Pro-Ukrainian forces ‘used US armoured vehicles’ in Belgorod attack - live (2023)

Anti-Russia fighters using US-made armoured vehicles for incursion into Russia - Report

Anti-Russian fighters appeared to have used US-made armoured vehicles in the Belgorod Oblast incursion, according to pictures and videos verified by New York Times.

At least three such US-made vehicles were used with two of those captured by Russian forces.

The group behind the incursion that has sparked evacuations in Belgorod used MRAPs, known as Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, which were first built by the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and Washington has sent several to Ukraine.

The two groups that have claimed responsibility for the incursion are the Freedom of Russia Legion - a Ukraine-based Russian militia led by Russian opposition figure Ilya Ponomarev that says it is working inside Russia for Vladimir Putin’s overthrow - and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC).

One of the photos of a seized MRAP showed a Russian soldier standing next to a vehicle which had a white spray-painted marking of an upward-pointing arrow. A vehicle with a similar symbol was seen in a video just hours before the incursion into Russia.

Shweta Sharma24 May 2023 04:30

Russia extends detention of WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months

A Russian court has extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.

Mr Gershkovich, an American citizen, was ordered held until 30 August. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the US government have denied the charges.

Mr Gershkovich is the first US correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying charges, and his arrest rattled journalists in the country and drew outrage in the West.

The US government has declared Mr Gershkovich to be “wrongfully detained” and demanded his immediate release. He’s being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 12:15

Kremlin says Ukraine border raiders' use of Western-made military hardware part of pattern

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the use of Western-made military hardware by pro-Ukrainian fighters who conducted a raid on a Russian border region this week was consistent with the West’s growing involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian military said on Tuesday it had routed militants who attacked the Russian border region of Belgorod with armoured vehicles the previous day, killing more than 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” and pushing the remainder back into Ukraine.

Images of some of the destroyed vehicles used by the pro-Ukrainian fighters broadcast on Russian state media showed U.S.-made military hardware such as U.S.-made Humvees.

“It is no secret for us that more and more equipment is being delivered to Ukraine‘s armed forces. It is no secret that this equipment is being used against our own military. And it is no secret for us that the direct and indirect involvement of Western countries in this conflict is growing by the day,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We are drawing the appropriate conclusions.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 11:49

Finland says Russia set to terminate agreement on military visits

Russia has informed neighbouring Finland that it will terminate a bilateral agreement on mutual visits to military installations, the Finnish defence ministry said late on Tuesday.

The bilateral agreement, signed in 2000, provided for one annual Russian assessment visit to Finland and a similar visit by Finland to the Leningrad Military District in north-west Russia, the Finnish ministry said in a statement.

Finland last month joined the NATO military alliance in response to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, drawing a threat from Moscow of “counter-measures.”

The bilateral agreement, last applied in 2019 before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, was among several post-Cold War measures taken to improve East-West relations.

The broader Vienna Act, agreed within the framework of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which also provides for mutual inspection and evaluation visits, would not be affected by the termination, Finland said.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 10:42

Russian PM tells China’s Xi: We will push back against sanctions

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told Chinese President Xi Jinping in China on Wednesday that Moscow and Beijing would push back against attempts by countries to use sanctions to “impose their will”, Russia‘s RIA news agency reported.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 10:02

Russia's Lavrov: West sees Russia and China as threat to its dominance

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said that the West saw Russia and China as “adversaries” that posed what he called an existential threat to the West’s “dominance”.

“As evidenced by statements made at the recently concluded G7 summit in Japan, the West views Russia and China as strategic adversaries posing almost an existential threat to its dominance,” Lavrov said.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 08:59

Mercenary Prigozhin warns Russia could face revolution unless elite gets serious about war

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, warned that Russia could face a revolution similar to those of 1917 and lose the war in Ukraine unless the elite got serious about fighting the war.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ukraine is preparing a counter-offensive aimed at pushing Russian troops back to the borders of before 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, Prigozhin said. Ukraine would try to encircle Bakhmut and attack Crimea, he added.

“Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good for Russia so we need to prepare for an arduous war,” he said in an interview posted on his Telegram channel.

“We are in such a condition that we could fucking lose Russia - that is the main problem ... We need to impose martial law.”

Prigozhin said his political outlook was dominated by love for the motherland and serving Putin. He said the nickname of “Putin’s chef” was stupid as he couldn’t cook, quipping that “Putin’s butcher” might be a more apt nickname.

Russia‘s elite, he said, protected their own children from fighting the war while the children of ordinary Russians perished on the front, a situation he said that could trigger turmoil in Russia.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children back in zinc coffins while the children of the elite sunned themselves abroad, he said, Russia would face turmoil along the lines of the 1917 revolutions which ushered in a civil war.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 May 2023 08:28

Russia ‘forcefully mobilising’ AWOL soldiers in Ukraine, British intelligence says

In today’s intelligence update, the British ministry of defence has said Russian military courts dealt with 1,053 cases of personnel going absent without leave (AWOL), citing a credible search by a Russian journalist.

It said Russia’s struggle to enforce discipline in its ranks throughout its operations in Ukraine has likely worsened following the forced mobilisation of reservists since October 2022.

Shweta Sharma24 May 2023 07:21

Russian PM says relations with China at ‘unprecedented’ high level

Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin who arrived in Beijing today said the ties with China are at an “unprecedented” high level, characterised by mutual respect for each other’s interests and the desire to jointly respond to challenges.

“As our Chinese friends say, unity makes it possible to move mountains,” Mr Mishustin told Chinese premier Li Qiang during a meeting in Beijing.

Mr Li said that China was willing to work with Russia to promote their pragmatic cooperation in various fields and take it to a “new level”.

Pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia has shown a “good” development trend, and the scale of investment between the two is also continuously seeing an upgrade, Mr Li told Mr Mishustin during a meeting in Beijing.

Shweta Sharma24 May 2023 07:08

Kyiv denies EU’s Josep Borrell’s claim that Ukrainian pilots training on F-16 jets

Ukraine’s Air Force has denied EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell’s comments that its pilots are training on US-made F-16 jets in several European countries.

Preparations for the training program are “still ongoing”, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said, according to Kyiv Independent, adding that Ukrainian representatives have been sent to the countries providing the training to “study how the process will go.”

“For a long time, unfortunately, I’ve had to refute (claims) that ‘pilots study in the US, (and) Europe,” Mr Ihnat said in a televised interview on 23 May. “There is no need to give any extra hope.”

Shweta Sharma24 May 2023 06:59