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The strike on a depot in Kamensky district comes amid an ongoing blaze at an oil storage facility in Proletarsk city. A Ukrainian drone attack has set an oil depot in Russia’s southern region of Rostov alight, the authorities said. On Wednesday, regional Governor Vasily Golubev confirmed the overnight strike, saying on the Telegram messaging app that firefighters were extinguishing the blaze at the depot in Rostov’s Kamensky district, with no casualties reported. Russia’s Ministry of Defence earlier said air defence units destroyed four drones over the region overnight, without mentioning the attack on the oil depot. Three tanks were...

RUSSIA has deployed some 30,000 troops to the new frontline in Kursk as Vladimir Putin desperately tries to fend off Ukraine's forces. Mad Vlad also appears to have called in reinforcements from ally Belarus as their tanks branded with telltale "B" signs mass on the Ukrainian border in an echo of the "Z" used by Russia. Ukraine is holding strong onto 100 towns and settlements inside Kursk after first invading Russia on August 6, more than three weeks ago. Zelensky's forces have also attacked border checkpoints in the Belgorod region, attempting to push into another one of Putin's cities. A...

THIS is the shocking moment Vladimir Putin lost another of his Su-25 planes as it was shot down over Ukraine in the latest humiliating blunder to Russia. The attack aircraft was downed as it was striking Ukrainian positions around Kramatorsk, defenders claimed. Anti-aircraft gunners of the 28th separate mechanised brigade took down the latest Su-25 scalp with a man portable air defence missile, they said. The plane - estimated in £8million by Ukrainian outlet Babel - was low flying and operating with another similar aircraft.

A notable outcome of Ukraine’s surprise invasion of the Russian province of Kursk — now stretching into its third week — is the Russian army’s reliance on thousands of unprepared, under-equipped, and poorly led conscripts in its attempt to repel the invasion. It’s often under-appreciated in the West just how unpopular and politically sensitive the draft is in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The use of conscripts in Afghanistan and Chechnya (and their deaths in their thousands) was a huge part of the unpopularity of those wars inside Russia. In those years, the draft set off protests and a Russian “mothers’ movement”...

During his visit to Chechnya on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped at the Prophet Isa mosque in Grozny and posed for photos while holding, and kissing, a gold-leaf copy of the Quran. Putin was flanked by his hand-picked Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, and top Chechen Muslim cleric Mufti Saah Mezhiev during his Quran smooch. The Grand Mufti ceremonially read a verse from the Quran, translated into Russian for Putin. The Prophet Isa mosque, constructed in 2020, is a huge and expensive structure that can accommodate 5,000 worshipers at once. “Prophet Isa” is Islam’s version of Jesus Christ, who ranks...

Ukraine has seized more Russian territory in two weeks than Russia has seized in Ukraine all year. Reinforcements sent by Moscow failed to stop a Ukrainian surprise offensive in Russia’s Kursk region during its second week, creating a dilemma for the Kremlin – to further tap Russia’s invasion force in Ukraine by diverting more battalions to defend Russia, or to throw new conscripts into the war. Moscow has so far kept regular recruits into the armed forces on rotation at home, sending only contract soldiers to the bloody battlefields of Ukraine. But the Kursk offensive has changed that delicate political...

Vladimir Putin's slow response to the incursion of Ukrainian forces into the border region of Kursk could ultimately leave him facing the wrath of his long-time enablers. Russia was caught unprepared by the offensive and reportedly is drafting conscripts to repel some of Ukraine's most battle-hardened units. Putin has a history of responding slowly to various crises in his tenure, and he has so far played down the attack. In his 24 years in power, Putin has portrayed himself as the only person who can guarantee Russia's security and stability but that image has suffered since the war began.

A clip has emerged online showing Russian warlord Vladimir Putin kissing a copy of the Quran during his visit to Chechnya this week, as Ukraine continues its shock cross-border incursion. Putin also met with Chechnya leader and attack dog Ramzan Kadyrov, with whom he visited the newly constructed "Prophet Jesus" mosque in the capital, Grozny. There the Kremlin leader was presented with a gold-encrusted copy of the Holy Quran, before planting a kiss on it for the cameras.