World

A suspected Russian torture chamber – dubbed a “mini Auschwitz” – has been discovered in a newly-liberated town, Ukrainian officials have claimed. The room, which contained a box of gold dental crowns, was found inside a de-occupied town near Izyum, a city in the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Having been occupied by Russian forces

Vladimir Putin has signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia, finalising the annexation of the occupied territories in defiance of international outcry. It follows the so-called referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, rejected as a sham by Ukraine and the West. The areas being annexed are not even under full control of Russian

Vladimir Putin’s mounting problems in Ukraine make Russia’s use of a tactical nuclear weapon more likely, a senior US expert has told Sky News. Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to be used on a battlefield. John Bolton, a former US national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations, said that the Russian president is

More losses for Russia in Ukraine, this time around Kherson. Ukraine’s long-telegraphed Kherson counter-offensive is making some headway along the western banks of the Dnipro river, between the villages of Zolota Balka and Dudchany around 100km north of the port city. Ukraine makes biggest breakthrough in the south – live updates Russia’s ministry of defence

Nuclear-armed North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years. Residents were warned to take cover, and an alert was issued to those living in the north-east of Japan to evacuate nearby buildings as the missile flew over the country before landing in the Pacific Ocean. Trains in

Ukrainian forces have made ground in Kherson, just days after Vladimir Putin claimed the region as part of Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the liberation of settlements Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubikva from Russia in his daily address. The Moscow-installed leader of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, described the situation as “tense” on Russian state TV. Russian military

Brazilians will head to the polls again for a second round vote after the country’s two top presidential candidates both failed to secure enough support for an outright win. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva managed to win by more than 3% over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, but failed to get more than 50% of

At least 129 people have been killed after a riot at a football match in Indonesia. The violence broke out at a stadium in East Java during a game between Arema and Persebaya Surabaya. Chaos broke out after Persebaya Surabaya won 3-2 – and according to local reports, thousands of Arema fans went on to

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