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A pro-Russian separatist, known to be a close associate of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, was the alleged target of an explosion in Moscow
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A senior eastern Ukrainian separatist who had organised combat units to fight against his own country has reportedly been killed following an explosion in northwest Moscow.
At least five people were wounded or killed after what has been reported as a bomb detonated at the Alye Parusa residential complex in the capital.
Russian state media site Tass claimed Armen Sarkisyan, 46, a senior pro-Russian paramilitary from east Ukraine‘s Donetsk region, died in hospital after being seriously injured in the explosion. They claimed the explosion had been an “assassination” attempt. One of Mr Sarkisyan’s bodyguards was killed immediately by the blast.
Mr Sarkisyan is a close associate of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted after the Euromaidan revolution in 2014. Ukraine’s security services, the SBU, says Mr Sarkisyan has been on their international wanted list since then for organising murders in central Kyiv.
After the full-scale invasion in 2022, Mr Sarkisyan also reportedly organised the “Arbat” Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion to fight against Ukraine.
It comes as Ukraine struck energy facilities in southern Russia with dozens of drones, triggering fires at a major oil refinery and gas processing plant and disrupting flights from the Volga to the Caucasus Mountains, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
James Wilton, aged 18, was cremated in Ukraine after his death last July
Ukraine’s army chief condemned on Monday a spate of violent attacks on draft officers, rallying in defence of a national call-up effort that has fuelled anger among some Ukrainians and struggled to generate sufficient frontline manpower.
The incidents, including the fatal shooting of a draft officer and explosions at two draft offices in three days, pile pressure on an already-troubled national campaign to draft civilians despite faltering enthusiasm for service.
The setback comes as Ukraine is trying to project strength ahead of a potential negotiating process, with US president Donald Trump pushing for a swift end to the war, while Russian troops continue to capture more territory in the east.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who has complained of manpower shortages at the front, denounced what he said were “shameful acts of violence”, demanding investigations and punishment for incidents that killed two people and wounded seven more.
“The common goal of defending Ukraine is impossible without the entire nation’s support of the army and respect for military personnel,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The police arrested two suspects after the draft officer was shot dead on Friday at a petrol station in the central region of Poltava.
Prosecutors said one of the suspects had shot the officer, allowing a second man who had been mobilised and was in the officer’s charge to escape.
The next day an explosion inside a draft office in the northwestern city of Rivne killed one person and wounded six others, military officials said, without providing details. On Sunday, another explosion wounded one person at a draft office in Pavlohrad, authorities said.
There have been reports of 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August 2024
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the policies of US president Donald Trump were pushing Europe to take more responsibility for its own physical and economic security.
Macron made the comments as he arrived at a gathering of European Union leaders in Brussels to discuss relations with the United States and bolstering Europe’s military defences.
The start of the summit was overshadowed by Trump declaring at the weekend that he will soon impose tariffs on imports from the EU, having just ordered similar measures on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.
Arriving leaders warned Trump against starting a trade war and said the EU would retaliate if he did so.
Macron said Trump’s policies were one of several factors pushing the EU to become less dependent on others.
“The COVID epidemic and the Russian aggression in Ukraine were moments of awakening,” Macron told reporters.
“What’s happening at this very moment today in Ukraine, what’s happening also now with the choices, the declarations of the new American administration of President Trump pushes the Europeans to be more united, more active to respond on subjects of their collective security,” he said.
This meant boosting Europe’s defence industry and buying more European arms, Macron said.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday that an increase in number of Ukrainian prisoners of war executed by Russian forces requires an urgent international response.
A UN body reported on Monday that it had recorded an “alarming rise” in reported executions in recent months.
“The world must not only condemn, but also take urgent action. We need new and effective international legal tools, and concrete steps to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Sybiha said on X.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission has recorded an “alarming rise” in reported executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by the Russian armed forces during the war in recent months, it said on Monday.
The mission in Ukraine said it had received reports of 79 executions in 24 separate incidents since the end of August last year. International humanitarian law prohibits the execution of prisoners of war and the wounded, and regards it as a war crime.
“Many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered or were in physical custody of the Russian armed forces were shot dead on the spot. Witness accounts also described the killings of unarmed and injured Ukrainian soldiers,” the mission said in a statement.
The UN body obtained and analysed video and photographic material published by Ukrainian and Russian sources showing executions or dead bodies and conducted detailed interviews with witnesses.
It said the reported executions took place in areas where Russian offensive operations were underway.
Danielle Bell, head of the mission, said some Russian officials “have explicitly called for inhumane treatment, and even execution” of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The mission said it also documented the execution of a wounded and incapacitated Russian soldier by the Ukrainian armed forces in 2024, but gave no details.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office earlier said it was investigating dozens of cases of executions of Ukrainian military personnel by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s military has confirmed it hit a Russian oil refinery in the Volgograd region and a gas processing plant in the Astrakhan region overnight, adding that both facilities contributed fuel to Moscow’s army.
The refinery’s primary processing facilities were damaged, the general staff said on Telegram, and the gas plant caught fire leading to the suspension of operations.
Moscow sent 55 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday
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Nearly 100 Russian drones intended to hit targets in Ukraine accidentally crossed into Belarusian airspace, an independent monitor has reported.
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