RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin appeared dazed as he spluttered and retched in meeting amid chemotherapy rumours.
Putin's health rumours have further intensified as now it is claimed that the tyrant is currently undergoing chemo treatment.
The 69-year-old looked dazed and bloated as he sat across from defence giant Sergey Chemezov.
The clip, broadcast on Russian state TV, shows the leader with his chin resting on his chest and his hands gripping the table during the talks with his former KGB pal.
At several points in the video, Putin is seen retching and seems unable to speak properly, the Mirror UK reports.
Despite this, the Kremlin has publicly stated that Putin is fit and well, and has denied any claims of ill health.
Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…
- Milica Cosic
Putin ally boasts to kids Russia’s Satan-2 nuke can destroy ‘half the US'
RUSSIA'S terrifying Satan-2 nuke can demolish "half of the US coast", an ally of Vladimir Putin has bragged to kids in a chilling warning to the West.
The world-ending RS-28 Sarmat missile can blast targets at almost 16,000mph, carry 15 warheads, and has the potential to obliterate an area the size of Texas in a single strike.
In the latest of a series of threats to unleash atomic weapons on the West, Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, has boasted to schoolchildren the missile will "take up combat duty" this year.
He showed videos of multiple Russian strategic rockets at a “federal educational marathon” called New Horizons before outlining the capability of the big beast intercontinental ballistic missile Satan-2.
Rogozin crowed to the youngsters: "Here you see the test launches of our missiles. The smallest are shown on Red Square parades.
“The largest will not fit on Red Square, as they are too big.
"Now you can see (on video) Topol, Yars, submarine missile Bulava and finally Sarmat.
"Such a missile [Sarmat] can demolish half of the coast of some large continent, which we may not like due to its aggressive policy."
- Milica Cosic
Canada imposes additional sanctions on Russian oligarchs
Canada today announced it was imposing additional sanctions on Russian oligarchs – and banning the import and export of targeted luxury goods from Russia in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The new measures would put restrictions on 14 individuals including Russian oligarchs, their family members, and close associates of Vladimir Putin, according to an official statement.
The import ban would target Russian goods including alcoholic beverages, seafood, and non-industrial diamonds, while the export ban would target luxury goods such as footwear, luxury clothing and jewelry.
- Milica Cosic
Azovstal commander says military leaders ordered 'preservation of life'
The commander of Ukraine's Azov regiment has said military leaders had ordered the "preservation of life" and the "health of the garrison soldiers" amid fighting in the besieged city.
In a video message, Denis Prokopenko, whose soldiers have been holding out against Russian forces in the key southern port city, said the regiment had "constantly emphasised the three most important conditions, namely, civilians, wounded, and dead".
According to a translation by AP, he said: "The top military leadership ordered the preservation of the life and health of the garrison soldiers and the cessation of the city's defences.
"Despite heavy fighting, circular defence, and a lack of supplies, we constantly emphasised the three most important conditions, namely, civilians, wounded, and dead.
"As a result, civilians were evacuated, the seriously injured received the necessary assistance, and they were evacuated with further exchange and transfer to the territory controlled by Ukraine.
"As for the fallen heroes, the process continues, but I hope that their families and the whole of Ukraine will be able to bury their soldiers with honour in the near future."
- Milica Cosic
Police officers welcome Ukrainian children by handing out teddy bears
Police officers in Kent have welcomed Ukrainian children by handing out hand- knitted teddy bears.
The soft toys were made by volunteers.
The bears are usually given to children who visit police stations having been traumatised as victims of crime, or as a result of witnessing an upsetting incident.
Acting Chief Inspector Lizzie Jones, District Commander for Tonbridge, said: "The war in Ukraine has torn families apart and been traumatic for millions of people who have witnessed horrendous acts of aggression and suffered unimaginable loss."
She added: "We hope they were of some small comfort to the Ukrainian children we met, and that they can now start to rebuild their lives away from the horrors of war".
- Milica Cosic
Putin warns of "cyber-aggression" against Russia
President Vladimir Putin has today said that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased and that Moscow would need to bolster its cyber defences by cutting the risk of using foreign software and hardware.
"Purposeful attempts are being made to disable the Internet resources of Russia's critical information infrastructure", Putin said.
- Milica Cosic
Good afternoon, Milica Cosic with you today. I'll be with you until 10pm this evening.
- Joseph Gamp
Russia to cut Finnish gas supplies this weekend
Russian supplies of natural gas to Finland will be cut on Saturday morning, Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum said today.
It comes after the Nordic country refused to pay supplier Gazprom in rubles.
"It is highly regrettable that natural gas supplies under our supply contract will now be halted.
"However, we have been carefully preparing for this situation" and "there will be no disruptions in the gas transmission network," Gasum CEO Mika Wiljanen said in a statement.
- Joseph Gamp
Zelenskyy: Donbas has been turned into 'hell'
The renewed Russian offensive in Donbas has turned the eastern Ukrainian region into "hell", President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
"In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure," Zelenskyy says in his nightly address.
"There's hell, and that's not an exaggeration."
Moscow's forces are trying to take complete control of Donbas, a Russian-speaking area that has been partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Kremlin separatists.
- Joseph Gamp
Canadian public broadcaster CBC has Russian office closed
Russia is closing the Moscow bureau of Canadian public broadcaster CBC.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said Russia has also withdrew the accreditation of its journalists in Russia.
She says this is a response to “measures taken in practice in relation to Russian media, their transmission and broadcasts in Canada”.
- Joseph Gamp
Go, Vlad Lad! Putin’s maniacal war has resurrected Nato
This is a comment piece by Rod Liddle
You’ve got to hand it to Vladimir Putin – very few politicians can bring the dead back to life.
But this idiot has just about managed it, with Nato.
Four months ago, this defensive alliance was on life support. It was seen as being a creature of the past, of no relevance any more.
The European Left have always hated it, for a start.
But even centrist politicians in Paris and Berlin were beginning to question its effectiveness.
Some resented being under the effective military control of Washington DC.
They thought a European army allied to the European Union might be a better bet.
Ha! Can you imagine that?
If war broke out, they’d spend the next two years passing resolutions.
Arguing among themselves about health-and-safety implications.
Debating what to do over large bottles of claret.
- Joseph Gamp
Russia to create new military bases in the west of country to respond to NATO expansion
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that Moscow would create new military bases in western Russia in response to the expansion of NATO.
"By the end of the year, 12 military units and divisions will be established in the Western Military District," Shoigu said at a meeting in televised remarks.
The army expects to receive more than two thousand units of military equipment and weapons, Shoigu added.
- Joseph Gamp
Russia claims it's 'nearing' full control of Lugansk region
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that Moscow was nearing full control of the separatist region of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.
"The liberation of the Lugansk People's Republic is nearing completion," Shoigu said at a meeting in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
He also said that 1,908 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol, which is under Moscow's control.
- Joseph Gamp
Pro-Russian hackers attack Italian government websites, say police
Pro-Russian hackers have attacked the websites of several Italian institutions and government ministries, the police said on Friday.
At 0800 GMT it was still not possible to access the websites of the Italian foreign ministry and its national magistrates association.
The attack was launched at around 2000 GMT on Thursday by the hacker group "Killnet," Italian cyber-security group Yarix said in a statement.
A similar attack took place on May 11, and last weekend police said they had thwarted a cyber-assault on the latter stages of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin which ended on Saturday with the victory of Ukraine's entry.
The police attributed both attacks to the Killnet group and its affiliate Legion.
- Joseph Gamp
Putin faces nightmare scenario
VLADIMIR Putin faces a nightmare scenario after Finland & Sweden formally applied to join Nato, which could see its forces expand by a million troops.
Finland and Sweden submitted their highly anticipated bids to join NATO, sealing their decision to jettison decades of military non-alignment, despite threats of reprisals from Moscow.
“The applications you have made today are a historic step,” chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
“Allies will now consider the next steps on your path to NATO,”
The membership push could represent the most significant expansion of NATO in decades, doubling its border with Russia – with Putin warning it may trigger a response from Moscow.
But the applications face resistance from NATO member Turkey, which has threatened to block their membership over accusations the Nordic neighbours act as safe havens for armed groups opposed to Ankara.
Stoltenberg added: “The security interests of all allies have to be taken into account and we are determined to work through all issues and reach rapid conclusions.”
- Joseph Gamp
Football legend Andriy Shevchenko becomes ambassador for Ukraine charity
Former Ukraine, Chelsea and AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko has a new goal – to help raise funds for rebuilding his country following Russia’s invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Shevchenko, whom he met in Kyiv on Wednesday, had been appointed the first ambassador of UNITED24, a fundraising initiative to collect donations for the “restoration and development” of Ukraine.
“Andriy, with his work and sporting achievements, gained great confidence on the international stage,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“And now he has a new mission to tell the world about the events in Ukraine and direct his authority to increase international assistance to our state. I am sure that is all for you it will work!”
Shevchenko, now 45, is widely regarded as his country's greatest ever player. He played for Ukraine 111 times, scoring 48 goals, and represented Dynamo Kyiv before playing abroad. He was coach of the national team for five years until last August.
- Joseph Gamp
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
Finland, Sweden 'meet every Nato requirement'
Sweden and Finland have made moves to join NATO in recent days with many powerful leaders having their say.
US president Joe Biden says the two countries have strong democratic institutions and strong militaries.
"They meet every Nato requirement and then some," he says.
The US president, who has been meeting Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö to discuss their applications to join, calls today "a momentous day, a very good day".
- Louis Allwood
Mariupol siege heroes to be tortured and executed by ruthless Russians, it is feared
Fears are mounting that busloads of heroes from the Mariupol steelworks siege are to be executed or tortured.
Nearly 1,000 exhausted and wounded Ukrainian servicemen and women were believed to be heading for a hellhole penal colony at Russian-held Olenvika in the east of the country.
UN and Red Cross officials who helped to broker the end of the 82-day siege were last night battling to force the Russians not to renege on their prisoner-swap promise.
Sources described Olenvika as a “21st century concentration camp” where the wives of soldiers and former government workers have been starved and tortured.
Other Mariupol fighters face being sent to the even worse Izolyatsia Prison in Donetsk.
Teams of Russia’s dreaded FSB torturers were feared to be preparing to greet their Ukrainian enemies there with mock executions and sexual violence.
Russian-backed rebel forces said 962 Ukrainian soldiers have now been taken out of the plant.
But Vladimir Putin's cronies in the Russian parliament and his brutal Chechen warlord allies yesterday called for “Nazi” member of the Azov group to face the death penalty at war crimes trials.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Russian parliament, raged: “Nazi criminals should not be exchanged. They are war criminals and we must do everything to bring them to justice.”
- Louis Allwood
Go, Vlad Lad! Putin’s maniacal war has resurrected Nato
This is a comment piece by Rod Liddle
Meanwhile, only the UK and the Baltic states were paying their fair whack towards Nato, much to the fury of the Americans.
It really felt as if the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, founded more than 70 years ago, was on its last legs.
But now look. In three short months, Putin has resurrected it.
Western European countries are at last pledging to pour more money into defence.
Meanwhile, both Finland and Sweden have announced they want to join, which would have been unimaginable only six months ago.
- Louis Allwood
Go, Vlad Lad! Putin’s maniacal war has resurrected Nato
This is a comment piece by Rod Liddle
You've got to hand it to Vladimir Putin – very few politicians can bring the dead back to life.
But this idiot has just about managed it, with Nato.
Four months ago, this defensive alliance was on life support. It was seen as being a creature of the past, of no relevance any more.
The European Left have always hated it, for a start.
But even centrist politicians in Paris and Berlin were beginning to question its effectiveness.
Some resented being under the effective military control of Washington DC.
They thought a European army allied to the European Union might be a better bet.
Ha! Can you imagine that?
If war broke out, they’d spend the next two years passing resolutions.
Arguing among themselves about health-and-safety implications.
Debating what to do over large bottles of claret.
- Louis Allwood
Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak slapped with 12-month ban for wearing ‘Z’ war symbol
RUSSIAN gymnast Ivan Kuliak has been slapped with a 12-month ban for wearing the controversial ‘Z’ war symbol next to a Ukrainian athlete.
Kuliak caused uproar in March after finishing third in the parallel bars at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha.
Standing next to Ukrainian winner Illia Kovtun, he proudly displayed the Russian army’s ‘Z’ symbol on his chest.
The letter has been featured on Russian tanks and military vehicles in Ukraine.
And it has become a symbol of support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The International Gymnastics Federation (IGF) declared it would push to open disciplinary proceedings against Kuliak “following his shocking behaviour.”
And they have now announced that the 20-year-old has been banned from competing for at least one year.
Kuliak will be unable to compete in events until May 2023.
But that could be extended should current bans on displaying Russian flags or playing the national anthem at competitions remain in place.
- Louis Allwood
Pro-Kremlin voice admits to ‘difficulties’ in the war
A pro-Kremlin voice has admitted to “difficulties” in the war with Ukraine.
Deputy secretary of Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, Rashid Nurgaliyev, insisted Russia would achieve its objectives.
Nurgaliyev said: “In spite of all the existing difficulties, the special military operation will be completed – while its objectives, including the ones to do with the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine, [and] defence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic will be carried out in full.”
It follows remarks by a retired colonel and military analyst on primetime Russian TV earlier this week, in which Mikhail Khodarenok warned “the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse”.
Khodarenok, while appearing on flagship talk show 60 Minutes, said: “We are in total political isolation and the whole world is against us, even if we don’t want to admit it.”
Russia’s Security Council is today holding a meeting with nearly 100 foreign ambassadors to discuss the threats posed by “closed laboratories” and “neo-Nazism”.
- Louis Allwood
Putin faces nightmare scenario
VLADIMIR Putin faces a nightmare scenario after Finland & Sweden formally applied to join Nato, which could see its forces expand by a million troops.
Finland and Sweden submitted their highly anticipated bids to join NATO, sealing their decision to jettison decades of military non-alignment, despite threats of reprisals from Moscow.
“The applications you have made today are a historic step,” chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
“Allies will now consider the next steps on your path to NATO,”
The membership push could represent the most significant expansion of NATO in decades, doubling its border with Russia – with Putin warning it may trigger a response from Moscow.
But the applications face resistance from NATO member Turkey, which has threatened to block their membership over accusations the Nordic neighbours act as safe havens for armed groups opposed to Ankara.
Stoltenberg added: “The security interests of all allies have to be taken into account and we are determined to work through all issues and reach rapid conclusions.”
- Louis Allwood
Canadian public broadcaster CBC has Russian office closed
Russia is closing the Moscow bureau of Canadian public broadcaster CBC.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said Russia has also withdrew the accreditation of its journalists in Russia.
She says this is a response to “measures taken in practice in relation to Russian media, their transmission and broadcasts in Canada”.
- Louis Allwood
MoD: Belarus ‘deploying special forces soldiers on Ukraine border’
Belarus has deployed special forces soldiers along the Ukraine border, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
In an update on Monday, the MoD said that the presence of president Alexander Lukashenko’s forces would “likely fix Ukrainian troops, so they cannot deploy in support of operations in the Donbas”.
“Following exercise activity earlier this month, Belarus has announced the deployment of special operations forces along the Ukraine border, as well as air defence, artillery and missile units to training ranges in the west of the country,” the MoD said.
“The presence of Belarusian forces near the border will likely fix Ukrainian troops, so they cannot deploy in support of operations in the Donbas.”
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