Day: November 11, 2022

Russian troops withdrew from the right bank of the Dnipro River on Friday in a major military defeat for the Kremlin that led to scenes of jubilation in the port city of Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital Russia succeeded in occupying in almost nine months of bitter fighting.   Unlike recent Russian retreats in eastern…

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Friday that his organization had started training civilians in Russian regions bordering Ukraine to form a militia and build fortifications. “Wagner is helping and will keep helping the population in border areas to learn how to build engineering structures, to train and to organize…

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Moscow-installed administration in the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, was buried in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Friday, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported. Stremousov, 45, died in an apparent car accident near the town of Henichesk on Wednesday, according to local officials.   The funeral ceremony was…

The Ukrainian capital Kyiv and its outskirts are facing sweeping heating and electricity cuts after weeks of Russian drone and missile strikes that targeted the city’s critical infrastructure. With the city cut off from electricity for 12 hours a day, the once-bustling neighborhoods of the city center fades into darkness once the sun goes down.…

Russia said Friday it had completed its withdrawal of forces from the southern city of Kherson, two days after Moscow said it had made the “difficult decision” to pull back amid Ukrainian advances. “Today at 5 o’clock in the morning Moscow time, the transfer of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnipro River was…

Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s team has joined four Russian and foreign investigative outlets in launching a smartphone app aimed at bypassing unprecedented restrictions on Russians’ access to independent media. Dubbed “Samizdat” in a nod to the bootleg handwritten publications that were circulated to circumvent Soviet censorship, the app features investigative reports from Team Navalny,…

Russian authorities have quietly launched inspections, repairs and cleanups of bomb shelters nationwide that have laid dormant since the end of the Cold War, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the efforts. The unannounced campaign for state workers to check Soviet-era basement shelters in apartment buildings, schools and government offices alongside other protected…

Russian hackers carried out a cyberattack on a major Australian healthcare company that breached the data of 9.7 million people, including the country’s prime minister, police said Friday. The hackers started leaking the data this week after Medibank, the country’s largest health insurer, refused to pay a $9.7 million (Aus$15 million) ransom. Australian Federal Police…

The Ukraine war has shown the heavy toll military conflict takes not just on people but also on the planet, say experts at the UN climate summit in Egypt. From the emissions caused by diesel-powered tanks, fighter jets and missile blasts to urban and forest fires and massive waves of refugees, the conflict has also…

The United States has stripped Russia of its classification as a “market economy” and downgraded it to a non-market country, the Commerce Department was quoted as saying Thursday. The move, based on findings of “extensive” government involvement in the Russian economy, could raise tariffs for Russian imports, which are already limited by sanctions and trade…

The European Union said Thursday it will not recognize Russian passports issued in regions of Ukraine annexed by Moscow. The move — which also covers two Kremlin-controlled areas of Georgia — means Russian travel documents given to residents of those regions cannot be used to get visas or to enter the Schengen zone. “This decision…

Kyiv forces have recaptured over 40 towns and villages in southern Ukraine, President Zelensky said Thursday, as Moscow signaled its army had begun retreating from the strategic city of Kherson. The United States meanwhile announced a new $400 million security assistance package for Kyiv, which will include defense systems and surface-to-air missiles as Ukraine is…