The Latest Breaking News from Vladimir Putin

Letters: Marrie Powell and Renata von Toerne respond to John Kampfner’s article about Germany’s pivotal role in the war

Even as several countries have offered to mediate in the search for a political solution to the war in Ukraine, including several in Latin America, a high-ranking North Atlantic Treaty Organization official insists that only the Ukrainian government can determine what it will consider “a just and lasting peace.”

Russia’s ally signals a desire for peace, but few are convinced that Beijing has either power or pure motivations.

People tell Guardian of ‘primitive’ living standards, propaganda in schools and constant risk of arrest

Footage showed how the carriages, believed to be carrying grain, were thrown off the track with eight carriages derailed and five overturned close to the village of Chistenkoye in Crimea which is annexed by Russia

With characteristic guile and misdirection, Ukraine appears to be executing the opening stages of its long-awaited summer offensive. The shaping operations have been going on for more than a week around Bakhmut.

Vladimir Putin promised African nations that he would write off their debts and provide free grain in an attempt to bolster alliances across the continent at a two-day summit in St Petersburg last month.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that a delegation from African countries hoping to present an initiative to end the conflict in Ukraine would visit Moscow.

Natalia Arno, head of the Free Russia Foundation, claims she returned to find her hotel door was mysteriously left open and the “smell of cheap perfume” before falling ill