Furious Putin ‘orders revenge raids’ in Crimea after Ukraine warship attack – live

In case you missed this yesterday:

Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a “difficult day” on Tuesday and he just heard about the “Russian strike on the railway station”.

India’s foreign minister has met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said relations between the countries are progressing even amid turbulent times.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s meeting was part of a five-day visit.

At the start of the meeting, Mr Putin said he would inform the Indian diplomat about the fighting in Ukraine, on which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a neutral stance.

“I know about his desire to do everything to resolve this problem through peaceful means,” Mr Putin said.

India is increasingly important to Russia as a market for oil exports, the backbone of its economy, as Western sanctions curtail oil shipments.

According to a Kremlin transcript of the meeting’s opening, Mr Jaishankar said: “It is very important to make our trade interaction more sustainable. We need to think about how to achieve this.”

Mr Jaishankar also met with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who said they discussed “the prospects for military-technical cooperation, including the joint production of modern types of weapons”.

India’s foreign minister praised the “all-time high” trade turnover between the two countries, which he said exceeded 50 billion dollars (£39 billion) in 2022.

“We expect to exceed that this year. And what is important is that this trade is more balanced, it is sustainable, and it provides for fair market access,” he added.

Geolocated footage has shown dozens of Russian vehicles advancing north of Avdiivka, a Ukrainian town on the front line in the eastern region of Donetsk.

The Institute for the Study of War confirmed that Russian forces had made gains northwest, southwest and southeast of Avdiivka over Christmas and Boxing Day.

UK forces will take the lead on Nato’s rapid response force from the start of 2024, with thousands of soldiers on standby.

The taskforce was created after Russian’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, with the leadership position rotated annually among Nato members.

The UK takes over from Germany on January 1. British forces last led the task force in 2017.

It comes as Ukraine continue to battle against Vladimir Putin’s forces, with the war set to enter another year after a slower-than-hoped for counteroffensive failed to shift the balance of the conflict.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The UK is at the heart of NATO.

“By heading up Nato’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2024, we are taking another leading position in the alliance, sending a clear message that Britain is stepping up to our global defence commitments as Nato enters its 75th year.

“The UK’s armed forces stand ready, at a moment’s notice, to defend our allies and protect the British national interest. The world is a more dangerous and contested place than it has been for decades and we need Nato more than ever.

“The UK and its allies are committed to supporting Nato and what it stands for.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that some in the West were suggesting that Moscow should discuss peace in Ukraine because the United States and its allies had failed to defeat Russian forces in Ukraine.

Nearly two years into Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow controls about 17.5% of Ukrainian territory and a Ukrainian counter-offensive this year has failed to win any major territorial gains against Russian forces who have defended the front with extensive mine fields and swarms of drones.

Lavrov, in an interview with RIA state news agency and the Rossiya 24 TV channel, said there were signs that the West was changing its tactics and strategy on Ukraine.

“The West is really changing its tactics – maybe even thinking about clarifying the strategy. Because if the ‘strategic defeat of Russia‘ is a strategy, forgive the tautology, then this strategy failed miserably,” Lavrov said.

“There are some approaches, some whispers: why don’t you (Russia) meet with someone in Europe who would be ready to talk, talk about Ukraine without Ukraine itself,” said Lavrov, who also reiterated that Moscow would achieve all its goals in Ukraine.

The opposition leader and anti-corruption campaigner is facing decades in prison on charges his supporters and the international community have denounced as politically motivated, writes Kim Sengupta.

With growing concerns over his health, The Independent calls on leaders around the globe to ramp up the pressure on Putin to release Alexei Navalny:

For three weeks this month, there was silence from him. He could not be found by his legal team, family and friends despite an exhaustive search through the penal system. Officials across the country, from Mr Putin’s spokesman to prison authorities in both Moscow and far-flung provinces, claimed they did not know his whereabouts.

Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating chapters of the 22-month war in Ukraine — the flooding that followed the catastrophic explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region.

The AP‘s reporting focused on Oleshky, one town in the vast area flooded by the dam.

Health workers and others who were in Oleshky told The Associated Press that Russian authorities hid the true number of dead by taking control of the issuance of death certificates, immediately removing bodies not claimed by family, and preventing local health workers and volunteers from dealing with the dead, threatening them when they defied orders.

Still afraid, many Oleshky residents and health workers declined to speak, fearing reprisal.

The AP’s investigation is based on the accounts of those who did, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity or on condition only their first names be used, fearing reprisal from Russia on family members still in occupied territory.

The U.S. will provide up to $250 million in arms and equipment to Ukraine in the final package of aid this year to help Kyiv in its war with Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden has asked Congress to provide another $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, but Republicans are refusing to approve the assistance without an agreement with Democrats to tighten security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House has warned that without the additional appropriation U.S. aid will run out by the end of the year for Ukraine‘s fight to retake territory occupied by Russian forces since it invaded in February 2022.

“Over the course of this year, the U.S. has provided 34 military aid packages worth over $24 billion… We will always be grateful for all of this support,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday on the X social media platform.

Blinken said the latest aid package included air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, artillery ammunition, anti-armor munitions and over 15 million rounds of ammunition.

Zelenskiy said it would cover “Ukraine‘s most pressing needs”.

Congress has approved more than $110 billion for Ukraine since Russia‘s invasion, but it has not approved any funds since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives from Democrats in January 2023.

A Russian rapper was jailed and celebrities were forced to apologise following outrage over an “almost naked” party held at a Moscow nightclub amid Vladimir Putin‘s crackdown on gay rights and invasion of Ukraine.

TV presenter Nastya Ivleeva on 20 December threw a private “Almost Naked Party” at Moscow‘s Mutabor nightclub, which quickly turned into the focus of public outcry after pictures began circulating on social media.

The party, attended by popstars and celebrities alike in bare minimum clothing and drag, also triggered backlash at a time when Russia is engaged in a war with Ukraine and the authorities are pushing an increasingly conservative social agenda.

Yekatrina Duntsova, 40, a former TV journalist, revealed the Russian Supreme Court had upheld a ban imposed by the election commission last week against her.

She is at least the third opposition figure to Mr Putin who has been sidelined since the Russian autocrat announced earlier this month that he would run for a fifth presidential term.