Ukraine-Russia war LIVE: Evil Putin sends troops on HORRIFIC ‘hunt-to-kill missions’ to purge top Ukrainian officials

VLADIMIR Putin has sent murderous Russian troops on missions to purge top Ukrainian officials in the east of the country.

According to the police chief in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, regional leaders are said to be constantly on the move to avoid death squads reminiscent of the ‘Red Terror’ carried out by Bolsheviks after FirstWorld War.

Chief Oleg Grigorov said: “Heads of local administration, including myself, we are constantly on the move.

"The Russians are hunting for our heads, be it capture or outright liquidation.”

The news comes as, footage allegedly shows Russian forces using killer flesh-melting thermite bombs that can burn through flesh down to the bone.

The "barbarous" video appears to show the night sky lit up by a chilling rain of sparkling, burning thermite, a killer chemical mixture.

The thermite was reportedly being fired by Russian Grad launchers using 9M22S incendiary rockets.

The clip, shared by various respected journalists in Ukraine, appears to have been filmed by a soldier in the National Guard unit in Donbas.

Journalist Euan MacDonald shared the footage and said in the caption: "Ukraine’s troops are facing some of the most savage, barbarous weapons ever devised.

"There’s no excuse not to quickly supply them with weapons to fight back with."

Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest rolling news and updates…

  • Louis Allwood

    Putin’s ambassador to UK warns Russia will use nukes if ‘our existence is threatened’ 

    Putin's ambassador to the UK has warned Russia will use nuclear weapons "if our existence is threatened" as tensions rage with the West over Ukraine.

    Andrei Kelin said Moscow was ready to turn Ukraine into nuclear waste if it felt threatened by losses on the battlefield.

    Speaking with the BBC, Mad Vlad's ambassador, who refused to acknowledge the conflict as a war and brow-beat Britain's support for Kyiv, said Moscow could be preparing to deploy nuclear weapons.

    "Do you believe there could be the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in the war in Ukraine?", the BBC's Clive Myrie asked during their 30-minute face-to-face interview.

    "Tactical nuclear weapons in accordance with the Russian military doctrine is not used in conflicts like that, at all," the ambassador replied.

    Myrie shot back: "So you do not believe that will happen? Can you categorically say it will not happen?"

    In a startling admission, Kelin said: "We have a very strict provision on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and it is mainly when the existence of the state is in danger."

    Though he denied the war warranted the use of world-ending nukes, the ambassador's comments soon ran into hot water when pushed by Myrie.

    "But wasn't that the reasoning for going into Ukraine in the first place? That… the suggestion was that Ukraine was building up its forces to attack in the East?" Myrie asked.

    A calm but irate Kelin quickly responded: "Yes, and we'll deal with it with conventional operation, limited conventional operation."

  • Louis Allwood

    Zelensky's home city hit by strike

    Russia's defence ministry says that missiles have destroyed a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army in Kryvyi Rih.

    State news agency Tass also reports that this is the home city of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    The defence ministry also said Russian anti-aircraft defence systems shot down a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet in Dnipro.

  • Louis Allwood

    Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund

    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£10

    Texts 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

    Ukraine is protecting its land ‘as much as current defence resources allow’

    Russia have recently made several advances, which could cause Ukrainian forces to begin to retreat within coming days.

    Ukraine said Russia had captured most of Lyman but that its forces were blocking an advance to Sloviansk, to the southwest.

    President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was protecting its land “as much as our current defence resources allow”.

    Ukraine’s military said it had repelled eight attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk on Friday, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.

  • Louis Allwood

    Putin facing BACKLASH as Kremlin politicians rebel & DEMAND 'immediate withdrawal' of troops

    Two politicians in Russia's far east have urged Vladimir Putin to put an end to Moscow's offensive in Ukraine in a rare public show of dissent.

    Despite thousands of people having been killed and wounded during Russia's three-month military campaign in Ukraine, Putin has largely enjoyed the public loyalty of the country's political parties and government officials.

    But a meeting of the legislative assembly of the Primorsky Krai region caused an uproar on Friday when a local lawmaker and member of the Communist faction in the legislature read out a statement urging the Kremlin chief to pull out Russian troops.

    "If our country does not halt the military operation then there will be even more orphans in our country," Leonid Vasyukevich read from the statement, according to a video of the meeting.

    "During a military operation, people become disabled. These are young people who could be of great use to our country," he added. "We demand an immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops."

    Putin's Russian forces have made advances in the Luhansk region which could lead the Ukrainian forces in to a retreat.

    Zelensky's troops may have to retreat from their last pocket in the Luhansk region to avoid being captured, a Ukrainian official said.

    It comes as Russian troops press on in the east, causing the momentum to shift in the war.

    A withdrawal could bring Putin closer to his goal of capturing eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions in full.

  • Louis Allwood

    Putin is ‘losing his sight and has been given three years to live by doctors’, Russian spy claims

    Putin is "losing his sight and has been given three years to live by his doctors", a Russian spy has claimed.

    The member of Putin's super secretive FSB spy force said the ailing autocrat "has a severe form of rapidly progressing cancer".

    The spook told The Mirror the diagnosis meant Putin has "no more than two to three years to stay alive" and is causing him to lose his sight.

    "We are told he is suffering from headaches and when he appears on TV he needs pieces of paper with everything written in huge letters to read what he’s going to say," he revealed.

    "They are so big each page can only hold a couple of sentences. His eyesight is seriously worsening.

    "And his limbs are now also shaking uncontrollably."

  • Louis Allwood

    Russia won't use nuclear weapons, ambassador says

    Russia’s ambassador to the UK has said he does not believe his country will use tactical nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine.

    Speaking to the BBC, Andrei Kelin said such weapons would be used only if Russia’s existence was threatened.

    The ambassador also denied Russian forces were shelling civilians, and said allegations of war crimes in the town of Bucha were a "fabrication".

  • Louis Allwood

    Putin urged to hold 'direct, serious negotiations' with Zelensky

    Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, the leaders of France and Germany, have urged Russia's Putin to hold "direct serious negotiations" with Zelensky.

    The German chancellor's office said the leaders spoke to Mr Putin by phone for 80 minutes.

    The pair "insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops", the chancellor's office said.

    Russia's leader said Moscow was open to resuming dialogue with Kyiv, according to the Kremlin.

  • Louis Allwood

    'The West has to ensure Ukraine defeats Russia'

    This is a comment piece by Tobias Ellwood MP

    IF invading Ukraine was an effort to rekindle Russian superpower status, it has been a complete flop.

    There was no clear strategy, no effective command and control, no logistical support and absolutely no appreciation of Ukraine’s fearless desire to stay and fight.

    With international sanctions starting to bite and countries such as Britain replenishing brave Ukrainian forces with anti-tank weapons, surely Putin knows he can’t win? Sadly, this war is far from over.

    And if we don’t help put this fire out in Ukraine it will spread to other parts of Europe.

    To date we are only doing enough to ensure they don’t lose — but not enough to guarantee they can win.

    Putin may have misjudged Ukraine’s resolve to hold ground, but he was spot on in believing Nato would have no appetite to get directly involved.

    Make no mistake, Putin is in it to win it. His invasion did not come out of the blue.

    And now he is siding ever closer to a powerful China that shares Russia’s disdain for Western standards and values. This is indeed a dangerous turning point in our history.

    How we choose to stand up to growing authoritarianism over the next few months could have major implications as to how the next decade plays out.

    Let’s no longer be in denial. The past 30 years have been a walk in the park compared with what lies ahead. European security is once more in peril.

    Read more here

  • Louis Allwood

    War crimes in Ukraine will top 100k, warn officials

    Officials in Ukraine believe they will identify more than 100,000 cases of war crimes by Russian forces — with some of the horrific stories told for the first time today.

    Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova says her team is already investigating nearly 14,000 cases.

    But the true number committed by Vladimir Putin’s troops is expected to top 100,000 based on estimations from what has come to light in the first three months of the bloody conflict, says a source in her office.

    Prosecutors there are already building war crimes cases but expect the process to last months owing to the scale of the horrors that are being uncovered already.

    It comes as Russia is on the verge of taking Severodonetsk in the east but is also piling more pressure on the country's second city of Kharkiv with extra attacks.

  • Louis Allwood

    Putin may ‘already be DEAD with body double taking his place at public appearances’, MI6 chiefs claim

    Putin's health has long been the source of speculation and Moscow has remained tight-lipped as over the past few years, insisting Vlad's health is "excellent".

    But Western intelligence suggests the Russian president has serious health issues such as cancer and Parkinson's – and recent public appearances have sparked further rumours about his physical state.

    He has appeared less mobile and his face has been bloated, with experts believing he is taking steroids or receiving cancer treatment.

    Putin's drastically changing appearance from strongman to sickly has aroused suspicions he is severely unwell.

    An intelligence source said it was likely Putin's recent appearances in public had been pre-recorded.

    Alternatively, he could have already died with a body double taking his place.

    The source told the Daily Star: "Putin is very ill and when he dies his death will be kept secret for weeks, if not months.

    “There is also the possibility that he is already dead. It’s impossible to know.

    "It is believed that Putin has employed body doubles in the past when he has been unwell and the Kremlin could be doing so now.

    "Putin is the head of a small group of senior officials who are completely loyal to him."

  • Joseph Gamp

    Help those fleeing conflict with The Sun’s Ukraine Fund

    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£10

    Texts cost your chosen donation amount (e.g. £5) +1 standard message (we receive 100%). For full T&Cs visit redcross.org.uk/mobile

  • Joseph Gamp

    PM & Zelenskyy discuss impending ‘global food crisis’

    Boris Johnson spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky about the “intensive work taking place” to export grain out of Ukraine and “avert a global food crisis” during a phone call on Saturday morning.

    A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister said that the UK will continue to support the heroic Ukrainian armed forces in their efforts to defend their homeland against this barbaric attack, including helping provide the equipment they need.

    “The leaders spoke about Putin’s despicable blockade of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest shipping port.

    “The Prime Minister outlined to President Zelensky the intensive work taking place with international partners to find ways to resume the export of grain from Ukraine to avert a global food crisis.

    “He said that the UK would work with G7 partners to push for urgent progress. The leaders agreed next steps and the imperative for Russia to relax its blockade and allow safe shipping lanes.

    “The Prime Minister spoke about the importance of the international community continuing to work and act together, so that Ukraine succeeds and Putin fails.

    “He also emphasised that countries have a duty to support Ukraine, both now and in the long-term, so that it is never in the position to be attacked again.

    “The leaders agreed to remain in close contact.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    PM says west working to break blockade & avert global food crisis

    The West is working to break the Russian blockade on Ukrainian ports in order to “avert a global food crisis” by releasing millions of tons of grain, Boris Johnson has said.

    The Prime Minister spoke on Saturday morning with President Volodymyr Zelensky about international efforts to put a stop to the “despicable blockade” of Odesa, Ukraine’s major southern port on the Black Sea.

    The conversation between the leaders comes after Mr Johnson revealed this week that the West was supporting the Ukrainians to demine the Black Sea and reopen international shipping lanes.

    Ukraine was known as the “bread basket of Europe” and was one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

    But the Russian invasion and Moscow’s mining of the access to the southern ports has halted much of that flow, endangering world food supplies.

    Giving details of the phone call, a No 10 spokeswoman said: “The leaders spoke about Putin’s despicable blockade of Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest shipping port.

    “The Prime Minister outlined to President Zelensky the intensive work taking place with international partners to find ways to resume the export of grain from Ukraine to avert a global food crisis.

    “He said that the UK would work with G7 partners to push for urgent progress.

    “The leaders agreed next steps and the imperative for Russia to relax its blockade and allow safe shipping lanes.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    WW3 will DEFINITELY start if Russia’s invasion isn’t crushed, top Ukrainian official warns

    UKRAINE must win the conflict against Russia or it could lead to a third world war, a Ukrainian negotiator has warned.

    Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak warned that if Moscow does not lose then Russia’s “revanchism and chauvinism will only swell”.

    He told Ukrainian TV that defeat against the invaders would lead to a third world war, something he says Western countries are aware of and will lead them to supply more weapons.

    He said: “Itʼs very simple. If Russia does not lose, then Russian chauvinism and revanchism will only swell, they will become larger. And the war — the Third World War, which they [the Europeans] are so afraid of — will definitely happen,” Podoliak explained.

    “Russia will hate us much more… They will want revenge on us,”

    It comes as Boris Johnson today called for advanced long-range weapons to be sent to Ukraine – stressing that Russian president Vladimir Putin’s troops are making “palpable progress” in the Donbas region.

    He said that it is “vital” to provide Ukraine with long-range rocket launchers as Russian forces slowly “chew through ground” in the east.

    The Prime Minister also warned of the dangers in negotiating with the “crocodile” Russian tyrant, but said Mr Putin must accept that his so-called “de-Nazification” of Ukraine has finished so he can “withdraw with dignity and honour”.

    “I’m afraid that Putin at great cost to himself and Russian military is continuing to chew through ground in Donbas, he’s continuing to make gradual, slow but I’m afraid palpable progress,” Johnson told Bloomberg.  And therefore it is absolutely vital that we continue to support the Ukrainians militarily.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    Two captured Brit fighters face DEATH penalty

    Two Brits captured in Ukraine have been told they face the death penalty at the hands of pro-Putin separatists.

    Shaun Pinner, 48, and Andrew Hill, 35, face a show trial for conducting “combat operations” in the self-styled breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic.

    If convicted, the maximum penalty is a firing squad.

    Fellow Brit Aiden Aslin, 28, who has also been held by pro-Russian forces, was not on the list of those facing trial.

    Earlier this month Pinner and Aslin had been told by prosecutors that they had committed “a number of crimes against civilians of the DPR”.

    All three had been fighting in Mariupol where they were detained by Russian forces.

  • Joseph Gamp

    Severodonetsk street fights

    According to the regional governor, street fights are taking place in Severodonetsk as Russian forces seek to take control of the city.

    Serhiy Haidai, posted on Telegram that Russian forces had “suffered significant losses and were forced to retreat” in ​​Severodonetsk and nearby areas.

    Russian troops are continuing to attack the city from the rear, he said.

    He added: “The enemy fired on Severodonetsk several times, at least three times – very heavily, and street fights broke out in some places.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    Russia fires 7,000mph Zircon hypersonic nuke missile 

    Russia yesterday test fired the new 7,000mph hypersonic Zircon nuclear missile in another chilling warning to the West.

    Dramatic footage shows the “unstoppable” weapon ahead of its deployment on warships in a few weeks.

    It comes after Russia staged nuclear missile drills earlier this week, rehearsing how it could destroy the West within minutes.

    Footage showed the massive hypersonic ballistic missile launchers being transported through the forest in the Ivanovo region.

    And in the latest show of strength, the 7,000-mph Zircon was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the Barents Sea and hit a target at a range of 625 miles in the White Sea.

  • Joseph Gamp

    Putin ready to help overcome food crisis if West lifts sanctions

    Moscow is ready to make a “significant contribution” to averting a looming food crisis if the West lifts sanctions over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday.

    Russia was slapped with unprecedented sanctions after Putin ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine on February 24.

    The sanctions and military action have disrupted supplies of fertiliser, wheat and other commodities from both Russia and Ukraine. The two countries produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

    “Putin emphasises that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis through the export of grain and fertiliser, subject to the lifting of politically motivated restrictions by the West,” the Kremlin said in a statement following the call.

    It added that Putin also spoke about the “steps taken to ensure safety of navigation, including the daily opening of humanitarian corridors for the exit of civilian ships from the ports of the Azov and Black Sea, which is impeded by the Ukrainian side”.

    Putin also described as “unfounded” accusations that Russia was to blame for the problems with food supplies on the global market.

  • Joseph Gamp

    Union chief defends colleague for backing evil Vladimir Putin

    A union chief has defended a colleague for backing Vladimir Putin in Ukraine — arguing there were plenty of neo-Nazis there threatening Russia.

    Mike Lynch, the General Secretary of the RMT union, is warning of crippling strikes which could bring Britain to a halt and effectively stop the rail network this summer.

    And last night he backed Eddie Dempsey, one of his senior assistant general secretaries, who has been accused of being a Putin apologist and playing down the invasion of Ukraine.

    Mr Lynch told Nick Robinson’s podcast Political Thinking there are “two sides in a war” and there is a “slight disdain” for Russian concerns.

    He added: “Some of the stuff that’s happening in Ukraine hasn’t been very pleasant . . . there are a lot of neo-Nazis in Ukraine.”

    Mr Lynch did go on to attack Putin’s “repression”, adding: “We’re totally opposed to their invasion.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    Russia claims Lyman is under its full control

    Russia’s defence ministry says the town in the Donetsk region has fallen under the full control of Russian.

    It comes after pro-Russian separatists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said they had fully captured the town.

    The defence ministry said in a statement: “Following the joint actions of the units of the militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian armed forces, the town of Lyman has been entirely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists.”

  • Joseph Gamp

    Putin warned to bring his troops home or face ‘even more orphans’

    A veteran legislator issued an appeal to Vladimir Putin to bring back his troops amid growing Russian protests about the war.

    Speaking during a regional assembly in the Primorsky region, Communist deputy Leonid Vasyukevich, 69, blasted the use of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

    He said: “We are backing measures to support families of servicemen killed during the special military operation.

    “We understand that unless our country stops the special military operation, there will be even more orphans. 

    “Young men die and are maimed during the operation, even though they could have benefited our country.”

    The brave local MP added that three months have passed since the start of the war “and it is clearly impossible to reach success by a military way”.

    He said if Putin continues it “will inevitably lead to an increase in numbers of killed and wounded servicemen,” concluding by demanding the “immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine”.

  • Joseph Gamp

    Russia takes small cities, aims to widen east Ukraine battle

    Russia asserted Saturday that its troops and separatist fighters had captured a key railway junction in eastern Ukraine, the second small city to fall to Moscow's forces this week as they fought to seize all of the country's contested Donbas region.

    Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the city of Lyman had been completely liberated by a joint force of Russian soldiers and the Kremlin-backed separatists, who have waged war in the eastern region bordering Russia for eight years.

    Lyman, which had a population of about 20,000 before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, serves as a regional railway hub. Ukraines train system has ferried arms and evacuated citizens during the war, and controlling the city would give Russian troops another foothold for advancing on larger Ukrainian-held cities

  • Joseph Gamp

    Pro-Moscow Kherson official sees decision 'towards next year' on joining Russia

    A senior pro-Russian official in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson told Reuters on Saturday that nearby fighting could affect the timing of its formal bid to join Russia and a decision was likely "towards next year".

    Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed Kherson Military-Civilian Administration, also said in a video call that the process might involve a referendum, backtracking on previous comments that none would be needed.

    Asked about the timetable for joining Russia, he replied: "It wont happen by autumn. Were preparing an administrative system and then towards next year we will see what the situation is like."

    Stremousov told Russian state media on May 11 that Kherson, just north of Crimea and the only regional capital that Russia has captured in more than three months of fighting in Ukraine, would ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate it into Russia by the end of 2022. He said at the time: "There will be no referendums."

  • Joseph Gamp

    Russia test-fires its latest hypersonic Zircon missile

    The Russian navy on Saturday conducted another test of a prospective hypersonic missile, a demonstration of the military's long-range strike capability amid the fighting in Ukraine.

    The Defense Ministry said the Admiral Gorshkov frigate of the Northern Fleet in the White Sea launched the Zircon cruise missile in the Barents Sea, successfully hitting a practice target in the White Sea about 1,000 kilometers (540 nautical miles) away.

    The launch was the latest in a series of tests of Zircon, which is set to enter service later this year.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Zircon is capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and has a range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). Putin has emphasized that its deployment will significantly boost the capability of Russias military.

    Zircon is intended to arm Russian cruisers, frigates and submarines and could be used against both enemy ships and ground targets. It is one of several hypersonic missiles under development in Russia.

    Russian officials have boasted about Zircon's capability, saying that it's impossible to intercept with existing anti-missile systems.

    Putin, who has sternly warned Western allies against interfering in Ukraine, has warned in the past that Russian warships armed with Zircon would give Russia a capability to strike decision-making centers" within minutes if deployed in neutral waters.

    Source: Read Full Article

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