Global politics

IF a Chinese bloke had been caught spying for the UK in Beijing, he’d currently be hung up by his toes in a cell, awaiting execution.

That’s how the Chinese sort things out. Nobody in Beijing would be worrying much if the UK is a threat or not.

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Bullet or lethal injection, Wu’s yer uncle.

Or maybe they would be pawed to death by an angry panda.

But it’s more often a bullet between the eyes.

Most countries take spying and espionage very seriously.

Indeed, ensuring we are safe from foreigners who might do us harm is the first duty of a government.

But clearly it is a duty that Sir Keir Starmer does not take remotely seriously.

Last week, two Brits were due to be tried for spying for the Chinese.

They were Christopher Cash, a parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a researcher who works in China.

Both deny any wrongdoing.

But suddenly, at the last minute, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case.

It didn’t bother explaining why — one minute the trial was on, the next it was dead meat.

Industrial secrets

It now transpires that the CPS took advice from British government officials.

It is entirely possible that the UK’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, a good mate of Keir, was one of the officials involved.

Shortly after their meeting with the CPS, the decision was taken to drop the case.

Why? They apparently told the CPS China couldn’t be called a “threat” to the UK.

Instead, it was just a “geo-political challenge”.

And so the charges against Cash and Berry wouldn’t stick.

In a previous spying case it was decided that charges were relevant only if it involved “a country which represents, at the time of the offence, a threat to the national security of the UK”.

Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?

If China isn’t a threat to the UK, then who is?

The head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has reported that the Chinese have tried to entice 20,000 Brits to act as spies for them, against our interests.

Did nobody think to ask Sir Ken if he thought China was a threat? I suspect I know the answer that would have been forthcoming

He also claimed that 10,000 UK businesses were at threat from the Chinese trying to nick industrial secrets.

In addition, he said that MI5 had 2,000 current investigations into Chinese spying activity — and that a new case was opened on the Chinese — behaving very deviously indeed — every 12 hours.

Did nobody think to ask Sir Ken if he thought China was a threat?

I suspect I know the answer that would have been forthcoming.

Of course the country is a threat.

It is menacing other nations down in South East Asia.

It has a whole bunch of nukes pointed directly at the West.

It arrests dissidents who want western-style freedoms.

And it does everything it can to undermine the UK’s politics and industry.

Truth be told, anybody who is working secretly for a foreign country in the UK is a threat to this country.

Especially if they are working in the House of Commons.

This seems to me so obvious that it should not need stating.

If their secret outside income involves a vast load of Yuan, some fortune cookies and cans of bubble tea, then we should investigate very seriously.

The truth in this particular case, though, is particularly damning.

It seems almost certain that Whitehall officials intervened at the behest of the Government.

And that they did this so as not to p**s off the Chinese — because aside from being a threat to the UK, which China certainly is, we are going cap in hand begging for investment from them.

Other nations don’t have a problem with employing a dual approach.

Make no mistake, we may need to do business with the likes of China, much as we did once with Russia — but they ARE the enemy

They understand that while they all need to do trade with horrible totalitarian countries such as China, they also need to count their spoons, if you get my meaning — and at the slightest sign of devious behaviour, call them out.

The Chinese understand this too.

Yes, being caught with a bunch of spies in our Parliament may be embarrassing for a short while.

But it won’t be allowed to get in the way of China making more money.

It seems that our government was too frit to risk it.

Too scared that the Chinese might react nastily and pull investment.

Or decide not to invest in the future. We mustn’t offend the Chinese.

Strategies like this simply do not work — and the Chinese, just like their big mates the Russians, will continue to spy on our institutions and do everything they can to harm our state.

Enemy is laughing

Make no mistake, we may need to do business with the likes of China, much as we did once with Russia — but they ARE the enemy.

And currently an enemy that is laughing its head off.

The government officials involved will be coming before the House of Commons Joint Committee on National Security Strategy.

If it is discovered that Jonathan Powell did warn off the CPS from pursuing the cases against Cash and Berry, then Powell should resign or be sacked.

Unless, of course, Powell was simply doing the bidding of the Prime Minister or the then Foreign Secretary, the intellectual colossus who is David Lammy.

If that’s the case then THEY should resign.

One way or another, we cannot allow Chinese spies to run amok in this country of ours just because we want to trouser some more wonga down the line, through Chinese investment.

This is a truly important week for Starmer.

The Chinese spygate scandal is the most serious he has faced since taking office last July.

It could yet be the finish of the man.

Which won’t make me lose a terrific amount of sleep, I have to tell you.

THE Man Who Never Sweats is probably feeling a bit moist under the armpits right now.

It has been discovered that Prince Andrew was still sending chummy texts to disgraced paedo Jeffrey Epstein long after the royal said he was.

Andrew is alleged to have messaged him to say: “We are in this together.”

This happened 12 weeks after the point at which Andrew claimed, in that BBC interview, to have cut off all contact with the odious slimeball.

It’s high time King Charles took action and kicked Andrew out of his Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park.

I’M sure there must be some people on those pro-Palestinian marches who are not actually dyed-in-the-wool antisemites.

But if so, how do they react to a comrade saying that they “don’t give a f***” about the Jewish community?

Or the protesters in Glasgow who unfurled a banner praising the “martyrs” of Hamas for murdering about 1,200 Israeli civilians and taking 251 hostage on October 7, 2023?

Or the chants about killing the IDF?

Or the demands for Israel to cease to exist?

Or for a global intifada?

It is one thing to have a few doubts about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is altogether another to stand alongside rabid, Jew-hating jihadis, chanting their odious slogans.

Isn’t it time these fellow travellers had a Mitchell and Webb moment and asked themselves: “Hey . . . are we the BAD guys?”

AT LEAST 30 people have been injured in a Russian drone strike on a Ukrainian passenger train, which left the carriage burning and ripped apart.

Emergency services were rushed to Shotska, in Ukraine’s Sumy region, after the “savage” attack.

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In a post on X, he said: “A savage Russian drone strike on the railway station in Shostka, Sumy region.

“All emergency services are already on the scene and have begun helping people.

“All information about the injured is being established. So far, we know of at least 30 victims.

“Preliminary reports indicate that both Ukrzaliznytsia staff and passengers were at the site of the strike.

“The Russians could not have been unaware that they were striking civilians. And this is terror the world must not ignore.

“Every day Russia takes people’s lives. And only strength can make them stop.

“We’ve heard resolute statements from Europe and America – and it’s high time to turn them all into reality, together with everyone who refuses to accept murder and terror as normal.

“Lip service is not enough now. Strong action is needed.”

RUSSIA has been trying to jam British military satellites every week, according to the head of the UK Space Command.

Major General Paul Tedman accused Moscow of actively attempting to disrupt the UK’s space-based assets through constant stalking and manipulation tactics.

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Maj Gen Tedman told the BBC the disruptions are happening on a weekly basis.

He said: “We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis.

“They’ve got payloads onboard that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.

“They can jam, blind, manipulate or kinetically disrupt satellites.”

All six of the dedicated military satellites operated by the UK are equipped with counter-jamming technology, Tedman confirmed.

Britain continues to fall far behind other powerful nations in terms of their space surveillance systems.

The US, China and Russia each have more than a hundred in orbit.

Beijing and Moscow are both being viewed as potential threats, according to Gen Tedman.

He said both nations had tested anti-satellite weapons in recent years.

Both the UK and the US have warned that Russia is developing the capability to put nuclear weapons in space.

Speaking on the dangers of both countries, Gen Tedman said: “I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability but the Russians have more will to use their counter-space systems.”

The UK government is now promising to invest more space missile defence – including plans to test sensors to detect laser threats in space.

Russia’s interference on an astral level comes after Germany’s Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, also blasted Russia for shadowing satellites used by their military last month.

Berlin said a pair of Russian satellites were “pursuing” space capsules used by Germany’s armed forces.

Pistorius called for talks to draw up offensive capabilities in space as a deterrent – and revealed that Germany will spend $41billion on space defence by 2030.

It comes months after a secretive Russian “killer satellite” was detected launching another mysterious flying object near a US spacecraft.

Kosmos-2558 is on an orbital path which is suspiciously close to USA-326 – an American spy satellite.

It is believed to have the capacity to monitor enemy spy satellites – and potentially shoot them down if needed.

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And last year, Putin launched a terrifying weapon system into space – capable of killing other satellites.

The Russian space object, believed to be Cosmos-2576, was launched on a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket.

In response to growing international tensions, the UK and the US conducted their first coordinated satellite manoeuvre in space in September.

Defence officials hailed it as a major step forward in allied space cooperation.

The mission saw a US satellite be repositioned in orbit to inspect a UK satellite and confirm it was functioning properly.

The test formed part of Operation Olympic Defender – a joint military framework aimed at improving satellite defence and resilience.

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THIS is the terrifying moment Ukrainian soldiers on fire dived from their speeding Humvee after a drone strike.

Footage shows brave Ukrainian troops cheating death as they jumped out of the military vehicle after being targeted by the Russian forces.

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Troops from the Kastus Kalinoŭski Regiment were travelling inside the Humvee when a drone attack struck them.

The soliders, who were engulfed in fire, took a leap of faith and dived out of their seats to escape.

They were seen rolling on the floor before dashing away from the burning car.

Smoke can be seen coming out of the US-made military vehicle as the soldiers look at it from a distance.

The Kastus Kalinoŭski Regiment is a military unit within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It is made up of Belarusian volunteers fighting agasint the Russians.

THe military unit was formed in March 2022 in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The regiment is named after Kastus Kalinoŭski, a Belarusian national hero and leader of the 1863 January Uprising against the Russian Empire, symbolising resistance to oppression.

They view the Russian forces as a common enemy of both Ukraine and Belarus, and their aim is to defend Kyiv on the frontlines.

The fighting group also aspires to liberate Belarus from its authoritarian regime, which is aligned with Russia.

Their motto, “Liberation of Belarus through the liberation of Ukraine,” reflects this dual mission.

The unit has become a significant symbol of Belarusian solidarity with Ukraine and resistance to Russian influence, with its members fighting alongside Ukrainian forces to defend their homeland.

Previous footage from the frontlines showed the moment a landmine blew up a Humvee – with Ukrainian soldiers still inside.

The crew miraculously all survived the fireball blast thanks to the tough armour on the US-made military vehicle.

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The clip shows Ukrainian fighters riding in the truck – with one standing up through a gap in the roof to man the machine gun.

One of the soldiers then starts shouting as gunshots ring out in the background.

Two brave men grab their rifles and sprint out to join the battle.

Smoke can be seen rising in the distance as the armed defenders scour the immediate area for Russian attackers.

Suddenly a blast erupts under under the Humvee – with at least three soldiers still inside.

Flames are seen filling the cab, and debris falls from the roof.

The occupants then rush to escape as the vehicle fills with smoke.

And thanks to the incredible US-made armour, they all survived the terrifying blast.

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BRITAIN must join the fight against Hamas and not reward terror by recognising a Palestinian state, the former chief of Mossad has said.

Veteran Israeli spy Yossi Cohen vowed to eradicate every last enemy fighter in Gaza – as he fumed that Israel is “doing the world’s job alone”.

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Mr Cohen demanded to know why Britain and other countries were not helping Israel after joining previous fights against other terror groups.

Sitting down with The Sun, he said: “The big question is, will you join us?

“More than 70 countries, including Britain, fought together to defeat one terror organisation with ISIS, and you joined the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“How many armies are fighting with us alongside Hamas? None. The state of Israel is doing the world’s job alone. You’re invited.”

With or without the support, Mr Cohen said he will hunt down every last Hamas fighter, vowing: “If there are 100 Hamas fighters left in Gaza City… I’ll find them for you.”

Mr Cohen, who reveals his life as a spy in his new book The Sword of Freedom, slammed Sir Keir Starmer for his decision last week to formally recognise a Palestinian state – insisting he has “no power to do that”.

Several other countries including France, Canada and Australia all recognised Palestine this month – pushing the number of UN members doing so over 150.

Successive UK governments have vowed to recognise a Palestinian state at the point of most impact as part of a peace process – and Starmer felt the time was now.

The PM said the decision was in aid of a two-state solution, which is the “opposite” of what Hamas wants – though the terror group still claimed it as a victory.

But Mr Cohen said the move by Starmer was cynical.

It was designed to “strengthen” support for the Labour government at home, Mr Cohen claimed, while serving no purpose on the world stage.

He speculated that Starmer felt forced into the decision to “keep people quiet” in the UK – rather than it being “from his heart”.

And he fumed it was a “reward” to Hamas for their heinous October 7 attack.

“If Hamas are the UK’s partners, that’s very sad,” Mr Cohen said.

Cohen dismissed the declaration as toothless because it is “legally impossible” for other countries to mandate a two-state solution.

Referring to the Oslo Accords of 1993, the only standing agreement Israel has with the Palestinian Authority, he insisted that decisions about statehood may only be made between Israel’s government and the PA.

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Earlier this year, Trump also suggested recognising the Palestinian state would risk “rewarding Hamas”.

Cohen said there is a history of governments, including the British, saying one thing to their population and another thing to Israel behind closed doors – and that he “hopes” that remains the case.

He revealed that, in his former roles, he met with foreign diplomats who would be appreciative during private meetings – only to later release “the filthiest statements” about Israel.

‘We take care of Gazans’

Directly addressing the hundreds of thousands of Brits who regularly take to the streets as part of pro-Palestinian marches, Mr Cohen said: “Israel is conducting a just war. This is absolutely the right thing that we have to do.

“Intentionally, we do not kill civilians. Intentionally, we do not starve anyone. Intentionally, we’re taking care of the Gazan people.”

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Mr Cohen even claimed he had received criticism in Israel for helping bring in financial support for Gazans from donors.

“Why is it that we do that? Because we do care about the Gazan people,” he insisted.

A United Nations commission determined this month that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Israel’s conduct in the war has faced increased scrutiny over the past year as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens.

Reflecting on why there is such a gulf in feeling between Israel’s public and Brits, Mr Cohen said his country is still reeling from the atrocities committed on October 7 – with hostages still being kept in Gaza.

He said: “Civilians were killed and butchered. Babies included, burned in their beds, raped. The atrocities that we’ve seen are on a different scale.

“This is the reaction of a normal country. We are a normal country.

“Demonstrators will demonstrate whether Israel conducts itself rightly or wrongly. This is part of their agenda.”

Civilians were killed and butchered. Babies included, burned in their beds, raped. The atrocities that we’ve seen are on a different scale

Yossi CohenFormer director of Mossad

Hundreds of civilians in Gaza are being killed every week in air strikes and shootings.

Israel has repeatedly blamed Hamas for the high civilian death toll – claiming the people of Gaza are being used as human shields.

The IDF has recently expanded its military operation in Gaza City where hundreds of thousands of civilian remain.

Confronted with this fact, Mr Cohen said: “The type of war that we conduct is hard.

“It is not something that you can even imagine when you have terrorists living together with kids and babies in kindergartens, UN facilities, hospitals, clinics, and any other thing.

“They just conquered everything, every single house in the region, to create a kind of a terror activity in within.

“So it’s hard to do, but I know for sure that the state of Israel is doing its best to make sure that the Gazan people will not be hurt.”

Almost 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ex spy master served as Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security advisor – and has hinted at aspirations to become the next Prime Minister of Israel, or returning to the government in some capacity.

“If Netanyahu wants to use me or to use my capabilities… of course he can do that,” Mr Cohen said. “He knows my phone number.”

Hinting at Netanyahu’s handing of the war, he added: “I think the people of Israel need a change that is basically founded on the need of unification.

“It is getting a little bit too intense to my taste.”

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‘Amazing’ Tony Blair

Cohen also passionately backed an emerging plan for former UK PM Tony Blair to temporarily govern Gaza after the war.

Blair has reportedly pitched a plan to Donald Trump which would see him lead a Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA) overseeing the strip before handing over to the Palestinian Authority.

Cohen told us it was an “amazing move from Blair”, and insisted they would work well together.

He said: “This is the main problem – what do we do the day after? And who is going to take care of the close to 2.2 million people?

“We need someone to run the show in the Gaza Strip and stop it deteriorating into the hands of Hamas.

“Tony Blair‘s initiative and willingness to do that is highly appreciated. God bless him.”

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THIS is the moment a Ukraine naval drone strikes one of Vladimir Putin’s key fuel sites sparking chaos in Russia.

The Salavat factory was hit for the second time in less than a week amid Volodymyr Zelensky’s soaring campaign against Russian oil.

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Footage shows thick black smoke billowing out of the facility as an inferno rages on the ground.

A second explosion, meanwhile, is seen pounding the building.

Locals reported hearing a “loud noise” before flames ravaged the surrounding area.

The Salavat refinery, considered a linchpin in Russia’s oil industry, was last hit on September 18 – causing a “massive explosion”, according to local media.

It’s just one of a number of facilities Ukraine has targeted in recent weeks as it steps up its campaign on Russian energy infrastructure.

The strikes have sparked chaos in Moscow with petrol stations reportedly not able to stockpile fuel.

Widely used petrol – such as Ai 92 and Ai 95 – are often unavailable, according to reports.

One employee at a petrol station in the western Belgorod suggested the oil crisis had reached a tipping point, with stations forced to close “because there was no gasoline”.

She told Reuters: “The station in the neighbouring village also closed, and others simply ran out of gasoline.”

Moscow has been forced to ban fuel exports for six months, sacrificing vital revenue just to stop unrest at home.

Military intelligence expert Philip Ingram MBE previously explained how “Putin’s greatest fear” is “the Russian people rising up.”

Before the invasion, energy exports made up around 40 per cent of the Kremlin’s budget.

Even under sanctions, oil and gas still bring in 30 per cent of Russia’s income.

He showed how Ukraine has zeroed in on this “river of oil money” with pinpoint strikes hundreds of miles inside Russian territory.

Long-range drones have torched colossal refineries, exploded pumping stations and set storage tanks ablaze – systematically dismantling Moscow’s refining capacity.

The campaign has shattered Russia’s aura of invulnerability, exposed its sprawling oil empire as a fatal weakness, and brought the war crashing into the lives of ordinary Russians.

And as Ingram puts it: “It proves that in modern warfare, the most effective battle plans aren’t always about brute force on the tactical frontline, but about finding your enemy’s single point of failure – and striking it again and again with unrelenting precision.”

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It comes as Donald Trump announced in his keynote speech at the UN General Assembly that Ukraine could win back “every inch” of its territory with Russia.

In a major pivot from his previous stance on the three-and-a-half-year conflict, Trump also dismissed Russia’s military strength and mocked its inability to beat Ukraine in just a few days.

Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said Ukraine “may be able to take back their country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that”.

Trump’s Vlad-bashing follows months of growing frustration at Putin’s refusal to end the offensive in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hit back at Trump’s insults, particularly those levelled at the Russian economy.

“The phrase ‘paper tiger’ was used in relation to our economy,” he said.

“Russia is more associated with a bear. And paper bears don’t exist.

“Russia is a real bear.”

Peskov did, however, admit that the Russian economy had faced “tensions”.

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VLADIMIR Putin’s prized golden goose – Russia’s oil empire – has become a sitting duck, and it’s Ukraine’s drones that are pulling the trigger.

In the latest episode of Battle Plans Exposed, military intelligence expert Philip Ingram MBE lays bare how Kyiv has opened a devastating new front in the war in the oilfields, refineries and pipelines that bankroll Putin’s invasion.

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“This is the oil war,” Ingram says.

“It’s a highly strategic, calculated campaign to cripple the engine of Putin’s war.”

Watch the latest episode on The Sun’s YouTube channel here…

For decades, Russia’s vast energy reserves paid for everything from tanks and cruise missiles to soldiers’ salaries and propaganda handouts.

Before the invasion, energy exports made up around 40 per cent of the Kremlin’s budget.

Even under sanctions, oil and gas still bring in 30 per cent of Russia’s income.

The episode shows how Ukraine has zeroed in on this “river of oil money” with pinpoint strikes hundreds of miles inside Russian territory.

Long-range drones have torched colossal refineries, exploded pumping stations and set storage tanks ablaze – systematically dismantling Moscow’s refining capacity.

Footage of Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery erupting into flames after a single drone strike captures the scale of the destruction.

“This isn’t a military base on the border,” Ingram warns.

“This is a core piece of Russia’s national infrastructure – hundreds of miles from Ukraine.”

What makes these attacks so devastating is their precision.

Ingram explains that the real targets aren’t the giant tanks but the refinery’s processing units – “the heart of the refinery,” where crude is split into diesel for tanks, jet fuel for fighters and gasoline for the home front.

Knock one of these units out, and the entire facility is useless for months, even years.

The episode shows how Ukraine has already knocked out at least 12 per cent of Russia’s refining capacity – stripping away over 600,000 barrels a day.

That’s billions in lost revenue that can’t be pumped into Putin’s war chest.

The impact is twofold. First, it chokes the Russian military itself: “No diesel, and tanks don’t move.

“No jet fuel, and fighters are grounded,” Ingram says.

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Second, it hits ordinary Russians – with fuel shortages, soaring prices and the chilling sight of their industrial heartland burning.

The Kremlin’s response? Denial, spin and panic.

Moscow has been forced to ban fuel exports for six months, sacrificing vital revenue just to stop unrest at home.

“Putin’s greatest fear,” Ingram says, “is the Russian people rising up.”

This is asymmetric warfare at its most ruthless – cheap Ukrainian drones inflicting billion-dollar wounds on the Kremlin.

The episode shows how the campaign has shattered Russia’s aura of invulnerability, exposed its sprawling oil empire as a fatal weakness, and brought the war crashing into the lives of ordinary Russians.

And as Ingram puts it: “It proves that in modern warfare, the most effective battle plans aren’t always about brute force on the tactical frontline, but about finding your enemy’s single point of failure – and striking it again and again with unrelenting precision.”

It comes as Ukraine claims to have turned the tide on the eastern front in a brutal counter-offensive.

Kyiv’s top general Oleksandr Syrskyi said his troops had clawed back around 60 square miles since August, with Putin’s men retreating from a further 70 square miles north of bomb-blitzed Pokrovsk.

He boasted Russian forces had paid a horrifying price — 1,500 killed, another thousand wounded and 12 main battle tanks blown to pieces.

“Control has been restored in seven settlements and nine more have been cleared of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” Syrskyi declared, claiming nearly 165 square kilometres were liberated and almost 180 cleared of Russian saboteurs.

The breakthrough follows a shaky summer where Russian “saboteurs” punched six miles through Ukrainian lines overnight, threatening to cut supply roads.

But Ukraine has regrouped and is now pushing them back, Syrskyi insisting: “In the past 24 hours alone the enemy have lost 65 servicemen, 43 of them killed in action, along with 11 pieces of equipment.”

The destroyed kit ranges from tanks to artillery, drones and even a quad bike used by desperate Russian troops.

Russia has tried to claw back the narrative, claiming it captured a hamlet south of Pokrovsk — a claim Ukraine flatly denies.

Instead, Kyiv points to wrecked Russian armour littering the battlefield and insists the Kremlin’s army is being bled dry.

The fighting comes as Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to meet Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Ukraine’s war leader is set to press the US president for tougher sanctions if Putin refuses to come to the table.

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Trump — who once called Putin a “genius” — admitted the dictator had “let him down”.

“I thought this war would be one of the easiest to solve because of my relationship with Putin. But he has really let me down,” he said during his visit to Britain.

But Britain’s spy chief Sir Richard Moore has poured cold water on any idea of a quick peace.

In a message aimed squarely at Trump, he said: “I have seen absolutely no evidence that President Putin has any interest in a negotiated  peace short of Ukrainian capitulation.”

He warned the world not to be duped by the Kremlin tyrant: “We should not believe him or credit him with strength he does not have.”

Moore added Russia was grinding forward “at a snail’s pace and horrendous cost” — and that Putin had “bitten off more than he can chew.”

He lauded Ukraine’s resistance and heaped praise on Zelensky, saying: “My admiration for him is unbounded,” while savaging Putin for plunging Russia into “long term decline” where he invests only in “missiles, munitions and morgues.”

The warning came days after Russia’s indiscriminate blitz killed three civilians in Zaporizhzhia — two women aged 40 and 79 and a man of 77 — even as Ukrainian forces notched up new gains and unleashed fresh revenge strikes on Russian soil.

Last month, Kyiv marked Independence Day with a wave of drone attacks crippling Russian energy sites and claimed to have wiped out three of the “Butchers of Bucha” in precision bombings in occupied Luhansk.

The Russian soldiers had been accused of taking part in the notorious 2022 massacre where hundreds of civilians were executed, tortured and raped as Putin’s troops stormed towards Kyiv.

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UKRAINE claimed its troops have turned the tide in a key part of the eastern front.

Kyiv’s top general Oleksandr Syrskyi said his troops had recaptured some 60 square miles in a major reversal since August.

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He also claimed Putin’s invaders had abandoned positions in a further 70 square miles north of the bomb-blitzed town of Pokrovsk.

The advances are welcome successes for Kyiv after months of Russian assaults wore down Ukraine’s morale.

Gen Syrskyi claimed Russian forces had suffered eye-watering losses including 1500 killed in action, another thousand wounded and at least 12 main battle tanks destroyed.

In a statement on Monday Gen Syrskyi said: “Control has been restored in seven settlements and nine more have been cleared of enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

“As of 12pm on 22 September 2025, a total of 164.0 km² have been liberated and another 180.3 km² cleared of enemy sabotage groups.”

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy announced the counter-attack success last week.

The fight back followed a shock Russian advance in August.

Small groups of Russian “saboteurs” found weak points in the Ukrainian line and advanced almost six miles overnight, threatening to cut a key supply road between Dobropillia and Kostiantynivka.

Ukraine’s troops scrambled to contain the breakthrough and have now started to push them back.

Gen Syrskyi said his forces had continued to advance yesterday.

He said: “In the past 24 hours alone the enemy have lost 65 servicemen, 43 of them killed in action, along with 11 pieces of equipment.”

The wrecked Russian kit included four artillery guns, six drones and a quad bike which Russian troops used for assaults.

Gen Syrskyi claimed his assault teams “advanced between 200 m and 2.5 km in certain areas.”

The destroyed Russian weapons ranged from 12 main battle tanks to almost 60 motorcycles over the course of the counter offensive.

Russia hit back by claiming its troops had advanced to the south of Pokrovsk and captured the hamlet of Kalynivske.

Ukraine denied the Russian advance.

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It comes as President Zelensky prepared to meet Donald Trump at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Zelenskyy is expected to press Trump for sanctions on Russia if Putin refuses to meet them.

President Trump said Putin had “let him down” over peace in Ukraine.
Speaking during his state visit to Britain Trump said he thought the war in Ukraine would have been the easiest war for him to solve because of their relationship.

He said: “I thought this war would be one of the easiest to solve because of my relationship with Putin. But he has really let me down.”

The head of Britain’s MI6 warned Putin was “stringing us along”.

In a message aimed squarely at Donald Trump, the spy chief Sir Richard Moore said: “I have seen absolutely no evidence that President Putin has any interest in a negotiated  peace short of Ukrainian capitulation.

Sir Richard, who is known as C, used his final chief as head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence  Service to say Putin lies to the world, to his people and “perhaps even to himself.”

He said: “We should not believe him or credit him with strength he does not have.”

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Trump has called Putin a genius, repeatedly mentioned Russia’s size and strength, and he rolled out the red carpet for Putin when they met in Alaska last month.

Sir Richard, who has access to Britain’s most secret reports on Putin’s intentions, insisted the Russian dictator was still determined to bring Kyiv under Russian control.

He said: “Putin seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal.”

But he said Russia was doomed to fail.

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He said: “He cannot succeed. Russia simply does not have the wherewithal to fully subjugate Ukraine by force.

Sir Richard acknowledged Russian troops were “grinding forward on the battlefield”.

But he said it was at “a snail’s pace and horrendous cost”.

He said: “Putin has bitten off more than he can chew.

“History warns us never to underestimate a country fighting for its independence and for its very survival.

“Greater powers than Russia have failed to subjugate weaker powers than Ukraine.

“In the end, if we hold our nerve, Putin will need to come to terms with the fact that he has a choice – to risk an economic and political crisis that threatens his own rule, or make a sensible deal.”

Sir Richard, who has been tipped as a possible British ambassador to Washington, lavished praise on Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy.

He said: “My admiration for him is unbounded.”

By contrast he accused Putin of plunging Russia into “long term decline”.

He said: “He invests not in infrastructure, schools and hospitals but in missiles, munitions and morgues.”

Britain and European leaders have rallied around President Zelenskyy after the war leader had a disastrous meeting with President Trump in the White House in March.

Trump’s relations with Zelenskyy have since improved but Ukrainians fear he could cut US support to Ukraine on a whim.

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Trump threatened Russia with “serious consequences” if he didn’t make steps towards peace.

But Trump’s deadline passed with no penalties for Russia.

And Moscow has since flown a squadron of drones into Poland during a night-time blitz on Ukraine.

Sir Richard goaded the Russian president – who is himself a former KGB intelligence officer –  by encouraging Russians to spy for Britain.

And he boasted that some of Putin’s opponents were already “secretly working with MI6”.

Sir Richard was making his final public speech before stepping down after five years as the chief of MI6.

And he formally launched new “dark web portal” codenamed Silent Courier,  to help potential spies contact MI6 secretly from anywhere in the world.

He is due to be replaced by Blaise Metreweli, the first ever female chief of MI6, who is currently serving as Q, head of the MI6 gadgets.

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VLADIMIR Putin has fired his top general amid ongoing humiliating blows from Ukraine.

General Alexander Lapin, 61, was reportedly sacked for failing to sweep through the Sumy region – considered one of the tyrant’s key war goals.

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Once a decorated militant, he was awarded the Kremlin’s top honour: the Hero of Russia.

Despite his many medals, however, he came under fire and was criticised as “incompetent” by military experts.

Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Chechnya, said of him three years ago: “If I had my way, I would have demoted Lapin to private, deprived him of his awards, and sent him to the front line to wash off his shame with the rifle in his hands.”

Reports suggest Russia lost three battalions in its attempt to capture the Sumy region as Ukraine continues to grind down on Vlad.

His dismissal, however, has raised suspicions Putin is looking for scapegoats to explain his humiliating military defeats.

This includes his slow territorial gains into Ukraine while losing millions of men both injured and killed.

He was also earlier blamed for Ukraine’s impressive advance into Russia’s Kursk region, which the tyrant only narrowly pushed back on thanks to North Korean forces.

During the war, Lapin commanded the Centre group of forces, reaching  the title Hero of Russia.

A year later, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of Russian Ground Forces.

Later he commanded the Leningrad Military District, then the North group.

In his new role, he will be in charge of recruiting contract soldiers in Tatarstan, the 44th largest region in Russia.

He will also liaise with service families including widows of fallen soldiers. 

It comes as analysts have recognised how Ukraine has been heavily defending a key town for over a year in its war with Russia.

The key town of Pokrovsk has also been deemed strategically critical for Putin’s territorial ambitions.

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As a vital railway and transport hub, Provosk could give Russia a huge supply line if captured, according to intelligence officer Philip Ingram.

It has been nicknamed the “gateway to Donetsk” by Russian media with key crossroads that could enable Putin the seize the rest of the area.

Putin has also revealed how he just about “dodged” death trying to fire up the engine of a motorbike.

The 72-year-old told defence minister Andrei Belousov of the incident: “I once got on a motorcycle, revved it.

“And it went into a spin and flipped over.

“I just dodged it at the last second. It fell right next to me.”

The Russian leader has long sought to cultivate an image as a macho tough guy as part of his domestic persona.

He shared the motorbike anecdote dressed in military fatigues – despite being hundreds of miles from the war zone.

BRITAIN must square up to Russia over its threats to undersea cables or risk a “catastrophic” attack a report by parliament has warned.

The military is “too timid” defending pipelines and seabed internet cables and must adopt a much more “muscular” approach, it said.

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The report by Parliament’s National Security Strategy Committee called for “punitive consequences” for saboteurs that go beyond calling them names.

It warned: “Otherwise, aggressors that are content with implausible deniability can cause damage with minimal risk.”

It comes after Navy chief General Sir Gwyn Jenkins warned Russia’s sub-sabotage unit GUGI was “regenerating”.

The committee of 22 MPs and peers warned Russia was the “primary threat” capable of causing severe disruption to the UK.

They cited “numerous allegations” of Russia and China using proxy actors to sabotage subsea cables in the Baltic and Indo-Pacific.

They panned Labour’s former telecoms minister Chris Bryant for dismissing their concerns as “apocalyptic”.

The report said: “The Minister (Bryant) suggested that exploring the risks of a co-ordinated attack on subsea infrastructure was unhelpfully “apocalyptic”.

“We disagree. Focusing on fishing accidents and low-level sabotage is no longer good enough.”

The report warned the UK faces a “strategic vulnerability”.

Proper “defensive preparations” could reduce the chances of a sabotage attack, it added.

Sir David Omand, a former GCHQ spychief, warned Britain would be in Russia’s “crosshairs” in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine.

He said: “We really must expect the Russians to pick on us.”

Professor Kevin Rowlands, from the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre, told the committee that Russia’s GUGI had over 50 vessels including submarines that could dive to 6,000 metres.

He raised fears over vessels deliberately dragging their anchors to sever seabed cables and saboteurs armed with axes cut cables on land.

He said: “Dragging an anchor over a well‑plotted cable is easy and deniable.

“Pre-positioning any timed charges is difficult and risky for whoever is doing that.

“Using divers is difficult and, again, is trackable.”

He added: “In the future, one-way uncrewed underwater vehicles are probably a way ahead for any adversary.”

The MoD said it was investing “in new capabilities to help protect our offshore infrastructure, using the latest technology”.

It said: “This includes through the UK-led reaction system Nordic Warden, to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure, the high-tech RFA Proteus and Atlantic Bastion – high tech sensors above and below the seas to track submarines.”

The Sun understands the advice came from lawyers paid by the Ministry of Defence to act on behalf of the SAS and its veterans.

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UKRAINIAN children abducted during the war are forced to make military equipment used against their homeland, chilling research reveals.

Thousands of innocent youngsters shipped to more than 200 sinister camps across Russia are being subjected to brainwashing and being used as pawns by deranged Vladimir Putin.

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Sickenlingly, satelitte images shows children being used as slave labour to assemble drones and other supplies fuelling the tyrant’s war machine in Ukraine.

Military training has been observed at around 40 of the sites holding children as young as eight, including ceremonial parades and drills, and combat training.

Officials told The Sun it shows Kremlin stooges are teaching children to fight against their home, blasting their use as a “weapons” against Ukraine and beyond.

Daria Herasymchuck, advisor and commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights and Rehabilitation, told The Sun: “For those of us who have observed Putin’s actions up close for more than a decade, we are well accustomed to their evasion, distortion and calculated indifference. 

“We are appalled by the large-scale, logistical and operational capacity Russia is operating in – using children, who are always the most vulnerable victims in armed conflicts, in such a way, is deliberately cruel.”

Since megalomaniac Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been kidnapped and sent to at least 210 facilities inside Russia and occupied territory.

These sites range from summer camps and sanatoriums to a military base, and, in one case, a monastery, according to research by the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL).

Russia is known to have engaged in the deportation, re-education, militarisation and forced adopting of Ukrainian children since at least 2014 from the occupied territories of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk.

But since Putin’s ordered his troops in more than three years ago, researchers say these barbaric efforts have siginificantly expanded.

The HRL has used satellite imagery and open source materials to identify and track Ukrainian children snatched during the war.

Its horrifying report, Ukraine’s Stolen Children: Inside Russia’s Network of Re-education and Militarization, reveals the staggering efforts Moscow goes to to brainwash these youngsters.

Children have been rounded up and moved to at least eight different location types.

These are cadet schools, a military base, medical facilities, a religious site, secondary schools and universities, a hotel, family support centers and orphanages, and camps and sanatoriums.

At least two new cadet schools have been constructed, and at least 49 of the 210 locations have been expanded since the start of the war.

Children are forced to develop “fire and naval training skills” at some sites as part of a warped militarisation campaign.

They are required to participate in “shooting competitions and grenade throwing competitions” as well as receive “tactical medicince, drone control and tactics” training.

In one instance, youngsters from Donetsk oblast received “airborne training” at a military base, the HRL’s report – shared with United
Nations Security Council- reveals.

Children have also been used to help produced military equipment for Russia’s armed forces, including drones.

Herasymchuck, of Ukraine’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative, told The Sun: “The report shows Russia is prepared to use Ukraine’s own children as a ‘weapon’ against Ukraine, and Europe more broadly.

“They are being trained to fight against their own homeland.

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“This is all part of Russia’s long-term campaign to erase the Ukrainian identity – central to this is the Russification and militarisation of Ukrainian children as the report outlines.”

Some youngsters have been held temporarily before returning home – while others have been held indefinitely.

As part of Putin’s callous regime to indoctrinate these children, many have been pushed into a network of so-called family centres.

Others have been pushed into Russia’s programme of coerced fostering and adoption – seeing them eventually placed within a Russian family.

For those who return home, Ukraine authorities have been told of the drastic work that has to be done to undo the damage.

Herasymchuck said: “Rehabilitation for children who return from deportation is one of the most sensitive and complex aspects of our work.

“These children have experienced not only physical displacement but also deep psychological trauma.

“When kids return, children often feel confused, disconnected, or afraid.

“These children have been taught not to resist. That is deeply alarming. Some carry guilt or shame. Others return with hostility or denial of their own identity.

“This is why our work does not end with bringing children home.

Children used as ‘weapons’

Exclusive by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)

RUSSIA is using abducted and brainwashed children as “weapons”, one of Zelensky’s staff battling to rescue Ukraine’s kidnapped kids warned.

Daria Zarivna told The Sun earlier this year that no peace deal will be brokered until Moscow agrees to return thousands of kidnapped youngsters home.

She warned Vladimir Putin‘s thugs are indoctrinating these youngsters and those living in Ukrainian territory under Russian control.

Bring Kids Back Ukraine operations director Daria said Moscow will push them into joining Russia’s army to use them as a “weapon” against Europe in the future.

Since Putin illegally invaded Ukraine three years ago, tens of thousands of children have been kidnapped and taken into Russia.

Kremlin stooges then disturbingly try to rid the youngsters of their Ukrainian heritage and brainwash them into becoming Russian citizens.

Sinister camps have been set up in Russia where children are sent before having their official documents altered and being placed in Russian families. 

Often the children are told that their loved ones have abandoned them and that they are now part of the Russian Federation. 

Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, told The Sun how some children have been abused and suffered sexual violence.

She said: “It’s not just a statistic, 20,000. It’s a life behind every person behind every statistic.

“We have so many families who were separated. We have so many children who were abducted.

“We need to return every single child.”

Presidential advisor Daria meanwhile warned Russia will use the children as a “weapon” against not only Ukraine, but the rest of Europe.

She said: “We are working on keeping this matter in the spotlight and we think that it is extremely important that it be a part of these talks because the Ukrainian children which Russia keeps under its control

“It’s a threat to global security, to Ukraine’s security.

“There are 1.6 million Ukrainian children currently staying in the temporarily occupied territories under the control of Russia.

“They’ve been indoctrinated, they’ve been militarised.”

READ MORE HERE

“Under the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, Ukraine has built a reintegration system that provides each child with a tailored protection and recovery plan.

“Based on children’s needs, they receive medical care, psychological support, legal aid, safe housing, and access to education.”

The Sun previously spoke to one teenager who fell victim to Putin’s evil scheme.

Nastya, then 15, was abducted from Kherson Oblast when it was seized by Putin’s fighters at the beginning of the war in March 2022.

The terrified teenager was placed with a woman who also had ten other children in her care.

She told how she was abused and beat her until she was sent back to the police station where she had originally been held.

Nastya was then enrolled in a college, where she said she was routinely humiliated by soldiers who told her: “You are nothing.”

Eventually, Nastya was able to find a phone and make a call to her mother, who tracked down volunteers in Ukraine to help get her home.

In March 2023, arrest warrants for Putin and his twisted children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova were issued by the International Criminal Court.

Russia attempted to denounce the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable”.

Lvova-Belova has attempted to portray the forced deportation of Ukrainian children as a Russian rescue mission since being appointed Putin’s children’s commissioner in 2021.

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THIS is the dramatic moment Ukrainian drones destroy two Russian bridges used by troops as a key supply route.

The crossings in the Belgorood region were obliterated when two “cheap” drones struck a stash of Vlad’s mines hidden beneath them.

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Video shows the device locking in its target before descending on the bridge.

As a whole stretch of the deck explodes, flames and clouds of thick smoke balloon into the air.

Surrounding trees and forest land are blown up in its path.

Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, which conducted the operation told CNN they had taken a closer look at the bridge after “it became clear that something was going on there”.

When they sent a drone to the area, they discovered a huge pile of anti-tank mines and other ammunition.

The bridges were mined as they were of key strategic importance to Putin.

Lining them with explosives gave him the option of suddenly blowing them up in case of a Ukrainian advance.

This isn’t the first time Ukraine has demolished Russian crossings.

Just a couple months ago, Ukraine blitzed Russia’s iconic Kerch bridge with more than a tonne of underwater mines.

The pre-dawn blast sent a plume of water erupting into the sky.

Ukraine‘s SBU intelligence service said the blast left the bridge in an “emergency state” after devastating its foundations.

It was at least the third attempt to destroy the key road and rail link from Russia to occupied Crimea.

The same SBU special forces unit behind Sunday’s historic drone strikes in Russia claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn attack.

They claimed their agents spent months mining the substructure of the 12 mile road and rail link.

This came as Ukrainian special forces blew Vladimir Putin’s bridges to pieces last year using US-made missiles.

Incredible footage showed a series of attacks with Himars rockets in Russia‘s border region as Kyiv marches on with its brave advance into Kursk.

According to Kyiv, important Russian equipment was destroyed along with Vlad’s bridges.

Video also showed Ukrainian Defence Forces demolishing Russian field munitions, fuel depots, a radio-electronic warfare complex, and a 152-mm D-20 gun, a Ukrainian military officer told the Kyiv Post.

BRITAIN must ramp up missile defences – like Israel’s Iron Dome – or risk its nuclear bases being obliterated in the first hours of a war with Russia.

Moscow would target RAF jets and Royal Navy nuclear submarines if it launched a surprise attack, a report by the Rusi think tank has warned.

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A pre-emptive strike could “cripple” Britain’s nuclear deterrent and conventional military power – as most of the UK’s best weapons are “concentrated on just a few sites”.

The report warned a single Russian Yasen-class submarine could launch 40 cruise missiles from the Norwegian Sea with “relatively low warning”.

Yet the UK lacks both the radars to detect them “skimming over the sea” – or the weapons to shoot them down.

The report’s author Sidharth Kaushal said the immediate threat comes from sub-sonic Russian cruise missiles which can be launched from planes and submarines.

By 2035 the main risk will come from intermediate range ballistic missiles, like the Oreshnik blasted at Ukraine last year.

By 2040 the UK will need to defend against “hypersonic glide vehicles” which can travel at 20 times the speed of sound.

He also warned short range drones could be smuggled close to targets and launched from sea containers – like Ukraine’s Operation Spiders Web – or launched by Spetznaz special forces.

Kaushal said calls for a British Iron Dome were warranted by Russia’s focus on “long-range conventional precision strike” weapons.

He said: “The initial priority is the expansion of its capacity for the defence of critical military installations against what is primarily a cruise missile threat.”

The report urged Keir Starmer to buy space based sensors and long range radars that can see 3000km away, the equivalent of Lands End to Moscow.

He said “long-range precision strikes” was central to Kremlin military doctrine.

He said: “The destruction of aircraft on the ground is particularly salient. The destruction of nuclear attack submarines that carry submarine-launched cruise missiles is also described as a priority.”

Russian targets would likely the Royal Navy Bases at Devonport and Clyde and RAF Marham in Norfolk, where the nuclear capable fleet of F-35 stealth jets is based.

It comes after RAF war games showed Britain would be overwhelmed if it faced a Russian missile attack like the first night of the war in Ukraine.

Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said: “It was not a pretty picture.”

The drills suggested bases would be blown to smithereens and £100 million fighter jets could get blitzed before they could hide.

Air Cdre Crawford, who was head the RAF’s Air and Space Warfare Centre at the time, said it showed the UK “home base” was no longer safe.

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The drills used a £36 million wargaming system to test the UK’s responses to “hundreds of different types of munitions” attacking from multiple different directions.

It exposed multiple vulnerabilities including a chronic shortage of airfields and a lack of hardened shelters for protect and hide jets on the ground.

The government sold off scores of airfields and watered-down the RAF’s powers to commandeer civilian runways.

The Armed Forces rely on RAF Typhoons, which scramble from RAF Lossiemouth, to shoot down incoming drones and cruise missiles.

The only British missiles that could intercept Russian ballistic missiles are based onboard the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers.

Air Cdr Crawford warned Britain had got lax by standing at the edge of Europe and “feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy”.

He said: “Ukraine has made us all sit up.” The government announced last week it was buying six more launchers to for its Sky Sabre air defence systems.

The weapons, used by the Royal Artillery, can shoot down targets the size of a tennis ball at two times the speed of sound.

UKRAINIAN forces claim to have killed three perpetrators of the Bucha massacre in a slew of revenge bombings.

It comes as Kyiv marked its Independence Day by unleashing a wave of drone strikes crippling key energy infrastructure in Russia.

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Ukraine‘s military intelligence unit GUR said three Russian soldiers dubbed “Butchers of Bucha” were wiped out in surgical bombings in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region.

They were targeted in the Luhansk region while operating as a mobile air defence group to cover a Russian military-repair base.

Bucha is a town close to Kyiv where Russian troops were accused of perpetrating appalling war crimes as they sought to storm Kyiv in 2022.

Hundreds of Ukrainian people were subjected to executions, torture, mutilation, and sexual violence including rape used by as weapon of war.

After the Russian retreat, mass graves were found where dozens of bodies were hastily buried by Putin’s occupying force.

There were numerous accounts of indiscriminate killings of civilians, including those seeking to flee the violence.

The revenge attack came in Kalynove village, where the Russian soldiers were linked to the Bucha atrocities.

Ukrainian military officials said: “In 2022, [these dead] Russian occupiers directly took part in committing war crimes in the city of Bucha.

“The detonation was in the yard of an apartment building where six Russian invaders were staying with their military transport.

“As a result of the explosion, two enemy pickups with machine guns were destroyed, one landed with ammunition.”

“There will be just retribution for every war crime committed against the Ukrainian people.”

Meanwhile, the Russia‘s defence ministry said at least 95 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted across more than a dozen Russian regions.

The attaclc come on August 24, the day that Ukraine celebrates its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

One of the drones was shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in western Russia, one of the country’s biggest energy nuclear facility.

It detonated upon impact and sparked a fire, forcing a sharp fall in the capacity of a reactor at according to the facility.

The plant said the fire had been extinguished, adding there were no casualties or increased radiation levels.

There was damage to a transformer which supplies the plant, and the power of reactor number three was reduced by 50 per cent.

Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones had also been shot down over areas sometimes far from the front, including Saint Petersburg in the northwest.

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The attacks caused tourist mayhem at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport as more than 99 flights were diverted or delayed at the busy hub.

Ten drones were shot down over the port of Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland, sparking a fire at a fuel terminal owned by Russian energy group Novatek, regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “This is how Ukraine strikes when its calls for peace are ignored.

“Today, both the US and Europe agree: Ukraine has not yet fully won, but it will certainly not lose. Ukraine has secured its independence. Ukraine is not a victim; it is a fighter.”

Ukraine meanwhile said Russia had attacked it overnight with a ballistic missile and 72 Iranian-made Shahed attack drones, 48 of which the air force said had been shot down.

A Russian drone strike killed a 47-year-old woman in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, the governor said.

It came amid Donald Trump’s rising frustration with Putin for dragging out the war.

Washington is now trying to get Moscow to agree to a one-on-one meeting with Zelensky.

Pressure has been mounting on Putin to sit down with Zelensky since the White House summit – but the latest language from Russia looks suspiciously like well-worn stalling tactics.

Trump hoped he would be able to convince Putin to stop the bloodshed when he met the dictator in Anchorage.

But since then, little tangible progress has been made towards a peace deal.

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In a social media post, Trump appeared to hint that he is open to Ukraine launching more attacks on Russia.

He suggested that it would be “impossible” for Ukraine to win the war without attacking Russia.

He said: “It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country.

“It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defence, but is not allowed to play offence.

“There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”

Trump sets deadline

He set a two-week time frame for assessing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Don told Todd Starnes on Newsmax: “I would say within two weeks we’re going to know one way or the other.

“After that, we’ll have to maybe take a different tack.”

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin is ready to meet Zelensky only after working through a list of vague “issues”.

Lavrov said: “Our president has repeatedly said that he is ready to meet, including with Mr Zelensky.”

But he insisted the meeting would only happen “with the understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level will be well worked out”.

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