Ukraine still holds ground inside Russia’s Kursk, commander says

22 June 2025 Share Save Thomas Mackintosh BBC News Share Save

Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images A Ukrainian serviceman looks through the scope of a rifle shortly after the incursion into Kursk

Ukraine’s top military commander says its forces are still defending a small area of territory inside Russia that it captured almost a year ago. In August 2024 Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region, capturing more than 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of Russian land. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said 10,000 Russian troops are attempting to drive his forces back. While Russia has repeatedly insisted it had recaptured the entire region, Syrsky said on Sunday that Ukraine is still holding around 90 sq km (35 sq miles) in the Kursk region.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Syrsky vowed to increase the “scale and depth” of strikes on Russia. “Of course, we will continue,” he said. “Given that we are not fighting against the population, we are fighting and destroying purely military targets.”

Ukraine seized dozens of villages in the Kursk region shortly after its incursion started on 6 August 2024. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Kursk operation established a buffer zone which prevented Russian forces from being deployed in key areas of the front in eastern Ukraine. But, Kyiv’s advances stalled after Russia rushed reinforcements to the area – including thousands of troops from its ally North Korea. In recent months Ukrainian forces have been in retreat in Kursk after facing 70,000 Russian troops and heavy drone attacks as part of Moscow’s drive to regain the territory.

Gardaí taking no further action over Bishop Eamonn Casey

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Eamonn Casey remained a bishop until his death in 2017

5 hours ago

A review into the original investigation file on Bishop Eamonn Casey has been completed and no further investigative actions have been identified, An Garda Síochána (Irish police) have said.

It comes as his remains were removed from the crypt of Galway Cathedral.

He served as bishop of Galway from 1976 to 1992, and died in 2017.

Multiple allegations of child sexual abuse have been made against him, including by his niece.

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said the the Garda National Protective Services Bureau conducted a review of the original investigation file on Bishop Casey, at the request of the Garda Commissioner.

“This review has been completed and no further investigative actions have been identified.”

Bishop Casey is the first senior cleric to be disinterred in Ireland following posthumous concerns about his conduct, according to Irish national broadcaster RTÉ.

It is not clear when the disinterment took place but the Galway Diocese confirmed that the remains are with his family.

Ukraine minerals deal may not buy peace after Trump threat

18 April 2025 Share Save James Waterhouse Ukraine Correspondent Reporting from Odesa Share Save

Ukraine started the day with, for once, the diplomatic wind in its sails. It had finally agreed a mineral deal “framework” with Washington. An agreement that would see the US invest in Ukraine’s recovery, in return for a share of the country’s future profits from its natural resources, energy infrastructure and its oil and gas. There had also been a first round of peace talks between American, European and Ukrainian officials in Paris, which had been hailed as “positive”. That was until both US President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to pull out of brokering a ceasefire until progress appeared quickly.

It had been hoped by Ukraine that America’s growing impatience with Russia would translate into further sanctions for Moscow. Instead, the threat of the US washing its hands of the ongoing peace efforts suits the Kremlin more than Kyiv. The consensus is that the collective weight of Ukraine and its European allies would still be insufficient to counter Russian aggression in the long term. Despite continuing in its quest to conquer and occupy as much of Ukraine as possible, Moscow claims it is still striving for peace. What it has done is launch some of the deadliest missile strikes on civilians in recent days. In Kharkiv in the north-east, more than 100 people were wounded and one person was killed after three struck a residential part of the city. What we know about US-Ukraine minerals deal But these attacks have not brought the slightest condemnation from the White House, which has continued to use more of a stick with Kyiv, by pausing military aid, and a carrot with Moscow, by improving relations, to get both sides to mirror its appetite for peace. Kyiv agreed to a full ceasefire after the US paused its military aid and intelligence sharing. Moscow has not bent from its continued maximalist demands of more Ukrainian territory and the toppling of President Volodymyr Zelensky. It’s hard to see how this threat will bring a breakthrough.

Mykhailo, 26, is the commander of a Black Sea patrol ship

Ukraine war: President Putin speech fact-checked

21 February 2023 Share Save Reality Check team BBC News Share Save

EPA Vladimir Putin was delivering a state-of-the-nation speech to Russians

President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian public in a national address which lasted for almost two hours.

In the speech, he made a series of claims about the war in Ukraine and was highly critical of Western countries.

We’ve looked into some of his statements.

‘The neo-Nazi regime that set up in Ukraine after 2014’

Mr Putin has repeatedly made baseless claims about a “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine as a justification for Russia’s invasion of the country.

In Ukraine’s last parliamentary election in 2019, support for far-right candidates was 2%, far lower than in many other European countries.

It should also be noted that President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and members of his family died in the Holocaust.

But there have been far-right groups in Ukraine – the most high-profile is the Azov regiment – elements of which have expressed support for Nazi ideology.

From 2022: Ros Atkins on… Putin’s false Nazi claims about Ukraine

It was formed to resist Russian-backed separatists, who seized areas of eastern Ukraine in 2014, and was subsequently absorbed as a unit within the Ukrainian military.

‘One of the brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces… was awarded the name Edelweiss, like the Hitler division’

Here, Mr Putin drew a comparison between a Ukrainian army unit and the Nazis’ 1st Mountain Division – which had the Edelweiss flower on its insignia and committed war crimes in the Second World War.

On 14 February, President Zelensky gave the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade the honorary title: Edelweiss.

The next day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted this as “evidence” of Nazis in Ukraine in a tweet.

But the Edelweiss flower – which grows in Alpine regions – has been used as a symbol by other European mountain military divisions, including the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, Swiss Army generals and the 21st Rifles Brigade of Poland.

Even Russia had a special unit called Edelweiss. The 17th special purpose detachment of Rosgvardia was given this title in 2011. The name was changed to Avanguard in 2016.

‘We also remember the attempts of the Kyiv regime to acquire nuclear weapons, because they talked about it publicly’

There is no evidence that Ukraine has attempted to acquire nuclear weapons, and Mr Putin – who has made this claim before – did not provide any.

When it was part of the former Soviet Union, nuclear weapons were based in Ukraine, but in 1994 Ukraine signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and gave them up, in return for security guarantees.

In 2021, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, suggested that if Ukraine couldn’t join Nato, it might have to reconsider its nuclear-free status.

In 2022, President Zelensky said that although Ukraine had “abandoned” its nuclear capabilities, it had “no security”.

But the Ukrainian government has not expressed an intention to acquire nuclear weapons and a military strategy document published in 2021 did not refer to them.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says it has seen no signs in Ukraine “of the diversion of nuclear material, intended for peaceful activities, for other purposes.”

‘GDP in 2022 has decreased by only 2.1% and I’ll remind you that in February or March they predicted a collapse of the Russian economy’

Mr Putin is right that the Russian economy has shrunk by less than expected.

Russia’s statistics agency says the economy measured by GDP contracted by 2.1%, which is close to the 2.2% estimate in the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

That contraction still makes it the worst-performing country on the IMF’s list, but the organisation confirms that it has contracted by less than expected.

The IMF said that Russian trade was being redirected to countries not applying sanctions against it.

India and China have become the largest buyers of Russian oil, for example, as Western nations restrict purchases and impose sanctions.

Australian feared dead in captivity is still alive, Russia says

29 January 2025 Share Save Ayeshea Perera BBC News Share Save

EPA Prisoners of war are protected from all acts of violence or intimidation by the Geneva convention (file image)

The Australian government has been told by Moscow that one of its citizens in Russian captivity is still alive. Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher, was captured last year while fighting for Ukraine. “The Australian government has received confirmation from Russia that Oscar Jenkins is alive and in custody,” Foreign Minster Penny Wong said in a statement on Wednesday. Earlier, there were reports that Mr Jenkins had been killed while in captivity, with the Australian government citing “grave concerns” for his welfare.

“We still hold serious concerns for Mr Jenkins as a prisoner of war,” Wong’s statement added. It also called on Russia to release him and reiterated Australia’s stance that the Russian Federation was obligated to treat all prisoners of war in accordance with international humanitarian law. Prisoners of war are protected from all acts of violence or intimidation by the Geneva convention. Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had said that the government was “urgently seeking” confirmation that Mr Jenkins was alive. Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as saying that it was “good news” but called on Moscow to provide “video proof” of his well being.