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Ukraine-Russia war LIVE – Putin's bloodthirsty Wagner Group death squads spotted for 1st time storming homes in Donbas
WAGNER Group mercenaries have been filmed, for the first time, fighting in Ukraine as Russian troops storm houses in the bloody battle for control of Donbas.
The drone footage captures Russian troops within the town of Popansa, in Ukraine's east.
The group are involved in intense street fighting with Ukrainian defenders.
The footage captures the moment that the death squads are storming a house and throwing grenades before forcing people to surrender.
The soldiers are mercenaries from the Wagner Group, according to pro-Russian sources.
They are a shadowy military contractor with links to the Kremlin which is thought to be responsible for atrocities in conflicts from South America to the Middle East.
The footage first appeared in a Telegram channel of 'Colonel Cassad' – a pro-Russian blogger named Boris Rozhin.
It was re-posed by Rob Lee, a respected analyst from the War Studies department of King's College, who repeated Rozhin's claim that the troops are from Wagner.
Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…
- Louis Allwood
Fresh attacks
VLADIMIR Putin launched fresh attacks over night in Lviv striking multiple power stations in the city causing huge devastation.
Russia resumed their shelling, striking power stations in the city of Lviv which is seen as relatively safe.
Six railway stations were also struck and blackouts were caused in the western city, the mayor said.
Russia also launched a bid to storm the wrecked Azovstal steel plant yesterday as 400 civilians remained trapped in “hell” in bunkers and tunnels below the bomb-blitzed site.
The devastated Mariupol factory faced airstrikes and bombardment by tanks and naval guns as attempts were made to land infantry by boat after a ceasefire to evacuate the trapped collapsed.
- Louis Allwood
Russian Defence Minister sends warning to Nato
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has just issued a stern warning to Nato.
He says, as quoted by Russian state media: "We will view any Nato means of transport arriving on the territory of the country carrying weapons or equipment for the Ukrainian military as a legitimate target for destruction."
He accuses Nato and its allies of continuing to "pump Ukraine full of weapons".
- Louis Allwood
WARNING – Horrifying picture shows bodies of Russian soldiers laid out in Z shape
A disturbing picture shows bodies of slaughtered Russian soldiers laid out in a Z shape as brave Ukrainian forces drive Vladimir Putin’s troops out of Kharkiv.
Streets and fields surrounding the city are reportedly littered with bodies, with journalists describing the outskirts as an “open-air morgue”.
Kharkiv has suffered constant bombardment since the war began late in February – with many of the city’s one million terrified residents fleeing to safety.
As Ukrainian and Russian fighters battle for control of slithers of land around the country’s second-biggest city, grisly images have emerged.
One horrifying image appears to show four dead soldiers arranged in a Z shape – the symbol of Russia’s bloody invasion – in a village retaken by Ukrainian forces on Kharkiv’s outskirts.
According to Associated Press journalists, the dead soldiers were wearing white armbands commonly used by Russian fighters, while Russian medical kits were seen close to the bodies.
- Louis Allwood
Abramovich’s staff forced to buy their own toilet paper
Sanctioned billionaire Roman Abramovich’s security guards now have to buy their own loo roll.
Free bread, milk, tea and coffee perks have also been axed as Chelsea FC’s owner struggles to pay the bills.
Cuts came after the Russian oligarch’s ex-wife had to step in pay Team Fusion’s invoices.
The company manages security in Britain for Abramovich, 55, for around £400,000 a month.
But Irina Malandina, who has five kids with her ex-hubby, is cutting back on “unnecessary financing” after he had assets frozen by the Government over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Security staff accommodation in Chelsea, West London, is being reduced from three flats to one and the 25-strong team slashed.
They must also pay for their own wifi and TV subscriptions.
Horses owned by the family at their £20million Fyning Hill mansion in West Sussex are also being sold and classic cars including a £1.2million Mercedes Gullwing put in storage.
- Louis Allwood
Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund
PICTURES of women and children fleeing the horror of Ukraine’s devastated towns and cities have moved Sun readers to tears.
Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine Fund.
Give as little as £3 or as much as you can afford and every penny will be donated to the Red Cross on the ground helping women, children, the old, the infirm and the wounded.
Donate here to help The Sun’s fund
Or text to 70141 from UK mobiles
£3 — text SUN£3
£5 — text SUN£5
£10 — text SUN£10Texts cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile
- Louis Allwood
Russian official makes oil claims following proposed sanctions
A Russian official predicts Europe will continue buying Russian oil via third countries once EU countries introduce an embargo.
Speaking to Speaking the state-run RIA Novosti news agency senior MP Vladimir Dzhabarov, said: "They say we won’t buy oil from us. Well, don’t buy it, we don’t push it to you.
"You will still buy it, only through third countries. Our oil is the same, only more expensive."
- Louis Allwood
Chilling sign Russia is preparing to spark nuclear World War Three
Putin has also been spotted several times around what appears to be Russia’s secret nuclear briefcase.
Last month, he arrived at the Vostochny Cosmodrome via helicopter to visit a space port with Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin arrived on the scene accompanied by his top military henchman who were seen carrying the alleged launch device – just days after it was snapped at a state funeral.
The secret case is thought to contain the launch apparatus for the Kremlin's strategic missiles and its presence at the funeral is seen as a chilling threat to the world.
The bag, which has a personalised key code, is normally under 24/7 supervision and completely controls Moscow's nuclear arsenal.
It is reportedly supervised by an armed security officer who accompanies no-nonsense Putin wherever he travels.
The briefcase, called Cheget in Russian, was developed in the early 1980s and was shown to the world for first time in 2019, with its contents being viewed up close on TV.
According to local media, there are actually not just one but three in total.
Its visible presence in recent weeks is thought to be a chilling sign that the crazed Russian leader could deploy devastating nuclear weapons at any time.
- Louis Allwood
Hungary and Slovakia have until 2023
Reuters have reported that the EU have said that Hungary and Slovakia will be able to continue buying Russian crude oil until the end of 2023 under existing contracts.
Both countries would be able to benefit from an embargo on Russian oil.
The EU has been outlining plans this morning to ban imports of Russian crude oil within six months.
- Louis Allwood
No10 killed plans to hike defence spending after Putin’s Ukraine invasion
BORIS Johnson’s chief of staff stepped in to kill a defence spending hike in the first weeks of the Ukraine war, The Sun can reveal.
MP and No10 chief Steve Barclay squashed attempts by the Defence Secretary to discuss increasing Armed Forces spending with the Chancellor ahead of March’s mini-Budget.
As we revealed on Monday, Ben Wallace wrote to Rishi Sunak on March 11 warning Britain risked missing sacred NATO spending commitments because of inflation in a desperate plea for more cash.
But the doomsday letter sent just days after Russia invaded Ukraine was ignored.
Now a Whitehall blame game has broken out over who gave the order to bin the warning.
Defence officials pointed the finger at the Treasury for pushing them to withdraw the demand for more cash – but Treasury officials say it was PM’s powerful right-hand-man put his foot down.
One said: “It was No10 that ordered the row to cease and put the kibosh on any more money, not the Treasury.”
But a senior Whitehall source insisted: "Steve was concerned about the process rather than the content of the letter and is working with both departments on this matter."
- Louis Allwood
Evacuations from Mariupol
The regional governor of Mariupol has said more civilians are leaving the city today.
Pavlo Kyrylenko said the effort had been supported by the United Nations and Red Cross.
Kyrylenko said civilians were being evacuated to Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia from the "Azov region".
- Louis Allwood
EU new sanctions
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has given details of a sixth package of sanctions.
These following sanctions will be agreed in the coming days.
Firstly, high-ranking Russian military officers who committed war crimes in Bucha and Mariupol were to be targeted.
Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, is to be disconnected from the SWIFT bank transfer system.
Three big state-owned Russian broadcasters are to be cut off from the EU on cable, satellite or the internet.
Finally all Russian oil will be phased out, but in an orderly fashion she said.
- Louis Allwood
Chilling sign Russia is preparing to spark nuclear World War Three
One of Putin’s special so-called Doomsday planes for use in the event of a nuclear war with the West has been seen flying around Moscow in recent days.
A chilling video showed the Ilyushin Il-80 passing low over the outskirts of the capital.
The windowless Il-80 is one of four planes designed to act as a flying Kremlin in the sky in the event of a nuclear attack.
Putin would be able to rule Russia and issue commands to his military – including ordering nuke strikes – from the airborne command post.
- Louis Allwood
EU to propose new Russia sanctions
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is due to address the European Parliament in the next few minutes.
The parliament will hear new proposals for a sixth round of sanctions on Russia.
The highlight of the proposals is expected to be a phased embargo on imports of Russian oil.
According to reports the EU's 27 member states could be given six months to wean themselves off Russian crude oil.
- Louis Allwood
Russia launch bid to storm wrecked Azovstal steel plant
Russia launched a bid to storm the wrecked Azovstal steel plant yesterday as 400 civilians remained trapped.
The devastated Mariupol factory faced airstrikes and bombardment by tanks and naval guns as attempts were made to land infantry by boat after a ceasefire to evacuate the trapped collapsed.
Most of 50 rescue buses departed empty leaving those remaining in the only corner of the besieged port city free of Russian occupation wondering if they would ever make it out alive.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that only 101 civilians managed to escape before the shelling resumed.
Most arrived yesterday at a refugee centre in Zaporizhzhia.
- Louis Allwood
Brittney Griner’s worst-case scenario revealed
Fears over WNBA star Brittney Griner's conditions in a Russian jail are escalating as the US continues to push for her release.
The Phoenix Mercury All-Star center has been jailed in Russia since February on alleged drug smuggling charges – an imprisonment the Biden administration has determined to be unlawful.
Russian state media outlet TASS previously reported that Griner's only grievance in Russian captivity is that the beds are too small for her 6-foot-9 frame, claiming the WNBA star had "no complaints about the conditions of detention."
However, Esquire Digital Chief Legal Analyst Aron Soloman told The US Sun the star's scenario could be far worse than reported.
"The literal worst-case scenario here is that she is physically harmed, intentionally or not," Soloman said.
"How safe can it be for her to be in a Moscow jail?"
- Louis Allwood
UK Ministry of Defence update
The UK Defence Ministry's morning briefing explains that Russia has deployed 22 battalion groups near Izyum in a bid to push into the Donbas region.
The ministry said: "Russia has deployed 22 battalion tactical groups near Izium in its attempt to advance along the northern axis of the Donbas.
"Despite struggling to break through Ukrainian defences and build momentum, Russia highly likely intends to proceed beyond Izyum to capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk.
"Capturing these locations would consolidate Russian military control of the north-eastern Donbas and provide a staging point for their efforts to cut-off Ukrainian forces in the region."
- Louis Allwood
Boris Johnson gets standing ovation
Ukrainian MPs gave Boris Johnson a standing ovation today after he raised the roof with a Churchillian address to their Parliament.
The PM hailed the fightback against Putin's forces as Ukraine's "finest hour" – and said they were locked in a war of "good versus evil".
Politicians in Kyiv flew British flags in the Verkhovna Rada as Mr Johnson spoke via video link from Downing Street.
Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko tweeted: "I have never seen this many standing ovations for a single speech. Ukraine is certainly lucky to have a friend like the UK."
In his speech to his Ukrainian "brothers and sisters" Mr Johnson positioned Britain as their country's most steadfast ally.
- Louis Allwood
Putin has taken "full control"
VLADIMIR Putin has taken "full control" of the Ukraine invasion after making "impossible demands" of his generals, it's been reported.
According to claims, the Russian leader left his officers in "shock" by changing his strategy once again after focusing on the annexing of Eastern Ukraine.
Thwarted in his bid to seize Kyiv, the capital, Putin has shifted his focus to the Donbas, Ukraine's industrial heartland, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.
Russia said it struck dozens of military targets in the region, including concentrations of troops and weapons and an ammunition depot near Chervone in the Zaporizhzhia region, west of the Donbas.
According to Express.co.uk, a senior EU source told Eurasia Group CEO Mujtaba Rahman that Putin had "now taken day-to day-control of the conflict".
He claimed the despot was also now focusing on the central city of Kryvvi Rih – the homeland of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – as a new target, with Russian forces thought to be just 50km away.
A social media commentator, known as UOI, wrote: "Putin is demanding that General Dvornikov take Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky's homeland, by May 9. We are told from communication interceptions that Russian officers are simply in shock.
"They have losses of 400 soldiers a day killed and wounded, and their equipment keeps breaking down."
- Louis Allwood
Has Vladimir Putin had surgery?
Political analyst Valery Solovei claimed that in February 2020, the Russian President underwent emergency surgery for possible abdominal cancer.
Solovei, who says he has sources close to the Kremlin, said of Putin's illnesses: “One is of psycho-neurological nature, the other is a cancer problem.
“If anyone is interested in the exact diagnosis, I'm not a doctor, and I have no ethical right to reveal these problems.
”The second diagnosis is a lot, lot more dangerous than the first named diagnosis as Parkinson’s does not threaten physical state, but just limits public appearances.
“But there is a fatal diagnosis.
“Based on this information people will be able to make a conclusion about his life horizon, which wouldn’t even require specialist medical education.”
The Kremlin issued a firm denial of any issues with the President's health at the time that The Sun revealed he may be suffering from Parkinsons.
- Louis Allwood
Putin and Macron speak on phone
Yesterday the presidents of France and Russia took part in a phone call.
Russian state media have reported that the Kremlin has said that Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart that the West is "ignoring Ukrainian war crimes".
The Kremlin also said that the West must stop supplying arms to Ukraine.
Putin has previously made unfounded claims that Ukraine is committing war crimes.
Russian forces have been accused of carrying out atrocities, including at Bucha.
- Louis Allwood
Moment Ukrainian drone sinks two Russian gunboats after ‘direct hit’
This is the extraordinary moment Ukraine blitzed TWO Russian Navy boats in a deadly drone attack – sending Putin's butchers sinking to a watery grave.
Astonishing footage shows what is understood to be Turkish made Bayraktar TB2 drones unleashing hell on two fast-attack boats in the Black Sea.
The infrared video – released by the Ukrainian armed forces – shows one of the Raptor-class craft floating off the coast of the war ravaged country.
But moments later, it is pounded in a direct strike from the sky, sending an enormous fireball into the air as it's blown to smithereens
While another clip appears to show a boat accelerating shortly before it's annihilated in a direct strike – obliterating the entire vessel in a hellish inferno.
- Louis Allwood
Pictured: Boris Johnson addresses Ukraine parliament from Downing Street
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claps during a session of a parliament.
The picture below shows Boris Johnson addressing Ukrainian lawmakers via videolink, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv.
It comes after the PM recently met the Ukrainian PM in person during a visit to Kyiv.
- Louis Allwood
India's PM calls for ceasefire
Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine and is urging Kyiv and Moscow to engage in peace talks.
The PM is currently visiting Copenhagen to meet his Danish counterpart.
He says India wants "an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the adoption of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the problem".
- Louis Allwood
PM says threats against British diplomats in Ukraine 'beyond the pale'
The Prime Minister this morning told Good Morning Britain that any threat or attack on British diplomats in Ukraine is "totally beyond the pale" and there is "no justification for it".
He said the UK has "led the world in helping the Ukrainians to protect themselves against wanton aggression, barbaric aggression".
He later added that the UK has also "marshalled the world in delivering a very tough package of economic sanctions".
- Louis Allwood
Putin signs decree on retaliatory sanctions against West
Russian Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on retaliatory economic sanctions in response to the "unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organisations", the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
According to the decree, Russia will forbid the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that it has sanctioned.
The decree also prohibits transactions with foreign individuals and companies hit by Russia's retaliatory sanctions and permits Russian counterparties not to fulfill obligations towards them.
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