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The Russian brigade accused of carrying out heinous war crimes against helpless civilians in Bucha has reportedly been attacked by Ukrainian drones and suffered 'heavy losses' in the Donbas, amid claims Vladimir Putin wants them to 'disappear'. Soldiers of the 64th Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 35th All-Russian Army, who Ukrainian authorities named as those responsible for torturing, raping and executing civilians on the outskirts of Kyiv, withdrew last month to Belarus and then Russia. -snip- Analysts say that Putin has deliberately sent them to the front lines in order to make them disappear so they could not never be...

Amid rumours about his poor health, a video showing Vladimir Putin's shaking hand as he greeted Belarus's leader resurfaced this week. The clip, which was filmed just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, showed him gripping a chair and pressing his hand to his chest to stop it shaking as he greeted Alexander Lukashenko. It fueled further speculation of the state of his health after footage and images appeared to show his bloated face and slouching posture. But the scenes of Putin's apparent struggles are reminiscent of a clip that showed Adolf Hitler's own failing health as Germany faced...

Vladimir Putin is seen with a shaking hand and firmly gripping his chair in video captured two months ago - adding to mounting speculation over the state of the Russian president's health. The clip, which was taken on February 18, just before the onset of his invasion of Ukraine, shows him welcoming fellow strongman Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin. The Russian president has been dogged by claims of his failing health in recent months, fueled by footage of his bloated face, slouching posture, and constant gripping for support. In the video taken in February, Putin is seen standing up awaiting...

Flames lit up the sky over Russia in the early hours after suspected Ukrainian missile strikes blew up two oil storage facilities supplying Putin's troops fighting for control of Donbas. The Transneft-Druzhba Oil Depot, located in the city of Bryansk around 70 miles from the Ukrainian border, caught fire at 2am local time before a second fire broke out at a nearby military facility around 15 minutes later, Russian state media said this morning. Video of the moment one of the fires broke out appeared to capture the sound of an incoming missile before a large explosion and fireball. Bryansk...

The US deliberately avoided sanctioning Vladimir Putin's alleged mistress at the 11th hour over fears doing so would further inflame tensions with Russia. Alina Kabaeva, 39, is a former Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics, cover model for Russian Vogue and believed to be 70 year-old Putin's mistress by Washington insiders. She was in the sights of the US Treasury Department in the wake of her rumored lover's invasion of Ukraine in February - but dodged sanctions at the 11th hour after the National Security Council intervened, the Wall Street Journal reported. But officials in Washington believed that sanctioning Kabaeva would...

Vladimir Putin looked frail and unsteady at footage purporting to be from a midnight mass for Orthodox Easter, stoking rumours surrounding the Russian president's ailing health. He chewed his lip and appeared unsure of his footing as he stood in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral alongside the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin. A nervous-looking Putin bit his lip while attending the church service, fidgeting and appearing distracted while watching the church service. He appeared to chew the insides of his mouth, shifting uncomfortably, adding to a swirl of commentary that the pressure of Russian setbacks over the war in Ukraine. A...

Putin has launched a major salvage operation to the wreck of the downed Black Sea Fleet flagship to secure military secrets including coding devices, unexploded missiles, and possibly even attempt to bring the bodies of dead sailors back home, naval experts have claimed. An eight-ship salvage flotilla including Kommuna, the world's oldest active warship, and submarine has been sent to the site of the sunken Moskva 80 miles off the coast of Odessa from Sevastopol, the large naval base in Russia-annexed Crimea, according to a report by Forbes.

Two Russian generals have been killed near Kherson, the Ukrainian ministry of defence’s intelligence directorate has said. Another is in critical condition. The Ukrainian military on Friday hit the command post of Russia’s 49th army near occupied regional capital Kherson, according to the statement.

Talks between Moscow and Kyiv to put an end to nearly two months of Russia’s military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine have stalled, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday. “They [negotiations] have stalled now,” Lavrov said after talks with his Kazakh counterpart, adding that Moscow has still had not received an answer to its latest proposal sent around five days ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has canceled plans for his forces to storm the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol, saying he instead wants them to continue blockading it. Putin told his defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, it was "inadvisable" to storm the sprawling industrial plant, where more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen are said to remain. "We must always think...about preserving the life and health of our soldiers and officers," Putin said, according to a transcript on the Kremlin's website.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has issued a statement to India Today clarifying the rubles for gas mandate that has created confusion among Russia’s gas buyers, RT has reported on Tuesday. Buyers purchasing Russia’s gas will have to pay Gazprombank, an independent institution. -snip- Buyers can still, therefore, pay in the currency of their choice. But Gazprombank will convert the payment into rubles. Gazprom would then be able to access the funds in rubles, assured that those funds would not be subject to sanctions. “They won’t be able to keep this money in their banks. They will still pay in...

Nearly 8,000 mercenaries from the notorious Wagner Group have been deployed by Russia in Ukraine to boost Vladimir Putin's flagging invasion, but have suffered heavy casualties, British MPs have been told. Giving evidence to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Christo Grozev, executive director of the Bellingcat investigative website, said 3,000 members of the private military company (PMC) were thought to have been killed on the battlefield. The shadowy group - which has been linked to a string of killings, rapes and war crimes around the world - is known as Putin's private army which carries out his dirty work at...

Russia has lost another colonel as Ukraine continues to inflict punishing losses on Vladimir Putin's top brass. Mikhail Nagamov, 41, the commander of a sapper regiment, died fighting in Ukraine on April 13, according to articles that have appeared in Russian media. It is not clear how or where exactly Nagamov died, with reports saying only that he perished 'performing a combat mission in Ukraine'. He leaves behind a wife and child in the village of Suslonger, around 400 miles east of Moscow. Nagamov's death is just the latest suffered among Russia's command corps, with dozens of colonels and eight...

Russia has suffered the loss of yet another senior officer after the captain of a large Black Sea landing ship was killed in the war in Ukraine. Captain Alexander Chirva died from wounds sustained in a battle with Ukrainian defenders, said the Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev. His death is just the latest in a string of high-profile deaths for the Russian military, coming on the heels of seven generals already killed in action since the war began. Ukraine claims a staggering 20,800 Russian troops have been lost overall. Chirva was a 3rd rank captain from a naval family who leaves behind...

The top brass toll from Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine continues to rise, with the death of another colonel. Colonel Ivan Grishin, commander of the 49th anti-aircraft missile brigade, died from abdominal shrapnel wounds. He was killed near Kharkiv. The news comes amid reports from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that 20,600 Russian servicemen have been killed in the war. Just days ago, Russia lost its eighth general since the invasion of Ukraine in the latest blow to Vladimir Putin's botched war.

For days after the Moskva cruiser sank in the Black Sea, Yulia Tsyvova had been desperately searching for information about her son Andrei. Like hundreds of other Russian families of the crew members, she had not been told whether he had survived the reported Ukrainian missile attack that had sunk the Russian flagship of the Black Sea fleet. Then on Monday morning she received a call from the Russian defence ministry. Her son was dead. “He was only 19, he was a conscript,” said Tsyvova, who wept as she spoke by telephone. “They didn’t tell me anything else, no information...

Ukrainian female tank driver in action. Russia invaded the wrong country. Sound on. Bizarre video of Ukrainian 'tank girl'. I wonder how many books will be written about the role of social media in this conflict. I am also curious if and how social media influences the dynamics of this war. Future military historians have their work cut out for them.

The relatives of the doomed crew of Russia's Black Sea flagship Moskva defied Russian censors to hold an unofficial memorial today, as Ukraine claimed that all 510 servicemen onboard died - including the ship's captain. -snip- As a result 'all the crew of the cruiser Moskva died'. This included the ship's captain, Anton Kuprin, Gerashchenko said. The battleship had a usual crew number of 510 sailors. He claimed: 'The leadership of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation have deliberately hidden the truth from relatives and friends of the crew members.' His account contradicts other earlier versions, including that...

A Russian soldier has been filmed running away from a Ukrainian drone, only to lead it straight to his unit and give away its position to Kyiv's forces. Ukrainian troops then launched an artillery strike on the Russian's location, with pictures of the aftermath showing a plume of smoke rising from their encampment hidden in a nearby forest. The video shows the soldier frantically sprinting down the side of a country road as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) steadily tracks his movements. He can be seen checking over his shoulder as he runs down the dusty verge beside the road,...

he Russian central bank sharply cut its key rate to 17% on Friday and said future cuts were possible, as emergency steps had contained the risk to financial stability, brought deposits back to banks and helped limit the threat of inflation, it said. -snip- Annual inflation in Russia accelerated to 16.70% as of April 1, its highest since March 2015 and up from 15.66% a week earlier, as the volatile rouble sent prices soaring amid unprecedented Western sanctions which cut Russia off the global financial markets and limited its trade with the outside world. External conditions for the Russian economy...