Ukraine war latest: Armed ship destroyed in Crimea, Kyiv says; controversial US television host launches show in Russia (2024)

Russia's defence ministry has said it has begun a round of drills involving tactical nuclear weapons.

The exercises were announced by Russian authorities this month in response to remarks by senior Western officials about the possibility of deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

It was the first time Russia has publicly announced drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, although its strategic nuclear forces regularly hold exercises.

According to the ministry's statement, the first stage of the new drills include nuclear-capable Kinzhal and Iskander missiles.

The maneuvers are taking place in the southern military district, which consists of Russian regions in the south.

A Moscow court has ordered a Russian journalist who covered the trials of the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and other dissidents must remain in custody pending an investigation and trial on charges of extremism.

Antonina Favorskaya was arrested in March.

She is accused of collecting material, producing and editing videos and publications for Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which had been outlawed as extremist by Russian authorities, according to court officials.

Today, Moscow's Basmanny district court ordered that she remain in custody until at least 3 August.

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's spokeswoman, said earlier that Ms Favorskaya did not publish anything on the foundation's platforms and suggested that Russian authorities have targeted her because she was doing her job as a journalist.

Former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson has launched his own show in Russia.

The controversial US media personality, who this year became the first Western journalist to interview Vladimir Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine, will host his show on the state-ownedRussia 24 (Rossiya 24).

In the first episode, Carlson will discuss the dangers of ticks and Lyme disease.

Who is Carlson?

Carlson, who has been a vocal supporter of Mr Putin in the past, was sacked from Fox News in April last year.

He took up the prime-time weekday evenings spot on Fox News in 2016 with his show Tucker Carlson Tonight, and quickly established himself as a key player in the network and an influential voice in Republican politics.

The presenter often embraced conspiracy theories and far-right issues. He repeatedly questioned the efficacy of COVID vaccines and compared mandates to "Nazi experiments".

While he found success with viewers, his inflammatory comments caused some advertisers to distance themselves from the programme.

After his departure from Fox News he rebooted his show on X last year, calling Elon Musk's site the last big remaining platform to allow free speech.

Ukraine says it has destroyed the last Russian warship armed with cruise missiles that was stationed on the occupied peninsula of Crimea.

It comes after we reported earlier comments by Ukraine's military, which said they had hit the Russian missile ship Tsiklon (see post at 3.09pm).

Ukraine's military reported conducting a long-range attack that destroyed the Russian minesweeping navy vessel on Sunday and said it needed more time to confirm what else had been damaged.

"According to updated information, the Ukrainian defence forces hit a Russian project 22800 Tsiklon missile ship in Sevastopol, on the night of 19 May," the general staff said today.

The Ukrainian navy later said on X that the vessel had been "destroyed".

Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said the Tsiklon was Russia's "last cruise missile carrier" based on the peninsula.

Tsiklon never fired a cruise missile while on active service, Mr Pletenchuk said in televised comments.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 and is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters at Sevastopol.

The Russian defence ministry has not commented.

European Union countries say they have reached an agreement to use the profits from frozen Russian assets to provide military support toUkraineand help rebuild the war-torn country.

The 27-nation EU is holding around €210bn (£179bn) in Russian central bank assets, most of it frozen in Belgium, in retaliation for Moscow's war againstUkraine.

It estimates that the interest on that money could provide around €3bn (£2.56bn) each year.

Ukraineis desperate for more weapons and ammunition as Russia presses its military advantage.

EU headquarters said 90% of the money would be put into a special fund known as the European Peace Facility that many EU countries already use to get reimbursed for arms and ammunition they send toUkraine.

The other 10% would be put into the EU budget. The programmes that this money funds would help to bolsterUkraine's defence industry or to help with reconstruction, should some countries object to their share being used for military purposes.

A small group of member states, notably Hungary, refuse to supply weapons toUkraine.

Moldova has signed a security and defence partnership with the European Union, the first country to agree such a deal with the bloc.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made the announcement today.

It follows Moldova's strong condemnation of Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Led by pro-European President Maia Sandu, Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and NATO and EU member Romania, hopes to join the European Union by 2030.

"This partnership will enhance the country's resilience. It will allow (us) to jointly address common security challenges, make our engagement more effective and explore new areas of cooperation," Mr Borrell wrote on X.

Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said on the X social media platform that EU accession would be the best "mechanism to ensure peace & stability for Moldova's citizens".

"Until then, the signing of the EU-Moldova Security and Defence Partnership is a step forward, enhancing our peace, security, and prosperity," he wrote.

Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and its relations with Moscow have deteriorated during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As reported here earlier, German's foreign minister has been visiting Ukraine today.

Annalena Baerbock held talks with Volodomry Zelenskyy and spoke to Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko during an official visit to a thermal power plant that was destroyed by a Russian rocket attack in Ukraine.

Russian forces have wrought major damage with strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since invading in 2022.

Ukraine's military hit the Russian missile ship Tsiklon in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Sunday, the Ukrainian general staff has said.

No further details on the matter but we'll bring you any updates on this as we get them.

Tens of thousands of Russians who fled to Turkey after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have moved on to other countries in the past year, according to a new report.

Reuters says those who have moved have been squeezed by residency issues and soaring costs, citing data and interviews, including with nine Russian citizens.

Turkey, Russia's Black Sea neighbour - a NATO member - emerged as a magnet for Russians after the invasion in February 2022, with Istanbul and the Mediterranean resort of Antalya both among the preferred options.

Some of them had opposed the invasion, others were trying to shield themselves and their businesses from a wave of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow - including travel bans on Russians to much of Europe.

Some men feared being drafted into the army.

But this month, the number of Russians with Turkish resident permits fell to 96,000, down by more than a third from 154,000 at the end of 2022, official data shows.

Nine Russian citizens who spoke to Reuters said they and others had left partly due to struggles to get residence permits since early 2023. Many have headed to Serbia and Montenegro, among the few European countries where they are welcome.

Russians are also moving on because of soaring costs - Turkish inflation hit 70% last month - along with the difficulty doing basic banking in Turkey as a result of the sanctions.

"You can't predict your future in Turkey," said Dmitri, 46, an IT sector employee who declined to give his surname.

After Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation in September 2022 to recruit Russian men to fight in Ukraine, Dmitri left Saint Petersburg and reunited with his wife and four-year-old son in Istanbul.

But in January 2023, a text message appeared on his phone saying his residency application was rejected without explanation, he said. Dmitri left Istanbul a month later.

"I had signed a rental contract for one year but had to leave everything behind," he said.

"We moved to Montenegro because it is economically and politically more stable than Turkey."

Turkey's Presidency of Migration Management said all rejected resident-permit applications include a justification in the foreigners' own language under relevant laws, and that applicants are free to pursue legal remedies.

In an email, it said departures of Russians were not only linked to residency permits.

"Several political, economic and sociocultural factors play a role," the government agency said.

One of the various sources of growing tension between the US and Russia has been the subject of the stationing of weapons in space.

Russia vetoed a US-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution last month that called on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space - prompting Washington to suggest Moscow was hiding something.

Then yesterday, a Russian-drafted resolution that called on all countries to prevent "for all time" the placement, threat or use of any weapons in outer space failed.

The draft failed to get the minimum nine votes needed from the 15-member group, with seven voting in favour and seven against, while one abstained.

A veto can only be cast by permanent members the US, Russia, China, Britain or France if a draft gets at least nine votes.

US ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council before the vote: "We are here today because Russia seeks to distract global attention from its development of a new satellite carrying a nuclear device."

He also accused Russia of launching a satellite last Thursday into low Earth orbit that the US "assesses is likely a counterspace weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit".

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia responded: "I didn't even fully understand what he was talking about."

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty already bars signatories - including Russia and the US - from placing "in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction".

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova today claimed Washington was to blame for the world missing another opportunity to prevent an arms race in outer space.

"The results of the vote on the draft resolution on preventing an arms race in outer space and on space security that Russia submitted to the UN Security Council for examination and China co-authored causes disappointment," she said.

"The United States and its allies acted against our constructive and comprehensive initiative, despite all steps that we made to take into account their proposals (including formulations of the corresponding American-Japanese draft resolution)," the diplomat said in a commentary.

"Another opportunity to prevent an arms race in outer space has, unfortunately, been missed through the fault of the United States and its allies."