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Russia is funneling "significant" resources into protecting its control of the annexed Crimean peninsula as Ukraine's counteroffensive makes further gains, according to the U.K. government. Russia is putting "significant effort" into building defensive lines in rear areas in southern Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. Moscow is focusing on areas on the way to the Crimean peninsula, the U.K. government added. Moscow's military command likely believes Kyiv's fighters are "capable of directly assaulting Crimea," the government department said in a daily intelligence update posted to social media.

A TOP Russian army general has been killed in Ukraine in the latest blow to Vladimir Putin. Major-General Sergey Goryachev, 52, was struck by a long-range British-supplied Storm Shadow missile in Zaporizhzhia region, according to Moscow war sources. e was Chief of Staff of the Russian 35th Combined Arms Army, and is one of at least 11 generals reported to have died in the war. Goryachev is understood to have been killed alongside other senior officers. Popular Russian war blogger Anatoliy Shariy said that Goryachev was hit by a UK-supplied Anglo-French Storm Shadow missile. Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles can...

Vladimir Putin has not openly criticised his long-suffering defence minister amid the war in Ukraine, but the Russian president appeared to make his feelings towards Sergei Shoigu very clear on a visit to a hospital for wounded soldiers. Putin and Shoigu yesterday visited the Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow to greet several servicemen who sustained all manner of gruesome injuries amid the Kremlin chief's war in Ukraine. Upon their arrival at the medical facility, Putin quickly walked around the group, awkwardly shaking the hands - and in some cases bandaged stumps - of the medically discharged veterans, asking...

Ron DeSantis’s campaign wants him to meet and take more questions from ordinary voters to overcome fears about his temperament, DailyMail.com has learned. The 44-year-old has so far shied away from Q&A sessions on the road, despite being a standard feature of U.S. politics. Now, three DeSantis staffers have said they have concerns about the Navy veteran’s presentational style after being overshadowed by his wife Casey at rallies. A third source said that they even had to coach the Florida governor on ‘when to smile’ when trying to interact with ordinary Americans.

A Russian colonel has claimed Wagner mercenaries are raping, kidnapping and torturing Vladimir Putin's soldiers. Lieutenant colonel Roman Venevitin, who was captured near the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, claimed he was tortured by Wagner mercenaries, despite being on the same side of Russia's war. 'Wagner mercenaries stole two T-80 tanks, 4 cannons, a KAMAZ truck and armoured vehicles,' Venevitin said. 'The Wagner mercenaries took them as war trophies [even though we are supposed to be on the same side].'

amzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic, offered on Sunday to send military forces from his country to help Russian President Vladimir Putin ward off attacks in the Belgorod region. Belgorod has been the site of numerous attacks in recent weeks. The region's governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, and other Russian officials have blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv has denied responsibility while two anti-Putin paramilitary groups—the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom for Russia Legion—have claimed credit for them. Though Belgorod has experienced brief conflicts since Putin ordered his invasion of Ukraine more than 15 months ago, the recent...

Ukraine has opened a new front in its battle to drive out the Russian invader - in Russia. But it is oddly coy about admitting that it has sent troops, fired artillery, and flown drones into its neighbor’s territory. The operations of Russian citizens, carrying Ukrainian military ID, wearing Ukrainian uniforms and attacking from Ukraine, remain officially opaque. It is Kyiv’s contribution to what’s become known as “hybrid warfare” in the “grey zone” of contemporary conflict. The two terms provoked books and a tsunami of excited opinion from an army of pundits when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. Back...

A feud between two of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top allies—Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov—has spilled out into the open. Adam Delimkhanov, a close ally of Kadyrov, attacked Prigozhin on his Telegram channel after the Wagner Group boss suggested the Chechen Akhmat battalion likely lacks the capability to occupy the self-proclaimed "Donetsk Republic" region of Ukraine. -snip- "If you don't understand, then you can contact us and tell us the place and the time. We will explain to you what you don't understand," Delimkhanov said. "You have become a blogger who screams and shouts off...

In the dawn hours of May 3, Moscovites awoke to an unbelievable sight: Two suicide drones had somehow managed to penetrate the city's air defences and explode on the roof of the Kremlin itself. Such an attack would have been unthinkable when Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine a year earlier, and yet it was only the beginning. Three weeks later, partisans began raiding Russia's borders and then a swarm of drones slammed into Moscow's wealthy suburbs. In-fighting between Russia's military and Putin's warlords is now at fever pitch, Ukraine's counter-attack is looming, and an opposition politician even went so...

Fighting in Russia's Belgorod region entered a second day on Tuesday, and its governor told residents who fled after a cross-border incursion of armed fighters from Ukraine that it was still not safe to return to their homes. Monday's incursion, apparently involving armoured vehicles, was the biggest raid into Russia since the war began 15 months ago, though details including the number of fighters involved, their affiliation and the extent of any clashes, could not be independently confirmed. Russian authorities evacuated residents from the region's Graivoron district after the raiding forces claimed to have captured the border town of Kozinka...

Russian authorities have ordered residents of nine villages in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine to evacuate their homes after anti-Putin rebel groups began capturing territory on Russian soil. The Kremlin's order comes hours after a pair of explosions rang out in the city of Belgorod overnight amid drone attacks on the FSB security service building and Interior Ministry offices. Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed the aerial bombing raid had caused fires at government buildings and urged citizens to take shelter amid the rebel attacks. Ukrainian military intelligence said two armed Russian opposition groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion and the...

Russian authorities have ordered residents of nine villages in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine to evacuate their homes after anti-Putin rebel groups began capturing territory on Russian soil. The Kremlin's order comes hours after a pair of explosions rang out in the city of Belgorod overnight amid drone attacks on the FSB security service building and Interior Ministry offices.Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed the aerial bombing raid had caused fires at government buildings and urged citizens to take shelter amid the rebel attacks....snip...Russian authorities on Tuesday afternoon said its armed forces had beaten back the insurgency.'In the course of the...

that he was seriously ill. The Belarusian outlet, Pul Pervogo, posted the photo of the 68-year-old on its Telegram channel - which is known for reporting on the president - after his whereabouts were unknown for almost a week. The channel said the president was working at a central air force command base. In the post, he is standing stern-faced as he receives a salute with a bandage tied to his left hand. Mr Lukashenko had not been seen in public since last Tuesday (9 May) at Victory Day events in Moscow, and later in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The...

The claim came from Kyiv government official Anton Gerashchenko The Kremlin has previously denied that Putin has a body double Ukraine claims Vladimir Putin will send a body double to host a huge military parade on Red Square on Tuesday due to a 'paranoid fear for his life'. The extraordinary claim came from Kyiv government official Anton Gerashchenko. 'Putin will not dare to appear at the parade on May 9, but will send a double,' he said. Rumours of Putin using doppelgängers - who have undergone plastic surgery to look like Putin - predate the war against Ukraine but have...

Moscow media mouthpieces often refer to history books when they talk about Russia's invasion of Ukraine but one Kremlin propagandist decided to turn to the Bible. During a monologue on Solovyov Live, host Roman Golovanov said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is among those who have used the Old Testament story of David versus Goliath as a parallel for the war in Ukraine, in which Russia is portrayed as the larger adversary. However, Golovanov said that the perennial tale of the underdog triumphing should be flipped around and that Russia "was in fact the David" because "at least 50 countries are...

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Friday he would send troops to fight in Bakhmut if the Wagner Group pulls out of the Ukrainian city. Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the pledge in a statement he posted on his official Telegram channel. Earlier in the day, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries, announced he would be removing his fighters from Bakhmut on May 10 because of an ammunition shortage. Prior to his announcement, Prigozhin published a video in which he angrily blamed top Russian officials for the deaths of Wagner fighters...

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growing. May is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army. The Russian government has warned...

A group of Donald Trump supporters was booted from a Ron DeSantis book signing event after he allegedly ordered security to kick out fans of the former president. The Florida governor was at a Books-a-Million store in Leesburg, Florida, on Tuesday, when Trump supporters attempted to take part in the event. The group, however, was not allowed in, with video of the incident showing a security guard telling them: 'They told me to say anyone wearing Trump has to go right now.' The group then booed at the order, calling DeSantis out for not supporting 'free speech' as tensions rise...

Vladimir Putin will die whilst serving his country and the world can expect an assassination, one war expert believes. The Kremlin tyrant could be left with 'bullets in his back’ while he is still in office, they predict. Putin’s car was “attacked” in what may have been an attempt on his life amid the Ukraine war, it was claimed in September and in 2012, it was suggested that he had survived five very near misses. Over the years, the Russian President's health has attracted a great deal of speculation, including claims that he has Parkinson’s and travels around with a...

Russians left desperate for the loo as toilet exports are banned to 'punish' Putin Sinking to grimy lows, Russian troops are well-known for thieving lavatories out of Ukrainian homes to send back to their families as Western sanctions of "bidets, lavatory pans, [and] flushing cisterns" bite The EU included lavatories, bidets and flushing cisterns in its list of banned products The EU included lavatories, bidets and flushing cisterns in its list of banned products