Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv claims assassination of Putin’s nuclear general in Moscow scooter bomb attack

Russia has approved legislation which tightens restrictions on income received by people in Moscow designated as “foreign agents”.

Under Russian law, any person or organisation receiving support from outside Russia must register as a “foreign agent”, allowing Moscow to discredit foreign actors.

The new bill, which requires “foreign agents” to transfer all income from the sale or rental of property and vehicles to special rouble accounts, has passed its third and final reading in the Russian Duma.

They will also be required to transfer any earnings from intellectual activity, including works of science, literature and art, performances and broadcasting, to those accounts, Reuters news agency reported.

Individuals will only regain access to the funds once they are removed from the Justice Ministry’s foreign agents register.

A total of 895 individuals are listed as foreign agents.

The Ukrainian parliament has supported legislation allowing multiple citizenship, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said according to The Kyiv Independent.

Current legislation only allows Ukrainians to hold single citizenship. President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted the new bill in August, stressing its importance as part of his internal resilience plan in November.

The bill has passed its first reading with 247 lawmakers in favour. It still must pass a second reading and be signed by the president before it becomes law.

It is seen as part of Ukraine’s effort to strengthen ties with Ukrainians living abroad, with Mr Zelensky saying it will allow ethnic Ukrainians born abroad to obtain citizenship.

When Bernard Jones Jr. and his wife, Doris, built their dream home, they didn’t hold back. A grotto swimming pool with a waterfall for hot summer days. A home theater for cozy winter nights. A fruit orchard to harvest in fall. And a vast underground bunker in case disaster strikes.

“The world’s not becoming a safer place,” he said. “We wanted to be prepared.”

Under a nondescript metal hatch near the private basketball court, there’s a hidden staircase that leads down into rooms with beds for about 25 people, bathrooms and two kitchens, all backed by a self-sufficient energy source.

With water, electricity, clean air and food, they felt ready for any disaster, even a nuclear blast, at their bucolic home in California’s Inland Empire.

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Ukraine’s security service says it has uncovered 12 agents spying for Russia on locations which host F-16 fighter jets and air defence systems across Ukraine.

The SBU security service said on the Telegram messenger app that it had detained the “biggest network of agents” in Ukraine’s north and south.

The concert took place in an old movie studio in Kyiv, the location kept secret until the final moment in case it was the target of a Russian attack.

More than 1,000 soldiers and young people gathered to listen to the artists who joined forces with a military brigade in an innovative effort to raise funds for Ukraine’s embattled troops.

This was the first and only live performance of the charity album “Epoch,” a collaboration between the 3rd Assault Brigade and eight Ukrainian bands.

The project’s ambitious target is to raise 50 million hryvnias (about $1.2 million) to buy an M113 armored personnel carrier to help get infantry to the front and evacuate the wounded for medical treatment. Since it launched on streaming platforms a month ago, the initiative has raised 9 million hryvnias (around $214,000).

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on allies to help in “protecting nature” after “yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia”.

In a post on X, he said: “Our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia. But there are even larger and more dangerous Russian tankers operating in your seas. Stopping this fleet is not just about cutting off Russia’s war funding – it’s about protecting nature.

“I urge everyone to take even stronger action. Ensure these shadow tanker fleet and other Russian vessels, including those transporting weapons, can no longer operate in European waters.”

The statement came soon after the UK announced sanctions on 20 Russian shadow fleet ships.

A third Russian oil tanker has sent out a distress signal in the Black Sea, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.

It comes after two others were damaged and leaked oil following a storm on the weekend.

A local governor said the oil spill has washed up along “tens of kilometres” of the Russian Black Sea Coast and a regional task force has declared an emergency situation at several locations.

The Baza Telegram channel says the third tanker is a more than 50-year-old Volgoneft ship, which is the same as the other two.

Ukraine is battling against a “prevailing” Russia in the eastern Donetsk region, Kyiv’s military chief has admitted, as Vladimir Putin’s forces look to secure as much territory as possible before US president-elect Donald Trumpre-enters the White House.

Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi described the fighting as “extremely tough” as he was pictured visiting the Pokrovsk area in Donetsk on Wednesday, where Russian forces have advanced to within just a few miles of the city’s outskirts.

The area is a linchpin of the wider region’s defence and war trackers have expressed concern that should it fall, it could pave the way for Russia to seize swathes of more territory.

“Battles continue in the Pokrovsk direction with the enemy prevailing, first of all, in manpower,” General Syrskyi wrote on the Telegram messenger app.

Tom Watling reports: