Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces claim key town of Vuhledar in east Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops withdraw
Russian forces have reached Vuhledar which has resisted repeated Russian assaults since Moscow’s full-scale invasion
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Vladimir Putin’s forces have claimed a key town in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops were forced to withdraw from the area after years of fighting.
The Russian Army said it had seized Vuhledar, Donetsk, on Wednesday, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Kyiv’s eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops.
The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era apartment buildings smashed apart and scarred.
Control of the area, which lies at the intersection of the eastern and southern battlefields, is significant because it will ease Russia’s advance as it tries to pierce deeper behind the Ukrainian defensive lines
Putin has said his primary goal is to take the whole of the Donbas region - the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk - in southeastern Ukraine.
His forces control about 80 per cent of this area, a heavy industry hub where the conflict began in 2014 after Moscow supported pro-Russian separatist forces after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was toppled.
New Nato chief not worried by potential second Trump presidency
New Nato chief Mark Rutte has doubled down on his commitment to Ukraine as he takes charge at a critical time for the Western alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister replaced Jens Stoltenberg as Nato secretary general on Tuesday, where he pledged continued support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
Mr Rutte’s appointment comes just before a pivotal US presidential election in November, with Nato-sceptic Donald Trump, who declined to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, on the Republican ticket.
“We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation,” Mr Rutte said at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Speaking about the prospect of former US president Donald Trump’s re-election, Mr Rutte added: “I’m not worried.
“I worked for four years with Donald Trump. He was the one pushing us to spend more on defence and he achieved this.
“Because indeed, at the moment, we are now at a much higher spending level than we were when he took office.”
Russia is ready for long confrontation with US, senior diplomat says
Russia must prepare for a long confrontation with the United States and has sent repeated warnings to Washington over the crisis in relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned.
The Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The conflict is entering what Russian officials say is the most dangerous phase to date. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire longer-range Western missiles deep into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.
Mr Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and relations with Washington, said Moscow had no illusions about relations, given the “bipartisan anti-Russian consensus” in the United States.
“We must prepare for a long-term confrontation with this country. We are ready for this in every sense,” Mr Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.
The new underground hospital saving lives near the frontline in eastern Ukraine
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Shocking video shows Russian fighter jet just feet away from US plane in near miss
Shocking video shows Russian fighter jet just feet away from US plane in near miss
The Russia plane was described as ‘unsafe and unprofessional’
Navalny ally calls on West to invest in Russia’s next generation to beat Putin
Navalny ally calls on West to invest in Russia’s next generation to beat Putin
Exclusive: Leonid Volkov tells The Independent’s Tom Watling: ‘The vast majority of anti-Putin, anti-war, opposition-minded Russians are still inside the country, and they’re not changing their minds’
The downfall of Putin is inevitable, says freed dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza
The fall of Putin is inevitable, says freed dissident Vladimir Kara Murza
Exclusive: Key British-Russian activist tells Tom Watling that even if he and other opposition leaders are killed, others will come in their place to challenge Putin, as he thanked The Independent for reporting his plight
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Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the faces of Russian opposition to Putin alongside Evan Gershkovich, sits down with The Independent for the first time since being freed in a historic prisoner swap. Tom Watling reports
Putin’s forces are desperate for a prize eastern city and Ukraine will fight street to street to keep them out
Ukraine will fight street to street to keep Russia out of key eastern city
The Russians taking Pokrovsk would split Ukraine’s defensive line in the region and harm supplies in the eastern part of Donetsk. Now facing constant bombardment, soldiers and residents in Pokrovsk speak to Askold Krushelnycky about the drawn-out siege they are bracing themselves for
Russia has secret war drone project in China, report alleges
Russia and China are engaged in a secret weapons programme to produce long-range drones against Ukraine, a report claims.
A subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons company Almaz-Antey, IEMZ Kupol, have allegedly developed a new drone model called Garpiya-3 (G3) in China, according to documents seen by news agencyReuters and sources they have spoken to.
The documents are said to show Kupol told the Russian Defence Ministry that it was able to produce drones including the G3 at scale at a factory in China – with the help of local specialists.
Russia has secret war drone project in China, report alleges
Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying weaponry or parts to any party and says it is not involved in the war in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Exclusive: Kyiv’s top tennis player Elina Svitolina tells Alexander Butler the West must act to get Ukraine’s stolen children back from Russia
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