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Russian’s Vladimir Putin sparked the wrath of his own people by drafting hundreds of thousands to join the war against Ukraine, and now it seems some of those men were sent not to fight the so-called “enemy” but to “snuff out” any of the Russian troops who dare to retreat. Ukrainian intelligence on Thursday released an audio recording that appears to capture in disturbing detail the mayhem and internal rifts between Russian troops on the battlefield. In the five-minute clip, described as an intercepted phone conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife, the man says he and the other...

Russian President Vladimir Putin scolded the West on Thursday for playing what he cast as a "dangerous, bloody and dirty" geopolitical game, but said the United States and its allies would ultimately have to talk to Russia. "Power over the world is what the so-called West has put on the line in its game - but the game is dangerous, bloody and I would say dirty," Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club. "The sower of the wind, as they say, will reap the storm."

The soldiers, who say they are from Krasnodar in southern Russia, claim that after a month of being transported between different locations, they were dropped off "somewhere in the fields of Ukraine" with no radio, no ammunition and no medicine. They say they do not even know where they are. The men add that they are living in holes dug out of the ground with their bare hands as temperatures drop to zero at night time. Two people are so sick they need to be hospitalised, the men say. "There is no information, no command. We sit like on [tenterhooks],...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine told all residents of the city of Kherson to leave “immediately” Saturday ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops waging a counteroffensive to recapture one of the first urban areas Russia took after invading the country. In a post on the Telegram messaging service, the pro-Kremlin regional administration strongly urged civilians to use boat crossings over a major river to move deeper into Russian-held territory, citing a tense situation on the front and the threat of shelling and alleged plans for “terror attacks” by Kyiv. Kherson has been in Russian hands...

Translated from Russian with Safari TranslateThere's not much chance to take the city. And even if it succeeds, it's not a fact that it will bring great benefitsBakhmut of the Donetsk region is one of the few destinations where the Russian army is still advaning. The report of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says that on October 21, the Russians advanced from the eastern outskirts of the city towards the center. According to Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar, Russian troops were tasked with taking Bakhmut before the end of October. "The area...