World

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine has not received “a single cent” towards its $17bn fast recovery plan.  Addressing a Berlin conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction by video link, he also revealed Russian rockets and Iran-made drones have destroyed more than a third of his country’s energy sector. “Russia destroys everything to make it harder for us to

Russia has engaged in an unusual burst of contact with the West’s three nuclear powers to raise baseless claims about a dirty bomb plot in Ukraine, amid fears of further escalation. In the past 48 hours, Vladimir Putin’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has spoken to his respective counterparts in the US, the UK and France,

In the centre of Kyiv – protected by checkpoints, sandbags, soldiers and guns – stands the city’s military heart. It is here that we meet Oleksiy Danilov, head of the country’s national security council – President Zelenskyy’s most trusted security adviser. Mr Danilov is not a shrinking violet. We speak for 20 or 30 minutes,

Russian claims Ukraine could use a “dirty bomb” in the war have been branded “nuclear blackmail” and dismissed by the West. With its forces facing a string of battlefield defeats and a risk of being routed in the south, the Kremlin has pushed allegations that Kyiv could use such a blast on its own territory

History has been made in China after it was confirmed that President Xi Jinping will remain in power – breaking with a decades-long precedent that limits the terms of Chinese leaders. Having ruled China for 10 years already, he will now stay on for at least another five-year term – and he could, in theory,

Fear is a powerful thing and it is motivating many to leave the Ukrainian city of Kherson. With Ukrainian troops closing in on the city, thousands have left using ferries to cross the great Dnipro River. Kherson was the first major city to fall to Vladimir Putin’s military after the invasion began in February and

China’s former president Hu Jintao has been unexpectedly escorted out of the closing ceremony of the ruling Communist Party. The 79-year-old, who was seated on the left of President Xi Jinping, was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two stewards. Mr Hu, Mr

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been shown firing a sniper rifle while visiting a training facility for reservists. Footage of the inspection of the military boot camp in the Russian region of Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, is thought to have been aimed at showing progress in rectifying problems with training and supplies. Russian TV showed

When soldiers in Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanised Brigade do their work, most tasks are performed under trees. It is a simple matter of staying alive. Members of the brigade’s Oril Company stack their munitions under a stand of gnarly-looking trees. Their mortars are hidden in the bushes. Putin’s forces ‘preparing to blow up major dam’ – Ukraine

A missile was released from a Russian aircraft near an unarmed RAF plane on a routine patrol over the Black Sea, the defence secretary has revealed. In a statement updating MPs on the war in Ukraine, Ben Wallace said the incident happened on 29 September and that Russia has acknowledged it took place in international

A 55-year-old Massachusetts woman is facing several assault and battery charges for allegedly releasing a swarm of bees on a group of sheriff’s deputies as they tried to serve an eviction notice. Rorie Woods, who lives in Hadley, is accused of carrying out the attack while officers from Hampden County Sheriff’s Department were dealing with

Kherson residents have been boarding boats in an apparent evacuation as Russia claimed Ukraine is planning a major attack and President Putin declared martial law in four occupied regions. Russian media showed people in the city boarding ferries to cross from the right bank of the Dnipro river to the left. The Moscow-backed head of

There are days in Bakhmut that are more difficult than others – although no day is easy in this battered city.  Once home to 100,000 people, it’s now a military objective for the Russian army, the gateway to key industrial cities in eastern Ukraine. But the city has become a major obstacle for Russian generals,

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is on a hastily-arranged visit to Washington to talk with his counterpart and White House officials about “shared security concerns” including Ukraine and Russia, a source and an official said. The secretive, last-minute nature of the trip and a comment by a second defence minister, James Heappey – who said the

A preliminary investigation of damage on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea shows that the leaks were caused by “powerful explosions”, Copenhagen Police have said in a statement. The force added that further investigation of the 26 September ruptures of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines

The world’s first geological tomb for nuclear waste is rapidly taking shape more than 400 metres below the forests of Finland. Batches of lethally radioactive uranium will start arriving within two years for burial in the warren of tunnels carved into the bedrock. Other countries, including the UK, are considering plans to build their own