A Ukrainian official said Thursday that Russian troops occupying Ukraine’s Mariupol had canceled school summer holidays in the south-eastern port city to prepare pupils for switching to a Russian curriculum. The strategic city fell to Moscow’s forces following a devastating siege that culminated when Ukrainian forces laid down arms last week at the Azovstal steelworks…
Moscow is ready to make a “significant contribution” to averting a looming food crisis if the West lifts sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone call with Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. “Vladimir Putin emphasizes that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the…
A Russian court confirmed the dismissal of 115 national guardsmen who challenged their sacking after refusing to take part in Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. The case appears to be the first official confirmation of soldiers refusing to join Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine that was launched on February 24. A military court in Russia’s southern republic…
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday dismissed a plan for peace in Ukraine proposed by Italy. Lavrov said he was familiar with its contents only through the media as a copy had not been received by Moscow. However, his deputy Andrei Rudenko said Monday that the ministry received Italy’s proposal and was studying it. …
Police in Kyrgyzstan said Thursday they were investigating reports that a Ukrainian flag was planted atop a mountain named in honor of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A Twitter user identifying as a climber posted on Tuesday a video of a Ukrainian flag flying next to a plaque marking the mountain as Peak Putin, 4,446 meters…
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday threatened to expel a U.S. journalist or U.S. media outlet if YouTube again blocks broadcasts of its weekly press briefings. “A few of my briefings were blocked. What we did is we went ahead and said: ‘if you block a briefing one more time, one journalist or one U.S. outlet…
Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have sent home at least 58 metric tons of looted goods since the start of the invasion in late February, according to an investigation published by independent news site Mediazona. The outlet analyzed packages sent from 46 branches of delivery firm SDEK located close to the Ukrainian border in Russia…
Red Nail Polish Every day I look at photographs of the war. I look and look. Destroyed cities, burned cars, dead people. Red nail polish on a dead hand. Every day, no matter where I am, I think that planes are flying over me, that I’m the one who has to run to the bomb…
Google has disconnected its services from Russian servers designed to boost internet speeds, the RBC news website reported Thursday. Google Global Cache (GGC) allows local providers to offer Google content, including YouTube videos, from their own networks, lowering waiting times for customers. Without GGC, Russian users would experience slower access to Google content directly from…
Russia’s Central Bank cut its key interest rate for the third consecutive time at an emergency meeting Thursday as authorities seek to rein in the surging ruble. The Bank of Russia will lower interest rates from 14% to 11% from Friday. Officials increased interest from 9.5% to 20% as an emergency measure after Russia invaded…
A separatist official in eastern Ukraine has claimed there are 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war in the parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are under the control of Russian forces. Rodion Miroshnik, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic’s ambassador to Russia, told pro-Kremlin television host Vladimir Solovyov on Thursday that “literally hundreds” of prisoners…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a bitter rebuke to the West for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war, as fierce battles rage in the country’s east and Russian troops draw ever closer to encircling a key industrial city. Calling for help “without limits”, specifically shipments of heavy weaponry, Zelensky also blasted…