Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin minister issues recession warning while Russia admits massive losses on frontline
His remarks come as Russian ambassador to the UK accidentally shared an estimate of Russia 's massive losses on the battlefield. Ambassador Andrey Kelin, talking to the CNN, dismissed the one million casualties figure but said that "about 600,000" Russian soldiers were fighting in Ukraine and said that Russia was enrolling 50,000-60,000 volunteers every month.
Yesterday, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that he is willing to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky but only for a 'final phase' of talks.
only join the talks to finally 'put an end' to the conflict.
It is not the first time - nor will it be the last - that Putin has supposedly signalled a desire to end the war. Ukraine and its western backers say he is simply playing for time, appealing to Donald Trump while continuing to relentlessly bomb Ukraine in the meantime.
Ukraine and Russia exchange more prisoners of war in latest swap
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war, officials from both countries said, the latest round of swaps under an agreement struck in Istanbul.
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted images of the freed Ukrainian troops, smiling and draped in the national flag, most of whom had been held captive since the early months of Russia's February 2022 invasion, he said.
The Ukrainian POWs exchanged yesterday were either sick or injured, according to Kyiv's coordinating council for POWs. The Russian POWs would also be sent for treatment and rehabilitation, Moscow's defence ministry said.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia, whose talks on ending the war have yielded few results besides the exchange of prisoners or remains, provided an exact figure of how many POWs had been exchanged.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 06:45
Watch: Russia's defence of Iran shows need to tighten sanctions, says Zelensky
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 06:40
North Korea will send 5,000 military construction workers to Russia, Kremlin says
North Korea is sending 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to Russia 's Kursk oblast, where Moscow is repairing widespread damage from a Ukrainian incursion, according to a top Kremlin official.
Presidential security adviser Sergei Shoigu said the workers would help rebuild the strategic border region, which was invaded by the Ukrainian military last August and retaken by Russian forces earlier this year.
The dispatch of the workers was discussed in Mr Shoigu's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, state media outlet KCNA reported on Wednesday.
North Korea will send 5,000 military construction workers to Russia, says Kremlin
Sergei Shoigu says North Korean workers will help repair damage from Ukrainian incursion in Kursk
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 06:17
Russia claims South Africa invited Putin to G20 summit
South Africa formally invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit, a Russian diplomat has claimed.
"Last week, we received an official invitation. This is an appeal from the head of state, the president of South Africa (Cyril Ramaphosa), to his colleagues," Russian Ambassador-at-large Marat Berdyev told state-owned media outlet RIA.
The summit will take place in Johannesburg from November 22 to 23.
However, South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), meaning it is obliged to arrest Mr Putin on arrival. An arrest warrant was issued for the Russian leader in March 2023 over allegations of illegal deportation of Ukrainian children during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 06:15
Spain rejects Nato defence spending increase
Spain has rejected a Nato proposal to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence needs set to be unveiled next week, claiming it is "unreasonable."
In a letter sent yesterday to Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said that Spain "cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP".
His comments reveal divisions in the bloc ahead next week's Nato summit in The Hague.
"For Spain, committing to a 5 per cent target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the EU's ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem," Mr Sanchez wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 06:05
Ukraine's nuclear plant cannot restart during war, says UN nuclear watchdog
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine cannot resume operations until challenges related to the availability of cooling water and off-site power are fully resolved, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.
"Based on the discussions at the site this week, it is clear that there is a general consensus among all parties that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant cannot start operating again as long as this large-scale war continues," the UN nuclear watchdog said in a statement.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant (NPP) situated in Ukraine's east, has not been generating electricity for almost three years now, and its location on the frontline of the conflict continues to put nuclear safety in constant jeopardy, the IAEA said.
'Its off-site power situation also remains extremely fragile, with only one power line currently functioning compared with ten before the conflict. In addition, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in mid-2023 means the ZNPP does not have sufficient water to cool six operating reactors,' the statement yesterday added.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 05:52
German general dismisses Putin's Taurus warnings as 'nonsense'
A German general dismissed repeated warnings by Russian president Vladimir Putin that delivering Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine might make it party to the war as 'nonsense'.
"It is obviously nonsense and not correct that military aid - and this discussion has been going on for three years now - would constitute direct participation in the war," Major-General Christian Freuding, who is in charge of coordinating German military aid to Kyiv, told public broadcaster ZDF.
20 June 2025 05:36
Putin-Trump meeting 'not currently on the table', Kremlin says
A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is not currently on the table, the Kremlin has said.
"Until the necessary 'homework' is done to remove the irritants in our relations with the United States, it makes no sense to organize a meeting," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
The US President has repeatedly raised the issue of meeting with Mr Putin, saying it would help accelerate efforts to end the war in Ukraine. However, the pair have not met since he began his second presidency in January.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 05:30
Zelensky to attend Nato summit in Hague - reports
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to attend the Nato summit in The Hague later this month, according to reports.
A source in the Ukrainian presidency told AFP that Mr Zelensky would attend the summit, scheduled for June 24-25.
'The decision will be made on the eve of the summit. This is just the schedule,' the source said.
They described the meeting as 'an opportunity to maintain support and promote a ceasefire'.
Arpan Rai20 June 2025 05:08
Zelensky announces new commander of Ukraine's land forces
Ukrainian presiden Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Hennadiy Shapovalov as commander of Ukraine's land forces, replacing a commander who resigned over a Russian strike on a training area.
Mr Shapovalov, whose appointment was announced in a presidential decree, had previously acted as a liaison at a Nato coordination centre in Germany. Before that, he has served as commander of the forces of the Operational Command South.
Mr Zelensky, speaking later in his nightly video address, said the incoming military chief's experience in working with Nato would be put to good use in introducing changes in Ukraine's forces.
"All this useful experience of this coordination and all the real combat experience of our soldiers must be applied now within Ukraine's land forces," he said.
"Changes are needed and this is an imperative."
Mr Shapovalov takes over as head of land forces from Mykhailo Drapatyi, who tendered his resignation this month after a deadly Russian strike on a training camp in southeastern Ukraine.
Arpan Rai
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Times
37 minutes ago
- Times
Enlisted, deployed, still fighting: the Ukrainians at the front 1,200 days on
In the days following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of men left their families and jobs to defend their country, swelling the ranks of Kyiv's armed forces. Many had never fired a weapon in anger. About 1,200 days later, many of the same men are still fighting. With each passing day, however, there are fewer of them left alive. Ukraine's skilled infantry is thinning out. Russian troops were advancing across Ukraine in the spring of 2022 when Mykhailo, a music teacher from a small town near Kyiv, enlisted. The life-changing decision took him almost no time at all. 'I took a shower and then went straight to the military recruitment office,' he said. Bohdan, a cook from Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky's home city, was another who volunteered to fight at the start. 'I didn't even know that the army would feed me, let alone pay me,' he said. 'I just wanted to protect our country's future.' Both are now battle-hardened fighters with the 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade in Ukraine's Sumy region and their combat experience, and that of other long-serving soldiers, has become invaluable to Kyiv's hopes of holding back Russia. Their previous lives seem like a dream and many are unsure of how they will adapt to civilian life when the war eventually ends. 'I'm not afraid of death. I've been injured six times — three shrapnel wounds and three bullet wounds,' Bohdan, 29, said. In 2023, he was badly injured while fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region and evacuated from the battlefield. He spent a year recovering before returning to the army. As the war approaches its three-and-a-half-year point, with no end in sight, many of those who joined up at the start are either dead or injured, while others have refused to fight on. There is little hope of a fresh wave of motivated recruits to plug growing manpower gaps along the more than 600-mile front. 'Everyone in Ukraine who wanted to fight is already fighting,' Robert Brovdi, the commander of the military's drone forces, said. He spoke after Russian troops were able to enter Pokrovsk, a besieged town in the east of the country, when a Ukrainian brigade 'simply ran out of infantry', according to DeepState, a Ukrainian website that monitors the front lines. On Friday, Mariia Berlinska, a well-known war veteran who also heads Kyiv's Centre for Aerial Reconnaissance Support, estimated that Ukraine's military was suffering daily casualties of 300 dead and 750 injured. About 500 troops also desert every day, she said. She warned that Russian forces could be in Kyiv by the winter 'if we don't change something'. Under martial law that was introduced at the start of the invasion, anyone who was mobilised for the war effort, voluntarily or otherwise, must stay in the army until the end of the conflict. There are exceptions for people suffering from serious health conditions, single fathers and men caring for close relatives with serious illnesses or disabilities. Soldiers aged 18-24 who signed up under a new programme that was launched in February are also allowed to discharge themselves after a year of service. For many other men, the prospect of fighting indefinitely, unless killed or injured, is something that they want to avoid at any cost. Draft-dodging has become routine and hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age have fled to Europe, according to EU statistics. Ukraine is hoping to solve at least some of its manpower problems with a fresh influx of foreign fighters. Bohdan, who is now a platoon commander, is instructing a new reconnaissance and strike unit that is dominated by soldiers from Colombia. In a surreal turn of events, the Colombians are fighting against North Korean troops, who are supporting President Putin's forces in western Russia's Kursk region, where Kyiv maintains a tiny foothold after last year's surprise incursion. The Times saw dozens of the Spanish-speaking soldiers at a military training ground, but was denied permission to interview them. 'The Colombians are much better than the current crop of new Ukrainian soldiers because they haven't been dragged here against their will. Our guys are obsessed with thoughts about how they will all die, how they will get sent on suicide missions and so on. They don't want to learn and they have no motivation,' Bohdan said. When asked what motivated the Colombians, he replied: 'Money, basically. For them, it's work.' The average monthly frontline salary for a member of the Ukrainian armed forces is 120,000 hryvnias (£2,165), a sum eight times higher than the average earnings of a Colombian soldier. Mykhailo, who is now a company commander, was equally scathing about the new Ukrainian recruits. 'These guys who were snatched and thrown into a [military draft patrol] vehicle while they were going to the shop aren't ready for war at all. Out of ten of them there is maybe one who will prove himself. These are completely different people from the guys that joined up at the start of the war.' More than three years at the front, with only 30 days of annual leave, has taken its toll on soldiers. There is growing frustration that no serious efforts are being undertaken to ensure they do not have to shoulder the burden alone. Zelensky recently said there would be no demobilisation of troops 'until the enemy is defeated'. Laying out anti-drone nets on a road near Sumy OLEKSIY MOROZOV FOR THE TIMES The nets are deployed like a cage over the road OLEKSIY MOROZOV FOR THE TIMES Ihor Raykov, a soldier with the 13th Khartiia Brigade, which was formed by volunteers, wrote this week in a Facebook post: 'When I went to war, my eldest son was 140cm tall, now he is 167cm. These 27cm of his life passed without me. Many children will never be able to see their fathers again. No one forced me [to join up]. But I did not choose to become a serf.' He appealed to Zelensky to adopt a 'fair law' on military service terms and to allow soldiers to be rotated on a regular basis. He admitted, however, that such a scheme would require three times more soldiers than at present. Dmytro, another soldier who has been at the front since 2022, raged against what he said was the corruption and callousness of government officials. 'They don't give a f*** about ordinary soldiers,' he said, as he repaired a window at his family's home in Kyiv after a Russian attack that killed at least 31 people. 'We are losing so many people. I've lost count of how many of my friends have been killed. I go to the graveyard and I scream inside because these men should be alive,' he said. Some soldiers who have been fighting for more than three years say they have become almost like killing machines, eliminating Russian soldiers without emotion. Bohdan said he had killed more than 580 Russian troops while serving as a sniper for almost 18 months, an average of more than one a day. 'I haven't even counted how many I killed on assault missions,' he said. Mykhailo, 31, said he had killed in close combat and as a sniper. 'I didn't feel any emotions, neither sadness nor joy. I didn't dream about the people I killed. I slept peacefully,' he said. Like many of his fellow soldiers, he tries not to think too much about how and when the war will end, or his plans for peacetime. 'I don't know if I will be able to go back to being a teacher again,' he said. 'A lot has changed inside me.'
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Watch moment huge mushroom cloud erupts over Russian plant after massive Ukrainian strike in major blow to Putin
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THIS is the jaw-dropping moment when a huge fireball erupted over a Russian oil refinery during Ukrainian drone strikes. The vast mushroom cloud rose over the military-linked Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Russia's Samara region. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 Ukrainian drones struck the ELOU AVT-11 installation at the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery Credit: East2West 8 A vast fireball erupted into the air following the strike Credit: East2West 8 It is just one of several blazes reported at strategic sites across Russia Credit: East2West 8 But it comes as Russia continues to brutally bombard civilian targets in Ukraine Credit: East2West 8 Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during Russian-Laotian talks at the Kremlin Credit: Getty Images - Getty This plant supplies aviation fuel for Putin's combat aircraft, which have been used in barbaric attacks against Ukrainian civilians. Stunning footage shows flames erupting high into the air, engulfing the facility in a bright orange inferno. Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ claimed the attack led to fire surging 590ft into the sky. But, in a major blow to Vlad's war machine, it is just one of several blazes reported at strategic sites across Russia. read more in world news WHAT A JERK-ULES Brazen tourists anger locals with 'disrespectful' act at ancient site Elsewhere, another oil refinery was set alight in Ryazan - which is a critical supplier for the Russian capital Moscow. Fires were also reported at a military airfield Primorsko-Akhtarsk in the Krasnodar region - which is used for Russia's brutal drone strikes against Ukraine. A "major hit" was further reported on a Russian air defence radar company in occupied Crimea. One woman died in drone strikes on the Electropribor plant in Penza city - which makes special-purpose telecoms and cryptographic equipment to support Putin's war machine. As many as eight massive explosions were heard in the city during the drone strikes, according to reports. Ukrainian forces also reportedly hit military targets in the Rostov region, leading to one death. Trump says US is 'fully prepared' for war after moving subs towards Russia It comes as Russia continues to brutally bombard civilian targets in Ukraine. A total of 31 people died, including five children, after Putin's forces fired an Iskander missile into a residential tower block in Kyiv. Devastating Russian strikes against civilian targets have also been reported in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions over the past week. It comes after Donald Trump ordered two nuclear submarines be positioned near Russia. The US President's patience with Putin has worn thin in recent weeks over the Russian tyrant's unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire. He also slashed his 50 day deadline for a peace deal down to "10 to 12" days - towards the end of next week. One of Putin's cronies hit back at Trump following this move, accusing him of fanning the flames of war. Ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said: "Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. "Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe road!" But Trump slammed Medvedev's comments as "foolish and inflammatory" as he ordered for the submarines to be sent out. "We always want to be ready, and so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines," Trump said. "I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that." He added: "A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we're going to protect our people." 8 Trump's patience with Putin has worn thin in recent weeks Credit: Reuters 8 Stunning footage shows flames erupting high into the air Credit: East2West
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Ukraine's military says it struck Russia's Ryazan oil refinery
KYIV, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck Russia's Ryazan oil refinery, causing a fire on its territory. In a statement on Telegram, the Unmanned Systems Forces also said they had hit the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in Voronezh region.
