Ukraine-Russia war latest: ‘Former British soldier’ captured as Putin launches hundreds of glide bombs
Zelensky accuses Russia of firing 800 aerial-guided bombs at Ukraine
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Your support makes all the difference.Vladimir Putin’s have forces captured a British man fighting with the Ukrainian army in Russia’s Kursk region, which is still partially controlled by Ukraine, Russian reports claim.
“A mercenary from Great Britain, who called himself James Scott Rhys Anderson, was captured. He is now giving evidence,” a Russian security source told state news agency RIA.
In a video posted on pro-war Russian Telegram channels, a young bearded man wearing military clothing with what appears to be his hands tied in the back, says in English that he formerly served in the British Army.
It came as Russia launched hundreds of deadly glide bombs at Ukraine over the past week.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 800 KAB aerial-guided bombs – winged explosives weighing up to 1,500kg – at Ukraine over the last week. KAB are old-fashioned “iron” aerial bombs of the sort that were dropped by bombers during the Second World War and are particularly destructive.
In response, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine needed to improve its air defences to help fend off almost daily aerial attacks launched by Russia.
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Child injured in Russian overnight attacks on energy infrastructure and industrial facilities
Russian forces have launch overnight attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region and on industrial facilities in Zaporizhzhia, authorities have said.
Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said there had been no casualties and engineers had restored power to most of the consumers facing power cuts after air defence’s downed two drones over the region.
Russia also launched “tens of drones” to attack Zaporizhzhia overnight, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on national television.
The attack injured one child and dealt damage to multiple industrial facilities and a residential block.
Air defences also repelled a drone attack on the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region overnight. Authorities reported no casualties or significant damage in the attack’s aftermath.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Russia has used around 460 drones and over 20 missiles to attack Ukraine in the past week.
Russia removes commander in Ukraine ‘for misleading reports'
Russia has removed a senior general in Ukraine for giving misleading reports about the progress of the war as defence minister Andrei Belousov tries to clear out poor commanders, pro-Russian war bloggers and state media said.
Ahead of winter, Russian forces advanced at the fastest rate in Ukraine since the start of the 2022 invasion, though progress was much slower in some areas - particularly around Siversk in the eastern region of Donetsk.
Russian media cited unidentified sources as saying that Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the Southern Grouping, had been removed from his command, though there was no official confirmation.
“Only the lazy did not write about the problems there: overall, it took the system about two months to react properly,” Rybar, a pro-Russian blogger said on Telegram.
“Anashkin, was removed from office for false reports in the Seversk direction,” Rybar added.
Tulsi Gabbard’s history with Russia is even more concerning than you think
Even before Gabbard left the Democratic Party, ingratiated herself with Donald Trump and secured his nomination to become director of National Intelligence, she was known as a prolific peddler of Russian propaganda.
In almost every foreign conflict in which Russia had a hand, Gabbard backed Moscow and railed against the US. Her past promotion of Kremlin propaganda has provoked significant opposition on both sides of the aisle to her nomination.
Her journey from anti-war Democrat to Moscow-friendly Maga warrior began in Syria.
The devastating conflict was sparked by pro-democracy uprisings in 2011, which were brutally crushed by the Assad regime. It descended into a complex web of factions that drew extremist Islamists from around the world and global powers into the fray.
Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg write.
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
New AI lab for British spies to counter Russian cyber warfare
British spies will seek to counter the threat of Russian cyber warfare with a new laboratory for artificial intelligence, a minister will announce.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will say the UK and its Nato allies are “watching” Moscow and combatting its attacks both publicly and “behind the scenes” in his speech today.
In an apparent reference to the lead-up to the Second World War, he will warn that Britain “learned long ago” to not appease dictators and that Mr Putin “will not be successful” in attempting to weaken backing for Ukraine.
Mr McFadden, whose brief includes national security, will also announce a new Laboratory for AI Security Research (LAISR) aimed at helping the UK stay ahead in “the new AI arms race”.
The centre will bring together GCHQ, Oxford University, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Alan Turing Institute and numerous Government departments, and be backed by an initial £8.22m in state funding.
Russia says it downed Ukrainian missiles over Kursk
Russia says its air defence systems destroyed seven Ukrainian missiles and drones overnight over the border Kursk region.
A pro-Russian military analyst Roman Alyokhin, who serves as an adviser to the governor of the region, said on Telegram that “Kursk was subjected to a massive attack by foreign-made missiles” overnight.
War with Russia won’t end quickly, says ex-Ukrainian minister
Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Mocow’s war with Kyiv will not end quickly even after US president-elect Donald Trump takes office next year.
“I do not expect any quick ending of the war,” Mr Kuleba told CNN.
“What I know for certain is that first: [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy will not leave under pressure,” he said. “Second, Ukraine will not agree to any quick solution. And third, most importantly, I would like to remind everyone that the key to peace lies in Moscow not in Kyiv.”
The Ukrainian president earlier this month said the war will end “faster” when Mr Trump takes over as US president.
Mr Trump had claimed repeatedly that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have started if he had been president and would settle the war in one day.
Father of ‘ex-British soldier’ captured in Russia fears son will be tortured
The father of an alleged former British soldier has expressed his “complete shock” to hear his son had been captured by Russian troops.
“A mercenary from Great Britain, who called himself James Scott Rhys Anderson, was captured. He is now giving evidence,” a Russian source told RIA news agency.
Scott Anderson, father of the captured man, told the Daily Mail: “I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip but my son told me they torture their prisoners and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured.
“We spoke on WhatsApp almost every day until he went on his most recent operation. He was acting as a signalman. James last came home only a month and a half ago.
“He said his Ukrainian commander had made a promise that he’d contact me if he was ever killed or captured.”
Watch: Putin says Russia tested new intermediate range missile in strike on Ukraine
Trump’s pick for security advisor calls for end to war
Donald Trump’s top security advisor has called for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, urging both nations to come to the negotiating table.
“We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it,” said Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser.
“President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict,” he told Fox News yesterday.
“We need to be discussing who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table and then what’s the framework of a deal?”
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