The Dispatch

Azerbaijani parliamentary committee urges end to economic and energy ties with France

BAKU, Jan 18 (Reuters) - An Azerbaijani parliamentary committee urged the government on Thursday to suspend all economic ties with France in protest against what it called an "anti-Azerbaijani" vote…

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Grabbing $300 billion of Russian assets is no panacea, West cautions in Davos

By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Victoria Waldersee DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Western officials said in Davos they were open to the idea of confiscating $300 billion of Russian assets to help…

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Russia got components worth $2.9 bln from West despite sanctions, Kyiv says

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Western companies supplied Russia with $2.9 billion worth of components that can be used for military production in the first 10 months of 2023 despite sanctions…

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Belarus new military doctrine provides for first time the use nuclear weapons

The defence minister of Belarus announced that the country closely allied with Russia will put forth a new military doctrine that for the first time provides for the use of…

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Russia is developing ties with N. Korea in all areas, including ‘sensitive’ ones – Kremlin

MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russia is developing its relations with North Korea in all areas, including "sensitive" ones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. North Korea's foreign minister…

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Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s Kharkiv, 17 injured

(Reuters) - Two Russian missiles struck a residential area in the centre of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv on Tuesday night, injuring 17 people, two of them seriously, and badly damaging…

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EU’s von der Leyen warns West against slackening support for Ukraine

The West must not let up supplying Ukraine with weapons and money if it wants Kyiv to succeed in its war against Russia, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen…

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Azerbaijan arrests journalist, charges another as press crackdown continues

Azerbaijani police on Monday arrested one journalist and ordered pre-trial detention for another, the latest reporters to face legal trouble since a crackdown on the country's independent media that began…

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EU’s eastern members demand import duties on Ukraine grains

The European Union's eastern states are demanding the EU impose import duties on Ukraine grains, citing unfair competition, Hungary's agricultural ministry said on Monday. The ministry said the farm ministers from Bulgaria, Poland,…

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Kremlin says Davos talks on Ukraine will achieve nothing as Russia is not there

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday said that talks in Davos on Ukraine's peace proposals would achieve nothing as Russia was not participating in the discussions. President…

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UPDATED: Ukraine says it has shot down a Russian spy plane and command aircraft

Ukraine said on Monday it had destroyed a Russian Beriev A-50 spy plane and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command post in the Sea of Azov area, dealing a blow to…

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Smersh: why Putin has reinstated Stalin’s notorious and much-feared anti-spy unit

A man under arrest by Russian internal security forces was seen confessing to a “crime”, in a video posted on January 2. He had been apprehended after allegedly posting a…

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Davos 2024: Ukraine to hold fourth peace formula talks on Sunday

Ukraine and Switzerland will host around 120 national security advisors on Sunday in the Swiss resort town of Davos, Switzerland's foreign affairs department said, the latest in a series of…

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Ukraine suffers large Russian missile attack

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine suffered a large Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday, while its air defences were able to down a far lower proportion of…

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Separatists say Moldova wants to use Ukrainian soldiers to plan attacks

By Alexander Tanas Moldova's pro-Russian separatist Transdniestria region accused central authorities in the ex-Soviet state of training Ukrainian soldiers to launch attacks on the rebel area's institutions and leaders. Moldova's…

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Ukrainian ground forces commander eyes American A-10 aircraft

By Dan Peleschuk KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine, (Reuters) - Ukraine's ground forces commander said on Friday that Kyiv needed more military aircraft for its war effort, such as U.S. A-10 attack…

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Russia’s Medvedev warns of nuclear response if Ukraine hits missile launch sites

MOSCOW, (Reuters) - A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin warned that any Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites inside Russia with arms supplied by the United States and its…

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UPDATED: Britain to hike funds for Ukraine to buy drones, Sunak visits Kyiv

LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak travelled to Kyiv on Friday to announce an increase in military funding to help Ukraine purchase new military drones, including…

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Russia’s Putin says he will visit disputed Kuril islands

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he will definitely one day visit the Southern Kuril Islands which are at the centre of a dispute…

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NATO pledges further major military, economic aid to Ukraine

NATO allies in a meeting with Ukraine have made it clear they will continue to provide the country with major military, economic, and humanitarian aid in the face of Russia's…

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy visits Baltics, focus on war and European integration

By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Lithuania on Wednesday at the start of a tour of three Baltic states to discuss his…

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Ukraine has deficit of anti-aircraft guided missiles – air force

Ukraine has a deficit of anti-aircraft guided missiles nearly two years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Tuesday. Ukraine has relied heavily on military and…

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UPDATED: Four killed in combined Russian air strike on Ukraine

By Dan Peleschuk and Pavel Polityuk KYIV, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Russia sent dozens of missiles across Ukraine early on Monday, killing at least four civilians and hitting residential areas…

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Russia launches 28 drones, three missiles at Ukraine – Ukraine’s air force

Jan 7 (Reuters) - Russia launched 28 attack drones and three cruise missile at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said on Sunday, adding that its air defence systems destroyed 21…

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On Orthodox Christmas Putin vows to back soldiers who ‘defend’ Russia

President Vladimir Putin vowed on the eve of Orthodox Christmas to back soldiers who "with arms in hands" defend Russia's interests, ordering his government greater support of those who fight…

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Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months – cyber spy chief

Russian hackers were inside Ukrainian telecoms giant Kyivstar's system from at least May last year in a cyberattack that should serve as a "big warning" to the West, Ukraine's cyber…

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Putin offers citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia

President Vladimir Putin issued a decree on Thursday allowing foreign nationals who fight for Russia in Ukraine to obtain Russian citizenship for themselves and their families.The order said people who…

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Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months – cyber spy chief

Illia Vitiuk is cyber chief in Ukraine's SBU spy agency Kyivstar hack destroyed telecoms giant's "core", he says Russian military spy unit Sandworm seen behind hack SBU caught Sandworm in…

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Russia and Ukraine stage major POW exchange after UAE mediation

KYIV, (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia on Wednesday announced their first exchange of prisoners of war in nearly five months, with more than 200 freed by each side after what…

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Russia accidentally bombs own village, vows to rebuild homes

A Russian regional governor said he had ordered the rebuilding of nine houses in a village that was accidentally bombed by one of Russia's own warplanes. The incident took place…

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Ukraine launches drone attack at Russia’s Belgorod

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia's Belgorod, the governor of the region bordering Ukraine said on Wednesday, adding that several drones were destroyed on approach…

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Russia pounds Ukraine with missiles and drones, five dead

Russia fired scores of missiles and drones at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, killing at least five civilians, wounding dozens and causing widespread…

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Ukraine, Russia accuse each other of New Year’s Day attacks

Ukraine's shelling of the city of Donetsk on Monday killed four people, a Russian-installed official in the eastern region of Ukraine said, while Russia's air attacks on several Ukrainian regions killed at least…

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Ukraine: opening EU accession talks is an important boost for Zelensky despite Orbán’s obstruction

Hungarian prime minister, Victor Orban, threw a major tantrum at the European Council meeting in Brussels on December 14 2023. Essentially doing the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s bidding, he prevented…

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Ukraine attacks Russia’s Belgorod and Bryansk regions

Russia’s defence ministry said its anti-aircraft units had destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets over the southern Belgorod region on Friday and the regional governor said one person was killed and four…

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Britain to send 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine

Britain is sending around 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine to help protect civilians and infrastructure from Russian drones and bombing, the British ministry of defence said on Friday. The…

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Russia’s air assault on Ukraine draws criticism at UN Security Council meeting

By Simon Lewis Russia drew sharp criticism at the UN Security Council on Friday for launching massive missile and drone attacks against Ukraine, after Kyiv and its supporters called for…

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Kremlin says it has list of Western assets to be seized if Russian assets are confiscated

G7 to discuss theory on seizing Russian assets Kremlin: any such move would be theft Kremlin: such a move would undermine reserve currencies Kremlin says: we have a list of…

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Moldova’s president says Putin must be stopped

By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU, (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin must be stopped in his war against Ukraine or all of Europe will pay a much higher price, Moldova's pro-European…

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says he discussed peace formula with Pope

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he discussed Ukraine's peace formula in a call with Pope Francis on Thursday. "We discussed our joint work to put Ukraine's Peace…

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UPDATED: Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Russia on Friday unleashed one of its biggest missile attacks on Ukraine of the war so far, killing 12 civilians, wounding dozens more and hitting residential…

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Azerbaijan expels French diplomats amid Armenia tensions

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry has declared two employees of France's embassy persona non grata over "conduct that is not compatible with their diplomatic status", it said on Tuesday. The ministry said…

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Commander says Ukrainian forces still in shattered town of Maryinka

(Reuters) - The commander of Ukraine's armed forces said his troops remained in an area of the eastern town of Maryinka despite assertions by Russia's defence minister that Moscow was…

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Ukraine draft law proposes lowering mobilisation age to 25 from 27

Text of a draft law posted on the website of Ukraine's parliament late on Monday proposed lowering the age of those who can be mobilized for combat duty to 25…

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Russian forces gain control of Maryinka in east Ukraine, defence minister says

Russian forces have gained full control of Maryinka, a town in eastern Ukraine, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin, one of Russia's most significant gains since the…

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Moldova’s pro-European president Sandu to seek second term

CHISINAU, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Moldova's pro-European President Maia Sandu said on Sunday she intends to run for a second presidential term in late 2024 to bring the issue of…

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Russia’s Navalny tracked down to ‘Polar Wolf’ prison in the Arctic

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been tracked down to a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, his spokeswoman said on Monday, after supporters lost touch with him…

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Russia short of around 4.8 million workers in 2023, crunch to persist – Izvestia

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Russia was short of around 4.8 million workers in 2023 and the problem will remain acute in 2024, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Sunday, citing…

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Russia has fired 7,400 missiles, 3,700 Shahed drones in war so far

Russia has launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,700 Shahed attack drones at targets in Ukraine during its 22-month-old invasion, Kyiv said this week, illustrating the vast scale of Moscow's aerial…

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Ukraine’s citizen army struggles with a hidden enemy: combat stress

Hundreds of Ukrainians support soldiers suffering stress Some helpers are qualified psychotherapists and psychiatrists Others are civilians who join the military's support system Soldiers, many of them volunteers, suffer fear…

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Russia dismisses Wall Street Journal’s ‘pulp fiction’ after Prigozhin death report

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Kremlin accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing "pulp fiction" on Friday after it reported that the death of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in…

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Moldovan parliament dismisses central bank chief over $1 billion fraud scandal

By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU, (Reuters) - Moldova's parliament dismissed central bank chief Octavian Armasu on Thursday for failing to act over Moldova's "theft of the century" fraud scandal in which…

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UPDATED: Russia threatens to sever ties if U.S. confiscates its assets

Russia may cut diplomatic ties with the United States if Washington confiscates Russian assets frozen over the Ukrainian war, the Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as…

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UPDATED: Mass drone attack hits several Kyiv districts

Dec 21 (Reuters) - More than two dozen Russian drones targeted Ukraine's capital early on Friday, officials said, injuring two people and damaging residential buildings in Moscow's latest overnight drone…

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Ukraine says it received last tranche of EU’s 18 bln euro aid package

Dec 21 (Reuters) - Ukraine has received the last 1.5 billion euro ($1.65 billion)tranche from the 18 billion package from the European Union for 2023, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said…

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Moldova obtains air defence radar from France’s Thales

Moldova revealed it had acquired an aerial surveillance system from French defence electronics maker Thales, a first step towards developing air defences after missile debris from the war in Ukraine…

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COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan touts country’s gas potential

After winning a fraught bid to host next year's United Nations climate talks in Baku, a senior Azerbaijani official promoted the country's gas reserves in aiding the global the energy…

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