PARANOID Putin has survived multiple assassination attempts leaving him so fearful, he has surrounded himself with an elite team of snipers.
The most recent attempt is thought to have taken place at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although details are only now emerging.
Ukraine’s Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said there had been an “unsuccessful attempt” on the President’s life.
Budanov told Ukrainian Pravda: “Putin was attacked…
“He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago.
“This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place… It was about two months ago.”
“Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place. “
Putin is now said to be so fearful of another attempt on his life he has surrounded himself with crack snipers and is thought to travel everywhere with them.
The crack-shot snipers have one very important job which is to locate other shooters and “take them out” before they get the chance to pull the trigger on Putin.
Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest rolling news and updates…
- Louis Allwood
Moment Russian tanks trying to hide in back gardens are obliterated
This is the dramatic moment Russian tanks are obliterated after they were spotted hiding in back gardens.
The attack took place in the village of Zirkuni in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv Oblast after the tanks were seen by Ukrainian drones.
Footage shows the tanks driving around, frantically looking for somewhere to hide as Russian forces attempt to retake lost positions in the area.
One of the tanks can be seen reversing into a residential yard, hoping the trees would conceal their position.
However, the garden failed to provide coverage, with the tanks soon going up in flames after a strike by Ukrainian fighters.
Footage emerged last week, showing an obliterated Russian tank after three Ukrainian grenades ignited the ammo on board.
Drone footage shows three smaller explosions followed by a mega-blast – leaving the tank in ruins near Kharkiv.
- Louis Allwood
The world is "navigating a dark hour in our shared history"
The US President Joe Biden has said the world is "navigating a dark hour in our shared history" with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He said the war is a "global issue", underscoring the importance of defending international order.
Biden is meeting the leaders of Japan, Australia and India in Tokyo in his first visit to Asia as president.
Biden promised the US would work with allies to lead the global response, reiterating their commitment to defend international order and sovereignty.
- Louis Allwood
Delegations from Sweden and Finland set to arrive in Turkey
The NTV news channel has reported that high-level delegations from Sweden and Finland are due to arrive in Turkey on Tuesday evening.
According to reports they will hold talks with the foreign ministry about their applications to join Nato.
The visit follows the host's objection to the two countries joining Nato.
Without the support of all Nato members – including Turkey – Sweden and Finland cannot join the military alliance.
- Louis Allwood
Shocking aerial pictures reveal Mariupol’s devastated Azovstal steelworks
Aerial pics of Mariupol’s devastated Azovstal steelworks show its smashed and smoking ruins after a relentless blitz of Russian missiles, bombs and bullets.
Nearly 2,500 brave Ukrainian defenders who finally surrendered last week after 82 days are now in Russian hands amid fears for their safety.
Ukrainian defenders of the legendary Azov Regiment held out in seven miles of bomb-proof tunnels under the vast industrial site.
But aerial images of the smashed and smoking ruins bore testament to their courage under a blizzard of Russian missiles, bombs and bullets.
They left after Red Cross and UN officials brokered a deal to swap them for captured Russians.
But Russian officials and state media are now calling for them to face war crime trials and the death penalty branding them “neo-Nazis criminals.”
- Louis Allwood
Putin assassination attempt
Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have survived five assassination attempts and is now so fearful for his life he has surrounded himself with an elite team of snipers.
The most recent attempt is thought to have taken place at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although details are only now emerging.
Ukraine’s Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov said there had been an “unsuccessful attempt” on the President’s life.
Budanov told Ukrainian Pravda: "Putin was attacked…
"He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago.
"This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place… It was about two months ago."
"Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place. "
It was not clear who was behind the alleged attack or where it took place.
Putin is now said to be so fearful of another attempt on his life he has surrounded himself with crack snipers and is thought to travel everywhere with them.
The crack-shot snipers have one very important job which is to locate other shooters and "take them out" before they get the chance to pull the trigger on Putin.
- Louis Allwood
Baby-faced Russian killer jailed for life after murdering grandad
A BABY-faced Russian murderer was jailed for life yesterday for killing a Ukrainian grandad in cold blood.
Tank commander sergeant Vadim Shishimarin, 21, stood silently with his head bowed in a glass cage inside a Kyiv court as the sentence was passed.
It is Ukraine’s first war crimes trial since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country.
Shishimarin shot dead 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov with his Kalashnikov rifle “while following orders” in the village of Chupakhivka in the north-eastern Sumy region four days into the war.
He opened fire when an officer warned the unarmed Ukrainian — who was speaking on his mobile phone — was about to give away their position.
Judge Serhiy Agafonov branded the command a “criminal order” by a soldier of higher rank.
- Louis Allwood
The UK MoD confirms Russia has intensified operations
Russia is increasing the intensity of its operations in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, the UK Ministry of Defence says in its daily intelligence update.
The MoD said on Twitter: "Russia has increased the intensity of its operations in the Donbas as it seeks to encircle Severodonetsk, Lyschansk, and Rubizhne. At present the northern and southern axes of this operation are separated by approximately 25 km of Ukrainian-held territory.
"There has been strong Ukrainian resistance with forces occupying well dug-in defensive positions. Ukraine’s long-established Joint Force Operation likely retains effective command and control of this front."
- Louis Allwood
President Vladimir Putin could be out of power former MI6 chief predicts
A FORMER MI6 chief has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin could be out of power and in a long-term medical facility by next year.
Speaking on the One Decision Podcast, Sir Richard Dearlove, who led the British Secret Intelligence service between 1999 and 2004, predicted: “I’m really going to stick my neck out. I think he’ll be gone by 2023.
“Probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.”
“That’s a way to sort of move things on without a coup,” he suggested, adding that the secretary of the security council, Nikolai Patrushev might assume control upon Mr Putin’s departure.
“If my thesis were fulfilled and Putin did disappear into a sanatorium, I think he’s the likely stand-in,” he said.
“And of course the stand-in this scenario probably becomes permanent. I mean, you know there is no succession in the Russian leadership. They certainly don’t succession plan.”
- Milica Cosic
Moment grimacing ‘cancer-riddled’ Putin sits hunched & twitches
VLADIMIR Putin looked twitchy and hunched as rumours continue to swirl around his health.
New footage shows Putin today having a meeting with his close ally Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia’s mad tyrant was seated in a chair and once again appeared to looking uncomfortable.
He was awkwardly perched on his chair and sat hunched forward in front of the cameras during the meeting in Sochi.
His left foot appears to continuously move as he unnaturally pivots on his heel three times in less than one minute.
The dictator also rubs his fingers together as his hands appear to twitch – flexing them and forcing his thumb into his palm.
Vlad occasionally appears to grimace and gasp back his breaths – only further raising rumours and speculation about his health.
- Milica Cosic
Ukrainian forces will keep fighting in Donbas, western official says
Ukraine’s forces will make the Russians “fight for every bit” of territory even if they are encircled by Moscow’s advance in the Donbas, western officials have said.
Western officials said that, while superior Russian numbers meant they would eventually succeed in encircling the “Severodonetsk pocket”, that did not necessarily spell defeat for the Ukrainians.
“I think this largely comes down to political will,” they said, in remarks reported by the PA news agency.
“The Ukrainians don't want to give up any territory. They want to make the Russians fight for every bit of it.”
They added: “Having those forces continue to fight, they are fulfilling an important military function, degrading the Russian capability to advance and creating time for the Ukrainian forces to continue to improve their defences elsewhere.
“From a loss of life position, escaping might be desirable but from a military point of view and a political point of view the Ukrainians will intend to fight. We would expect them to fight for every bit of territory they can.”
- Milica Cosic
Ukraine’s Zelensky would meet Putin on end to war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with a single issue on the agenda – to stop the war.
Zelensky, addressing by video link an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, also said that arranging any sort of talks with Russia was becoming more difficult in the light of what he said was evidence Russian actions against civilians under occupation.
He also said that any notion of recovering by force the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 would cause hundreds of thousands of casualties.
- Milica Cosic
Russian sentenced to life in Ukraine's first war crimes trial
A Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian was sentenced by a Ukrainian court yesterday to life in prison the maximum amid signs the Kremlin may hold trials of its own, particularly of the captured fighters who held out at Mariupols steel plant.
In the first of what could be a multitude of war crimes trials inside Ukraine, Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced for the killing of a 62-year-old man who was shot in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the early days of the war. Shishimarin, a captured member of a tank unit, apologized to the man's widow in court.
His Ukraine-appointed defense attorney, Victor Ovsyanikov, argued his client had been unprepared for the violent military confrontation and mass casualties that Russian troops encountered when they invaded.
He said he would appeal.
Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating thousands of potential war crimes
- Milica Cosic
Ukraine First Lady says war 'horrors' will leave deep scars
Ukraine's First Lady on Monday warned a WHO assembly that the impacts of Russia's war on healthcare and mental health could be felt for decades, as Russia said the forum had been politicised.
"Russia's war has shown horrors we could not have imagined," Olena Zelenska said in a video address to World Health Assembly in Geneva, stressing in particular the consequences for mental health.
"WHO is committed to protecting the most crucial human rights to life and health. Now they are both being violated in Ukraine," she said.
"The consequences of this war unfortunately will remain for years and decades," said Zelenska.
- Milica Cosic
Putin will be ‘gone’ by end of this year, claims former head of MI6
A former MI6 chief has predicted that Vladimir Putin could be out of power and in a long-term medical facility by next year.
Speaking on the One Decision Podcast, Sir Richard Dearlove, who led the British Secret Intelligence service between 1999 and 2004, predicted: “I’m really going to stick my neck out. I think he’ll be gone by 2023.
“Probably into the sanatorium, from which he will not emerge as the leader of Russia.”
“That’s a way to sort of move things on without a coup,” he suggested, adding that the secretary of the security council, Nikolai Patrushev might assume control upon Mr Putin’s departure.
“If my thesis were fulfilled and Putin did disappear into a sanatorium, I think he’s the likely stand-in,” he said. “And of course the stand-in this scenario probably becomes permanent. I mean, you know there is no succession in the Russian leadership. They certainly don’t succession plan.”
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky hits out at west’s failure to protect Ukraine after Crimea annexation
Volodymyr Zelensky has told world leaders that the west could have prevented Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine by taking tougher actions against the Kremlin following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum at Davos, the Ukrainian president said many lives would have been saved if the west had imposed sanctions against Russia last autumn.
Zelensky said: “Russia started its war against Ukraine back in 2014. We are grateful for this support [from the west] but if that happened, back then, immediately — that unity, that pressure on governments and on companies — would Russia have started this full-scale war?
“Would it have brought all these losses upon Ukraine and upon the world? I’m sure the answer to this question is also no.”
- Milica Cosic
Russia to deploy nearly 50 Satan-2 nukes
A PUTIN ally has bragged about how Russia is set to deploy almost 50 of its "unstoppable" Satan-2 nuke.
Dmitry Rogozin's boast came as as he showed off a huge crater made in a test launch of the missile in a chilling warning to the West.
Standing at the colossal height of a 14-storey tower block, the 208 ton RS-28 Sarmat missile is capable of striking targets at almost 16,000mph.
The world-ending nuke can also carry 15 warheads and has the potential to obliterate an area the size of the UK in a single blast.
In the latest in a series of attempted scaremongering by Russia, Putin crony Rogozin – head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos – highlighted a 26ft deep hole made using the nuke without an atomic warhead at a training range in Kamchatka.
He said: "With a nuclear charge, such a crater at an enemy site will be well, very large and very deep – and radioactive.
“And not just one, but exactly as many as the most powerful nuclear missile in the world will deliver to the territory of a fierce enemy.
“And we will soon have almost 50 such Sarmats [known in the West as Satan-2] on combat duty.
“It remains only to advise the aggressors to talk more politely with Russia.”
Rogozin announced almost 50 will be deployed by autumn.
The intercontinental ballistic missile has a range of 11,200 miles and can strike at targets at 15,880mph after flying in outer space or via the north or south poles.
- Milica Cosic
Starbucks to exit Russia after nearly 15 years
Starbucks Corp said on Monday it will exit the Russian market after nearly 15 years as the coffee chain joins McDonald's Corp in marking the end of the presence of some of the top Western brands in the country.
McDonald's last week said it was selling its restaurants in Russia to its local licensee Alexander Govor to be rebranded under a new name, but will retain its trademarks.
Seattle-based Starbucks has 130 stores in Russia, wholly owned and operated by its licensee Alshaya Group, with nearly 2,000 employees in the country.
Starbucks did not provide details on the financial impact of the exit. McDonald's had said it would take a primarily non-cash charge of up to $1.4 billion.
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky tells Davos to send Ukraine weapons and apply more sanctions on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used the Davos summit on Monday to appeal for more weapons for his country and “maximum” sanctions against Moscow.
“I believe there are still no such sanctions against Russia, and there should be,” Zelensky said by videolink.
The hero leader called for an oil embargo on Russia, sanctions on all its banks and an end to all trade with the country.
- Milica Cosic
Ukraine claims Putin ‘survived assassination attempt’
VLADIMIR Putin has survived an assassination attempt after he was attacked during a trip, Ukraine has claimed.
The country’s Chief of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, said there was an “unsuccessful attempt” against the Russian President’s life at the start of the war against Ukraine.
He told Ukrainian Pravda: “Putin was assassinated…
“He was even attacked in the line of, as they say, representatives of the Caucasus not so long ago.
“This is non-public information. Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really took place… It was about 2 months ago.”
“Once again, he was unsuccessful. There is no publicity about this event, but it took place. “
The outlet said the full interview will be aired tomorrow.
Read more here.
- Milica Cosic
Ukrainian forces will keep fighting in Donbas, western official says
Ukraine’s forces will make the Russians “fight for every bit” of territory even if they are encircled by Moscow’s advance in the Donbas, western officials have said.
Western officials said that, while superior Russian numbers meant they would eventually succeed in encircling the “Severodonetsk pocket”, that did not necessarily spell defeat for the Ukrainians.
“I think this largely comes down to political will,” they said, in remarks reported by the PA news agency.
“The Ukrainians don't want to give up any territory. They want to make the Russians fight for every bit of it.”
They added: “Having those forces continue to fight, they are fulfilling an important military function, degrading the Russian capability to advance and creating time for the Ukrainian forces to continue to improve their defences elsewhere.
“From a loss of life position, escaping might be desirable but from a military point of view and a political point of view the Ukrainians will intend to fight. We would expect them to fight for every bit of territory they can.”
- Milica Cosic
Ukraine's Zelensky would meet Putin on end to war
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with a single issue on the agenda – to stop the war.
Zelensky, addressing by video link an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, also said that arranging any sort of talks with Russia was becoming more difficult in the light of what he said was evidence Russian actions against civilians under occupation.
He also said that any notion of recovering by force the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014 would cause hundreds of thousands of casualties.
- Milica Cosic
Moment grimacing ‘cancer-riddled’ Putin sits hunched & twitches
VLADIMIR Putin looked twitchy and hunched as rumours continue to swirl around his health.
New footage shows Putin today having a meeting with his close ally Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia's mad tyrant was seated in a chair and once again appeared to looking uncomfortable.
He was awkwardly perched on his chair and sat hunched forward in front of the cameras during the meeting in Sochi.
His left foot appears to continuously move as he unnaturally pivots on his heel three times in less than one minute.
The dictator also rubs his fingers together as his hands appear to twitch – flexing them and forcing his thumb into his palm.
Vlad occasionally appears to grimace and gasp back his breaths – only further raising rumours and speculation about his health.
- Milica Cosic
Zelensky addresses World Economic Forum
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the
World Economic Forum via live video and told participants how he wakes up every day to read the numbers of his people killed in the war in the last 24 hours.“Today,” he said, “we lost 87 people and the future of Ukraine will be without these 87 people”.
President Zelensky urged for “maximum” sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo and full withdrawal of foreign companies.
Speaking through a translator, the Ukrainian president said: "This year the words 'turning point' appear to have become more than just a rhetorical figure of speech. This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world.”
He went on: “Brute force does not discuss – it kills, as Russia does in Ukraine as we speak today.”
“Instead of successful peaceful cities there’s only black ruins. Instead of normal trade there are seas full of mines and blocked ports. Instead of tourism there are closed skies and thousands of Russian bombs and cruise missiles.” He said: “This is what the world would look like if humanity misses this turning point.”
Zelenskyy also praised his people’s courage. The war and the Ukrainian people’s resistance have stirred the unity of the democratic world and showed “that freedom must be fought for”, he said.
The Ukrainian leader received a standing ovation.
- Milica Cosic
Russian sentenced to life in Ukraine's first war crimes trial
A Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian was sentenced by a Ukrainian court today to life in prison the maximum amid signs the Kremlin may hold trials of its own, particularly of the captured fighters who held out at Mariupols steel plant.
In the first of what could be a multitude of war crimes trials inside Ukraine, Russian Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, 21, was sentenced for the killing of a 62-year-old man who was shot in the head in a village in the northeastern Sumy region in the early days of the war. Shishimarin, a captured member of a tank unit, apologized to the man's widow in court.
His Ukraine-appointed defense attorney, Victor Ovsyanikov, argued his client had been unprepared for the violent military confrontation and mass casualties that Russian troops encountered when they invaded.
He said he would appeal.
Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating thousands of potential war crimes
- Milica Cosic
Russians organise 'tour' of destroyed theatre
Ukraine's foreign ministry has claimed that Russian forces have organised a "tour" of a theatre that was destroyed in an airstrike.
Sharing a video on Twitter, the ministry described the theatre as the place where "hundreds of Ukrainians" died.
Russia's defence ministry denied the claim.
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