Africans are building Putin's suicide drones
Assembling Iranian drones in a Russian factory is an unusual option for a work-study programme. Few students or migrant workers, however desperate or foolhardy, would willingly sign up to become a military target. Yet that is the situation in which hundreds of young African women, some of them younger than 18, have unwittingly found themselves.
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NBC News
8 hours ago
- NBC News
Relief for some, anguish for others as Ukrainians welcome home prisoners of war
Amnesty says the number of detainees in Russia isn't known but likely numbers in the thousands. The latest credible estimate of killed and wounded soldiers on both sides, by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, this month, said there have been almost 1.4 million, around two thirds of them Russian. The desperate search for missing soldiers is a stark reminder of the often unseen price of war felt by families on both sides of the front line. Ludmyla Yevhenivna is looking for her two sons, who were drafted into the Ukrainian army last fall and went missing in January. She hasn't heard from her older son, Sergiy, 50, since he disappeared while fighting in the Kursk region. Yevhenivna's younger son, Vladyslav, 39, was captured by Russia near Kursk. She shared three videos published on Russian accounts showing her son in military uniform answering questions about his service. 'My family, my mom, I miss you a lot,' he said, his look to the camera still bringing tears to his mother's eyes. 'I don't wish anyone to go through this.' Ludmylla said. 'I don't wish an enemy to go through all that.'
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Reuters
Russian court orders house arrest of politician accused of discrediting the Russian army
MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) - A court in Pskov said on Wednesday it had ruled that opposition politician Lev Shlosberg be placed under house arrest for two months and face unspecified restrictions on his activities at the request of state prosecutors. Shlosberg was detained on Tuesday and charged with discrediting the Russian army after describing the war in Ukraine as a game of "bloody chess", his party said. The 61-year-old made the comment in a video debate in January in which he urged an end to the war. The liberal Yabloko party, of which Shlosberg is a senior member, said his arrest was linked to those remarks. He denies the charge, it said. The court service of the Pskov region, which borders Estonia, on Wednesday published an image of Shlosberg at a court hearing standing up inside a courtroom cage. It noted that the authorities had already designated Shlosberg "a foreign agent," a label which carries negative Soviet-era connotations and complicates designees' lives. Shlosberg, one of relatively few opposition politicians remaining in the country, faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Ukraine soldier has 'Glory to Russia' burnt into skin by Putin's twisted thugs
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT The captured Ukrainian soldier is seen with the phrase 'Glory to Russia' branded on his skin in a new photograph, which intelligence services in Kyiv have confirmed as genuine A shocking new photograph shows a freed Ukrainian prisoner with 'Glory to Russia ' burnt into his skin by Vladimir Putin's troops. Ukraine 's intelligence services have confirmed the disturbing new image as genuine after it circulated online following the exchange of hundreds of soldiers and civilians this week. In the picture, a man is seen with severe burns to his abdomen, with the phrase deliberately branded on his body. He also has a tube inserted into his stomach. The prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine took place after US-led efforts to broker a ceasefire between the two sides last month failed, with the deal emerging as one small area of cooperation amid a continuing bloody conflict. Confirming that the image of the branded soldier was genuine but dated from a previous POW swap, Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said yesterday: "Unfortunately, the photo is real. He wasn't in this exchange, but one of the earlier ones. "While examining him at a rehabilitation centre for soldiers, a doctor, overwhelmed by what he saw, took the photo and posted it online. This is evidence of what our defenders go through in captivity. "The photo speaks for itself. And it is imperative that not only Ukrainians see it – they know very well what the Russians are – but the whole world." On Monday, an outpouring of emotion was seen on in Chernyhiv region of northern Ukraine as troops draped in the national flag were paraded through streets, having suffered horrific treatment at the hands of their Russian captors. More prisoner swaps will be taking in a staggered process taking place over the coming days, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry said, although neither side has confirmed how many. Those who were swapped included wounded soldiers, as well as those under 25, Zelensky said. He said: "The process is quite complicated, there are many sensitive details, negotiations continue virtually every day." But in the hours before the prisoner exchange took place, Russia launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the three-year war. A total of 479 drones and 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine from Sunday to Monday, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas. Ukraine's air force said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles, claiming only 10 drones or missiles hit their targets. Attacks have continued over the past 48 hours, with two people killed and 54 injured in Russian drone attacks on Kharkiv overnight. And on Tuesday, three people died and 13 were wounded after Russia hit Kyiv and Odesa with drones and missiles. A number of civilian targets were damaged, including a maternity ward and a cathedral.
