimea to Russia's mainland halted

Traffic on the key bridge connecting Crimea to Russia's mainland has been halted amid reports of explosions. The governor of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, announced the closure early Monday but did not specify the reason. News reports said local residents heard explosions before dawn, but there was no confirmation. The 19-kilometre bridge that was opened in 2018 is the main land connection between Russia and the Crimean peninsula.

China intensifies joint military exercises with Russia amid US sanctions

China and the armed forces of Vladimir Putin conducted six joint military exercises together last year, the most in data going back two decades

Offered Wagner mercenaries option to keep operating as a single unit: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under the same officer when he met with them five days after the group's abortive revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. In remarks to the business daily Kommersant published Friday, Putin described a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. He said that he talked to them about their actions in Ukraine, their mutiny which he denounced as an act of treason in a televised address to the nation and offered them various alternatives for future service. Putin told Kommersant that one option would see Wagner keep serving under the same commander who goes by the call name Gray Hair, a man who has led the military company's operations in Ukraine for the past 16 months. All of them could have gathered in one .

Putin says Wagner mercenary group 'doesn't exist' as it has no legal basis

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Wagner private military company simply doesn't exist as a legal entity, in comments adding to the series of often bizarre twists that have followed the group's abortive revolt last month the most serious threat to Putin's 23-year rule amid the war in Ukraine. There is no law on private military organisations. It simply doesn't exist, Putin told a Russian newspaper late Thursday, referring to the Wagner group. Putin recounted to Kommersant his own version of a Kremlin event attended by 35 Wagner commanders, including the group's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29. That meeting came just five days after Prigozhin and his troops staged a stunning but short-lived rebellion against Moscow authorities. The meeting was revealed earlier this week by a Kremlin official. Putin said that at the talks, Wagner rejected an offer to keep its troops in Ukraine, where they have played key battlefield roles, under the leadership of their direct ...

Russia detained several senior army officers in wake of mutiny: Report

General dismissed after saying military brass betrayed soldiers fighting in Ukraine