Activists paint giant Ukrainian flag outside Russian embassy in London

A group of activists poured hundreds of litres of yellow and blue paint onto the road outside the Russian Embassy in London on Thursday to create an enormous Ukrainian flag ahead of the one year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.

The campaign group “Led By Donkeys” halted traffic before spreading more than 300 litres of paint across the road using wheelbarrows and brushes to make the 500 square metre (5382 square feet) flag.

“Ukraine is an independent state and a people with every right to self-determination,” the group said in a statement.

“The existence of a massive Ukrainian flag outside (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) embassy in London will serve to remind him of that.”

Moscow says its invasion was justified by concerns about its security.

London’s Metropolitan Police said three men and one woman had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and obstructing the highway.

The tyres of several vehicles were covered in the paint as they drove over it, leaving colorful markings along the road which borders Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

The group said the non-toxic, solvent-free and fast-dry edible paint was washable and designed for road art.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 14:31

West is using Ukraine to try to break up Russia, says Russian defence minister

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Thursday accused the West of using Ukraine to try to break up Russia, the world’s largest country by territory, but said he thought the purported attempt to do so would fail.

“Using Ukraine, the collective West is seeking to dismember Russia, to deprive it of its independence. These attempts are doomed to fail,” Shoigu said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 16:00

Ukraine-China meeting ‘would be desirable’- Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday he had not seen any Chinese plan for ending Russia‘s war on Ukraine, but that “it would be desirable” for Chinese and Ukrainian representatives to meet.

He said on the eve of the first anniversary of Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine that Kyiv had already communicated the desire for such a meeting.

“We would like to meet with China,” he said during a news briefing in Kyiv with visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. “This is in the interests of Ukraine today.”

China’s top diplomat has said Beijing will set out its position on settling the Ukraine conflict through political means in a document that will reference principles from the United Nations’ founding charter and take into account territorial integrity, sovereignty and security concerns.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to deliver a “peace speech” on the Feb. 24 anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.

Zelenskiy said he had heard only “general things” about China’s proposals through Ukrainian diplomats, but that it was encouraging that China was considering brokering peace.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 15:32

Ukraine at war a year on: Sign up to our exclusive expert panel event

To mark the year anniversary of the war in Ukraine breaking out, The Independent is bringing together a panel of experts who have been at the forefront of the coverage of the conflict.

Our panel will be looking back at some of the key moments from the past year as well as looking ahead to what is likely to happen next and if any future resolution is in sight.

The Independent’s news editor Steph Cockroft will be hosting the event and she will be joined by Russia expert and columnist for the Independent Mary Dejevsky, The Independent’s international correspondent Bel Trew, who will be joining live from Ukraine, and Tim White a journalist who has been reporting from the war torn country for much of the past 12 months and updating his thousands of followers on Twitter regularly from the ground.

Join our free panel for an hour’s discussion and also exclusive insight into Bel’s upcoming Independent TV Originals documentary on Ukraine’s missing victims ‘Body in the Woods’.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 14:00

Ukraine has convicted 26 war crimes suspects since invasion

Ukrainian courts have tried and convicted 26 low-ranking suspects since the Russian invasion a year ago and have brought charges against nearly 300 individuals, an official said on Thursday.

Ukraine‘s prosecutor coordinating war crimes cases in The Hague, Myroslava Krasnoborova, said the convictions were for crimes including rape and murder, the shelling of residential buildings, cruel treatment of civilians and pillaging.

So far, Ukraine has registered more than 71,000 alleged war crimes since Feb. 24, 2022, she said.

“Atrocities and destruction caused by Russia are colossal and endless. Millions of people have been forced to leave everything behind. Massive missile attacks are destroying the civilian infrastructure and many tragically lost their lives,” she said.”

“This damage cannot be undone, but what we can do is to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,” Krasnoborova said during a briefing about efforts to create accountability for the widespread atrocities.

Russia has denied committing atrocities or targeting civilians.

A total of 296 individuals have so far been charged with war crimes, with 99 cases currently being handled by Ukrainian courts, she said.

Ukraine‘s law enforcement agencies are being assisted in war crimes investigations by dozens of countries and institutions.

The figures were released at a briefing by the European prosecuting authority Eurojust, where a Joint Investigation Team for war crimes in Ukraine has been established with the ICC, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine.

No arrest warrants have yet been issued in public by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which began investigating possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 13:30

Watch: Giant Ukrainian flag painted on road outside Russian embassy

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 13:00

Putin says Russia will pay more attention to boosting nuclear forces

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would pay increased attention to boosting its nuclear forces by deploying a much delayed new intercontinental ballistic missile, rolling out hypersonic missiles and adding new nuclear submarines.

It comes after he suspended Russia’s participation in the START nuclear arms control treaty earlier this week.

“As before, we will pay increased attention to strengthening the nuclear triad,” said Putin, referring to nuclear missiles based on land, sea and in the air.

“We will continue mass production of air-based hypersonic Kinzhal systems and will start mass supplies of sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles,” Putin said in the remarks issued by the Kremlin early on Thursday.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 12:38

Destruction and defiance: Inside Putin’s year-long war on Ukraine

It has been one year since Russia launched their invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s war has raged across Ukraine since early 2022, sparking an international crisis and raising tensions between the West and Russia to a point not seen in decades.

During the past 12 months, territories in the Eastern European country have been lost and gained back, and thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed.

Gas and oil prices have rocketed, and millions have been left seeking refuge but, throughout it all, Ukraine has stood strong and defended its land.

The Independent has closely covered the conflict, and, using our reporting both on the ground and remotely, we have revisited the past year’s key moments — from footage of possible Russian war crimes to soldiers being reunited with their families.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 12:01

Russia intensifies attacks ahead of the one year anniversary of war on Friday

Russia is intensifying hostilities in Ukraine a year after its invasion in a deliberate attempt to deplete Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said Russia had set the goal of capturing all the territory it does not control in the two regions that make up the industrial Donbas area of eastern Ukraine by summer.

The fiercest fighting remained around the eastern city of Bakhmut, he told a military briefing on the eve of Friday’s anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24 last year.

“The enemy, having an advantage in the resource of human mobilisation, is deliberately intensifying hostilities in an effort to deplete the units of the armed forces of Ukraine,” Gromov said.

“In the short term, it is important for the Kremlin to capture the key settlements in the Donetsk region, and in the future to capture (all of) the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the summer.”

Kyiv says Russia is suffering heavy casualties as it throws recently mobilised troops into battle, but Gromov said Moscow was using better prepared soldiers from regular units in the already months-long battle for Bakhmut.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 11:18

Moscow agrees to give Wagner more Ukraine battle shells after row

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia‘s Wagner mercenary force, said on Thursday that much-needed ammunition for his troops had been dispatched, after a public row in which he accused the military leadership of treason.

Prigozhin had on Wednesday published a grisly image of dozens of men who he said had been killed because commanders including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov had withheld ammunition to spite him. Neither man commented but the ministry rejected the charge.

In an audio clip on Thursday, Prigozhin said he felt the pressure he and others had put on the Defence Ministry had paid off, and that he had been told ammunition was now on its way.

“So far, it’s all on paper but, so we have been told, the principal documents have already been signed,” said Prigozhin.

“I would like to thank all those who helped us do this. You saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives of guys who are defending their homeland, gave them a chance to move on with their lives.”

The ministry, in a statement late on Tuesday, said allegations that “assault troops” fighting in Ukraine were being starved of shells were “completely untrue” and complained – without mentioning Prigozhin by name – about attempts to create splits that worked “solely to the benefit of the enemy”.

Maryam Zakir-Hussain23 February 2023 11:00