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Andrey Kozyrev laid out reasons why Putin may have misjudged his invasion of Ukraine. He says Putin overestimated Russia's military, not realizing its budget had been embezzled. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has stalled amid tough Ukrainian resistance. A former Russian foreign minister claimed that widespread corruption is among the reasons for the Russian military's apparently poor performance in the invasion of Ukraine. Andrey Kozyrev, who served as foreign minister under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, put forward what he said were misjudgments made by President Vladimir Putin in ordering the invasion. In the thread, he claims Putin overestimated the...

Ukraine has paraded captured Russian soldiers in dozens of online videos as Moscow finally admitted its forces have sustained heavy losses after pictures showing bodies of Kremlin fighters emerged. Footage posted online show tied up 'demoralised and exhausted' Russian prisoners of war captured after they failed to break through Ukrainian defences in Kyiv and Kharkiv over the weekend. Several of the videos were posted on a Telegram channel set up on Saturday by Ukraine's Interior Ministry called 'Find Your Own'. Many Russian troops claimed that they believed they were conducting training exercises in the border regions and did not know...

A fearless Ukrainian man removed a land mine from a bridge with his bare hands while casually puffing on a cigarette, startling video shows. The viral footage viewed millions of times since surfacing online Sunday shows the unidentified daredevil springing into action in the southern port city of Berdyansk instead of waiting for Ukrainian bomb disposal units. One 38-second clip shows the courageous man, clad in jeans and a black coat with a cigarette precariously hanging from his lip, gripping the landmine with two hands after apparently finding it in a roadway. He then walks the device – which did...

Russia's central bank said Monday that the Moscow Exchange wouldn't open for stock trading, the latest move to contain the financial fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

Russia’s central bank on Monday more than doubled the country’s key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% as its currency, the ruble, hit a record low against the dollar on the back of a slew of new sanctions and penalties imposed on Russia by Europe and the U.S. for its invasion of Ukraine. The rate hike, the central bank said, “is designed to offset increased risk of ruble depreciation and inflation.” This follows the central bank’s order to halt foreigners’ bids to sell Russian securities in an effort to contain the market fallout. The ruble fell as far as 119.50...

Vast queues have been seen outside cash machines is Russia, despite the country's central bank hiking interest rates in a bid to stop a run on the rouble. Pictures show people in Saint Petersburg queuing around the corner to use nearby ATMs. It comes as fears rise of an economic collapse in Russia due to biting Western sanctions imposed following president Vladimir Putin's now floundering invasion of Ukraine. In a bid to stop a potentially disastrous run on the rouble, Russia's central bank - The Bank of Russia - is hiking interest rates from 9.5 per cent to 20 per...

Since the start of the conflict, Russia has fired more than 320 missiles. Its ground forces have advanced from Belarus to within 30 kilometers of Kyiv’s city center. Russian forces have also moved swiftly from their bases in Crimea and carried out a rare amphibious landing from the Sea of Azov. Now, the Pentagon says there are signs that Russia is resorting to more firepower, including rockets, in its attempt to take Chernihiv, a city 150 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army major general who has studied advanced warfare, says Russia’s failure so far to achieve...

Kyiv has survived another night under Russian attack with Putin's 'demoralised and exhausted' troops suffering 'heavy losses' trying and failing to break through defences in the city's outskirts, Ukraine's commander has said. Colonel General Alexander Syrsky, who is in charge of defending the city, said on Monday morning that 'all attempts' to breach the city failed and that the situation is currently 'under control'. 'We showed that we can protect our home from uninvited guests,' he added.

The European arm of Sberbank (SBER.MM), Russia's biggest lender, faces failure, the European Central Bank (ECB) warned on Monday, after a run on its deposits sparked by the backlash from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Western allies have taken unprecedented steps to isolate Russia's economy and financial system including sanctioning its central bank and excluding some of its lenders from the SWIFT messaging system, used for trillions' of dollars of transactions.

The Kremlin says Russia's economic reality has changed but sees no reason to doubt the effectiveness and reliability of the central bank, which hiked interest rates to 20 percent as it sought to shield the economy from unprecedented Western sanctions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 28 that President Vladimir Putin would meet with several officials during the day, including the finance minister and Bank of Russia governor. He said Russia had a plan to react to sanctions and was now carrying it out. His comments come as the national currency plummeted by almost a quarter to a record...