Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow bomb kills Russian general in charge of Putin’s nuclear forces
Igor Kirillov was charged by Kyiv yesterday over alleged use of banned chemical weapons in war
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Your support makes all the difference.A bomb hidden in an electric scooter has killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow today, officials said.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt.
He was sanctioned by Britain in October for his battlefield involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed,” the investigative committee said.
Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.
His death comes a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged him with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine war.
This comes as North Korean troops fighting inside Russia’s Kursk region have suffered “significant” troop losses, the US said.
“We do believe that they have suffered some significant losses, killed and wounded, but it’s difficult for me to put an actual number on it,” national security communications adviser John Kirby said.
Ukraine claims North Korean troops were killed as they fought alongside Russian forces
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EU slaps sanctions on dozens more Russian officials and targets its shadow oil and gas fleet
EU slaps sanctions on dozens more Russian officials and targets its shadow oil and gas fleet
The European Union has imposed fresh sanctions on dozens of officials linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine
Where Putin’s forces are making gains on the frontline in east Ukraine
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where Putin’s forces are making gains in eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi says the fight to hold the eastern region of Dontesk has become ‘extremely tough’
Damaged Russian ships spilled an estimated 3,700 tons of oil in Kerch Strait, state media says
Damaged Russian ships spilled an estimated 3,700 tons of oil in Kerch Strait, state media says
Russia's state media say an estimated 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil has spilled into the Kerch Strait after two Russian ships were seriously damaged by stormy weather
Ukraine claims North Korean troops were killed as they fought alongside Russian forces
Ukraine claims North Korean troops were killed as they fought alongside Russian forces
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency is claiming that around 30 North Korean troops were killed or wounded in fighting against the Ukrainian army at the weekend in Russia’s Kursk border region
Capitol rioter who tried to join Russian army is sentenced to prison for probation violation
Capitol rioter who tried to join Russian army is sentenced to prison for probation violation
A Dallas man who tried to fly overseas to join the Russian military and fight against Ukraine has been sentenced on to six months in prison for violating the terms of his probation for storming the U.S. Capitol four years ago
Ukraine blames Russia for Black Sea oil spill
Ukraine said on Monday Russia was to blame for a major oil spill in the Kerch Strait that leads into the Black Sea, accusing Moscow of breaking navigation safety rules by using old tankers and keeping two vessels at sea during a storm.
A Russian oil tanker split apart during a storm on Sunday, while another one ended up in distress in the strait that separates Russia from the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow’s troops seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russia did not say how much fuel was leaked but its state news agency TASS reported the two vessels had been carrying 9,200 metric tons of oil products.
“The Russians have a rather complicated situation... in the Azov and the Black Sea region. They use an outdated fleet: these ships were more than 50 years old,” Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s navy, told Reuters by phone. The vessel that was torn apart, the Volgoneft 212, dates back to 1969 and the Volgoneft 239 was built in 1973, according to certificates seen by Reuters.
Pletenchuk said the vessels in the accident were designed to transfer oil products along rivers and load them onto other vessels at sea and were not meant to be used in stormy weather. The two vessels had earlier turned off their AIS identification system, a global naval navigation system, making it impossible to identify their locations using satellites, he added.
In Pictures: Ukrainians take part in medical exercises near the frontline
Admiral says hybrid war is biggest challenge in Baltic
Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said.
Vice Admiral Krzysztof Jaworski said Moscow was systematically using such tactics to hide the movements of its own vessels and disrupt the operations of others in the sea which is bordered by eight Nato countries and Russia.
“Hybrid war in the Baltic is the biggest challenge we are facing,” Jaworski told Reuters in an interview last week, referring to the practise of launching conventional attacks alongside attempts to disrupt politics, energy supplies and other systems.
“We are talking about aggressive behaviour by Russia. They are trying to disrupt our lives,” Jaworski, commander of Poland’s Naval Operations Centre, added. “They are also testing us, us as an alliance (to see) how far they can go.”
US, others condemn deepening military ties between North Korea, Russia
The United States joined nine other nations and the European Union on Monday in condemning the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, the countries said in a joint statement.
“We will continue to act in concert, including through imposition of economic sanctions, to respond to the danger posed by the DPRK-Russia partnership,” the said in the statement, which included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Britain.
Tax Russia to rebuild Ukraine and increase defence spending, Estonia says
Estonia will propose that the leaders of the United Kingdom-led alliance of northern European Nato countries spend no less than 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence in response to the threat from Russia.
Only 23 of the 32 Nato members are on track to hit the Nato target of a minimum 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence spending.
“Everybody in Nato and in the EU right now has the feeling in their back bone that you should increase defence expenditure, because of what is happening all over the world and with Russia,” Michal told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
“Europe as the wealthiest region of the world has to spend more on defence, security and security.”
Michal hosts the heads of the alliance, called the Joint Expeditionary Force, in Tallinn this week, and will focus discussions on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, which he described as an “an environmental disaster waiting to happen”.
Estonia has doubled its defence spending since the start of the nearly three-year-old war in Ukraine, up to 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2024.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in July that he would increase UK defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, but only when the country could afford it and after a review of defence strategy.
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