Ukraine-Russia war latest: Rubio and Witkoff meet European leaders in Paris for last ceasefire push

The previous deputy head of the Russian navy has been sentenced to seven years in a penal colony for accepting bribes price £330,000.

Vadim Shamarin, a lieutenant-general, is considered one of a string of prime officers charged in a collection of corruption scandals which have engulfed the best echelons of the Russian navy institution over the previous yr.

The prosecutions have been interpreted as signalling a drive by Vladimir Putin to clamp down on corruption, inefficiency and waste in Russia’s enormous navy price range because it wages struggle in Ukraine for a fourth yr.

Russia’s Investigative Committee stated Shamarin, 53, took bribes price 36 million roubles (£330,000) between 2019 and 2023 from a manufacturing facility within the Ural mountains that produces communications tools. In return, he elevated the dimensions of state contracts awarded to the agency. The Interfax information company stated the official had pleaded responsible.

Since 2020, Shamarin had been in command of overseeing the Russian military’s Sign Corps, which is chargeable for navy communications, together with guaranteeing confidential battlefield command alerts. The court docket stripped him of his rank and banned him from public service for seven years.

The slew of scandals – the most important to hit the Russian military in years – consists of prison circumstances in opposition to former deputy defence ministers Timur Ivanov, Pavel Popov and Dmitry Bulgakov. All served beneath Sergei Shoigu, who was defence minister till being changed in a reshuffle final yr and moved to a brand new function as secretary of Russia’s Safety Council.

UK overseas secretary David Lammy is unlikely to make any vital public-facing appearances at present as he engages in talks in Paris along with his US, French and German counterparts, Politico studies.

The outlet means that the UK delegation’s efforts at present will likely be aimed toward pushing for a “coalition of the prepared” to steer a peacekeeping pressure in Ukraine whereas making an attempt to discern the more and more Moscow-friendly administration in Washington’s subsequent strikes relating to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Russia’s defence ministry claims its forces have captured the village of Preobrazhenka in Ukraine’s jap Donetsk area, Russian state information company Tass reported.

Whereas Russia has been making grinding positive aspects for months in jap Ukraine, Moscow continuously claims to have seized settlements over which it doesn’t but have full management, whereas analysts on the US-based Institute for the Examine of Conflict famous this month that Ukrainian forces have not too long ago regained misplaced positions within the route of Pokrovsk and Toretsk – slowing Russia’s advances.

A day of talks in Paris is now beneath manner, after Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived within the French capital.

Emmanuel Macron’s overseas coverage advisor Emmanuel Bonne hugged Mr Witkoff as he arrived on the French presidency’s Elysee Palace, forward of a lunch between Mr Macron, Mr Witkoff, and Mr Rubio.

Previous to that, Mr Bonne and his British and German counterparts met Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of workers Andriy Yermak. In response to the French agenda for the day, Mr Yermak was additionally due to participate in a gathering with Mr Rubio, Mr Witkoff and the European envoys in a while Thursday.

The arrival of a Ukrainian delegation in Paris was not beforehand introduced forward of what Washington had described as deliberate talks between Mr Rubio, Mr Witkoff and French officers.

Ukraine’s prime minister Denis Shmyhal has condemned Russia’s “huge” drone assault on Dnipro, by which he stated a 17-year-old woman was among the many casualties. Officers have stated three individuals had been killed and 31 individuals injured.

The prime minister stated: “Residential buildings, a medical instructional establishment and dormitories the place college students reside have been broken. The emergency companies rapidly extinguished the hearth.”

Thanking the emergency companies for his or her work, Mr Shmyhal stated: “I’m grateful to the defenders who’re resisting russian air terror day by day and each evening. Solely sturdy strain can pressure the aggressor to make peace. We name on our companions to reply decisively to the each day shelling of Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians.”

Two individuals had been additionally killed within the close by metropolis of Nikopol in a Russian artillery assault, the regional governor stated on Thursday.

The Kremlin has claimed {that a} assembly between the US, Ukraine and European international locations in Paris is an opportunity for Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff to tell them of the present standing of talks concerning the seek for a peace settlement in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Vladimir Putin and Mr Witkoff – who has praised the Russian president as “tremendous sensible” and never “a nasty man” – had a protracted dialog final week.

“America is constant to work on this route with the Europeans and with the Ukrainians,” Mr Peskov stated, claiming that Russia to date noticed that European powers had been targeted on a continuation of the struggle which Moscow began in 2014 and intensified with its full-scale invasion in 2022.

he bustle of each day life in Ukraine’s Sumy makes it arduous to consider that its individuals have confronted a continuing menace of loss of life since Russia invaded their nation three years in the past.

Simply days in the past, Putin’s forces focused the town centre in back-to-back missile strikes, killing 35 individuals and injuring over 100. It marked the deadliest assault on Ukrainian civilians this yr.

Neighbours chatted of their residence blocks, watching kids play video games within the courtyards. Pausing to lookup, they might see the buzzing of assault drones and the acquainted sounds of Ukrainian air defences earlier than going again to their unusual routine which is rapidly changing into standard.

Sumy is just 18 miles from the border of Russia’s Kursk area, the place Ukrainian troopers proceed to carry on to the strip of territory they took in a shock offensive final summer season. Residents of the town say there was a rise in assaults in latest weeks, however none as devastating as Sunday’s airstrike which focused a busy intersection.

Samya Kullab and Yehor Konovalov report:

Moldova’s parliament has voted to carry parliamentary elections on 28 September – with 57 politicians supporting the movement and 32 abstaining.

Moldova’s president Maia Sandu – who was re-elected in November in a poll marked by allegations of Russian interference – is searching for to take her nation into the European Union and away from the affect of Moscow.

Two individuals have been killed and 5 others injured by Russian artillery hearth in opposition to the Ukrainian metropolis of Nikopol, the regional governor has stated.

Serhii Lysak stated two males – aged 56 and 61 – had been killed within the heavy artillery hearth, whereas 4 had been in hospital in a critical situation.

The assaults sparked a fireplace, and broken a store, cafe, houses and vehicles, the Dnipropetrovsk governor stated.

It comes hours after Mr Lysak stated three individuals had been killed and 31 injured in a Russian drone assault on Dnipro, some 70 miles to the north of Nikopol. Ukraine’s emergency companies stated 173 rescuers had been referred to as to help within the aftermath of the assault.

British troops have efficiently taken down a number of drones in a groundbreaking trial of a brand new directed vitality weapon, marking a big development in counter-drone know-how.

The train, performed at a testing facility in west Wales, represents the biggest counter-drone swarm operation undertaken by the British Military, in line with the Ministry of Defence.

The ministry has shared the beneath footage of the train: