Russia-Ukraine war live: US citizen detained in Moscow; Ukraine counteroffensive reported in four areas - The Guardian

More now from that ISW daily update.

Russian sources are claiming that Ukraine has tactical advantages in conducting assaults at night due to Western-provided equipment with advanced night optics systems.

A prominent Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces are launching assaults at night because western-provided equipment provides Ukrainian forces with “excellent” night vision optics.

Russian sources have widely claimed that Ukrainian forces have started or intensified assaults at night in recent days, and Ukrainian forces may be increasingly leveraging the advantages provided by western systems.

Reuters reports that two drones crashed early on Sunday in Russia’s Kaluga region, the governor of the region, Vladislav Shapsha, said on the Telegram messaging app.

One drone crashed near the village of Strelkovka, another in the woods in the Medynsky municipal district.

The Kaluga region borders the Moscow region to the north.

According to preliminary information, there were no casualties and only minimal damage, Shapsha said on Telegram. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Earlier in the day inside Russia, 15 cars of an empty freight train derailed in the southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, the local governor said late on Saturday, adding there was no immediate information about the cause.

The accident happened near a train station in the Alexeyevsky municipal district and the train was empty, Gladkov said. Reuters could not independently verify this report.

Russian news media reported Saturday that an American musician who has lived in Russia for more than a decade has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, according to the Associated Press.

The reports said Michael Travis Leake is suspected of selling mephedrone, whose effects are similar to those of cocaine and MDMA. A Moscow court ordered him to be held for two months in pre-trial detention, the reports said.

He faces charges of production or distribution of drugs, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

An Instagram page under the name Travis Leake Instagram identifies him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch, meaning Seize the Night. News reports said Leake is a former paratrooper with the US military and has lived in Moscow since 2010.

Russian drug laws are strict. WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February 2022 after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage at a Moscow airport. She was sentenced to nine years in prison, but was released in December in an exchange for US-imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The US state department said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that it was aware of the reports that a US citizen had recently been arrested in Moscow. It said when a US citizen is detained overseas, the department “pursues consular access as soon as possible and works to provide all appropriate consular assistance”.

The department said it would have no further comment due to privacy considerations.

Ukrainian forces are conducting counteroffensive operations in at least four areas of the front, the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War had said in its daily update.

Ukrainian eastern group of forces spokesperson Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty noted that Ukrainian forces advanced up to 1,400m in unspecified areas of the Bakhmut front, and Russian milbloggers reported Ukrainian advances northwest and northeast of Bakhmut, ISW says.

Russian sources reported Ukrainian activity in Luhansk Oblast near Bilohorivka, while the Russian defence ministry and other Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian troops conducted localised attacks in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area, particularly in the Velyka Novosilka area.

ISW reports geolocated footage posted on 10 June additionally indicates that Ukrainian forces in western Zaporizhia Oblast made gains during counterattacks southwest and southeast of Orikhiv.

It says Ukrainian forces are unsurprisingly taking casualties in initial attacks against some of the best-prepared Russian forces in Ukraine. However, initial attacks – and particularly selected footage that Russian sources are intentionally disseminating and highlighting – are not representative of all Ukrainian operations.

Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, I’m Christine Kearney bringing you the latest.

Russian news media are reporting that an American musician who has lived in Russia for more than a decade has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, according to the Associated Press.

The reports said Michael Travis Leake is suspected of selling mephedrone. A Moscow court ordered him to be held for two months in pre-trial detention, the reports said.

An Instagram page under the name Travis Leake Instagram page identifies him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch, which means Seize the Night.

Meanwhile US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War had said in its daily update that Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in at least four areas of the front.

More details shortly, in other key developments:

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive operations were taking place in Ukraine, a day after Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin said Kyiv’s long-vaunted drive to retake territory was well under way. Zelenskiy would not say what stage they were at, but to pass on to Putin that his generals were optimistic and in ‘positive mood’.

• Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a Ukraine military spokesperson said on Saturday.

• The UK’s Ministry of Defence said over the past 48 hours “significant” Ukrainian operations have taken place in several sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have “likely made good progress” and “penetrated the first line of Russian defences”, the MoD added. However, in other areas “Ukrainian progress has been slower”.

• The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukraine’s forces have continued “unsuccessful” attempts in the past 24 hours to launch attacks south of Donetsk and in Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as in the area of the eastern city of Bakhmut.

• A drone attack by Russian forces killed three people and injured 27 people, including three children, in Ukraine’s Odesa region in the early hours of Saturday, according to Ukraine’s southern command. Emergency services said but the fire had been rapidly put out and 12 people were rescued from the building.

• The UN’s top aid official Martin Griffiths has warned Ukraine’s humanitarian situation is “hugely worse” after the Kakhova dam rupture.

• German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Saturday that he planned to speak to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on the phone soon to urge him to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

• Canada’s minister, Justin Trudeau, landed in Kyiv on Saturday and said Canada will be part of a multinational effort to train Ukrainian fighter pilots. He also announced C$500m ($375m) worth of military aid for Kyiv and said the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam was a “direct consequence of Russia’s war”.

• Russian activists and dissidents say Russian authorities in Kherson region are preventing 1,842 left bank residents, including 338 urgent cases around Olekshy, and nearby, from leaving. The figure includes 148 children and 243 elderly people, said the Anti-War Human Rights Coalition.

• Russia has fired missiles and attack drones at the central Ukrainian region of Poltava overnight, inflicting “some damage of infrastructure and equipment” at the Myrhorod military airfield, according to the regional governor.

• A £150m fund to help Ukrainians into their own homes has been announced by the UK government. More than 124,000 people have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. The UK will also provide an extra £16m of humanitarian aid to Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Iceland’s decision to suspend its embassy operations in Moscow “destroys” bilateral cooperation adding the action would elicit a “corresponding” response.

• The southern reach of the Dnipro River is likely to return to its banks by 16 June after the breach of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam this week, a Russian-installed official said on Saturday. Vladimir Saldo said the water level at Nova Kakhovka, the town adjacent to the dam on the downstream side, had now dropped three metres (10ft) from Tuesday’s peak, Reuters reported.

• German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency says it has put the last operating reactor at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant into a “cold shutdown” as a safety precaution amid flooding from the collapse of the Kakhovka dam.

• South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has briefed Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about an upcoming mission to broker peace by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine to try and broker peace, Pretoria said on Saturday.

• The UN has helped boost Russian exports of food and fertilisers, facilitating a steady flow of ships to its ports ahead of an important grain deal deadline. Top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin as Moscow threatens to walk away from a deal allowing the safe export of food and fertiliser from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on 17 July if obstacles to its own shipments are not removed.

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Sniffer dogs and half-eaten fruit: How children lost in Colombian jungle after plane crash were found - Sky News

In the deep depths of a Colombian jungle, four children have been found alive weeks after a deadly plane crash.

After surviving 40 days alone, the siblings were rescued by Colombian soldiers on Friday.

Image: Pic: Twitter/@petrogustavo

A saga which captivated many Colombians as search teams frantically combed through the rainforest hunting for the children, aged 13, nine, four and 11 months old.

Following the news, President Gustavo Petro said: "A joy for the whole country! The four children who were lost... in the Colombian jungle appeared alive."

Here's everything we know about the deadly plane crash

Authorities said a small Cessna single-engine propeller plane fell off the radar in the early hours of 1 May.

There were six passengers on board and a pilot.

Image: Pic: AP

Before the crash, the pilot declared an emergency due to an engine failure, and the small aircraft fell off the radar a short time later.

On 16 May, a search team found the plane in a thick patch of the rainforest and recovered the bodies of three adults.

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The children were nowhere to be seen.

Officials said the group of four children were travelling with their mother from the Amazonian village of Araracuara to San Jose del Guaviare when the plane crashed.

They are members of the Huitoto people, and officials said the oldest children in the group had some knowledge of how to survive in the rainforest.

The search for the children

In hopes of finding the children, the Colombian army stepped up the hunt and flew 150 soldiers with dogs into the area.

Volunteers from Indigenous tribes also helped with the search.

Food supplies were dropped off in the jungle in the hopes it could keep the children alive.

Planes also flew over the jungle and fired flares to help search crews on the ground at night.

Rescue workers used speakers which blasted a message recorded by the siblings' grandmother, telling them to stay in one place.

As the search continued, soldiers found small clues in the jungle that led them to believe the children were still alive.

Some of the clues included a pair of footprints, a baby bottle, diapers and pieces of fruit that looked like humans had eaten them.

Mr Petro said the children were found by one of the rescue dogs that soldiers took into the jungle, but for a while, he had believed the children were rescued by one of the nomadic tribes that still roam the remote depths of the jungle.

Image: Colombia's armed forces shared a photo of a sniffer dog searching for the children

The children were alone when the rescue team found them and are now receiving medical attention in Bogota.

A video of the rescue showed a helicopter attached to lines pulling the children up.

There are currently no further details on how they survived for so long.

Image: Indigenous leaders joined soldiers as the siblings arrived in Bogota. Pic: AP

Read more from Sky News:
Four children found alive in thick jungle

What has been said following the incident?

On Friday, the military tweeted images that showed a group of soldiers and volunteers with the children.

Image: Pic: AP

"The union of our efforts made this possible," Colombia's military command wrote on its Twitter account.

Mr Petro said the children's story would "remain in history" and called them an "example of survival".

"The jungle saved them. They are children of the jungle, and now they are also children of Colombia," Mr Petro added.

People posted messages of support on social media after the 40-day-long search for the children.

"Miraculous survival story! Four children were found alive after over a month in Colombia's Amazon jungle following a #PlaneCrash. Sadly, their mother and other adults didn't survive. Grateful to the military and Indigenous community for their rescue. Prayers for the children's recovery," one user said.

Another said: "After 40 days lost in one of the most aggressive Colombian Jungles, 4 Colombian Kids and Lost Dog (Who was part of the Search Rescue) were found!...Colombia is happy now!!!"

Where are the children now?

The four siblings are now under care in a hospital in Bogota.

On Saturday (10 June), the children were visited by Mr Petro and first lady Veronica Alcocer, who gave the children gifts and spoke to the doctors after the children's ordeal.

After surviving a crash, which killed their mother, the government said the children were in an "acceptable" state of health.

In a news briefing, Iván Velásquez, the minister of defense said the children are in the process of recovering and "hydrating themselves".

"Naturally they were in a complicated situation and are not yet able to eat," he added.

General Carlos Rincon Arango, deputy medical director at the military hospital, spoke about the youngest sibling, who was 11 months old when she first disappeared but turned one in the jungle.

"The one-year-old girl is in stable condition," he said.

"She is the one who requires more attention from the nutritional point of view, but here with our interdisciplinary team and the family, we will start this process, which is not a short but a medium and long term process."

Astrid Caceres, Director Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, spoke about how the children have communicated their experiences with doctors.

"They told us about the little dog that got lost, that they don't know where it was and that it was accompanying them," she said.

"We have spoken little about their experiences, but we have talked about how they feel. They don't talk much and they are weak, although they want to play.

"When a child plays, it's wonderful. They still don't talk as much as you would like them to. Let's give them time," she added.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine has penetrated Russian lines in some areas, says UK - The Guardian

From 3h ago

The latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence said over the past 48 hours “significant” Ukrainian operations have taken place in several sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have “likely made good progress” and “penetrated the first line of Russian defences”, the MoD added. However, in other areas “Ukrainian progress has been slower”.

Meanwhile, Russian performance has been “mixed”, with some units “likely conducting credible manoeuvre defence operations while others have pulled back in some disorder, amid increased reports of Russian casualties as they withdraw through their own minefields”.

The update added: “The Russian Airforce has been unusually active over southern Ukraine, where the airspace is more permissive for Russia than in other parts of the country. However, it remains unclear whether tactical airstrikes have been effective.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that he planned to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin on the phone soon, to urge him to withdraw troops from Ukraine.

Speaking at a convention of the German Protestant church in Nuremberg, Scholz said he had spoken to Putin on the phone in the past. “I plan to do it again soon,” the chancellor added.

Here’s some more on Justin Trudeau’s visit to Ukraine.

Trudeau paid his respects at a memorial site in central Kyiv to Ukrainian soldiers who have been killed fighting pro-Russian forces since 2014, Reuters reported.

Nato member Canada, which has one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diasporas, has supplied military and financial assistance to Ukraine during the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.

Russian activists and dissidents from the Anti-War Human Rights Coalition say volunteers are reporting that 1,842 left bank residents including 338 urgent cases around Olekshy, and nearby, are being prevented from leaving by Russian authorities. They also include 148 children and 243 elderly people.

The Anti-War Human Rights Coalition has sent a letter to the US calling for diplomatic pressure to be put on Moscow to allow humanitarian relief.

The letter adds:

The Ukrainian government has appealed to the United Nations and the Red Cross, but currently did not receive any feedback.

We request you to use diplomatic means to ensure that the Russian side provides assistance to the affected residents of Oleshki, or that the Russian side stops hindering the work of the volunteers willing to help the victims.

“At the same time we would like to appeal to the Red Cross to interfere and provide humanitarian aid as it is near impossible for local volunteers to evacuate such an amount of people with the means available.

Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has arrived in Kyiv.

Footage from the BBC shows Trudeau in the capital.

A £150m fund to help Ukrainians into their own homes has been announced by the UK government.

More than 124,000 people have arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.

The new money will go to councils to help Ukrainian families into private rented accommodation and find work. It will also go towards continuing sponsorship arrangements, as many guests are in their second year in the UK.

The funding is being divided according to the number of Ukrainians in each nation – England will receive about £109m, Scotland £30m, Wales £8m and Northern Ireland £2m.

Read the full report here.

Here are some images coming to us from the wires.

The southern reach of the Dnipro River is likely to return to its banks by 16 June after the breach of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam this week, a Russian-installed official said on Saturday.

Vladimir Saldo, who heads the Russian-controlled part, said the water level at Nova Kakhovka, the town adjacent to the dam on the downstream side, had now dropped by 3 metres (10 feet) from Tuesday’s peak, Reuters reported.

“The pumping of water and garbage collection from the streets have started,” he said, adding that more than 6,000 people had been evacuated from the flooded districts of Nova Kakhovka and from Oleshky and Hola Prystan.

He said preliminary calculations by the Russian hydroelectricity producer RusHydro indicated the Dnipro would return to its usual course below the now-destroyed Kakhovka power station by 16 June.

This could not be independently verified.

Here’s more from Prof Snyder.

When asked whether he believed the counteroffensive would make good progress, he said:

Military history teaches us that these things are very, very difficult to predict, but I think a lot of it hangs on, just as it does generally in war, whether the Ukrainian advances generate political pressure in Moscow and whether that political pressure leads back towards panic in the Russian front lines.

I think in general, the Ukrainians have done better than people expect, and I would cautiously predict that they will do better than people expect this time as well.

Yale historian Prof Timothy Snyder, who has written about Ukraine and Russia, and also about tyranny and the erosion of democracy, said he did not believe the destruction of the Kakhovka dam would ultimately affect Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

I don’t think … it will have fundamental implications for the Ukrainian counteroffensive for now.

It’s diverting Ukrainian soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers are evacuating people. Ukrainian soldiers are using their drones to drop water onto roofs instead of grenades into Russian tanks.

I think that will make a difference for a few days or a few weeks, but I think there are plenty of other directions the Ukrainian counteroffensive was meant to take, and remarkably, it’s still taking those.

He added it was “remarkable” that Ukraine is able to carry out a counteroffensive and a rescue operation at the same time.

The latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence said over the past 48 hours “significant” Ukrainian operations have taken place in several sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have “likely made good progress” and “penetrated the first line of Russian defences”, the MoD added. However, in other areas “Ukrainian progress has been slower”.

Meanwhile, Russian performance has been “mixed”, with some units “likely conducting credible manoeuvre defence operations while others have pulled back in some disorder, amid increased reports of Russian casualties as they withdraw through their own minefields”.

The update added: “The Russian Airforce has been unusually active over southern Ukraine, where the airspace is more permissive for Russia than in other parts of the country. However, it remains unclear whether tactical airstrikes have been effective.”

Russia has fired missiles and attack drones at the central Ukrainian region of Poltava overnight, inflicting “some damage of infrastructure and equipment” at the Myrhorod military airfield, according to the regional governor.

The attack using ballistic and cruise missiles also damaged eight private residential homes and several vehicles, but no casualties were reported.

– Reuters

German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Investigators have fully reconstructed the two-week voyage of the “Andromeda”, a white pleasure yacht suspected of being involved in damaging the pipelines that supply Russian gas to Europe.

It was pinpointed the yacht had deviated from its target to venture into Polish waters, using data from the Andromeda’s radio and navigation equipment, satellite and mobile phones, Gmail accounts “and DNA samples left aboard, which Germany has tried to match to at least one Ukrainian soldier”.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and Poland’s Office of Chancellery of the prime minister did not immediately respond for comment.

The Washington Post reported this week that the US had learned of a Ukrainian plan to attack the pipelines three months before they were damaged by the underwater explosions. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told German media that Ukraine did not attack Nord Stream pipelines.

Here are some of the latest images from Ukraine:

A drone attack by Russian forces has killed three people and injured at least 10 more in Ukraine’s Odesa oblast region in the early hours of Saturday morning, according to Ukraine’s southern command.

Debris from the attack hit a high-rise residential building, causing a fire that has been extinguished. The blast wave also damaged surrounding residential buildings.

Emergency services said 27 people, including three children, were wounded, but the fire had been rapidly put out and 12 people were rescued from the building.

Russian forces used Iranian-made drones to attack the region, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian forces, according to reports.

The UN has helped boost Russian exports of food and fertilisers, facilitating a steady flow of ships to its ports ahead of an important grain deal deadline.

Top UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin as Moscow threatens to walk away from a deal allowing the safe export of food and fertiliser from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on 17 July if obstacles to its own shipments are not removed.

To convince Moscow to agree to the pact known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative – brokered by the UN and Turkey in July last year – a three-year agreement was struck at the same time under which UN officials agreed to help Russia with its own food and fertiliser exports.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said “the past months have shown tangible progress” on improving Russian exports, but added: “Challenges remain but we will spare no effort to overcome all remaining obstacles.”

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey said that while Moscow continues talks with the UN on the Black Sea grain deal, there are no grounds to extend it beyond 17 July.

The Wagner group has been accused of stoking “anarchy” on Russia’s frontlines after one of the Kremlin’s military commanders claimed Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries had kidnapped and tortured his soldiers during the battle for Bakhmut.

In a video posted online, Lt Col Roman Venevitin also accused Wagner soldiers of stealing arms, forcing mobilised soldiers to sign contracts with Wagner, and attempting to extort weapons from the Russian defence ministry in exchange for releasing kidnapped soldiers.

For more details, here’s the full story:

Russia and Ukraine are tussling over control of Ukraine’s counteroffensive narrative as both Moscow and Kyiv reported heavy fighting in the south-central Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian president Vladimir Putin confirmed the Ukrainian offensive had begun but said the troops “did not achieve their goals in any sector”. Ukraine’s president Voldymyr Zelenskiy did not make direct reference to developments in the battlefield but praised his soldiers’ “heroism”.

While some bloggers have described the first sightings of German and US armour signalling that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was under way, there’s virtually no independent reporting from the frontlines.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is ultimately expected to involve thousands of troops trained and equipped by the west. The US announced an extra $2.1bn in security assistance on Friday, including air defence and ammunition.

UN’s top aid official Martin Griffiths has warned Ukraine faces a “hugely worse” humanitarian situation than before after the collapse of the Kakhova dam.

This is a viral problem. The truth is this is only the beginning of seeing the consequences of this act.

Griffiths says an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and the flooding of agricultural land in one of the world’s most important breadbaskets will cause a “cascade of problems”, including lower grain exports, higher food prices around the world, and less to eat for millions in need.

Working mainly through Ukrainian aid groups, the UN has reached 30,000 people in flooded areas under Ukrainian control. Griffiths said he met with Russia’s UN ambassador for access to Russian-controlled areas in order to help flood victims.

Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, I’m Yang Tian bringing you the latest.

UN’s top aid official warns Ukraine’s humanitarian situation has been made “hugely worse” with the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.

Martin Griffiths said an “extraordinary” 700,000 people are in need of drinking water and flooding in one of the word’s critical breadbaskets could lead to lower grain exports and less food for millions in need.

More details shortly, in other key developments:

• Russian president Vladimir Putin said Ukraine had begun its counteroffensive against Russian troops but that efforts “so far have failed” after Moscow said it repelled several Ukrainian assaults. However, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy made no formal announcement of specific developments on the battlefield, but praised the “heroism” of his country’s soldiers fighting “tough battles”.

• Water levels are gradually receding in parts of southern Ukraine that were flooded after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, according to officials. Meanwhile, evidence is growing that the dam was blown up after seismic data showed there was a blast at the site in the early hours of Tuesday. Norsar, the Norwegian Seismic Array, said signals from a regional station in Romania pointed to an explosion at 2.54am. Norsar did not draw conclusions on who was responsible.

• The US said Russia appeared to be deepening its defence cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine. Citing newly declassified information, the White House said the drones were built in Iran, shipped across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.

• The Wagner group has been accused of stoking “anarchy” on Russia’s frontlines after one of the Kremlin’s military commanders claimed Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries had kidnapped and tortured his soldiers during the battle for Bakhmut. In a video posted online, Lt Col Roman Venevitin also accused Wagner soldiers of stealing arms, forcing mobilised soldiers to sign contracts with Wagner, and attempting to extort weapons from the Russian defence ministry in exchange for releasing kidnapped soldiers.

• Iceland announced it would suspend work at its embassy in Russia as of 1 August, the first country to do so, and asked Russia to limit its operations in Reykjavik. “The current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia,” foreign minister Thordis Gylfadottir said.

• Russia will start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus after the facilities are ready on 7-8 July, Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Friday in a meeting in Sochi, Russia.

• Nato allies on Friday condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE).

• Hungary said on Friday it had received a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war from Russia, a release that Ukraine welcomed while expressing concern that it had not been informed.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Joe Biden for his $2.1bn (£1.6bn) security assistance package. In a tweet, Zelenskiy said the contribution is “more important than ever” since the Kakhovka dam collapse.

• The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, told Zelenskiy on Friday that Japan will offer emergency humanitarian aid worth about $5m (£3.9m) after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a Japanese government spokesperson has said.

• Ukraine’s domestic Security Service (SBU) said on Friday it had intercepted a telephone call proving a Russian “sabotage group” blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station and dam in southern Ukraine. A one-and-a-half minute audio clip on its Telegram channel of the alleged conversation featured two unidentified men who appeared to be discussing the fallout from the disaster in Russian. One of the men said “Our saboteur group is there. They wanted to cause fear with this dam. It did not go according to the plan. More than they planned.”

• The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukrainian forces of killing civilian victims of flooding caused by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine in repeated shelling attacks, including one pregnant woman. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the purported attacks “barbaric”. Russia did not provide any evidence to back up its claims.

• Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said on Friday that Crimea’s water supply will not be affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, and the peninsula had enough water reserves for 500 days. A canal from the destroyed reservoir fed drinking water to the peninsula. Kyiv cut access to the canal in 2014, after Russia illegally seized Crimea and claimed to annex it.

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2023-06-10 10:03:36Z
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Colombia plane crash: Four children found alive in Amazon after 40 days - BBC

Reuters

By Aoife Walsh

BBC News

Four children have been found alive after surviving a plane crash and spending weeks fending for themselves in Colombia's Amazon jungle.

Colombia's president said the rescue of the siblings, aged 13, nine, four and one, was "a joy for the whole country".

The children's mother and two pilots were killed when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on 1 May.

The missing children became the focus of a huge rescue operation involving dozens of soldiers and local people.

President Gustavo Petro said finding the group was a "magical day", adding: "They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.

"These children are today the children of peace and the children of Colombia."

Mr Petro shared a photograph of several members of the military and Indigenous community caring for the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days. One of the rescuers held a bottle up to the mouth of the smallest child, while another fed one of the other children from a mug with a spoon.

A video shared by Colombia's ministry of defence showed the children being air-lifted into a helicopter in the dark above the tall trees of the jungle.

Mr Petro said the siblings were receiving medical attention - and that he had spoken to their grandfather, who told him "the mother jungle returned them".

The children have been flown to the nation's capital Bogota, where ambulances have taken them to hospital for further medical treatment.

• In pictures: Fruit and footprints led rescuers to lost children

The Cessna 206 aircraft the children and their mother had been travelling on before the crash was flying from Araracuara, in Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure.

The bodies of the three adults were found at the crash site by the army, but it appeared that the children had escaped the wreckage and wandered into the rainforest to find help.

A massive search began and in May, rescuers recovered items left behind by the children, including a child's drinking bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter.

Small footprints were also discovered, which led search teams to believe the children were still alive in the rainforest, which is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators.

The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group and members of their community hoped that their knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills would give them a better chance of remaining alive.

Indigenous people joined the search and helicopters broadcast a message from the children's grandmother, recorded in the Huitoto language, urging them to stop moving to make them easier to locate.

Colombia's president came under criticism last month when a tweet published on his account mistakenly announced that the children had been found.

He erased the tweet the next day saying that the information - which his office had been given by Colombia's child welfare agency - could not be confirmed.

Reuters

Related Topics

• Amazon rainforest
• Colombia

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2023-06-10 07:21:09Z
2120931869

Colombia plane crash: Four children found alive in Amazon after 40 days - BBC

Reuters

By Aoife Walsh

BBC News

Four children have been found alive after surviving a plane crash and spending weeks fending for themselves in Colombia's Amazon jungle.

Colombia's president said the rescue of the siblings, aged 13, nine, four and one, was "a joy for the whole country".

The children's mother and two pilots were killed when their light aircraft crashed in the jungle on 1 May.

The missing children became the focus of a huge rescue operation involving dozens of soldiers and local people.

President Gustavo Petro said finding the group was a "magical day", adding: "They were alone, they themselves achieved an example of total survival which will remain in history.

"These children are today the children of peace and the children of Colombia."

Mr Petro shared a photograph of several members of the military and Indigenous community caring for the siblings, who had been missing for 40 days. One of the rescuers held a bottle up to the mouth of the smallest child, while another fed one of the other children from a mug with a spoon.

A video shared by Colombia's ministry of defence showed the children being air-lifted into a helicopter in the dark above the tall trees of the jungle.

Mr Petro said the siblings were receiving medical attention - and that he had spoken to their grandfather, who told him "the mother jungle returned them".

The children have been flown to the nation's capital Bogota, where ambulances have taken them to hospital for further medical treatment.

• Colombian plane crash: New clues found in search for lost children
• Children reportedly survived 16 days in jungle

The Cessna 206 aircraft the children and their mother had been travelling on before the crash was flying from Araracuara, in Amazonas province, to San José del Guaviare, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure.

The bodies of the three adults were found at the crash site by the army, but it appeared that the children had escaped the wreckage and wandered into the rainforest to find help.

A massive search began and in May, rescuers recovered items left behind by the children, including a child's drinking bottle, a pair of scissors, a hair tie and a makeshift shelter.

Small footprints were also discovered, which led search teams to believe the children were still alive in the rainforest, which is home to jaguars, snakes and other predators.

The children belong to the Huitoto indigenous group and members of their community hoped that their knowledge of fruits and jungle survival skills would give them a better chance of remaining alive.

Indigenous people joined the search and helicopters broadcast a message from the children's grandmother, recorded in the Huitoto language, urging them to stop moving to make them easier to locate.

Colombia's president came under criticism last month when a tweet published on his account mistakenly announced that the children had been found.

He erased the tweet the next day saying that the information - which his office had been given by Colombia's child welfare agency - could not be confirmed.

Reuters

Related Topics

• Amazon rainforest
• Colombia

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2023-06-10 06:02:54Z
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Fox host Mark Levin screams at camera in rant over Trump's indictment - The Independent

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Fox News host Mark Levin delivered an eight-minute on-air rant after news broke of Donald Trump’s indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified papers.

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s segment on Thursday night, Mr Levin became irate as he accused the Biden administration of weaponising what he called the “Department of Injustice” to advance a criminal case against Mr Trump.

None of the key players at the centre of the Palm Beach, Florida, case against the former president escaped the vicious rant. The radio personality especially honed in his criticism against US Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who Mr Levin branded a “mob lawyer” and a “Soviet star prosecutor,” respectively.

“This is a disgusting mark in history by these bandits in the White House,” Mr Levin yelled to the camera. “Joe Biden is the crookedest crook that has ever been in the oval office... What’s going on here is a disgusting disgrace and it is a war on Trump, a war on the Republican party, and a war on the Republic”

Mr Levin went as far as claiming that Thursday, 8 January, was the “real insurrection,” not the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — which put the lives of elected officials in danger and left five people dead — all while unchallenged by Hannity.

The host of Life, Liberty & Levin, who once claimed he would “never” support Mr Trump, continued to spew more accusations against the FBI, the DoJ, and the Biden administration.

He noted he “[doesn’t] want to hear about the technicalities [in Trump’s case] and his [alleged] obstruction,” because it is a “documents” case and it should have never been criminalised.”

“For what? For what? And they indict him today? And they indict him today in Miami?” a flustered Mr Levin said. “Don’t be bamboozled by these cable channels and these fools telling you, ‘He’s not above the law,’ Are you kidding me?”

Mr Trump faces seven criminal charges, including the willful retention of national defence information, obstruction of justice and conspiracy related to his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information at Mar-a-Lago.

The scope of the evidence remains unclear as the indictment is under seal.

Mr Trump has already been indicted in New York in connection to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels.

He faces more potential indictments in Georgia and Washington, DC, a prospect that could see him facing trial in four separate jurisdictions while running to return to the highest office in America.

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2023-06-09 23:23:16Z
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