Russian poets jailed for anti-war reading
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Two Russian men have been jailed for reciting anti-war poems at a public reading in central Moscow.
Artyom Kamardin, 33, and Yegor Shtovba, 23, were found guilty of “inciting hatred” against Russian troops and “calling for activities threatening state security” after the recitals in September 2022.
The pair will serve seven years and five years and six months behind bars respectively. Both had pleaded not guilty.
The pair are the latest to be caught up in a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Russia as it wages war in Ukraine.
Their recitals were delivered at the Mayakovsky Readings, a poetry event that has attracted dissidents and activists to the Russian capital’s Triumfalnaya Square for decades.
Mr Kamardin was reported to have been hospitalised following his arrest in September last year after police allegedly beat him and raped him with a dumbbell.
03:07 PM GMT
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03:06 PM GMT
Today's headlines
Russian soldiers were filmed apparently executing three surrendering Ukrainians
Ukrainian prosecutors said men from Russia’s 76th Airborne Division were responsible
The United States exhausted its available military aid with a final $250million (£195m) package
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Europe “does not know how to fight wars”
Two Russian men were imprisoned for reciting anti-war poems
Russia’s Novocherkassk warship was completely destroyed on Tuesday, the MoD said
Vladimir Putin sent revenge squads into Crimea to hut down locals who gave Ukraine the ship’s location
Russia covered up the true number of people killed in the flood triggered by the Kakhovka dam being blown up, an AP investigation found
03:03 PM GMT
'Furious' Putin sends revenge teams into Crimea
Vladimir Putin has sent revenge squads into occupied Crimea to hunt down locals who gave Ukraine the location of the Novocherkassk war ship, partisans have said.
The Atesh resistance group said civilians’ houses had been raided and mobile phones seized as the “completely furious” Russian president unleashed “the flywheel of repression”.
Storm Shadow missiles blew up the ship and its cargo of explosives-laden Shahed drones early on Tuesday.
“An order was issued to punish the Crimean air defence forces,” Atesh added. “It is expected that many commanders will be removed and sent to the front to participate in assault groups.”
As many as 100 people could have been killed in the strike on the Novocherkassk, military analyst Yan Matveev told the Times.
02:44 PM GMT
Tusk to visit Ukraine to discuss border blockade
Donald Tusk will visit Ukraine to discuss the blockade of Poland’s border by disgruntled truckers.
“I’m a little embarrassed to talk about this, because I know what the situation is with President Zelensky and all of Ukraine,” the Polish prime minister said.
Polish hauliers have been blockading the Poland-Ukraine border since early November in protest against what they see as unfair competition from Ukrainians.
The date of the meeting has not been disclosed.
02:03 PM GMT
Prosecutors name Russian division 'involved in POW shootings'
Ukrainian prosecutors have accused Russia’s 76th Airborne Division of being behind the killings of three surrendering soldiers.
“This division is already known for war crimes committed in Ukraine, particularly in Kyiv Oblast,” said Yurii Bielousov, an official in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
The apparent war crime was filmed by a drone and occurred at some point this month, officials said.
01:18 PM GMT
Russia 'concealed true number of dam flood dead', investigation finds
Russia concealed the true number of people killed in the flood triggered by its blowing up of the Kakhovka dam in June, an investigation by AP has found.
Occupation authorities in Kherson said just 59 people died in the 160 square miles of flooded areas it controlled.
But AP has found that hundreds drowned in the occupied town of Oleshky alone, citing interviews with doctors, Ukrainian intelligence informants and a gravedigger.
“Together, these accounts reveal a calculated attempt by Russian authorities to cover up the true cost of the dam collapse, which the AP has found was likely caused by Moscow,” it reported.
12:44 PM GMT
Ukraine's GDP up 5pc this year
Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) has increased by almost five per cent, its economy minister has said.
“Our economy not only did not fall but grew at a pace that no one expected,” said Yulia Svyrydenko.
12:22 PM GMT
Watch: Kherson railway station after Russian shelling
Kherson’s railway station was badly damaged by Russian shelling on Tuesday.
One policeman was killed and four civilians were injured.
The Kherson railway station after Russian forces' shelling on the evening of 26 December.
📹https://t.co/tEgDi4vHLthttps://t.co/i9L5rIQB5K pic.twitter.com/aMArDpDpTe— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) December 28, 2023
11:58 AM GMT
Pictured: House damaged in Russian drone strike
11:33 AM GMT
Zelensky thanks US for new aid
Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the United States after it approved a new $250million (£195m) military aid package.
“I thank Joe Biden, Congress, and the American people for the $250million military aid package announced yesterday,” he said.
The Ukrainian president added that Washington had sent Kyiv more than $24billion (£18.8bn) in aid in 2023.
“To defend freedom and security not only in Ukraine and Europe but also in the United States, we must continue to respond to ongoing Russian aggression in the most forceful and resolute manner possible,” he said.
11:12 AM GMT
Novocherkassk ship 'completely destroyed', says MoD
Russia’s Novocherkassk warship was “completely destroyed” by the Ukrainian Storm Shadow strike on the port of Feodosia on Tuesday, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
In its latest defence intelligence briefing, the MoD said the landing ship tank (LST) was the third of its type to be lost by Russia since the war began.
“As the war has dragged on, the ships have been more commonly employed in providing logistical support,” it said.
“This is a significant role because it augments the vital and relatively fragile road and rail connection of the Crimea Bridge, which links Crimea to Russia.”
10:50 AM GMT
Russia imprisons men for reciting anti-war poems
Two Russian men have been imprisoned by a Moscow court for reciting poems opposing the war in Ukraine.
Artyom Kamardin was sentenced to seven years and Yegor Shtovba to five years and six months on counts of inciting hatred and calling for activities threatening state security.
Mr Kamardin’s lawyer said he had been raped by the men who detained him using a barbell.
Russian authorities have detained thousands for simple acts of protest against the offensive in Ukraine, with criticism effectively outlawed.
10:23 AM GMT
Female Ukrainian soldiers to get specialist body armour for first time
Female Ukrainian soldiers will wear specialist body armour for the first time after Ukraine’s defence ministry approved the military’s first ever bulletproof vests designed for women.
Only men are conscripted into the Ukrainian armed forces but more than 62,000 women serve voluntarily, 5,000 of whom have active combat roles.
The new armour is more curved, has narrower shoulders and is now set to enter mass production.
10:01 AM GMT
Europe 'doesn't know how to fight wars', says Ukraine
Europe “does not know how to fight wars”, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said in a stinging rebuke of the West.
Dmytro Kuleba told the Kyiv Independent that the continent’s defence industry was not able to meet Kyiv’s military needs as it attempts to fend off Russia’s invasion.
“Europe doesn’t know how to fight wars,” he said. “The production of weapons is not the most popular area of business.
“Unfortunately, our friends spent too much time deliberating on how and when to ramp up their production of weapons and ammunition.”
He added that the superiority of Western-donated arms “will not be enough” for Ukraine if they are not produced on a larger scale.
Ukrainian commanders have said that faltering Western arms supplies are forcing Kyiv’s forces to scale back some offensive operations.
On Wednesday, the US exhausted its available Ukraine funding with a final tranche of $250m (£195m). Any further aid will require approval from Congress, which has until now blocked President Joe Biden’s latest funding proposals.
09:38 AM GMT
Ukrainian, 66, killed in Russian missile strike
A 66-year-old Ukrainian woman has been killed in a Russian missile strike.
The blast in the north-eastern city of Vovchans’k near Kharkiv also injured a 63-year-old civilian.
Images released by officials showed black smoke billowing from a car engulfed by flames.
“Another act of Russian terrorism against civilians,” said Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv region’s military governor.
09:22 AM GMT
West agreed 'peace formula' at 'secret summit', claims Lavrov
The West agreed a “peace formula” to end the war in Ukraine at a “secret summit” around 10 days ago, Sergei Lavrov has claimed.
Russia’s foreign minister said in an interview with state media that the formula was proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky and will be discussed by the G7.
Mr Lavrov added that the West had “completely failed” to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
09:06 AM GMT
Russian ships flee Feodosia after Ukraine strike
Russian ships have fled the port in occupied Crimea where the Novocherkassk warship was sunk on Tuesday.
Satellite images show a number of ships have left the port of Feodosia since the attack by Storm Shadow missiles.
08:36 AM GMT
Container ship hits Russian mine in Black Sea
A container ship has struck a Russian mine in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s armed forces have said.
“The vessel lost its course and control, and a fire broke out on the upper deck,” the southern military command said on Telegram.
One person is in hospital and another was treated on board the Panama-flagged vessel, which was grounded in shallow water to prevent it sinking.
It has now been refloated and tugs are assisting its return to port.
08:16 AM GMT
Ukraine shoots down seven Russian drones
Ukraine shot down seven out of eight drones launched by Russia overnight.
Its air force said the drones were destroyed over the Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russia’s defence ministry said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on occupied Crimea overnight.
07:58 AM GMT
West to blame for global turmoil, Russia says
The West is to blame for global geopolitical tensions, Sergei Lavrov has said.
The Russian foreign minister told state news agency Tass that Western politicians sought to “provoke crises” for their own benefit.
“Storms continue in the world and one of the reasons is that the ruling circles in the West provoke crises thousands of kilometres from their borders in order to resolve their own issues at the expense of other peoples,” he said.
“It can be said that given conditions in which the West is clinging to the domination slipping away from it, no one can be protected against its geopolitical intrigues. There is a growing understanding of this.”
07:42 AM GMT
US exhausts available Ukraine aid with final tranche of $250m funding
The United States has exhausted available military aid for Ukraine with a final $250million (£195m) package.
Existing weapons stocks will supply Nasams and Himars munitions, as well as Tow and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Javelin and AT-4 anti-armour systems and 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds will also be dispatched to Kyiv.
It is the last tranche Washington will send to Kyiv until Joe Biden’s proposed new £48 billion ($62bn) deal is approved by Congress.
07:31 AM GMT
Russians 'execute three surrendering Ukrainians'
Russian soldiers have been filmed executing three surrendering Ukrainians.
Drone footage was published on Wednesday showing the prisoners of war being shot dead.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said it is investigating the apparent war crime, which happened this month east of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia.
“Another case of gross violation of international humanitarian law on the treatment of prisoners of war by the aggressor country,” it said.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said it had geolocated the video.
“ISW previously reported observing drone footage of Russian servicemen using Ukrainian POWs as human shields near Robotyne on December 13,” it said.
