World

Russian troops have pulled out of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine due to the risk they were being encircled by Ukrainian forces, the Kremlin has said. Lyman is in Donetsk – one of the Ukrainian regions that was annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a ceremony in Moscow on Friday. And Mr

There was an awful near silence as the war crime investigators went about their business and the bodies of the victims were methodically packed into body bags. We counted at least 15 body bags being loaded one on top of each other into a succession of ambulances. The death toll is higher and includes several

The biggest landgrab since the Second World War. A dictator threatening the use of nuclear weapons. The world’s most important institution meant to guarantee global security, the UN Security Council, rendered impotent yet again with one of its permanent members doing exactly what it was set up to prevent. The West’s response: a strategy that has

A Russian missile strike has hit a humanitarian convoy in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing 25 people and injuring dozens more. The convoy had been preparing to leave Ukrainian territory controlled by Kyiv to visit relatives and deliver supplies in an area occupied by Russia, officials said. The assault came as Moscow moved

Hurricane Ian is gaining strength and now on course north to South Carolina after devastating a large cross-section of Florida. Emergency crews were wading through water and using boats on Thursday to rescue stranded Florida residents after the storm front tore a coast-to-coast path of destruction across the state, leaving behind deadly floodwaters, downed power

Four occupied areas of Ukraine will become part of Russia on Friday, the Kremlin has said, and any attack on them will be considered an attack on Russia itself. It comes after so-called referendums, which the West dismissed as an illegal sham. President Putin will attend a ceremony in the Kremlin tomorrow at which documents

A suspected act of sabotage – possibly by Russia – against gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was likely a premeditated attack using underwater explosive devices detonated remotely, according to a British defence source. The source said any mines could have been lowered to the seabed on a long line, dropped over the side of

They come on foot, bicycles, cars and even electric scooters. They bring what they can which isn’t much, dragging their suitcases behind them. Some have dogs and others cat boxes. They are exhausted after a journey that has taken days, but all seem hugely relieved to have left Putin’s Russia. One couple laughed with relief.

All four of the occupied areas of Ukraine have voted to join Russia after referendums in the republics and regions, pro-Moscow officials have said. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is one of the many western politicians who earlier described the votes in the self-declared republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and the regions of Kherson and

The Nord Stream pipeline network, part of which supplies Germany with gas from Russia, has been damaged in three places, its operator has said. The damage to the gas pipeline system on the bed of the Baltic Sea – all caused in one day – was “unprecedented”, Nord Stream AG added. The Kremlin said on

New satellite images showing large numbers of Russians fleeing to Georgia and Mongolia have been released after Vladimir Putin’s order to mobilise hundreds of thousands of reservists for the conflict in Ukraine. The images show queues of vehicles – cargo trucks and cars – waiting in long traffic jams attempting to get over the borders.

A man has opened fire on an enlistment centre and another recruitment office has been attacked with Molotov cocktails – after Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of at least 300,000 men in Russia. The violence comes as the first tranche of people ordered to report for duty arrive at military bases, and it follows a

Italy’s Democratic Party has conceded defeat in the country’s election after an exit poll suggested far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s alliance is leading the vote. The Democratic Party said it would be Italy‘s main opposition force after an exit poll indicated Ms Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party would win 22-26% of the vote. The right-wing coalition

If there is a way out of the war in Ukraine, Professor Igor Serdyuk and his wife Tatyana, have probably found it. They now live as refugees in a peaceful market town in rural Ireland. Their home city, in the Kherson region, was taken by the Russians on the first day of the invasion but

Protests over mobilisation have taken place in more than a dozen cities across Russia. Police arrested hundreds of people as authorities seek to crack down on dissent over the Ukraine war. Girls as young as 14 years old were among those detained in St Petersburg, reports say, with authorities using stun guns and batons. In

Iran’s president says protesters should be “dealt with decisively” following nationwide anti-government unrest sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody. Authorities have been cracking down for days on demonstrators who are angry over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She had been arrested for allegedly wearing “unsuitable attire”. Iranian state TV

The southern counteroffensive by the Ukrainians to recapture the city of Kherson has been known about but unseen. The entire frontline has been closed to everyone for over two weeks, indeed it’s been shrouded in secrecy. After days of negotiation the military relented and allowed Sky News to the Kherson frontline to see what has

Draft-aged Russians have apparently begun to flee the country as it enters is biggest conscription drive since the Second World War – with plane ticket prices soaring above $5,000 (£4,443) and border crossings increasing. Vladimir Putin launched a new mobilisation campaign on Wednesday for the seven-month-old war in Ukraine that has already decimated cities, killed

The foreign secretary has called on countries to reject the “charade” of referenda to be held in Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, James Cleverly said Vladimir Putin plans to fix the results of votes on becoming parts of Russia. It comes as a prosecutor at the

Five Britons released from Russian detention in Ukraine after a prisoner swap have arrived back “safely” in the UK. One of the men, Shaun Pinner, has been pictured with his family after they were reunited. “If you thought COVID highlighted the importance of family, this is even bigger,” his sister, Cassandra, told Sky News. Aiden