World

Political activist and member of the Russian band Pussy Riot has reportedly fled the country disguised as food courier after criticising Vladimir Putin. Maria Alyokhina and her fellow band members first came to the attention of the Russian authorities after staging a protest against the Russian president inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral in 2012.

As Russian troops continue their pounding of the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, a photo-journalist has revealed the grim extent of the suffering inside. In a series of stark pictures, a photographer with the press office of the Azov Special Forces Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard has unveiled the horror of the dimly-lit, makeshift

The Russian offensive in the breakaway Donbas region of eastern Ukraine is “building” and is expected to peak in the next two to three weeks, according to Sky’s defence analyst Michael Clarke. He also said what happens between now and the end of this month will determine how much room for manoeuvre President Vladimir Putin

US President Joe Biden says he fears Vladimir Putin does not have a way out of the Ukraine war. Speaking in Washington DC on Monday, Biden described the Russian president as “a very calculating man” but without an exit strategy and admitted “I’m trying to figure out what we do about that”. He said Putin

Vladimir Putin says Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine was a pre-emptive move to ward off aggression, accusing the West of “preparing for the invasion of our land, including Crimea”. The Russian president was leading anniversary celebrations in Moscow of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. Victory Day in Russia – an annual

Russian military leaders are as much to blame for the Ukraine invasion as President Vladimir Putin – and both should face consequences, the UK defence secretary has said. In a major speech today, Ben Wallace is expected to not mince his words, and tell the world bluntly, that Mr Putin and his inner circle should

Sixty people are feared dead under rubble after a Russian bomb hit a school in eastern Ukraine. About 90 people were sheltering in the building when the bomb struck, causing a fire to engulf it on Saturday, the governor of the Luhansk region said. Two people have been confirmed dead and 60 others are “likely

A further £1.3bn in military support will be provide by the UK to Ukrainian forces as they fight against Russia’s invasion. The escalation of British assistance for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces is the highest rate of UK military spending on a conflict since the height of the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. The £1.3bn, drawn from

North Korea has test-fired a suspected submarine-launched ballistic missile just days before South Korea inaugurates a new leader who has vowed to take a hard line against Pyongyang. Seoul said the rocket was launched early on Saturday from near the eastern port city of Sinpo, where the North has a submarine base. Japan also confirmed

A war zone is no place for the vulnerable, no place for the sick. We’re visiting the cancer ward of a Ukrainian children’s hospital, where doctors know this and are planning an evacuation operation that is as delicate as it is tough. They hope to organise a medical convoy that will take some of the

Not many Eurovision acts can say that instead of rehearsing for the biggest performance of their life, they have grabbed an AK47 to fight off Russian aggressors on the streets. But that’s exactly what Ukraine’s act, Kalush Orchestra, have done ahead of their appearance at the contest. The glitzy arena in the Italian city of

More than 500kg of cocaine has been discovered in a shipment of coffee beans sent to a Nespresso factory, according to Swiss police. The authorities were alerted after staff at the plant in Romont found a white powder while unloading the sacks, which had just arrived from Brazil. Analysis confirmed the powder was cocaine, with

The Pope approved a secret €1m operation to free a Colombian nun kidnapped in Mali, a disgraced cardinal has claimed. Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez was seized by the Macina Liberation Front, an al Qaeda-linked group, in February 2017 and released last year. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who is one of ten defendants on trial accused of

A woman detained after her Ryanair flight was forced to land in Belarus last May has been jailed for six years. Sophia Sapega and her activist boyfriend were flying from Greece to Lithuania when the plane was flanked by a fighter jet and forced down over an alleged bomb threat. Western countries said the actions

At least eight people have died and dozens are injured after a powerful explosion at a five-star hotel in the downtown area of Cuba’s capital Havana, officials have said. The blast at the Hotel Saratoga, a 19th-century structure in Old Havana, was apparently due to a gas leak, according to the Twitter account of the

A German woman has been found guilty of sexual assault after poking holes in her partner’s condoms in an attempt to get pregnant, according to reports. The woman, 39, was in a “friends with benefits” relationship with the man when she deliberately damaged the condoms without his knowledge. The case made legal history, according to