Russia-Ukraine news latest: Putin’s forces using rape as ‘military strategy’, UN says
Moment Russian missile hits pedestrian bridge in Kyiv
Moscow’s forces are using rape and sexual violence as part of their “military strategy,” a UN envoy has said.
Speaking during an interview with AFP, Pramila Patten, UN envoy, said that Moscow’s forces were using a “deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims.”
The Independent reported in June that Ukraine claimed to have documented 15,000 suspected war crimes, including rapes by ill-equipped Russian soldiers who used sexual violence to strike fear into the local population.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has said the newly mobilised men Russia recently dispatched to the front lines are expected by Kremlin leaders to be “cannon fodder”, who will survive for only a few weeks.
“Now Russia is sending thousands of its mobilised men to the front. They have no significant military training, but their command does not need it at all,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.
“But during this time, such use by Russian generals of their people as ‘cannon fodder’ makes it possible to create additional pressure on our defenders,” the president said.
Belarus says Russian troops to arrive in coming days
The Belarus defence ministry has said that Russian troops will start arriving in the country in the coming days as part of its joint force, reports Reuters.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 15:54
Clash between NATO and Russian troops would lead to ‘global catastrophe’, says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia would lead to a “global catastrophe”.
“I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps,” Mr Putin said at a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 15:33
‘We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine,’ says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there was no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine and that Russia was not aiming to destroy its neighbour.
Speaking to a news conference at the end of a summit in Kazakhstan, Mr Putin said that his call-up of Russian reservists would be over within two weeks, adding he had no plans for a further mobilisation.
He also said again that the Kremlin position that Russia was willing to hold talks, although he said that they would require international mediation if Ukraine was willing to take part.
Taken together, Mr Putin’s comments appeared to suggest a slight softening of his tone as the war nears the end of its eighth month, after weeks of Ukrainian advances and significant Russian defeats.
But he was speaking just a week when Russia has staged its heaviest missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the start of its invasion in February – an action that Mr Putin has said was retaliation for an attack that damaged a Russian bridge to occupied Crimea.
“We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine. No, of course not,” Mr Putin said.
He said there was “no need for massive strikes” now, due to the fact that most designated targets had been hit.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 14:45
Russian army using rape as a ‘deliberate’ strategy in Ukraine, claims UN envoy
Rape and sexual assaults have been used as a deliberate part of Russian “military strategy” in Ukraine, according to a UN envoy.
UN envoy Pramila Patten said that Moscow’s forces were using a “deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims”.
“When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy,” she told news agency AFP.
Russian army has used rape as a ‘deliberate’ strategy in Ukraine, claims UN envoy
UN verifies more than 100 cases of rape and sexual assualts since the Russian invasion
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 14:30
Ukraine: Boy, 11, rescued after being trapped under rubble for six hours amid Russian shelling
An 11-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a five-story building, after Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.
Regional governor Vitali Kim said the child was trapped for six hours before being rescued by emergency services on Thursday morning (13 October).
Footage shows the boy being pulled out of the rubble before he is taken to hospital in an ambulance.
Boy, 11, rescued after being trapped under rubble for six hours amid Russian shelling
An 11-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a five-story building, after Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. Regional governor Vitali Kim said the child was trapped for six hours before being rescued by emergency services on Thursday morning (13 October). Footage shows the boy being pulled out of the rubble before he is taken to hospital in an ambulance. Early morning attacks on Ukraine’s southern front have become a daily occurrence in Russia’s war, as Kyiv’s forces continue to push a counter-offensive. Click here to sign up for our newsletters.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 14:10
‘No waiting’: Turkey, Russia to act on Putin’s gas hub offer
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical work on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.
Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.
‘No waiting’: Turkey, Russia to act on Putin’s gas hub offer
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical studies on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 13:40
Read our report from June – 100 days of Ukraine invasion: How Russian soldiers weaponised rape in war with Kyiv
When Natalia* was escaping the drunk Russian soldiers who had raped her for several hours, she clutched her four-year-old son’s hands and walked past her husband’s corpse in the pitch-black night.
She told her son they had to run very fast because just hours earlier, the Russian soldiers — who terrorised her and shot her husband down in the family’s yard before raping her — had threatened to show the toddler “her scattered brains” if she did not undress.
The invasion had entered its fourth day when this happened in Kyiv.
100 days of Ukraine invasion: How Russian soldiers weaponised rape in war
Ukraine has documented more than 15,000 suspected war crimes, including rapes by ill-equipped Russian soldiers who use sexual violence to instil fear among the local population
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 13:10
Rape used in Ukraine as part of Russian ‘military strategy’: UN envoy
Rape and sexual assaults have been used as part of Russian “military strategy,” said a UN envoy.
UN envoy Pramila Patten said that Moscow’s forces were using a “deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims.”
Speaking with AFP in an interview, she said: “When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy.”
According to Ms Patten, the UN has verified over one hundred cases of rape and sexual assaults in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 12:41
Russian man suspected of flying drones near Norwegian oil and gas platforms arrested
A Russian man has been detained in Norway, suspected of flying unmanned drones in the country.
The fifty-year-old was found with two drones, following a number of drone sightings near to Norwegian offshore oil and gas platforms in recent weeks.
The Russian citizen was detained on Tuesday but has not been identified.
Russian man suspected of flying drones near Norwegian oil and gas platforms arrested
The drones were found during checks at a border crossing point
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 12:35
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant working to Russian standards, says Russian official
A Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine said on Friday that the town’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has begun working according to Russian standards, state-owned news agency TASS reported.
Russia declared Zaporizhzhia region a part of its territory last month in a move rejected by Kyiv and unrecognised internationally.
Eleanor Sly14 October 2022 12:05