Ukraine
Just been listening to the UN Secretary General on the radio, he has announced that Putin has order vehicles into combat with East Ukraine but has told them to put their fire arms down and go home.
How sad this is.
Europe's largest nuclear plant in Ukraine is on fire
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called on Russia to end its attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He says if the plant blows up, the effect will be "10 times larger than Chernobyl". It's important to note that this facility is far more advanced than Chernobyl, including in its safety infrastructure.
Zaporizhzhia has six nuclear reactors, making it the largest of its kind in Europe, and accounts for about one quarter of Ukraine's power generation. One report said the fire was about 150 metres away from one of the reactors.
This is madness IMO.
The images show the destroyed Ukrainian-made Antonov-225 Mriya (left), meaning the dream, at the Hostomel airport near Kyiv after it came under fire during a Russian attack on Sunday. The cargo plane (inset: pictured in 2020), which has six engines and weighs 314 tonnes, could cost more than $3billion (£2.24billion) to repair, a sum Ukraine's state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom said it would try to get Russia to front up. Since the attack on the plane, images and footage have emerged showing the severely burnt plane, with black smoke billowing from the wreckage (right). The 'legendary' plane was originally designed by the Soviet Union when it controlled Ukraine as a Socialist republic. The Antonov An-225 Mriya was designed and built in Ukraine in the 1980s by the Antonov Corporation. The massive craft measures 275 feet (84 meters) long, with a 288-foot (88 meters) wingspan - almost twice the width of a traditional football field. And it is capable of carrying a payload equivalent to ten battle tanks or some 418,000 pounds (189,601 kg).
Pictures have emerged of the damaged wreckage of the world's largest plane after it was burnt during a Russian attack on a Ukrainian airfield
This close-up image of the plane shows the extent of the damage caused by the Russian attack
The cargo plane (pictured in Poland in April 2020), which has six engines and weighs 314 tonnes, could cost more than $3billion (£2.24billion) to repair, a sum Ukraine's state arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom said it would try to get Russia to front up
The prisoner, who said he is a lieutenant-colonel in the Russian national guard, gave an interview to Ukrainian state TV after being captured fighting last week - saying he now regrets his decision to join the attack while begging for 'mercy' for the rest of Putin's 'brainwashed' forces. The man said he was given the order to invade at short notice, and was told ahead of time that Ukraine had been overthrown by Nazis and his mission was to liberate the country. With no other sources of information, he said most soldiers believed what they were told - only to run into bloody and determined resistance. He said the realisation came for him when he saw two of his favourite boxers, Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko - agreeing to fight for the resistance. In a stark message to the rest of Putin's army, he said: 'I'm begging you, stop before it is too late... Russia cannot win here.'
A captured Russian commander has begged for 'mercy' for Putin's forces attacking Ukraine , saying they were duped into invading in the false belief that the government had been overthrown by Nazis and needing liberating
Professor Michael Clarke said that sending soldiers to take Kyiv was 'massively foolish' and could become a 'peak Putin' moment that leads eventually to his downfall
MARK GALEOTTI: Despite his bombastic rhetoric, and what looks like Botox, the strain is showing on Vladimir Putin's face (bottom left). His dream of a lightning war - Kyiv falling in two days and the rest of Ukraine within two weeks - has become a nightmare. The evidence is everywhere: a massive convoy bogged down in the mud (top right), smoking hulks of aircraft shot down by Ukrainian forces, and Russian artillery resorting to shelling apartment blocks and hospitals. Meanwhile, the invaders have even taken to laying landmines in humanitarian corridors and gunning down fleeing families - it is frightened and demoralised soldiers, unable to prevail on the battlefield, who commit such crimes. Yesterday came another, even more telling sign that Putin (centre) is rattled. In a surprise move, Russia announced that it would stop its onslaught 'in a moment' if Ukraine agrees to a raft of extraordinary demands. It must cease military action, change its constitution to enshrine neutrality, acknowledge the Crimea as Russian territory, and recognise the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent territories. So what is behind this abrupt about-turn
The Russian air strike which hit children's and maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol was disgusting. Barbaric behaviour.
Everyone is on Putin's tack, but then that's the way it should be. United front to show him the world is pissed off.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been stripped of multiple honorary sporting titles amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
It comes as sports governing bodies have imposed sanctions on Russian teams, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommending a ban for Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in international competition.
In the same statement on Monday, the IOC announced that it had withdrawn the Olympic Order, the highest award of the Olympic movement, from Putin.
On Monday, World Taekwondo stripped Putin of his honorary black belt as a result of the violence in Ukraine.
"World Taekwondo strongly condemns the brutal attacks on innocent lives in Ukraine, which go against the World Taekwondo vision of 'Peace is More Precious than Triumph' and the World Taekwondo values of respect and tolerance," the governing body said in a statement.
"In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr. Vladimir Putin in November 2013."
World Taekwondo added that no Russian or Belarusian national flags or anthems would be displayed or played at its events.
Furthermore no taekwondo events would be organised or recognised in Russia and Belarus.
The decision comes after the International Judo Federation (IJF) said on Sunday it would suspend Putin's status as Honorary President and ambassador.
The European Judo Union on Monday also withdrew Putin's status as Honorary President.
On Tuesday, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) followed suit by withdrawing the FINA Order previously awarded to the Russian president in October 2014.
Putin had been awarded FINA's highest honor as a result of his "important support" in the organization of major FINA events in Russia.
FINA said that while no athlete or team from Russia or Belarus could compete under the countries' names or national flags, they could be accepted as neutrals. FINA on Sunday canceled the World Junior Championships which were due to be staged in Kazan, Russia, in August.
The World Short-Course Championships (25m) scheduled to take place in the same city in December remains on. "FINA remains deeply concerned about the impact of the war on the aquatics community and the wider population of Ukraine," a statement read. "FINA will continue to carefully monitor the grave situation and make further decisions as appropriate."