The Latest Breaking News from Vladimir Putin

Spokesperson for Ukraine army says statements from Russia that it has captured Soledar ‘are not true’

Vladimir Putin has gathered a Chechen warlord and a notorious mercenary leader after appointing General Valery Gerasimov as head of Russian forces as troops continue to shell Ukraine

The appointment of Valery Gerasimov signals Moscow’s failing war effort and fraught domestic politics, analysts say.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine serves as a sombre reminder that Europe’s unresolved issues can reignite. Given the rising tension in the Balkans, Germany and France have made settling the unresolved problems between Serbia and Kosovo a top priority for 2023.

Russia is becoming too dependent on oil revenues to support its budget as it ramps up military spending, economists said, warning that the government may have to raise taxes if prices of crude fail to meet expectations this year.

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin flew to Ufa to pay his respects to Murtaza Rakhimov, ex-president of Russian republic Bashkortostan, but he has failed to offer condolences to other war victims

In the twilight of the Soviet Union, Yevgeny Prigozhin was languishing in prison for theft. Now as the founder of Russia's most powerful mercenary group, he is vying for Vladimir Putin's favour by claiming a rare battlefield win in Ukraine.

TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov told Russians that Moscow should target the West to disrupt NATO countries from sending supplies to Ukraine - it comes as Western countries continue to send aid

Further help for the vulnerable announced

Vladimir Putin’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, claims to be the “saviour” of children caught up in the war in Ukraine. Her compassionate rhetoric conceals a sinister plan to deport Ukrainian children from territories occupied by Russia’s invading forces.

Russia said Friday its forces had wrested control of the war-scarred town of Soledar in east Ukraine, its first claim of victory in months of battlefield setbacks, but Ukraine said there was no takeover. Both sides have conceded heavy losses in the battle for the salt mining outpost, with Moscow…