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“ Frolov 'sacrificed his life so that children, women and the elderly in Donbas would not hear bombs exploding again”, the St Petersburg governor said as his friend was laid to rest. The general was from a military family and 'died the death of the brave in battle against Ukrainian nationalists', Alexander Beglov added. He was 'a true patriot, a brave and courageous man' who 'honestly and to the end fulfilled his military and human duty. 'People will not forget their heroes. Eternal memory to him.' Russia also lost its 34th colonel of the war, tank battalion commander Miras Bashakov,...

Top FSB general is 'moved to high-security Moscow jail' as Putin steps up purge of spies who 'told him Ukrainians would welcome invasion' Sergei Beseda, head of the 5th Service of the FSB, was earlier under house arrest He has now been placed in pre-trial detention in notorious Lefortovo Prison The move will be seen as a warning to other senior aides of Vladimir Putin A top FSB intelligence official has been moved to a high security jail in Moscow as Vladimir Putin purges his secret services over the botched Ukraine invasion, say reports. Col-General Sergei Beseda, 68, head of...

PROOF Putin's soldiers and Wagner mercenaries carried out Bucha atrocities: German intelligence 'intercepts Russian troop messages discussing murders as part of strategy to sow terror' German intelligence agency BND has intercepted audio messages from Russian soldiers discussing killings Messages indicate the massacre was part of everyday Kremlin tactics and the Wagner Group was involved Spy chiefs believe there are similar scenes in other Ukrainian cities after further recordings were heard The barbaric atrocities at Bucha were part of a deliberate Kremlin strategy carried out in part by the feared Wagner Group of mercenaries, intercepted Russian radio transmissions have revealed. Germany's...

YouTube has suspended the account of Odessa-based Chinese national Wang Jixian after he reported on atrocities committed as Russian troops withdrew from Bucha, RFA has learned. Odessa-based programmer Wang has been uploading videos since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last month, but hasn't published any new videos since one on March 30 in which he hits out at pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) critics as "human trash," and translates news reports of gang rape being committed by Russian troops in Bucha, including of a young girl. Wang had been uploading to the site daily, with the same introduction every time:...

Desperate Vladimir Putin is recruiting a Dad’s Army of old folks to prop up his creaking Ukraine invasion. The Russian army has put out an SOS for volunteers aged up to 60 after sustaining heavy losses during the disastrous six-week campaign. The military wants ex-soldiers nearing retirement age to rejoin in the Siberian cities of Chelyabinsk and Tyumen, according to Russian media. Moscow desperately wants old tank commanders, snipers and engineers. They would join up to 60,000 reservists recently called to active service along with 134,500 new conscripts forced into action. The conscripts - men aged 18 to 27 -...

Hundreds of dogs have been found dead at an animal shelter in Ukraine after Russian occupiers left them to starve in their cages for weeks. The UAnimals shelter in Borodyanka, just north of Kyiv, said that up to 485 dogs were locked in their cages by Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. There they remained without food or water for about a month as the occupiers left them to die, until staff were able to return to the compound on April 1 once the Russian soldiers had retreated. Footage released by the animal shelter...

A regiment of elite Russian fighters have suffered heavy losses at the hands of the fierce Ukrainian resistance, it has been reported. The 331st Guards Parachute Regiment are considered among the most fearsome and well-trained in the Russian army, having fought for the city of Ilovaisk in the Donbas in 2014. Their involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year, and fatalities they've suffered, is indicative of how the invasion hasn't gone as planned. The regiment's commanding officer, Col Sergei Sukharev, was killed in Ukraine on 13 March - a major blow for any military unit. His deputy Major Sergei...

The Russian departure was part of a planned withdrawal announced by Moscow a week ago but it ended in a chaotic and bloody retreat after a fierce tank battle last Thursday, said soldiers and volunteers who took part, and residents of the town. On Monday Ukrainian soldiers were piling the bodies of dead Russian soldiers into a trailer pulled by an army jeep. The soldiers were killed when a Ukrainian tank sneaked close to the entrance of the town and opened fire on the Russian checkpoint guarding the main intersection, according to soldiers and volunteers who took part. “It’s the...

Russian conscripts are being given 19th century rifles, made to drink from ponds filled with dead frogs and ordered to draw enemy fire, they have revealed. Soldiers in the Russian-backed Donbas region have spoken of how they have been sent to fight Ukraine's forces with no training, a lack of food and water, and inadequate equipment - as Moscow's armies continue to suffer heavy losses. -snip- The Donbas armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers but are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops they send into combat. Several Donbas draftees have been...

Journalists entering a Ukrainian town which saw fierce fighting with Russian forces have found dead bodies of men in civilian clothes strewn on a street. An AFP news agency reporter in Bucha, near Kyiv, counted at least 20 bodies. At least one man had his hands tied. Ukrainian forces regained control of the town this week and photos show widespread devastation. BBC journalists in another part of Ukraine found the bodies of two civilians killed by Russian forces. Earlier this week the BBC's Jeremy Bowen and his team counted a total of 13 bodies, some of whom may have been...

Given Russia's reliance on Ukraine for military components, UK defence sources say Russia's war effort is in serious trouble. Last night a source said: 'Serious amounts of components for Russian weapons systems were made there [Ukraine]. That won't be happening any more. 'Russia cannot manufacture this equipment itself or import it, so it won't be getting any of these materials any time soon. The hardware expended in Ukraine came from historic stockpiles, developed when there was greater cooperation between Russia and Ukraine. 'The integration of their industrial complexes meant a severing of relations would jeopardise Russia's ability to sustain military...

Vladimir Putin today threatened to turn off Europe's gas supplies from tomorrow if countries refuse to pay in roubles. The Russian President, announcing a decree in televised remarks, said foreign buyers would have to 'open rouble accounts in Russian banks' which can be used to pay for 'gas delivered starting from tomorrow'. 'If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped,' he said. The...

In a clip shared on Twitter and in pro-Ukraine Telegram channels, a group of ten student soldiers in oversized helmets wielding AK-47s from the 1940s complain they've been 'thrown into the s**t'. One complains: 'Know the truth! The Russian Ministry of Defence has no idea about us, or what we’re doing here. Another adds: 'Our rifles are from the 1940s! They don’t f***ing fire! They’re sending f***ing ordinary students into war', according to The Times. The boys, who are reportedly members of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, filmed themselves in the back of a lorry near Sumy, close to...

Flight tracking info suggests Putin may be in a hideaway near Surgut, in Siberia Defence minister Sergei Shoigu is believed to be in a bunker in Ufa, in the Urals Use of bunkers would be alarming as they suggest nuclear option is on the table New evidence has emerged Vladimir Putin and his highest ranking commanders are running the war in Ukraine from top secret nuclear bunkers. Movements of planes used by top Kremlin officials show Putin may be in a hideaway near Surgut, in western Siberia, it has been claimed. His defence minister Sergei Shoigu - who has been...

Russian state television has broadcast an extraordinary rant about the state of the war in Ukraine, warning Vladimir Putin’s regime faces “final and complete defeat”. Yakov Kedmi, an Israeli-Russian pundit and former diplomat, is usually a reliably pro-Kremlin voice. But in an appearance on the prime time show Tonight with Vladimir Soloviyev, he was remarkably negative about the situation in Ukraine. Mr Kedmi said Russia could not afford to compromise on the initial goal of its invasion, which was to take major Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, and overthrow the government. In his view, anything less than that –...

Russia has lost another of its generals in the war in Ukraine, Kyiv military sources said, as Ukraine inflicts punishing losses on Moscow's war machine. Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, commander of the army's 49th combined arms division, became the fifth general to be killed after being taken out in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces, sources in Kyiv said. Rezantsev, who bragged on just the fourth day of the war that it would be over in a matter of hours, was apparently killed after the Ukrainian army destroyed the commanding post of the 49th Russian Army in southern...

A Russian army commander has been killed by a group of demoralised soldiers fed up with the scale of losses during the invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have said. The commander of the 37th rifle brigade, named by officials as Colonel Medvechek, is understood to have been run over by one of his own soldiers who had grown frustrated by his unit's heavy losses.

The Ukrainian Army Has More Tanks Now Than When The War Began—Because It Keeps Capturing Them From Russia

Mad Vlad, whose forces are bombing women and children in Ukraine, spared no expense on the six-deck Scheherazade. Vladimir Putin's superyacht Scheherazade’s official cost could be close to $1billion A worker who helped build it said: “Every surface is marble or gold. There are countless swimming pools, a spa, a sauna, a theatre, ballrooms, a gym, two helipads. It’s like a mini city. “And it is an unimaginable amount of wealth when the average Russian’s salary is £5,000 a year, and people there are struggling to eat.” A tiled dancefloor lowers to turn into a pool. It is thought to...

They are a distinct minority in their own party and, for that matter, their country: Republican holdouts amid an ever-widening consensus that Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine poses a mortal threat to American interests.A far right wing of the Republican Party tightly bound to former President Donald Trump is fighting to push the GOP toward the “America First” isolationism that underpinned his 2016 presidential bid.For the first time since Trump’s rise, his party is pushing back.That much was clear from the House vote Thursday on a bill ending normal trade relations with Russia as punishment for attacking Ukraine. A total...