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Russia Today
16 hours ago
- General
- Russia Today
Zelensky calls Russian negotiators ‘idiots'
Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has lashed out at the Russian delegation participating in the Istanbul talks, dismissing Moscow's proposal for a temporary ceasefire intended to allow the sides to recover the bodies of fallen soldiers for 'Christian burial.' Following the second round of direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev held in Türkiye on Monday, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, proposed a short-term truce in several areas along the front line. 'We want to create the conditions for the bodies to be collected and handed over for Christian burial,' Medinsky stated. He said the measure would help prevent potential disease outbreaks and facilitate the dignified collection of the dead. Zelensky rejected the idea during a Q&A session with Ukrainian and foreign journalists, reiterating his demand for a longer ceasefire. 'They [the Russians] are ready for a ceasefire for two to three days to pick up the dead from the battlefield. I think they are idiots,' he said, arguing that any truce should be aimed at saving lives, not retrieving bodies. According to Medinsky, Russia has already committed to unilaterally transfer the remains of 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers and officers. 'We have identified all whom we could, held DNA tests, and found out who they are,' the Russian presidential aide said. Zelensky downplayed Medinsky's position, calling him a low-level official who 'does not even understand technical things.' He claimed that such exchanges already occur between Ukrainian and Russian units without any formal agreements or ceasefires. 'It just happens,' he said. He also urged the United States to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow to 'pressure' it into accepting Kiev's demands. Ukraine has long demanded a full ceasefire lasting at least 30 days as a precondition for any substantive peace talks. The provision was reportedly included in Kiev's draft proposals submitted during the negotiations, according to Reuters. Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea, warning that such a pause would allow Ukrainian forces to regroup and prepare for renewed hostilities. Zelensky has a history of offensive remarks toward the Russian negotiating team. Ahead of the first round of talks in May, he described them as 'a theatre prop,' a comment that drew condemnation from Moscow.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Paratroopers release footage showing capture of Russian soldiers
Paratroopers have released a video showing how they, together with neighbouring units, captured Russian soldiers on the Kursk front. Source: Air Assault Forces Command Quote: "Russian soldiers are surrendering because the abuse in their units is worse than captivity. In their units on Russian territory, they were subjected to inhumane treatment, psychological pressure and threats." Details: The paratroopers emphasised that the POWs could be used for further exchange for Ukrainian soldiers held captive in Russia. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Guardian
5 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Indonesian soldiers, tiger toenails and wildfires: photos of the day
Vets and wildlife park staff carry out a delicate operation to remove an ingrown toenail from Tschuna, a 17-stone Amur Tiger, at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Palestinians receive medical care at the al-Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp following an Israeli strike Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images A destroyed airplane lies on the tarmac at Sana'a international airport in the aftermath of an Israeli military strike. It was the last remaining plane at rebel-held Yemen's international airport Photograph: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images UK foreign secretary David Lammy with Norway's foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, at SvalSat, a satellite ground station that monitors the climate Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Preparations for the upcoming Hajj season include installing cooling systems, rest areas and mobile phone charging stations, all aimed at enhancing pilgrims' comfort and safety Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images A sculpture at the Bitcoin 2025 conference, an event for cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiasts held in Las Vegas Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images A Ukrainian soldier from the 2nd rifle battalion of the 24th mechanised brigade firing a 120mm mortar amid the ongoing Russian invasion Photograph: Ukrainian 24th mechanised brigade/EPA Indonesian soldiers take part in a welcome ceremony for France's president, Emmanuel Macron, at the military academy in Magelang, central Java Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini/AFP/Getty Images Smoke rises from a wildfire northwest of Fort McMurray Photograph: Alberta Wildfire/Reuters A market where sheep are sold ahead of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images A campground near the Everglades Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP A boy plays with a football on the banks of the river Ganges at Scindia Ghat on a hot summer's day Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Feral honey bees interact at the edge of their hive behind a fruit processing barn near Elkton in rural southwestern Oregon Photograph: Robin Loznak/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock Firefighters and military officers work at the scene of crashed navy plane, an incident in which four crew were killed Photograph: AP Cole Palmer of Chelsea lifts the Conference League trophy after his team's victory over Real Betis Photograph:People protest outside the Varick ICE facility in New York amid an immigration crackdown Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA
BBC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Fibre optic drones: The terrifying new weapon changing the war in Ukraine
An acrid smell hangs over the town of Rodynske. A couple of minutes after we drive into the city we see where it's coming from.A 250kg glide bomb has ripped through the town's main administrative building, and taken down three residential blocks. We're visiting a day after the bomb struck, but parts of the wreckage are still smoking. From the edges of the town we hear the sound of artillery fire, and of gunshots – Ukrainian soldiers shooting down is about 15km (9 miles) north of the embattled city of Pokrovsk. Russia has been trying to capture it from the south since the autumn of last year, but Ukrainian forces have so far managed to stop Russian soldiers from marching Russia has changed tactics, moving instead to encircle the city, cutting off supply routes. In the past two weeks, as hectic diplomatic efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine have failed, Russia has intensified its push, making its most significant advances since find proof of that in minutes of us arriving in town, we hear a Russian drone above us. Our team runs to the closest cover available – a tree. We press up against it so the drone won't see us. Then there's the sound of a loud explosion – it's a second drone making impact nearby. The drone above us is still hovering. For a few more minutes, we hear the terrifying whirring sound of what's become the deadliest weapon of this we can't hear it any more we take the chance to run to hard cover in an abandoned building 100ft the shelter, we hear the drone again. It's possible it returned after seeing our Rodynske is being swarmed by Russian drones is evidence that the attacks are coming from positions much closer than known Russian positions to the south of Pokrovsk. They were most likely coming from newly captured territory on a key road running from the east of Pokrovsk to half an hour of waiting in the shelter, when we can't hear the drone anymore, we move quickly to our car parked under tree cover, and speed out of Rodynske. By the side of the highway we see smoke billowing and something burning – it's most likely a downed drone. We drive to Bilytske, further away from the frontline. We see a row of houses destroyed by a missile strike overnight. One of them was Svitlana's home."It's getting worse and worse. Earlier, we could hear distant explosions, they were far away. But now our town is getting targeted – we're experiencing it ourselves," says the 61-year-old, as she picks up a few belongings from the wreckage of her home. Luckily Svitlana wasn't at home when the attack occurred."Go into the centre of the town, you'll see so much that is destroyed there. And the bakery and zoo have been destroyed too," she a safehouse just out of reach of drones, we meet soldiers of the artillery unit of the 5th Assault Brigade."You can feel the intensity of Russian assaults increasing. Rockets, mortars, drones, they're using everything they have to cut off supply routes going into the city," says unit has been waiting for three days to deploy to their positions, waiting for cloud cover or high-speed winds to give them protection from drones. In an ever-evolving conflict, soldiers have had to rapidly adapt to new threats posed by changing technology. And the latest threat comes from fibre optic drones. A spool of tens of kilometres of cable is fitted to the bottom of a drone and the physical fibre optic cord is attached to the controller held by the pilot."The video and control signal is transmitted to and from the drone through the cable, not through radio frequencies. This means it can't be jammed by electronic interceptors," says a soldier with the call sign Moderator, a drone engineer with the 68th Jaeger drones began to be used in this war in a big way, both militaries fitted their vehicles with electronic warfare systems, which could neutralise drones. That protection has evaporated with the arrival of fibre optic drones, and in the deployment of these devices, Russia currently has the edge. Ukraine is trying to ramp up production."Russia started using fibre optic drones much before us, while we were still testing them. These drones can be used in places where we have to go lower than usual drones. We can even enter houses and look for targets inside," says Venia, a drone pilot with the 68th Jaeger Brigade."We've started joking that maybe we should carry scissors to cut the cord," says Serhii, the artillery optic drones do have drawbacks – they are slower and the cable could get entangled in trees. But at the moment, their widespread use by Russia means that transporting soldiers to and from their positions can often be deadlier than the battlefield itself. "When you enter a position, you don't know whether you've been spotted or not. And if you have been spotted, then you may already be living the last hours of your life," says Oles, Chief Sergeant of the reconnaissance unit of the 5th Assault threat means that soldiers are spending longer and longer in their positions. Oles and his men are in the infantry, serving in the trenches right at the very front of Ukraine's defence. It's rare for journalists these days to speak to infantrymen, as it's become too risky to go to these trenches. We meet Oles and Maksym in a rural home converted into a makeshift base, where the soldiers come to rest when they're not on deployment."The longest I spent at the position was 31 days, but I do know guys who have spent 90 and even 120 days there. Back before the drones arrived, the rotations could have been between 3 or 7 days at the position," says Maksym."War is blood, death, wet mud and a chill that spreads from head to toe. And this is how you spend every day. I remember one instance when we didn't sleep for three days, alert every minute. The Russians kept coming at us wave after wave. Even a minor lapse would have meant we were dead."Oles says Russia's infantry has changed its tactics. "Earlier they attacked in groups. Now they only send one or two people at times. They also use motorcycles and in a few instances, quad bikes. Sometimes they slip through."What this means is that the front lines in some parts are no longer conventional lines with the Ukrainians on one side and the Russians on the other, but more like pieces on a chessboard during play, where positions can be also makes it harder to see advances made by either side. Despite Russia's recent gains, it will not be quick or easy for it to take the whole of the Donetsk region, where Pokrovsk has pushed back hard, but it needs a steady supply of weapons and ammunition to sustain the as the war enters a fourth summer, Ukraine's manpower issues against a much bigger Russian army are also evident. Most of the soldiers we meet joined the military after the war began. They've had a few months of training, but have had to learn a lot on the job in the middle of a raging worked for a drinks company before he joined the military. I asked how his family copes with his job."It's hard, it's really hard. My family really supports me. But I have a two-year-old son, and I don't get to see him much. I do video call him though, so everything is as fine as it could be under the circumstances," he trails off, eyes welling up with is a soldier fighting for his country, but he's also just a father missing his two-year-old reporting by Imogen Anderson, Sanjay Ganguly, Volodymyr Lozhko and Anastasiia Levchenko
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ukraine and Russia complete prisoner exchange
Ukraine and Russia completed the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each on Sunday. Each side brought home 303 more soldiers, after each had released 307 combatants and civilians on Saturday and 390 on Friday. The agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each was the only concrete step towards peace to emerge from talks in Istanbul
