Ukrainian special forces staged an audacious attack on annexed Crimea this week – and commanders have warned Vladimir Putin ‘it’s only the beginning’.

A squad of 16 elite troops raided the peninsula in the south of Ukraine – which has been under Russian occupation since 2014 – during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Footage showed the Artan Special Forces Unit using five jet skis and a high speed boat to land on the west coast before taking on the Russians in a fierce firefight.

Ukraine says it inflicted ‘heavy losses’ on their enemy but admitted to also suffering losses of its own, including one soldier who was captured by Russian soldiers.

Their mission has been highly publicised in the aftermath with videos showing Ukrainian forces planting the national flag on the shoreline during the incursion.

But now Ukraine has warned Russia that many more similar covert sabotage operations are on the way – only this time they will be kept under wraps even more strictly.

Artan commander Viktor Torkotiuk suggested missions, which are not being revealed, are already underway and ‘will become known only later’.

‘This is not the first and not the last operation of the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine on the Crimean peninsula,’ he said.

‘Most of them will become known only later. This is a systematic, planned and coordinated work of all units involved.

‌’The enemy will feel the consequences of our work for a long time.

‘By our actions, we constantly remind the Russian invaders of the inevitability of liberation of all occupied territories.’

Ukraine’s special forces raid on Crimea

A small team of Ukrainian military intelligence officers travelled 222 miles across the Black Sea from Vylkove, on the Danube estuary, to Crimea.

The area, according to international law, is in-fact Ukrainian territory, despite being occupied by Russia.

Upon arrival, they immediately engaged in intense combat and a commander said: ‘The reconnaissance men of the Artan Special Forces unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine landed on the western coast of the peninsula, as well as on Tendra and Kinburn Spits.

‘The Special Forces men engaged in a fierce battle with the Russian invaders in the occupied territories, inflicting significant losses on the enemy.’

Russia detained one of the raid team, who has been named as Alexander Lyubos, 46, and shown on Russian TV.

His hands tied behind his back, he stated on a channel run by the Russian Defence Ministry that he was a private from Unit 0336 of the Chief Directorate of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

Under interrogation from his captors, he said the mission’s aim had been to plant a Ukrainian flag on Crimea.

‘On the way back from a combat mission in Crimea, the Artan soldiers also fought at sea,’ a Ukrainian commander added.

‘The enemy tried to pursue the Special Forces in fast patrol boats with air support.’

Kyiv military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov said: ‘There was a battle with the Russian invaders.

‘There were many dead and wounded among the invaders’ [Russian] personnel.

‘Unfortunately, there are losses among the Ukrainian defenders, which are still not comparable to the Russian ones. A special operation aimed at de-occupying Crimea continues.

‘We appeal to all residents of the peninsula to wait and assist the Defence Forces in every possible way in the return of Ukrainian territories.’

Russia claimed to have ‘repulsed’ the raid and ‘liquidated’ the ‘sabotage’ team and an FSB statement said: ‘One of the saboteurs was captured.

‘An interrogation revealed that the subversive group was planning to take photographs and videos of its members against the Ukrainian flag as a backdrop on the territory of the Republic of Crimea.’

The Putin-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, claimed a body in a wetsuit had been found with two bullet wounds.

He said he had ‘died in a shootout with Russian border guards’.

In the region of Kharkiv this week, Russia carried out a shocking missile attack which hit a cafe and shop, killing at least 52 civilians, including a six-year-old boy.

On Friday, horrifying images emerged of a 10-year-old boy dressed in pyjamas being pulled from the rubble of what was left of his home after the strike hit the village of Hroza.

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One of Putin’s propagandists has suggested starting a fundraiser to assassinate a Russian chess grandmaster.

‌War propagandist Sergei Mardan called for donations to assassinate Garry Kasparov, who he accused of being a ‘foreign agent’.

Former MP Ilya Ponomarev, 48, and veteran independent TV host Yevgeny Kiselyov, 67, both now based in Ukraine, should also be targeted, he claimed.

All three have been critical of Putin’s regime.

‘Only Ilya Ponomarev has been recognised as a terrorist by Russia,’ he said.

‌’I haven’t heard of any prize money announced to assassinate him.

‌’Why not?’

‌He urged fundraising on the Solovyov Live propaganda show, broadcast on multiple outlets including radio linked to Russia’s main state broadcaster.

‌’Raising money to destroy Ponomarev. How much is needed? $10,000, $20,000, $50,000?

‌’I think we could raise it in three days for such a good cause…’

‌Broadcaster Kiselyov was another ‘target’, he said.

‌’This man also supports an anti-Putin declaration by chess star and political activist Garry Kasparov.

‌’Garry Kasparov is travelling freely around the world, he probably has no security.

‌’He lives openly in the States, walks in the park, comes to the Baltics.

‌’What’s the problem? I mean, really, what’s the problem?’

‌He criticised the authorities for failing to assassinate Putin foes like Kasparov, 60, as they had done with Chechen ‘terrorists’ in the past.

‌’Do you remember the Chechen terrorist Yandarbiyev? You probably don’t remember, I do. He was killed in Qatar as a result of a special operation by our special services.

‌’Do you remember the Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev? He was hunted for a very long time, that is, he brought an immeasurable amount of evil and misfortune to Russia.

‌’He too was killed as a result of a special operation by our special services.’

‌Kiselyov told the Kyiv Post: ‘This is not just a random outburst from an obscure character on his own little-known YouTube channel.

‌’This message is being broadcast on the state radio station VestiFM and all Telegram channels belonging to [Russian state broadcaster] VGTRK, and their main video portal.’

‌He said: ‘Many years have passed, and one of the subordinates of my former friend and colleague Oleg Dobrodeyev – the man who heads the massive machine of Russian state television – publicly suggests starting a fundraiser to hire a hitman and kill one of the opposition leaders, Garry Kasparov.’

Kasparov was ‘a globally renowned politician, philanthropist, and former world chess champion who brought honor and fame to our country,’ he said.

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Bodies have been scattered across a village in eastern Ukraine after a Russian missile strike on a grocery store and a café.

At least 49 people have been killed and another six injured in Hroza, in the region of Kharkiv.

Among the casualties of the attack was a six-year-old boy, according to Ukrainian officials.

His body was recovered from the rubble amongst dozens of others as rescuers continue to comb through the metal slabs of the destroyed buildings.

Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov confirmed the boy’s death, adding that a child was also injured.

He added that the strike took place at 1.15pm and that multiple people were at the café and the grocery store at the time.

‘Rescuers continue to work on the spot. As of now, the bodies of 48 dead people, including a six-year-old boy, have been recovered from the rubble,’ Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

‘Six people, including one child, were injured. Doctors are providing them with the necessary assistance.’

In a later update, he confirmed that the death toll had risen to 49.

There are fears the number of casualties will rise as emergency services continue to clear the scene.

Bodies can be seen laying alongside broken concrete and twisted metal as dust settles in the air.

The attack came as Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Granada, in southern Spain, to attend a summit of the European Political Community, which was formed in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The president described it as a ‘brutal Russian crime’ in a post on Telegram.

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Russian secret services are investigating a plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin from ‘within their own ranks’, according to a report.

An informant has claimed on Telegram he heard an ‘agent’ boasting he had been given a ‘task’ to ‘remove’ the dictator.

The ‘agent’ allegedly told the source at a meeting in karaoke club Honey, in Chekhov, near Moscow, a known haunt of security services operatives.

He showed the informant – named as Mikhail Yurchenko, 37, a construction industry entrepreneur – his service ID card during a ‘long heart-to-heart conversation about the war and future life in Russia’.

The informant ‘did not argue and changed the topic’.

He became ‘haunted’ after the karaoke club conversation at the threat to Putin and reported it to police, according to the channel.

‘The special services have been searching for several days for the unknown person who planned to “remove” Putin,’ he wrote on Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

‘Based on his tip, operatives went to study the situation in the Honey club, where…you can often meet employees of various [secret] departments.’

In June a plot to assassinate Putin by blowing up his motorcade on a bridge in Moscow was foiled by the secret services.

The Federal Protection Service [FSO] was tipped off about a barge suspected to be planting explosives on the floor of the Moscow River, according to Telegram.

‌The barge was ordered to move ‘due to the movement of motorcades over the bridge’.

‌Immediately afterwards ‘divers began to examine the bottom of the river’.

In May the Kremlin accused Ukraine of attempting to kill Putin, alleging two drones attacked the president’s residence.

This comes ahead of an expected announcement next month that he will seek a new six-year term in the Kremlin.

Putin told student participants in the International Financial Security Olympiad in Sochi that he had many admirers in Europe who shared his traditional values.

‘I want to defend our friends,’ he said.’

‘We have a lot of friends in Europe. People who believe that traditional values, including the family, have died out.’

‘But there are quite a lot of people in European countries who share our values.

‘That’s why I wouldn’t split everyone. On the contrary, I want to try to unite everyone around our platform.’

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Civilian ships may be next on Russia’s list of targets – and will likely blame Ukraine for the destruction, the British government has warned.

Intelligence officials said last month that the Kremlin’s attempted missile strike against a cargo ship in the Black Sea last month is only the beginning.

Russia may continue to strike non-military ships carrying essentials such as grains by laying sea mines near ports, the Foreign Office revealed today.

Citing declassified intelligence, the department said: ‘Russia almost certainly wants to avoid openly sinking civilian ships, instead falsely laying blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea.’

‘By releasing our assessment of this intelligence, the UK seeks to expose Russia’s tactics to deter any such incident from occurring.’

The Black Sea is bounded by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Georgia.

Ukraine in August pitched to the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a ‘humanitarian corridor’, allowing ships stuck in ports to safely cross.

Ukraine’s navy said yesterday it expects a dozen cargo vessels to pass through, an increase in the usual level of maritime traffic in the corridor.

But this sliver of sea is now on Vladimir Putin’s radar as he seeks to ‘deter the export of Ukrainian grain’, the Home Office said.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly added: ‘Russia’s pernicious targeting of civilian shipping in the Black Sea demonstrates Putin’s total disregard for civilian lives and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable.

‘The world is watching – and we see right through Russia’s cynical attempts to lay blame on Ukraine for their attacks. We and our allies stand united against Putin and his attempts to harm Ukraine and thus harm the rest of the world.’

‘Aggression’ is key to Russia’s strategy in the Black Sea, the Home Office said.

And they have their reasons. Some 22,000,000 tonnes of grain remains stuck within its borders amid a wartime blockade.

Ukraine is a major producer of grain and other foodstuffs, so an agreement was hashed out to ensure it can export its crops by sea despite the blocking.

The deal, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative and brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, expired in July.

Moments later, Russia pulled out of the deal – a move which shook global food prices and threatened the lives of those facing hunger as well as shoppers already hard-hit by the cost of living crisis.

British officials believe the Russian president’s call to rip up the agreement destroyed 300,000 tonnes of grain enough to feed 1,300,000 people.

Since then, the Home Office said, Moscow has increasingly targeted Ukrainian ports and civilian infrastructure, including 130 harbours in Odesa, Chornomorsk and Reni.

The department said: ‘We are working with Ukraine and other partners to put in place arrangements to improve the safety of shipping. Our advice to British shipping has not changed – the UK’s maritime security level for Ukrainian ports and waters remains at the highest level due to the threat posed by Russia.

‘The UK has put in place intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to monitor Russian activity in the Black Sea. These capabilities will help us to attribute and call out any further Russian attacks on civilian shipping or infrastructure.

‘We are committed to ensuring Ukraine can continue to export its agricultural produce through all appropriate routes including its ‘humanitarian corridor’, overland and via the Danube.

‘The UK will continue to work with Ukraine and a range of international partners to achieve this.’

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A Russian journalist who staged an on-air protest against the war in Ukraine has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in absentia.

Marina Ovsyannikova captured the world’s attention when she stormed into a TV studio during a live broadcast with a placard that read ‘Stop the war’ and ‘Do not believe propaganda’ just days after the start of the full-scale invasion.

A Moscow court fined her 30,000 roubles for the protest at the state-run Channel One TV station.

But the 45-year-old later faced criminal prosecution for ‘spreading knowingly false information about the Russian Armed Forces’ in connection with another incident in July 2022.

Ms Ovsyannikova stood on a river embankment opposite the Kremlin, holding up a poster calling president Vladimir Putin a murderer and his soldiers fascists.

‘How many more children must die before you will stop?’ it read.

Last year, she fled Russia with her daughter after fleeing from house arrest, saying she had no case to answer.

The case against her was brought under laws passed soon after Russia’s invasion that made it a crime to ‘discredit’ the armed forces or spread false information about them.

In a statement on Telegram, Ms Ovsyannikova called the criminal charges against her ‘absurd and politically motivated’.

She said the court gave her a ‘demonstrative spanking’ for not being afraid to call ‘a spade a spade’.

‘Of course, I do not admit my guilt. And I do not go back on a single word. I have made a very difficult, but the only correct moral choice in my life and have already paid a fairly high price for it,’ she added.

‘The punishment for me was exile. Life in a foreign country, without family, friends, home, work, and most importantly – without the opportunity to return to my homeland and hug my loved ones.

‘Sometimes I ask myself – could I have remained silent? No, I couldn’t. To remain silent at the moment of aggression means to become an accomplice to the crime.

‘I know what war is. As a child, I experienced the same thing that Ukrainians are experiencing now.

‘My house was razed to the ground during the First Chechen War.

‘Since then, I have hated war and believe that people are not bargaining chips on a chessboard and every human life is priceless.

‘Because of my anti-war position in Russia they call me a traitor. They say that in any situation you must be together with your country and with your people. But I am not a traitor, I am a patriot of my country. I love Russia.’

Ms Ovsyannikova further lashed out at the Kremlin, blasting Vladimir Putin and his allies the ‘real traitors’

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Russian children were forced to put on gas masks as the country held a terrifying drill for an incoming nuclear attack.

Sirens can be heard blaring in the footage and chilling messages were broadcast as Putin ordered the training exercise.

All regions across Russia’s 11 time zones took part in the drill which last for two days.

It was the country’s first nationwide drill, helping to scare civilians into believing the West will trigger nuclear war.

Emergency services reportedly wore hazmat suits, and one group even ran from a building with a dummy on a stretcher.

Spiked doors seemed to seal off an underground bunker holding Russian officials and police.

The message on TV screens as programmes were interrupted stated: ‘Attention, everyone!

‘There is a check of readiness of the warning system to the population.

‘Please remain calm.’

In Moscow, alarms were supposed to go off at 10:43am for one minute, although some had sounded at night, and other residents heard nothing at all.

Many residents in other cities like Novosibirsk and Vladivostok heard nothing. 

In one city Volgograd, two shelters were utilised. 

One could accommodate up to 36,000 people. 

‘The main goal of the drills is to check our readiness for specific actions,’ said emergencies minister Alexander Kurenkov who oversaw the drills. 

In a real nuclear war Vladimir Putin would be in charge. 

He is known to have multiple nuclear bunkers in his palaces as well as a fleet of ‘Doomsday’ Il-80 Maxdome aircraft for use in the event of atomic war. 

It was unclear if he played any secret role in the drills on Tuesday and today. 

The scenario for the test reads: ‘In some constituent entities [regions] of the Russian Federation, as a result of emergencies or other types of physical impact, complete destruction of life support facilities and up to 70 per cent of the housing stock is possible.’

It envisioned ‘accidents at hydraulic structures, chemically and radiation hazardous facilities’ resulting in ‘secondary hazards’.

Under the playbook, the Kremlin put all government structures on civil defence standby.

The document outlining Russia’s civil nuclear defence drill warned: ‘The risk of armed conflicts escalating into local and regional wars, including those involving nuclear powers, is increasing. 

‘The threat to the safety of the population is posed by the risk of the use by a possible by the enemy of modern long-range means of defeat,as well as possible attacks using unmanned aerial and watercraft.’

The Putin regime had ‘taken a decision to develop measures aimed at increasing the readiness of civil defence forces and means to take measures to protect the population, material and cultural property on the territory of the Russian Federation, including general evacuation from danger zones.’

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This is the moment Ukrainian special forces staged an ambitious attack on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Footage shared by Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (GUR) shows troops creeping on the beaches of the occupied region, protected by the darkness of the night.

At least seven jet skis can be spotted approaching Crimean shores, with soldiers jumping into the water to push them.

While they were there, they inflicted ‘fire damage’ on the Russian occupiers, GUR said.

Another clip also shows the Ukrainian unit waving the blue and yellow national flag.

‘Special forces of the Stugna and Brotherhood battalions landed on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and inflicted fire damage to the occupiers,’ the GUR commented.

‘Crimea will be Ukrainian!’

It is unclear when the attack took place, but president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated his intentions to take back Crimea, which has been controlled by the Kremlin since 2014. 

GUR released the video just hours after Russia said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to deploy a group of soldiers by sea to the western side of Crimea.

The force attempted to land on Cape Tarkhankut, on the western end, using a high-speed boat and three jet skis, the defence ministry said.

Elsewhere, Russian air defences shot down 31 Ukrainian drones during a night-time attack on the border regions, Kremlin officials said.

Ukraine’s army has recently ramped up drone strikes on the region in a push to disrupt Russian logistics and resupply efforts.

Just last week, the Crimean city of Sevastopol was temporarily during the latest missile attack against it. 

The strike came one day after the Ukrainian military targeted the Russian Black Sea fleet headquarters, also located in Sevastopol.

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A group of Russian fighters sent to the most dangerous areas of the frontline have refused to fight for Vladimir Putin in protest over the appalling way they are treated.

Dubbed as ‘Storm-Z’ squads, the units are thrown together with a mix of convicts from Russian prisons and regular soldiers who are effectively demoted as punishment for allegedly being either ‘drunk’ or ‘on drugs’.

Their job is quite simple, according to five of the fighters and eight others who have either worked closely with or alongside them – they are the men deployed to the most perilous warzones.

And their fate is almost inevitable.

‘Storm fighters, they’re just meat,’ said one regular soldier from army unit no. 40318, who was sent to the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine in May and June.

He said he disobeyed a commander who told him to leave behind a group of six or seven wounded Storm-Z fighters in order to give them medical treatment on the battlefield. 

Quite why the commander gave the order to abandon their own men, he doesn’t know – but claimed that it typified how Storm-Z fighters were considered of lesser value than ordinary troops by officers.

The soldier, who requested anonymity through fear of prosecution in Russia for publicly discussing the war, said he had sympathy for the men’s plight: ‘If the commandants catch anyone with the smell of alcohol on their breath, then they immediately send them to the Storm squads.’

But it’s the brutal way they are treated that led to a revolt among one company of Storm-Z fighters who decided they’d had enough.

Three months ago, what was once a squad of around 150 men, who were part of unit no. 22179, stood battered, bruised and weary with only around 20 of them still alive. 

Only a handful live to tell their tale, and these men were evidence of that – and on June 28 they recorded a video explaining why they refuse to continue fighting.

One soldier said: ‘After the brutal battles, after everything we saw, here are the guys who remain.

‘On the frontline, where we’ve been, we did not get deliveries of ammunition. We did not get water or food. The injured were not taken away: still now the dead are rotting.

‘We’re given dreadful orders that are not even worth carrying out. Now they came to us and said: “Guys, we need to go to the front.” 

‘Again to the meat grinder where we have already been. And we will never return from this.’

He added. ‘We refuse to continue carrying out combat missions.’

The outcome of their mutiny? Many of the fighters involved were beaten by Russian military police officers as punishment, according to two relatives of the men.

Putin did make reference to convicts fighting in the regular army on Friday at a televised meeting with a small group of regular Russian servicemen.

He said he was aware that two of their comrades, former prison inmates, had been killed in action.

‘They gave their lives for the motherland and have fully absolved themselves of their guilt,’ said Putin, adding that the convicts’ families would be given help, without elaborating further.

But the grim reality of what these men face on the ground is brutal with at least five Storm-Z teams identified as having fought to repel the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and the south.

Three of the five Storm-Z fighters and the relatives of three others described nightmare engagements that saw much of their squads wiped out.

One fighter, with a conviction for theft who was recruited from prison, said all but 15 of the 120 men in his unit embedded with the 237th regiment were killed or wounded in fighting near Bakhmut in June.

What are Russian Storm-Z units?

Storm-Z units come under the direct command of the Russian defence ministry and comprise of convicts who volunteer to fight in exchange for the promise of a pardon, as well as regular soldiers who are being punished for disciplinary breaches.

They are seen as useful because they can be deployed as expendable infantry, according to Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent organisation that’s tracking the war.

‘The Storm fighters are just sent to the most dangerous parts of the front, in defence and in attack,’ the group said.

While the Russian defence ministry has never acknowledged creating Storm-Z units, the first reports of their existence emerged in April when the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think-tank, cited what it said appeared to be a leaked Russian military report on the formation of the squads.

Russian state-controlled media has reported that Storm-Z squads exist, that they took part in intense battles, and some of their members received medals for bravery, but it has not disclosed how they are formed, or the losses they take.

Artyom Shchikin, a 29-year-old from the Mordovia region in central Russia, was serving a two-year sentence for robbery handed down in December 2021 when defence ministry recruiters came to his jail asking if inmates wanted to go and fight in Ukraine, according to court records and two of his relatives.

He signed up because, even though he was scheduled for release in December this year, he wanted to wipe clean his criminal record and earn money so his family could renovate their home, his family members said. 

Three Storm-Z fighters said they were offered wages of about 200,000 roubles (£1,675) per month, though said they had been paid roughly half that amount, on average.

By May this year, Shchikin was assigned to a penal unit within the 291st Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment and deployed to the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are trying to break through Russian defences, the relatives added.

Shchikin’s relatives last heard from him on June 18. Days later, his unit’s positions came under Ukrainian fire, the relatives said, citing conversations with two survivors from Shchikin’s squad.

Three comrades who had been in a trench with him were killed, another had his hand torn off, while Shchikin himself is missing, the relatives said. His body hasn’t been recovered.

Shchikin’s relatives said when they asked the defence ministry for answers about his fate, it either didn’t respond or didn’t give any definitive answers.

‘They were from a Storm unit. For them, no one is going to be in a rush,’ said one relative.

Since the revolt by the soldiers who refused to carry on fighting, two fighters told relatives conditions had improved but they did not know when they would be allowed to quit the military.

According to Russian legislation on military discipline, a soldier can only be transferred to a penal unit if convicted by a military court. 

None of the people interviewed who told of soldiers being sent to Storm-Z units said the men had participated in a court hearing. 

Last week, the soldier from unit no. 40318 said there were no court hearings involved in such transfers.

The Geneva convention, a set of international rules of war, doesn’t cover soldiers being punished by their own side.

All those who discussed the Storm-Z units requested anonymity, citing fear of reprisal in Russia.

Multiple Russian figures have been contacted for comment but refused, including an officer at unit no. 40318 and an official with the regimental headquarters.

The Kremlin referred questions to the Russian defence ministry, which didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Russian officials have made no public comment about the incident involving the Storm-Z squad, which refused to fight any longer.

Ukraine’s government has said it also releases some convicts if they agree to fight in the war.

The family member of one of the soldiers in the revolt, a man from Siberia who had volunteered to join Storm-Z from prison, said she dreaded news from the front.

She said: ‘My God, let this end soon.’

It emerged last week that Putin has also recruited another 130,000 conscripts, with some as young as 18.

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A Ukrainian website entitled ‘I Want to Live’ is said to be in the process of helping more than 800 demoralised Russian troops to surrender.

The channel for Moscow’s troops to wave the white flag is said to have had more than 25,000 contacts overall since launching 13 months ago.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Dealing with Prisoners of War (CHDPW) said that Russia was widely using frontline troops as ‘artillery meat’ in Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Petro Yatsenko told Metro.co.uk that the platform, named Khochu Zhit in Ukrainian, is helping to facilitate one surrender every two days on average.

A Russian army officer named as Lieutenant Daniil Alfyorov is said to have been among the latest to give themselves up via the platform, having earlier facilitated the transfer of 11 of his comrades via the process.

The platoon commander began secretly working with Ukraine in June 2023 before finding his life was in danger and being evacuated by Kyiv’s Special Operations Forces across the lines, according to the CHDPW.

His surrender came ahead of a report that hundreds of convicts have been pressed into Russian penal units known as ‘Storm-Z’ squads and sent to the most exposed and dangerous parts of the frontline.

A video published by Gulagu.net, a campaign for Russian prisoners’ rights, which was examined in the Reuters investigation shows one unit complaining about their treatment and refusing to return to the warzone.

Yatsenko said that low morale and the use of prisoners, a method deployed by the former Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin before his death, were marked features of the Russian frontline.

Yatsenko told Metro.co.uk: ‘The morale of Russian front-line troops is low because they are widely used as so-called artillery meat. No one wants to be on the frontline and Russians are using former prisoners.

‘Prigozhin and his Wagner group were pioneers of the process. After his death the Russian Ministry of Defence is using the same tactic with the Storm-Z battalions. Ukraine is experiencing a growth in a number of prisoners of war who were Russian criminals of the lower level of hierarchy.’

Alfyorov, however, was said by the CHDPW to be a ‘career officer’ and a Moscow Higher Military Command School graduate who had commanded a platoon on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.

Appearing in videos recorded at a press conference, he described the brutal treatment meted out by the Russian military to troops who were disillusioned or showed dissent. Alfyorov said such people faced being ‘thrown into a pit’ and ‘tied to trees for several days’.

He also told how he used I Want to Live to contact Ukrainian handlers before organising the surrender of his 11 comrades in three groups.

In an interview he described swimming across the Dnipro during his escape and said he intended to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, a paramilitary group of citizens from his homeland fighting on the Ukrainian side.

The newly-disclosed operation follows the defection of a Russian pilot who crossed the lines in an Mi-8 helicopter in August this year.

Maksim Kuzminov, 28, said on Ukrainian TV last month that he ‘did not want to contribute’ to war crimes carried out by Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.

He was said by Ukraine’s military intelligence to be set to receive a $500,000 (£410,000) reward, paid in the national hryvnia currency, for changing sides.

The CHDPW said: ‘During his cooperation with Ukrainian intelligence, Alfyorov not only helped more than ten Russian servicemen to surrender, but also provided valuable information for the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine. Alfyorov has gone through all the necessary procedures provided for military personnel who have surrendered.

‘He stated that he is an opponent of Russia’s criminal war against Ukraine and announced his intention to fight against the Putin regime.’

Yatsenko told Metro.co.uk that 220 Russian personnel have surrendered out of more than 25,000 contacts since the project was launched on September 18 last year. More than 800 are currently underway, he said. The website lists 24-7 channels including phone and social media hotlines and a chatbot.

The project states that those crossing sides will be treated in line with the Geneva Conventions relating to the treatment of prisoners of war

A repeated thread of low Russian morale has been the apparent use of ‘blocking troops’ to prevent the Kremlin’s frontline soldiers from retreating.

However the CHDPW has not found conclusive proof that the tactic, which has evoked comparisons with the ruthless methods used by Joseph Stalin’s Red Army during the Second World War, has been used.

‘We have asked Russian prisoners of war whether they have noticed such troops on the battlefield behind them,’ Yatsenko said.

‘All of them have heard about it but nobody has given us strict proof.

‘We thought the story might be a way for Russian commanders to scare their soldiers. It looks like “blocking troops” are not widely used except by the former Wagner group forces where the so-called “zeroing policy” [execution for desertion or retreat in battle] was a part of the tactic when Prigozhin`s soldiers gave up a position.‘

Russia’s demand for troops to feed its grinding all-out attack faces no immediate end, according to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

On X, the MoD said that Moscow’s defence spending is set to ‘surge’ to around 30% of all public expenditure next year and the country is ‘preparing for multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine’.

In another update, the Defence HQ account said that in Russia’s Pskov Oblast, close to the Estonian border, civilians were being asked to volunteer for security patrols to guard against drone attacks on Kresty air base.

Two II-76 Candid heavy cargo aircraft were reportedly destroyed and two others damaged after a strike by unmanned aerial vehicles on the facility on the night of August 29.

The post read: ‘Society is becoming more militarised as Russia’s situation worsens. Civilian volunteers are being asked to patrol an air base.’

MORE : Putin facing mutiny from frontline fighters he recruited from Russian prisons

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A former Russian president has warned the presence of British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would bring World War III closer. 

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and the country’s president between 2008 and 2012, made the comments in a post on Telegram. 

These came in response to a suggestion made by UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps that Westminster may at some point in the future deploy military instructors to Ukraine in support of Ukrainian forces. 

This in addition to the training already being provided to Ukrainian armed forces in Britain and other Western countries. 

Mdevedev, whose anti-western stance and rhetoric is perhaps staunchest among key Putin allies, hit back and said any presence of UK troops on Ukrainian soil would ‘turn their instructors into a legal target for our armed forces… understanding perfectly well that they will be ruthlessly destroyed’. 

Earlier today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared to row back on the comments made by Mr Shapps, who was only appointed to his post a month ago. 

Speaking at the start of the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester this afternoon, Mr Sunak told reporters: ‘What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine. 

‘But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now.’

He further clarified ‘there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict’.

Following a visit to a military base on Salisbury Plain and a subsequent call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, Mr Shapps had further called on British defence firms to step up production. 

He also suggested the UK was intent on helping Ukraine obtain Nato membership. 

Mr Shapps added: ‘I was talking about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.

‘Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things in country, and not just training. We’re seeing BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country.

I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing.’

In his post on Telegram, Mdevedev added German factories producing Taurus missiles could also prove a target should these munitions find their way to Kyiv.

He wrote: ‘They say this is in accordance with international law. Well, in that case, strikes on German factories where these missiles are made would also be in full compliance with international law.

‘These morons are actively pushing us towards World War III.’

The former president’s comments echo similar warnings he’s made in the past. 

Earlier in July, he suggested actions by ‘completely crazy’ western nations meant a global-scale conflict was ‘getting closer’.

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More British military training of Ukrainian soldiers could move into the war-torn country under new plans revealed by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

Mr Shapps said he has spoken with Army chiefs about moving ‘more training’ into Ukraine and called on British defence firms to set up production in the country.

Talking to The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Shapps – who took over the defence portfolio from Ben Wallace at the end of August – said he has also spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky about the Royal Navy helping to defend commercial vessels in the Black Sea.

He also said Britain was looking for ways to help Ukraine get in shape for membership of Nato.

Mr Shapps visited a military base on Salisbury Plain on Friday where he was briefed by General Sir Patrick Sanders, Chief of the General Staff, and other senior figures.

He said: ‘I was talking about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.

‘Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things in country, and not just training. We’re seeing BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country.

‘I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing.’

More than 20,000 recruits from Ukraine have received training in the UK since the start of 2022, but Nato members have avoided training programmes in Ukraine due to the risk of personnel being drawn into combat with Russia.

The Defence Secretary said he had spoken to Mr Zelensky on Wednesday and hinted Britain could play a more active role in the Black Sea, where Russia has targeted cargo ships.

‘Britain is a naval nation so we can help and we can advise, particularly since the water is international water,’ he said.

‘It’s important we don’t allow a situation to establish by default that somehow international shipping isn’t allowed in that water.

‘There’s a lot of places where Britain can help advise.’

Ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Shapps told the Telegraph that Britain should reinstate former prime minister Liz Truss’s pledge to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP.

‘I think it’s really important that we understand that freedom isn’t free,’ he said.

‘You have to pay for it and it also keeps us prosperous, not only because we keep out invaders, but we also help shape the world around us and do good in the world.’

He added that not reconsidering plans for the HS2 rail line following the costs from the pandemic and war in Ukraine would be ‘pretty much irresponsible’ and ruling out diversity quotas in the military, he said migrants to the UK should learn English.

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The Russian president has drafted a further 130,000 new recruits to his war against Ukraine. 

The most recent conscripts to Vladimir Putin’s war, now in its 18th month, were explicitly assured they would not find themselves sent to the war zone. 

Such promises, however, have proven hollow in the past. 

A number of new conscripts perished when Ukrainian missiles sunk the Moskva cruiser in the Black Sea last April, while others have swiftly found themselves held as prisoners of war after being deployed to the frontlines. 

The most recent batch of recruits brings the total number of those aged 18 to 27 years for 2023 to 277,000. 

Rear-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky is understood to have told them they would not be sent to the occupied regions of Ukraine, all of which remain close to sites of active conflict. 

He said: ‘Fresh military conscripts will not be deployed to the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics, Kherson region or Zaporizhzhia region to perform tasks in the special military operation zone.’

He added: ‘The term of military service under conscription will amount to 12 months, as before.

‘I’d like to stress the General Staff has no plans for a further mobilisation.’

Tsimlyansky’s comments come amid speculation the Kremlin intends to further expand the nation-wide conscription drive, not least given Putin’s decision to increase the autumn quota by approximately 10,000 this time last year. 

There are widespread reports of Russian authorities pressuring prospective recruits to sign papers formally admitting them into the country’s armed forces – in many cases, with little to no military training. 

It comes after Putin addressed the nation to mark the Day of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, during which he vowed nothing would stop him achieving ‘victory’ in Ukraine.

He said: ‘Nothing and no-one can break the will of millions of people, or their belief in truth and historical justice. 

‘I thank all the citizens of the country for this solidarity and patriotism.’

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Vladimir Putin has vowed ‘nothing and no-one’ will stop him achieving ‘victory’ in Ukraine, as one of his top cronies hinted Russia could seek to seize more parts.

Putin, 71, appeared with an unexplained blotch on his forehead for an address marking the first anniversary of its annexation of four Ukrainian regions.

He hailed the illegal incorporation of the so-called the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics along with parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson ‘a defining and truly historic event’.

The West has denounced both the referendum votes carried out last year and the recent ballots as a sham.

The votes were held as Russian authorities attempted to tighten their grip on territories Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control.

Putin said he acted to restore ‘something every person values, namely culture, traditions, and mother tongue’ among mainly Russian-speaking people.

This was ‘everything that was loathed by nationalists and their Western patrons who orchestrated a coup in Kyiv in 2014 and then unleashed a full-scale civil war and terror against dissenters and organised blockades, constant shelling, and punitive actions in Donbas’.

Seeking to justify his war, he vowed: ‘Nothing and no-one can break the will of millions of people, or their belief in truth and historical justice.

‘The free and unequivocal choice of our brothers and sisters was wholeheartedly supported by the Russian people. 

‘We understood and deeply felt the most important thing: by defending our compatriots in Donbas and Novorossiya, we are defending Russia itself. 

‘Together, we are fighting for the Motherland, for our sovereignty, spiritual values, unity, and victory. 

‘I thank all the citizens of the country for this solidarity and patriotism.’

Despite plunging Russia and Ukraine into a debilitating 19-month war in which hundreds of thousands have perished, the dictator claimed he was ‘building our common future together, rebuilding and building schools and hospitals, housing and roads, museums and memorial sites’.

Putin thanked people in the occupied regions ‘for preserving and passing on your love for the Fatherland to your children despite all the trials’. 

He claimed: ‘Thanks to you, your fortitude and determination, Russia has become even stronger. 

‘We are one people, and together we can overcome anything and meet any challenge.’

Close Putin henchman Dmitry Medvedev vowed Russia will invade more new regions of Russia. 

He said: ‘The special military operation will continue until the Nazi Kyiv regime is completely destroyed and the original Russian territories are liberated from the enemy.

‘Victory will be ours. And there will be more new regions within Russia.’

Ex-president of Russia and now Putin’s deputy on the Kremlin’s security council, he said the referendums saw Ukrainian citizens make ‘a fateful decision – to be with their Fatherland [Russia]. 

‘This choice became a symbol not only of the restoration of historical justice, but also of the unity of the Russian people, their colossal will and dedication.’

The addresses came after Russia’s Defence Ministry said Friday it would enlist 130,000 men for compulsory military service beginning October 1 in most regions of the country.

It announced it would for the first time begin enlisting residents of the annexed territories as part of its twice-yearly military conscription campaign.

Russia says conscripts are not deployed to what it calls its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, or to serve in the annexed territories.

However, after their service, conscripts automatically become reservists, and Russia has previously deployed reservists to Ukraine.

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A Russian fighter jet has reportedly been shot down in a friendly fire incident over Ukraine.

One of Vladimir Putin’s £82million supersonic Su-35 warplanes is suspected to have been downed by a Russian S-300 air defence system on Thursday night.

Footage shows an aircraft being hit by a missile before exploding above Tokmak in the Zaporizhzhia region.

An orange ball of flames and trail of smoke can be seen in the sky behind the jet as it plunges towards the ground.

Pro-war channels acknowledged the incident involved the plane, which has a one-pilot cockpit.

Russian aviation Z-blogger Fighterbomber published a photo of a Su-35 with the message: ‘Eternal flight, brother.’

This post was effectively seen as acknowledging the loss of the plane at the hands of its own troops.

There is yet to be official confirmation from Russian authorities, however, Ukrainian channel Crimean Wind posted: ‘Russian air defence vs Russian Su-35 1:0.

‘Russian soldiers used an S-300 missile to shoot down their own plane near Tokmak.

‘Work, brothers! Do not stop!’

The blue on blue strike, if confirmed, comes as the latest setback for Putin after his forces have been hit by a succession of strikes by Ukraine.

Among those attacks was the missile strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet last week.

At least 34 were killed and more than 100 said to be injured, with senior Russian commanders understood to be among the dead.

Russia has lost approximately 90 planes since the start of the war against Ukraine, an assessment by the British MoD said ahead of the latest incident.

The ‘viability’ of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ (VKS) long-term tactical air power is likely to degrade as the war goes on, said the MoD.

A report said: ‘The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have lost approximately 90 fixed-wing aircraft in combat since February 2022.

‘It has also been flying some of its combat aircraft types far more intensively than in peace time.’

Ukraine shot down 26 drones earlier this week as Russia targeted ports in overnight attacks of their own.

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Russia will stage its first nationwide nuclear attack exercise across 11 time zones in preparation for potential nuclear war.

It is scheduled to take place on October 3 and will see Vladimir Putin’s regime present the West as a nuclear aggressor.

The one-day nuclear attack exercise, which has only ever been done region by region, will include preparation for the destruction of up to 70% of Russian housing stock and life support facilities.

It will assume the scenario that martial law has been introduced in Russia and that is has gone through full mobilisation.

The scenario for the test reads: ‘In some constituent entities [regions] of the Russian Federation, as a result of emergencies or other types of physical impact, complete destruction of life support facilities and up to 70% of the housing stock is possible’.

It envisions ‘accidents at hydraulic structures, chemically and radiation hazardous facilities’ resulting in ‘secondary hazards’.

Civil servants and regional officials will be ordered to organise ‘non-staff emergency rescue teams’, endure food and medical supplies, and protection from radioactive protection.

The document further warns: ‘The risk of armed conflicts escalating into local and regional wars, including those involving nuclear powers, is increasing.

‘The threat to the safety of the population is posed by the risk of the use by a possible by the enemy of modern long-range means of defeat, as well as possible attacks using unmanned aerial and watercraft.’

The Putin regime had ‘taken a decision to develop measures aimed at increasing the readiness of civil defence forces and means to take measures to protect the population, material and cultural property on the territory of the Russian Federation, including general evacuation from danger zones.’

Putin is known to have several bunkers in his palaces in preparation for nuclear armageddon as well as a fleet of ‘Doomsday’ Il-80 Maxdome aircraft.

The exercise is being held four days before Putin celebrates turning 71 as the dictator is spending 40% of his state budget on the army, police and intelligence services amid the war against Ukraine.

Details of the drill come amid Putin crony Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Kurchatov Institute, who demanded a resumption of nuclear weapons testing in the Arctic for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union.

He has called for an equivalent jolt to Western leaders like when the USSR tested the Tsar Bomb in 1961, the most powerful ever with a capacity of more than 50 megatons.

‘I think this is a correct idea,’ said the 77-year-old, part of a close circle of ageing longtime friends around Putin.

‘This is exactly the same situation now. It is enough to conduct tests on Novaya Zemlya [Russian Arctic archipelago],’ said Kovalchuk.

‘At least once. And everything will fall into place.’

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Novaya Zemlya last month in a sign tests may resume soon.

The rhetoric was raised by loyalist MP and army commander Lt-Gen Andrei Gurulev who demanded Putin be ready to use nuclear weapons.

‘Our strategic capability is our [nuclear triad],’ he said.

‘This is what is designed for the landmass of the United States of America. This is specifically for them.

‘And they know very well that after that there will be no United States of America. We 100% inflict an unacceptable defeat on the USA. They know that.’

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Russian film fans are flocking to see bootleg versions of the Barbie film – defying official warnings that the Hollywood blockbuster is ‘not in line’ with President Vladimir Putin’s goals for ‘preserving and strengthening Russian values’.

Cinemagoers are proving their pink credentials by going to unofficial screenings of the movie, which is hitting the big screen despite Western sanctions after invasion of Ukraine.

Pirate versions of the Greta Gerwig film inspired by the iconic Mattel doll, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, are slipping under the radar and being dubbed into Russian.  

To avoid licencing issues, some cinemas have been selling tickets to Russian-made shorts – showing Barbie as a ‘free preview’, according to reports.

The BBC revealed how, at one Moscow shopping centre where the film is being shown nearby, fans were left tickled pink by a giant fuchsia-coloured house, complete with matching furniture, popcorn and life-size cardboard cutouts of Barbie and just Ken.

One fan said: ‘People should have the right to choose what they watch. I think it’s good that Russian cinemas are able to show these films for us.’

Film critic Anton Dolin, the former editor of Iskusstvo Kino, one of Russia’s oldest and most popular film magazines, told the Guardian that the demand for unofficial screenings reflects the attitude of Russians who are against the war.

Hollywood’s boycott of Russia is an example of the privileges they once enjoyed but are now deprived of, explained Dolin, who fled the country after being targeted by pro-war ultranationalists and now lives in Latvia.

‘They see watching Hollywood movies as a right,’ he told the newspaper.

But Russian MP, Maria Butina, is not a fan of the film or the doll that inspired it.

She told the BBC: ‘I have issues with Barbie as a female form. Some girls – especially in their teens – try to be like a Barbie girl, and they exhaust their bodies.’

The film has not been licenced to be shown in Russia, she said, warning: ‘Do not break the law.

‘I filed several requests to cinemas asking on what basis they are showing the film.’

As a result, the Barbie screenings are extremely secretive with no marketing or advertising.

The only way to find out where the films is being shown is via social media or word of mouth.

One teenager, 17, risked the wrath of the Russian government by bringing Barbie to the big screen in the city of Perm.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said he spent more than $3,000 (almost £2,500) getting his hands on a pirate copy, hiring a Russian dubbing company and putting together a marketing campaign.

He also sourced a designer to build the life-size Barbie box that has now become synonymous with cinema screenings.

He and a friend rented out a screen at a cinema and showed a bootleg copy of Barbie to a 50-strong audience as a test run.

He said: ‘The demand was unbelievable. People were losing their mind buying tickets. A huge amount of people want to see Barbie.’

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A Russian killer who throttled his lover then put her body through a meat grinder and flushed the remains down the toilet has been pardoned by Vladimir Putin for fighting in his war in Ukraine.

Dmitry Zelensky, 41, had been serving an 11-year sentence at a high security penal colony over the death of 27-year-old university graduate Tatiana Melekhina.

Police later said his ‘exceptional cruelty’ in the killing had ‘shocked even hardened detectives’.

‘He did not just dismember her body, he separated the meat and bones, and made mincemeat,’ a source said.

‘Then he washed this mincemeat down the toilet into the sewage system. He threw the bones into the river. 

‘This was his plan to hide the murder.’

When Zelensky’s wife found out about his mistress’s demise, she said: ‘I don’t know what to say now…I didn’t know he could be so cruel.’

His pardon and release from prison was confirmed by his mother, Galina.

‘My son went to the [war] for many reasons – he wanted to atone for what he had done,’ she said.

Zelensky was one of thousands of prisoners recruited straight from jail under a scheme concocted by late Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to bolster Putin’s forces in Ukraine.

Speaking in June, he claimed 32,000 recruits were on their way back to Russia with clean records.

There have been several reports of serious offences, including rape and murder, being committed by Wagner ex-convicts released early.

The graduate’s sister, Oksana, was outraged to find out her killer had been freed.

She said: ‘At his trial, it was declared that we would be notified of where he was, and his movements. We were never told anything. 

‘My father has written to ask for details, but no-one answers us.’

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Russia’s seemingly resurrected admiral has reappeared for a second time since Ukraine claimed he was killed in a missile strike.

On Monday, Kyiv said that the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov, was among 34 officers killed in a missile strike on Sevastopol, Crimea.

Witnesses’ video and photographs, on top of satellite imagery, show the headquarters of the fleet visibly damaged.

Yet Russian state media would broadcast the next day footage alleging to show Sokolov alive, prompting Ukraine to say it was ‘clarifying’ whether he was dead.

Appearing once again very much alive and well, Sokolov was all smiles as he spoke to reporters ‘today’ at a ceremony for the Black Sea Fleet’s football team.

Local news outlet First Sevastopol published footage of a press conference in which Sokolov responded to a reporter’s question seemingly about the assault.

‘What happened to us?’ he says. ‘Nothing happened to us. Life goes on.’

He does not comment, however, on how 33 of his crewmates died in the blast.

In a second ‘exclusive’ video aired by Zvezda, a TV network run by the Russian Ministry of Defence, the admiral boasts his fleet is ‘successfully fulfilling the tasks that the command has set for it’.

He said the 810th Marine Brigade, the Black Sea Fleet’s infantry unit, has also been awarded the Order of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov.

The top military decoration is named after the 18th-century naval commander who never lost a battle and was made the patron saint of the Russian navy.

‘You know that the feats of our marine Infantry are practically never off the screens of central television,’ Sokolov added.

But none of the unverified footage is dated, with the press claiming Sokolov spoke during a ceremony honouring the Chernomorets Sevastopol after winning the Russian Armed Forces Championship.

However, the Crimean Football Union reported the team won the tournament on September 18.

First Sevastopol quoted Sokolov as allegedly saying the ceremony was ‘cancelled purely for busy reasons and the event had to be postponed for several days’.

FC Chernomorets Sevastopol shared several photographs of Sokolov at the ceremony on the club’s Telegram account today. He can be seen hoisting a trophy into the air to celebrate the club’s victory.

It said the event had been held at the Yekaterininsky Hall of the Black Sea Fleet Officers’ House.

‘Today, a ceremonial event was held where the Black Sea Fleet Commander, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, awarded the football team,’ the club said in a post.

‘The players thanked the Black Sea Fleet commander for his active participation in the life of the football club and presented a commemorative ball with the autographs of the champions,’ the team added.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol, said the 810th Brigade had been presented with the military decoration in a Telegram post on August 29.

Ukraine’s special operations forces claimed Monday to have killed Sokolov in last week’s attack.

But yesterday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence posted an image of Sokolov attending a meeting with top defence officials remotely.

Accompanying video aired by state media is heavily edited to show the commander multiple times.

Only five minutes before this, TASS, a Russian state-owned news agency, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters he ‘does not have information about the alleged death of Black Sea Fleet Commander Sokolov’.

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Russia has accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in annexed Crimea.

The Russian naval base was struck by a Ukrainian missile last Friday, destroying vital infrastructure and killing at least 34 officers.

Following the attack, a furious Kremlin spokeswoman said at a briefing: ‘There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, Nato satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them.’

Moscow has frequently claimed that the UK, US and their Nato allies have effectively become involved in the war by supplying weapons and intelligence to Ukraine.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 20 months ago.

Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion and has increasingly come under fire by Ukraine.

Ukraine said the strike that put a large hole in the main building of the headquarters had wounded 105 people.

Russia initially said one serviceman was killed but quickly retracted that statement and said the person was missing.

Moscow has provided no further updates and has not commented directly on Mr Sokolov’s status.

Ukrainian special forces initally claimed to have killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, in the attack.

However, Russia’s Ministry of Defence later posted a video on Tuesday showing Mr Sokolov among other senior officers attending a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces posted a statement on Tuesday saying its sources claimed Mr Sokolov was among the dead, many of whom had not yet been identified. It said it was trying to verify the claim after the video surfaced.

Mr Sokolov could be seen blinking but did not speak in the clip shown, prompting speculation the Kremlin may have reused old footage of the Admiral in the broadcast.

The Admiral was also shown speaking to journalists about the Black Fleet’s operations in a video posted on a news channel linked to the Russian Defence Ministry.

However, it was not clear when the video was recorded, and the video did not contain any mention of the Ukrainian attack on fleet headquarters.

The MOD’s statements follow comments made on Tuesday by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, who said the arrival of American-made Abrams tanks in Ukraine and a US promise to supply an unspecified number of long-range ATACMS missiles would push Nato closer to a direct conflict with Russia.

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Trainloads of damaged Russian military equipment, including tanks, have been ferried to repair factories in recent days, heaping even more humiliation on Vladimir Putin.

‌The sheer number of crocked armoured vehicles indicate the scale of damage his forces are taking on the frontline in the Kyiv counteroffensive.

‌He has already had to deploy mothballed tanks designed in the Stalin and Khrushchev eras as he runs short of military equipment, like the T-54, T-55 and T-62 models.

‌But now he is having to try and patch up ravaged equipment before sending back out to the frontline, ignoring complaints from troops about the dire state of their weaponry.

The trains appear to be carrying the damaged tanks and vehicles to factories inside Russia, well away from the front-line.

‌This comes as even pro-war Russian commentators began to voice their worry over a concerted Ukrainian push in Zaporizhzhia region.

‌They warned of a ‘sharp escalation of the situation’ and ‘heavy, fierce battles’.

One warned: ‘The enemy threw a large number of armoured vehicles into the attack, as well as several groups of [troops numbering] up to four companies.’

Russia’s former space chief and deputy premier, Dmitry Rogozin, appointed this month as a pro-Putin senator for invaded Zaporizhzhia, confirmed the Ukrainian thrust.

‘They are coming, a lot of them,’ he warned.

Meanwhile, an analyst at the Washington-based Institute of War urged the West to back Ukraine’s innovative military strategy rather than whinge from the sidelines about a lack of progress.

‌‘Now is not the time for Western doubt,’ Nataliya Bugayova said.

‘The West must reinforce its military and diplomatic commitments and lean in to help sustain Ukraine’s battlefield momentum.

‌‘Ukraine is still facing an existential challenge from Russia, which requires Western aid to militarily defeat.

‌‘Leaning in means embracing Ukraine’s campaign design. It means ensuring that the Western training of Ukrainian troops is done in conditions in which Ukraine fights at its best.’

‌Bugayova, non-resident Russian Fellow at the institute, said Ukraine can win the war ‘but it will take more than one counteroffensive operation’.

Sluggish deliveries of weapons gave a respite to Putin, she said.

‘Russia’s Achilles heel remains its inability to rapidly pivot when faced with relentless pressure or consecutive setbacks,’ she went on.

‘Faced with constant pressure over time with no relief, the Russians will likely start to crack.’

Ms Bugayova stressed Ukraine is advancing in Zaporizhzhia region and near Bakhmut.

‘The Russian forces are unable to stop the advance, which is now moving in two directions,’ she said.

The presence of Russian occupiers in Crimea is also becoming less sustainable, she added.

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MORE : Russian commander mysteriously appears in meeting – despite being ‘dead’

MORE : Five Bulgarians accused of spying for Russia make first appearance in court

The commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet seemed to appear in a meeting of Moscow’s top brass today- despite Ukraine’s special forces claiming to have killed him the day before.

In video and photographs released by the Russian defence ministry, ‌Admiral Viktor Sokolov was shown apparently taking part in a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top admirals and army chiefs.

The Admiral appeared to blink during the meeting but he was not seen speaking, and sat in a chair that looked different to other naval commanders.

‌The ‘appearance’ came after Vladimir Putin’s spokesman declined to comment on claims that Sokolov had been killed.‌

Ukraine claimed on Monday that Sokolov was one of 34 officers killed in a devastating missile strike on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.‌

The Russian footage today left open the possibility that old video of the commander had been superimposed on a meeting chaired by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian armed forces.

But Ukrainian telegram channel Crimea’s Wind reported the existence of the Russian footage and said it seemed Sokolov had ‘attended the board of the Ministry of Defence’.

‌It added: ‘It’s a pity of course.’

Ukraine also claimed that 105 military personnel had been wounded in the strike on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters.‌

Putin-loyal Russian Telegram channels immediately claimed Ukraine had been caught lying.

‘We can say that the enemy’s statement [from] the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces that the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, died during the destruction of the Fleet headquarters building in Sevastopol is not true,’ said Grey Zone.

Military Informant channel said: ‘The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, appeared at today’s meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defence.

‘Earlier, the Ukrainian media and intelligence claimed that Sokolov allegedly died as a result of a strike on the fleet headquarters in Sevastopol.

‘The point is that the command staff has not been in the headquarters building for a long time, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces is also well aware of.

‌’So no commander….could have died there [nor dozens of officers].’

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces – which had stated  on Monday that  Sokolov was among the dead from the Black Sea Fleet headquarters missile strike – today issued a statement saying:  ‘Available sources claim that among the dead was the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet [Admiral Viktor Sokolov]. 

‘Many have still not been identified due to the scattered fragments of their bodies.

‘Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov supposedly alive, our units are clarifying the information. 

‘This occurs as part of the procedure for collecting data regarding the results of the operation.’

The statement repeated its claim that 34 Russian military personnel had been killed in the strike, a figure which Russian sources have rejected.

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Russia is seeking to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after it was expelled from the organisation last April following its invasion of Ukraine.

The council ejected Russia after calling an emergency session last year, with officials claiming the move signalled the international community’s ‘strong censure of Moscow’s aggressive actions towards a neighbouring State’.

But now Russian diplomats are seeking to get their country re-elected to the council for a fresh three-year term.

The vote, set to take place next month, will be seen as a key test of Russia’s international standing after more than 18 months of isolation on the world stage.

In a document outlining their position, seen by the BBC, Moscow promised to find ‘adequate solutions for human rights issues’ and claimed it will prevent the council from becoming an ‘instrument which serves political wills of one group of countries’- an indirect reference to the west.

Based in Geneva, the UNHRC has 47 members, each elected for a three-year term.

The next elections, due on 10 October, will see Russia compete with Albania and Bulgaria for the two seats on the council reserved for central and eastern European countries.

Diplomats say Russia is seeking to restore its international credibility after facing accusations of human rights abuses, war crimes and genocide in Ukraine.

The latest allegations, presented to the UNHRC on Monday, provided fresh evidence that Russia had engaged in torture, rape and attacks on Ukrainian civilians.

Earlier this month, a report by three campaign groups- UN Watch, the Human Rights Foundation and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights – concluded Russia was ‘unqualified’ for membership of the HRC.

‘Re-electing Russia to the council now, while its war on Ukraine is still ongoing, would be counterproductive for human rights and would send a message that the UN is not serious about holding Russia accountable for its crimes in Ukraine,’ the report said.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said Russia had committed atrocities in Ukraine, its leader had been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court and had shown utter contempt for the UN Charter.

‘The idea that Russia could return to the Human Rights Council is an affront to the very concept of human rights and a dangerous backwards step that would damage its credibility,’ he said.

‘The government should work intensively with countries who have abstained in the past to make the case that the essential values of the UN must be upheld.’

The previous vote saw 93 members of the UN general assembly voting in favour of expelling Russia from the council, 24 against and 58 abstaining. In its position paper, Russia blames ‘the United States and its allies’ for stripping them of their membership.

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Ukraine’s new underwater kamikaze drone ‘Marichka’ is seen being lowered into the water for testing in a sign it could soon be unleashed on Russian warships.

The black 20ft-long torpedo with 450kg of explosives packed inside is also expected to be used to target Vladimir Putin’s £3 billion Crimean Bridge, which Kyiv has already managed to hit twice.

Footage posted online shows the £355,000 vessel being checked over at a secret location.

Sea drones have become one of Ukraine’s key weapons in fending off Russia’s invasion and the military has steadily built up their sophistication, range and accuracy.

Specialist naval defence website navalnews.com said of the new model: ‘Marichka will hit the ships on the underwater part, which can be even more destructive for the warships.

‘A swarm of these suicide underwater uncrewed vehicles is very hard to defend.’

Its makers say it has a range of 620 miles, meaning it could reach nearly any point in the Black Sea from ports in western Ukraine, and ‘cannot be detected by radars, scanners and echo sounders’.

The submarine drone can also be used for reconnaissance and has the capacity to lurk on standby mode in the water before being directed at a target.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks in the Black Sea and on the Crimean Peninsula and started using missiles in addition to assault drones.

Kyiv has said that destroying the Russian Black Sea fleet would significantly speed up the end of the war.

Its special forces claimed on Monday that the Kremlin’s top admiral in Crimea had been killed alongside 33 other officer in last week’s missile attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia’s most senior navy officers, was reportedly killed in the attack.

If confirmed, it would be one of Kyiv’s most significant strikes on Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

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An overnight Russian air strike on the Ukrainian grain exporting port of Izmail injured two people and damaged infrastructure, it has been claimed.

A port building, storage facilities and more than 30 trucks and cars were damaged in the attack, which lasted more than two hours, Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region said on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian military said it shot down 26 of the 38 Iranian-made attack drones it said were launched by Russia.

Moscow has intensified its air attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River, including Izmail and Reni, after it quit a grain deal in July that ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grains.

Separately on Tuesday, a Russian missile strike also damaged a local enterprise in the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said.

There was no immediate indication of casualties.

A Ukraine drone attack on Russia’s Kursk resulted in power being cut off to about seven settlements in the region, the region’s governor Roman Starovoyt said on Tuesday.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems had destroyed one Ukraine-launched drone over the Kursk at around 5.30am.

That followed reports of multiple drones being shot down over the region that borders Ukraine on Monday.

Yesterday Ukraine’s port city of Odessa was hit by Russian missiles in a blitz as the city’s large Jewish population marked the holy day of Yom Kippur.

Fighters struck the iconic Hotel Odessa – a military target used as a training centre – which was gutted by the resulting fire.

Other witnesses describe a ‘continuous attack’ on the Black Sea port lasting for over an hour, as Russia fired an arsenal of shahed missiles.

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A key Putin ally has spoken of his ‘pride’ after footage emerged of his son attacking a Ukrainian prisoner. 

Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Russian republic of Chechnya and father of 14 children, made the statements on Monday. 

He posted the comments on Telegram along with a video in which a young man in khakis, whom the warlord claims is his son Adam, is seen to punch and kick another man before wrestling him to the ground and beating his head. 

Kadyrov added he was releasing the video to confirm the incident, first reported last month, really had taken place.

He said: ‘He beat him, and he did the right thing. Without exaggeration, yes, I am proud of Adam’s actions.’

He went on to say he felt the clip showed his son exhibiting ‘adult ideals of honour, dignity, and defence of his religion.’

The victim in the video is reportedly Nikita Zhuravel, a 19-year-old Ukrainian, who has been accused of burning the Koran.

He is understood to have since complained about the attack to Russia’s human rights ombudsman. 

However, the recent clip has also led to speculation that the Chechen warlord may no longer be in control of his social media accounts. 

Ukrainian military intelligence recently claimed Kadyrov is in fact in a coma after falling critically ill.

It comes amid unconfirmed reports earlier this month saying kidney specialists had been sent from Moscow to the regional capital of Grozny to treat the 46-year-old.

Andrei Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence, recently said: ‘Indeed, there is information that the war criminal Kadyrov is in a serious condition. 

‘We can confirm that he has had a severe relapse and has been in critical condition for several days.’

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Devastating footage shows a huge mushroom cloud in the sky after a powerful explosion at an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The blast, said to have been caused by an air-launched missile attack by Kyiv forces, happened in Sorokyne, also known as Krasnodon, in the eastern region of Luhansk, located around 86 miles from the current frontline.

A stockpile of Russian explosives ignited in a terrifying inferno at the Yunost plant.

It was formerly used to produce specialist electrical parts for missiles and rockets.

But it is now thought to be a key ammunition depot supplying Kremlin forces, reports suggest.

Terrified children can be heard screaming in a video showing the mushroom cloud rising into the sky.

The incident saw schools evacuating as windows shattered in nearby properties.

One resident who filmed the explosion said: ‘My hands are shaking as I am filming this. There was such a strong explosion.’

The blast happened amid reports of ‘panic’ among Vladimir Putin’s forces as they face ‘the threat of encirclement’ in the village of Verbove in Zaporizhzhia, south-east Ukraine.

Military experts say the Ukrainian army has made significant advances in the area, according to the Independent.

A source for the Russian Airborne Forces, the air forces branch of the Russian army also known as the VDV, warned there is a ‘real threat’ their troops could be encircled.

The warning was reported by US-based war monitoring think-tank, The Institute for the Study of War.

The VDV source said President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops were within 7km of encircling the 56^th VDV regiment.

Ukrainian forces are said to have broken Verbove on Friday and are now believed to occupy half of the village.

But the Russian Ministry of Defence has been accused of trying to cover up the advancement.

President Vladimir Putin’s troops retaliated on Monday by launching an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa using suicide drones and supersonic missiles.

The attacks come the illegal invasion of Ukraine reached its 20^th month – with no clear end in sight.

Earlier this month, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg warned there would be no quick ending to the conflict.

He told German newspaper, Berliner Morgenpost: ‘We are all wishing for a quick peace. But at the same time, we must recognise: if President Zelensky and the Ukrainians give up the fight, their country would not exist anymore.

‘If President Putin and Russia laid down their weapons, we would have peace.

‘The easiest way to end this war would be if Putin withdrew his troops.’

Both Russia and Ukraine unleashed some of the most devastating attacks of the war so far in the past week, in drone and bomber strikes.

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Ukraine has claimed that the commander of Russia’s feared Black Sea Fleet was killed in one of Kyiv’s most audacious attacks yet in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine launched on Friday a missile attack at the headquarters of Russia’s naval force in Sevastopol, a port town where the fleet is based.

Photographs of the aftermath seemingly showed a crater in the upper floor of the building’s rear with its roof caved in.

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces claimed today on Telegram that the Storm Shadow attack killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, 61, and 33 others.

‘After the hit of the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers were killed, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,’ the Ukrainian special forces said.

‘Another 105 invaders were injured,’ the post added. ‘The headquarters building cannot be restored.’

But senior Black Sea Fleet officers have reportedly denied that Sokolov was killed, according to the Telegram channel Emergency/Crimea.

‘Captain of the first rank Vasily Dandykin, who is directly related to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, noted that he was not given such information,’ it said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has been approached for comment.

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief has previously claimed that commanders Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk and Lieutenant-General Oleg Tsekov were also killed in the strike.

Kyrylo Budanov told US broadcaster Voice of America following the attack that nine people were killed and another 16 injured.

Budanov did not comment on Sokolov – none of his claims have not been verified.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence initially on Telegram that one serviceman had been killed in the assault but then changed his status to ‘missing’.

Kyiv has increasingly sought to upend Russia’s military operations in Crimea, which extends into the Black Sea and was illegally annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.

The peninsula has long been used by Moscow as a hub for storing fuel, ammunition and other war-time supplies to be shipped off to the front lines.

Kyiv’s military said on Friday it had targeted a Russian command post near Verkhniosadove, a few kilometres from Sevastopol.

US think-tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said satellite imagery showed Ukrainian forces ‘struck the 744th Communications Center of the Command of the Black Sea Fleet… as part of an apparent Ukrainian effort to target Black Sea Fleet facilities’.

Kremlin-installed Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev confirmed that the fleet’s head office had been attacked, he said on Telegram Friday.

The strike was reported carried out using long-range Storm Shadow missiles, 1,300kg air missiles with a range of up to 190 miles.

Britain donated the weapons to Kyiv in May as Ukraine stepped up its requests for weapons capable of targeting Russian military infrastructure from Nato allies.

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Ukraine’s port city of Odessa was hit by Russian missiles in a blitz as the city’s large Jewish population marked the holy day of Yom Kippur.

Fighters are believed to have struck the Hotel Odessa – a military target used as a training centre – with local reports that the building is caught up in flames.

Other reports describe a ‘continuous attack’ on the Black Sea port lasting for over an hour, as Russia fired an arsenal of shahed missiles.

Oleg Veretskiy posted on X, listing the invaders’ weaponry as ‘Onyx, Calibers and Shaheds’.

He added: ‘I don’t remember such a dense attack on Odessa for a long time. It was loud. Right next to us. We survived. The air raid alert has been cancelled.’

At night, Russia launched 19 suicide drones, 2 supersonic Oniks missiles, and 12 Kalibr missiles at the region, according to the Southern Defense Forces.

Many of Odessa’s population of over 12,000 Jews were marking the end of their fasting period on the holy day of Yom Kippur when the missiles struck.

Explosions have also been reported in Sevastopol in the Crimea, temporarily occupied by Russia.

The attacks come as President Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine reached its 20th month with no tangible sign of victory.

Yesterday, Russian air strikes killed two people and wounded three others in Ukraine’s Kherson province – just days after two were killed and eight others injured in a strike on Sunday

Senior Russian commanders were left ‘seriously injured’ after Ukrainian missiles struck Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters on Saturday.

Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk and Lieutenant General Oleg Tsekov were ‘seriously wounded’ when Storm Shadow missiles hit the Navy HQ in Sevastopol, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.

At least nine military personnel were killed and 16 wounded in the attack.

‘Among the wounded is the commander of the group, Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk, in a very serious condition,’ the spymaster told Voice of America.

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MORE : Brit who became ‘Putin’s Prisoner’ to raise plight of Ukraine’s missing to UN

MORE : Russian admiral ‘seriously injured’ after missile hits navy HQ killing nine

MORE : US to give Ukraine more long-range missiles ‘used in Black Sea fleet attack’

The US is set to give Ukraine advanced long-range missiles similar to those used in the Black Sea Fleet attack, according to reports.

This would help Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops hit more targets, such as command positions and logistical hubs, behind Russia’s front lines.

At least one Ukrainian missile struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in the port of Sevastopol in Crimea yesterday, leaving nine people dead.

A Ukrainian military source told the BBC the attack was carried out using Storm Shadow missiles – a type of ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System)- supplied by Britain and France.

These missiles have a range of just over 150 miles, compared to GPS guided rockets known as GMLRS Ukraine uses, which can travel around 43 miles.

NBC News reports that, according to unnamed US official, US president Joe Biden told the Ukrainian leader he would receive a ‘small number’ of ATACMS missiles.

The two men met at the White House on Thursday.

The missiles will be delivered in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the Washington Post, meanwhile, sources say Ukraine will get ATACMS armed with cluster bomblets, instead of a single warhead.

The US media reports about the advanced missiles have not been confirmed by US or Ukrainian governments.

Following the Whitehouse talks, however, Washington said it would provide £265m ($325m) in military aid for Ukraine, including artillery and ammunition.

Yesterday, on his visit to Canada, Zelensky said: ‘I believe that most of what we were discussing with President Biden yesterday… we will be able to reach an agreement [on].’

He added: ‘Yes, [this is] a matter of time. Not everything depends on Ukraine.’

When asked about the NBC report on ATACMS, he failed to provide a direct answer, but noted that the US was the biggest single supplier of weaponry to Ukraine.

Speaking through an interpreter he said: ‘We are discussing all the different types of weapons – long range weapons and artillery, artillery shells with the caliber of 155mm, then air defence systems.’

ATACMS missiles from Britain and France are said to be quickly depleting, with many used up during the summer months, and France’s air force recently acknowledged that it would have to stop deliveries soon to protect its own stocks.

Therefore Ukraine is pushing for help from the US in order to give themselves the best chance in the ongoing tough and bloody counter-offensive in the south.

When Russia first attacked Ukraine last year, Biden was reluctant to send Kyivmodern weaponry, but his stance later changed and it’s since received High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS and Patriot air defence missiles.

But there are fears that sending ATACMs could lead to further tensions between the US and nuclear-armed Russia.

Senior commanders were reportedly among those seriously inured in the Black Sea fleet HQ strike this week.

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