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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday the grain leaving Ukrainian ports after a blockade that fuelled a global food crisis was mostly reaching Europe instead of developing nations and questioned the merits of the deal. The United Nations and Turkey brokered an agreement with Moscow and Kyiv -- the first between the two since the February launch of Russia's military campaign -- restoring frozen Ukrainian grain deliveries across the Black Sea. But Moscow has voiced increasing frustration with how the agreement was being applied. An amendment to the deal also allowed Russia to get open access to fertiliser shipments and...

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya, has criticised the Russian army’s leadership after it appeared to be caught off guard by Ukraine’s fightback against the Russian invasion in the north-east. In a sign that the Kremlin may face serious fallout over the loss of territory that the Russian occupation administrations had repeatedly stated they planned to keep “for ever”, Kadyrov also suggested that Vladimir Putin might not be aware of the real state of affairs. “They have made mistakes and I think they will draw the necessary conclusions,” Kadyrov said in an audio message posted to his Telegram channel...

Russia slapped Hollywood stars Ben Stiller and Sean Penn with sanctions on Monday in response to their public criticism of Moscow's war on Ukraine. Putin's foreign ministry included the actors on a new list of 25 US citizens banned from the country. Those affected are mainly politicians, trade officials and industrial executives. The sanctions bar them from entering Russia. Stiller and Penn have been vocal supporters of Ukraine in the conflict and have met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in high-profile shows of support. In a televised meeting in Kyiv in June, Stiller, star of Zoolander, Meet the Parents and Dodgeball,...

Do you want a recipe for disaster? Make sure you subordinate military strategy and tactics to political considerations. That is what happened to Ukraine in its long awaited counter offensive against Russian held Kherson in south Ukraine, which was launched on Sunday. The attack occurred at several points along the Kherson front. Here is a summary of the activity (note–AFU refers to Armed Forces of Ukraine, AFRF is the acronym for Armed Forces of the Russian Federation):Videos at link###Ukraine only managed to capture Sukhoy Stavok, a small village with no strategic importance. The Ukrainian operation, however, proved very costly to...

At the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, most experts expected that Kyiv would fall quickly. Ukrainian forces were fighting against a military that was bigger and better armed. Russia’s troops had more combat experience and funding. The question was not if Moscow’s forces would depose the Ukrainian government but when regime change would happen. Of course, Kyiv didn’t fall. Instead, the Ukrainian military stopped Russia’s assault on the capital and forced a retreat. Russia downsized its initial mission from wholesale conquest, and the war now mostly consists of grinding offensives and counteroffensives in Ukraine’s east and south. The question...

Ankara supports Ukraine's territorial integrity and rejects the illegal annexation of Crimea, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. "The return of Crimea to Ukraine, of which it is an inseparable part, is essentially a requirement of international law," Erdogan said in a video message to the Second Crimea Platform Summit. The Crimea Platform is an international coordination mechanism of Ukraine to draw more global attention to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Erdogan said Ankara will continue to support the Crimean Platform that was established to resolve the Crimean issue through peaceful means. "Türkiye does not recognize...

Russia has threatened to annex occupied areas in the south of Ukraine. The Ukrainian army has now launched a counter-offensive with the help of Western long-range weapons. Much of the local population has already fled.

It's now almost six months to the day since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to the United Nations, the conflict has displaced at least 12 million Ukrainians while huge parts of the east and the south of the country lie devastated. But according to frontline volunteer, Seva, he along with many of his countrymen and women remain committed to the war - even if it means paying the ultimate cost. Speaking as part of a special edition of Sky News' Ukraine War Diaries podcast, to mark six months since the beginning of the war, Seva explains. "Everyone is tired of war,...

A pro-Russian propaganda channel has issued a story claiming the country's troops have been 'poisoned in a chemical attack in Ukraine'. The information, regarded as suspect, comes amid fears Russia is looking for reasons to justify using chemical weapons in its invasion of its southern neighbor. Russia Today reports traces of Botulinum toxin Type B, which is an 'organic poison of artificial origin,' were found in samples taken from soldiers, according to Russia's defense ministry. The ministry accused Kiev of 'domestic terrorism' and insisted Russian troops were 'hospitalized with signs of severe poisoning' after being stationed near the village of...