“Ukraine – Russia”

Investigation focusing on whether captain of Yi Peng 3 was directed to deliberately carry out damage by Moscow

A Chinese ship is suspected of severing two critical internet cables in the Baltic Sea in an act of sabotage that may have been orchestrated by Russia.

Investigators believe that the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-registered bulk carrier, deliberately severed the two key cables last week by dragging its anchor along the Baltic seabed for more than 100 miles.

The investigation is now focused on whether the captain of the 225-metre-long bulk carrier was directed to carry out the suspected sabotage by Moscow.

Russia’s army has made its biggest weekly advance in Ukraine since the early days of its full-scale invasion, analysts have said, with its troops entering a key frontline town in the Donetsk region.

The gains came as Russia vowed a fresh response to new Ukrainian strikes on its territory with US-supplied missiles, something the Kremlin has warned could spark a nuclear war, as one of President Putin’s top allies said Moscow had no interest in a ceasefire.

On the day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Anton says the nuclear weapons base he was serving at was put on full combat alert.

“Before that, we had only exercises. But on the day the war started, the weapons were fully in place,” says the former officer in the Russian nuclear forces. “We were ready to launch the forces into the sea and air and, in theory, carry out a nuclear strike.”

I met Anton in a secret location outside Russia. For his own protection, the BBC will not reveal where. We have also changed his name and are not showing his face.

Cyberwarfare is now a “daily reality” for Britain’s national security, Pat McFadden will warn on Monday as he announces a new laboratory to protect the country from Russian attempts to “weaponise” artificial intelligence.

The Cabinet Office minister will use a speech at Nato’s cybersecurity conference in London to announce a new laboratory for AI security research. An initial £8 million of government funding will bring together Britain’s intelligence agencies, world-leading academics and the tech industry to develop new cyber defences to protect Britain’s national infrastructure.

A 22-year-old former British Army soldier fighting with Ukrainian troops has been captured by Russian forces in the war-torn Kursk region, according to reports.

A young man in military fatigues speaking with an English accent identified himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson in a video circulating in Russian media on Sunday.

Anderson, who appears to have his hands tied, claimed that he served four years as a signalman in the British army before he joined the International Legion of Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion.

At a secret location outside Kyiv, the brigadier watched as explosions hammered the concrete structure that his team of ten British military engineers, intelligence officers and diplomats had clandestinely helped to create.

The rocket test, described by sources to The Sunday Times, was the culmination of months of hard work, under the constant threat of Russian airstrikes. When it finished in February, the British engineers, alongside teams from America, Germany and Japan, advised their Ukrainian colleagues that they should build the structures to protect Ukraine’s energy grid from Russian attack.

Soon after warning that Russia’s newly deployed ‘Oreshnik’ nuclear capable hypersonic missile is able to reach any European capital, at a top speed of Mach 10+ —which is significantly faster than a bullet—Russian state media issued the below ominous infographic.

Russian media released a new graphic showing Oreshnik missile flight times to major cities in Europe pic.twitter.com/Ry7yLymK2n

— Preston Stewart (@prestonstew_) November 22, 2024

h/t Mauser

In many ways, President Vladimir V. Putin seems to be winning.

Russian forces are pushing ahead in Ukraine. President-elect Donald J. Trump is returning to the White House. War fatigue is spreading across Europe. North Korean troops have boosted the ranks of his army.

And yet on Thursday, Mr. Putin appeared weary, threatened and newly aggrieved as he took his bellicose threats against his Western adversaries to a new level.

Russia has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine for the first time, Kyiv said on Thursday as Moscow warned that an American missile defence base in Poland was on its list of targets for “potential destruction”.

The Ukrainian air force said that a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) had been used as part of an attack on critical infrastructure in Dnipro, a city in central Ukraine. It was not immediately clear what damage was caused and the claim has yet to be independently verified. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to comment.

‼️ The Ukrainian city of Dnipro became the first city in human history to be struck by an intercontinental ballistic missile. It is a historic turning point. An intercontinental ballistic missile used not on a firing range, but against a city of a million people. pic.twitter.com/TyXjY3TjFz

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 21, 2024

But … US official disputes Ukraine’s missile claim

SEOUL—In a country that fetes its military elites like celebrities, Col. Gen. Kim Yong Bok was rarely seen—or even mentioned—in public. His role leading North Korea’s special forces required him to keep a low profile to conceal his identity. But now he is a very public figure.

He is the top North Korean military official in Russia, where more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed to aid Moscow’s efforts to dislodge Ukrainian troops who have seized a chunk of Russian territory.

Kyiv and Seoul officials have confirmed his presence in Russia. In recent days, President Biden gave the green light for Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied, long-range weapons to strike inside Russia—with the new North Korean presence a motivating factor. Ukraine fired those missiles for the first time on Tuesday, hitting an ammunition storage facility in Russia’s Bryansk region.

Biden’s surprise decision on Sunday, November 17, 2024, to authorize Ukraine to utilize long-range U.S. missiles capable of reaching 186 miles into Russia requires explanation. (As of this writing, Ukraine has already fired a missile into Russia.) Does the U.S. military believe that allowing Ukraine to fire a few U.S.-manufactured Army Tactical Missile systems (“ATACMS”) into Russia will win the war for Ukraine? Or is Biden’s decision evidence that the United States is in a military coup d’etat aimed at escalating the war in Ukraine so Donald Trump will not be able to settle the war should he manage to be inaugurated in approximately two months, on January 20, 2025?

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told Fox News late on Tuesday that Ukraine would lose the war if Washington, its main military backer, pulled funding.

The Ukrainian leader said it would be “very dangerous if we lose unity in Europe, and what is most important is unity between Ukraine and the United States”.

US President-elect Donald Trump has campaigned on a promise to end US involvement in wars and instead use taxpayers’ money to improve Americans’ lives.