World

The mayor of Mariupol has said Ukrainian forces in the city will continue to fight despite being short on ammunition and massively outnumbered.  Vadym Boichenko said: “Our heroic defenders are fighting, holding out with incredible valour and bravery, defending the city of Mariupol; defending our future and our homeland Ukraine.” “This has to be made

“We call on everyone who supports the actions of our president and the Russian army to join in creating and distributing truthful content!” This call to arms by a Russian website appears to be successfully recruiting ordinary Russians – 28,000 of them according to research by Sky News – to take part in the information

One image dominates Ukrainian news sites this morning. The photograph of a dishevelled, handcuffed man in his 60s wearing army camouflage was posted on Instagram by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last night. His name is Viktor Medvedchuk, he’s a central character in the story of Ukraine’s recent political history and he’s never been seen like

Russia is concentrating its firepower on the southeast of Ukraine in a new phase of the war that could see up to three times as many Russian troops in the Donbas region. Ukraine’s military, after defeating a Russian attempt to storm the capital Kyiv and forcing Russian soldiers to withdraw from across the north of

The UK is “working urgently” to verify details following unconfirmed reports of a Russian chemical attack in a besieged city in Ukraine, the foreign secretary has said. Liz Truss said any confirmed use of chemical weapons in Mariupol would be a “callous escalation” of the war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, used his nightly video address

Those willing to squeeze into Yuri’s yellow school bus have made a choice not just to leave Russian-occupied Kherson, but also to leave nearly everything they have. Many stand for the 135km journey in the vehicle that is as crammed full as a lifeboat on the Titanic: There are few drivers, like Yuri, who are

Russia could launch a full-scale military offensive in the east of Ukraine within days, despite questions about the ability of its demoralised soldiers. Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region since 2014 and parts of the industrial region are under Russian control. Ukraine is believed to have tens of thousands of

French President Emmanuel Macron will face far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the presidential elections after making it through the first round. According to the official Ipsos exit poll, the president secured 28.1% of the vote and his rival won 23.3%. French voters will go to the polls again on 24 April to decide whether

Ukraine is bracing itself for a “hard battle” to come as Russian forces continue amassing in the east of the country, with officials urging civilians to flee. While the threat to the capital Kyiv has receded, it is rising in the east, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned. “This will be a hard battle, we believe in

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a “show of solidarity”. “Right now a visit of Boris Johnson in Kyiv started from one-on-one meeting with President Zelenskiy,” Andriy Sybiha,deputy head of Ukraine’s president office, said on Facebook. A Downing Street spokesperson said the PM was making the

A missile that exploded near a Ukrainian railway station, which officials claim killed at least 39 people, had the words ‘for’ and ‘children’ painted on it in Russian. Up to 4,000 people – believed to be largely women and children – were at Kramatorsk station on Friday morning when the blast hit. The grammar of

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded a “firm global response” as he blamed Russian forces for a missile strike near a railway station which killed at least 50 people, with the UK set to provide fresh military aid to his country. The UK will send armoured vehicles to Ukraine for the first time as part of

More than 30 people have been killed and over 100 wounded in a Russian rocket attack on a railway station in eastern Ukraine, according to local officials. Thousands of civilians were at Kramatorsk railway station trying to evacuate to safer regions in the war-ravaged country, the governor of the Donetsk region said. The Kremlin has

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has denied Russia has carried out war crimes in Ukraine as he told Sky News we are “living during days of fakes and lies” – but admitted the “significant” loss of Russian troops is a “tragedy”. Dmitry Peskov, in his first broadcast interview with Western media, said verified photos and satellite images

Ukraine can “absolutely” win the war against Russia as Moscow continues to struggle to make key breakthroughs, the Pentagon has said. Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has achieved zero of his strategic goals” and is “really only taking control of a small number of population centres”, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. It comes as US officials

A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin suspected of spying for Russia has been extradited from Germany and will appear in a UK court on Thursday, police have said. David Smith, 57, was arrested by German police on 10 August last year and is accused of collecting information from the British embassy in

Some 1,200 war crimes have already been registered in the Kyiv region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the capital’s police chief has said. Andriy Nebitov did not specify what each of the war crimes were nor how many people they involved. However, he told Sky News in an interview on Tuesday that most of the

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia wants to turn Ukrainians into “silent slaves” as he told the UN Security Council that Vladimir Putin’s forces must be brought to justice. The Ukrainian president was addressing the United Nations Security Council and said that Russia is “pursuing its policy of destroying ethnic and religious diversity during its

Millions of people in Shanghai will continue to live under lockdown rules after officials reversed plans to ease COVID restrictions. A two-stage lockdown was imposed last week in China‘s financial centre after the city’s largest coronavirus outbreak. Officials had planned to lift a lockdown in the city’s western districts today, but the restrictions have now

Wearing plastic gloves and a face mask, Serhij Matuyk has seen horror beyond description over the past month. His job is to retrieve and bury bodies in the Ukrainian town of Bucha where evidence has emerged of possible war crimes by Russian forces. “They are b******s,” he said, standing by a large white van, waiting

Shuffling down the street with a neighbour, 78-year-old Natalia recalled her encounter with Russian troops who took control of her town, Bucha, outside Kyiv.  They broke into her home, smashed a window and then one soldier threatened to shoot her. “I said: ‘OK, shoot me, if that’s why your mother gave birth to you, you

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said “atrocities” in Bucha need to be investigated as war crimes after images emerged of Ukrainian civilians lying dead on the streets of the city near Kyiv. Residents of Bucha said the people were killed by Russian soldiers without any apparent provocation, while Russia has not commented on the claims.

It is a miracle 13-year-old Sophia is still alive. The schoolgirl was left with a piece of shrapnel the size of a peanut embedded in her brain following a Russian attack on her village in southern Ukraine last month. She is now recovering in the country’s top children’s hospital in Kyiv, her head shaven and

The Epicentre hypermarket in the city of Zaporizhzhia is a strange, if extraordinary place. Like any shed-like supermarket, you see people as they park, grabbing trollies and food from the aisles. Alternatively, if you have spent time there over the past four weeks, you will have witnessed thousands of people in overcrowded vehicles, pulling into

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out an air strike on an oil depot in Belgorod, a Russian city close to the Ukrainian border.   This is the first accusation of a Ukrainian air strike on Russian soil since the war between the two countries began on 24 February. A number of videos appearing to

Moscow is redeploying forces to Ukraine from Russian-backed breakaway regions in Georgia, according to British defence officials. The Ministry of Defence said that between 1,200 and 2,000 of these Russian troops are being organised into three battalion tactical groups. “It is highly unlikely that Russia planned to generate reinforcement in this manner, and it is

Ukraine has been accused of launching its first airstrike on Russian territory since the war began – as hopes of an evacuation out of Mariupol faded after a humanitarian team headed to the besieged city. The International Committee of the Red Cross had planned to deliver aid to the southern port city today, but said

We are given strict instructions before entering the commuter town which has thwarted the Russian entry into the Ukrainian capital. “There may be shelling. You must stay with your army guards at all the times. If there is an attack, hit the ground.” Irpin is still far from safe. The little satellite town that’s refused

Demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine have accidentally shot down their own aircraft, sabotaged their own kit, and refused to carry out orders, a British spy chief will reveal. Sir Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ, is set to use a rare public speech to say it increasingly looks like Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “has massively

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia’s signals it will pull back troops from some areas “do not drown out the ruptures of Russian shells”. In a new video – the first time he has spoken about the peace talks that ended with a hint of some possible progress ahead – he said that only

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed scepticism about peace talks with Russia, saying signals it will pull back troops from some areas “do not drown out the ruptures of Russian shells”. It comes as Russia started withdrawing some forces from around Kyiv, according to CNN. In a new video – the first time he has

Ukrainian soldiers have described the dangers of using a mobile phone at the frontline in the conflict with Russian backed-separatists in recent years. “When you hear a drone, you have about five seconds to leave your position and run. The rocket will fly in that fast.” New evidence suggests the mobile networks are now being weaponised

Roman Abramovich has been seen at peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul. The Russian oligarch, who was allegedly poisoned while attending earlier talks, was seen standing in the background as Turkey’s president greeted delegations from Ukraine and Russia. Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the aims of the talks, which Ukrainian TV said