Russia Ukraine war live: Putin ‘orders revenge raids’ in Crimea after warship attack

Three servicemen said by prosecutors to have been captured and shot dead by Russian forces this month were members of the 82nd Airborne Assault Brigade, according to Ukraine’s Airborne Assault Troops.

Footage of the alleged killing appears to show three unarmed figures collapsing from a stationary position after being fired upon.

The Airborne Assault Troops said unidentified enemy personnel, “acting intentionally, in violation of the laws and customs of war,” had deliberately killed the three.

It said their bodies had been removed by Ukrainian authorities from the scene, previously identified as being near the village of Robotyne in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region.

“This is another case of a gross violation by the aggressor country of international humanitarian law regarding the treatment of prisoners of war,” the prosecutor’s office said when it announced its investigation.

Thousands of UK soldiers will go on standby from next year as a first response unit against threats to members of Nato following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence has announced:

A photo taken from video released by the Russian defence ministry apparently shows Su-25 ground attack jets firing rockets during a Russian air force mission in Ukraine:

But a Reuters photo shows a Ukrainian Su-25 bomber flying in the occupied Kherson region:

Russian occupation authorities vastly and deliberately undercounted the dead in one of the most devastating chapters of the war — the flooding that followed the explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam in the southern Kherson region, in June.

In Oleshky, one town in the vast area flooded, health workers said Russian authorities hid the true number of dead by taking control of the issuance of death certificates, among other acts. Here are the key findings of the investigation:

A Russian poet has been given a seven-year jail term for reciting verses against Russia’s war in Ukraine, part of the Kremlin’s relentless crackdown on dissent.

Moscow’s Tverskoi District Court convicted Artyom Kamardin of making calls that undermined national security and inciting hatred, after he read his anti-war poems during a street performance in Moscow in September last year.

Yegor Shtovba, who participated in the event and recited Mr Kamardin’s verses, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years on the same charges.

The gathering next to the monument to poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was held days after President Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilisation of 300,000 reservists. The widely unpopular move prompted hundreds of thousands to flee Russia to avoid being recruited into the military.

Police swiftly dispersed the performance and soon arrested Kamardin and several other participants.

Russian media quoted Mr Kamardin’s friends and his lawyer as saying that police beat and raped him during the arrest. He was shown later apologising for his action in a police video released by pro-Kremlin media, his face bruised.

During Thursday’s hearing, his wife, Alexandra Popova, was escorted out of the courtroom after she shouted “Shame!” following the verdict. Ms Popova, who spoke to journalists after the hearing, was later detained on charges of holding an unsanctioned “rally” outside the building.

Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed Ukraine’s peace formula with Pope Francis, he said.

“We discussed our joint work to put Ukraine’s Peace Formula into action,” Mr Zelensky said.

“Over 80 countries are already involved in this process at the level of their representatives. And there will be more of them.

“I am grateful to the Holy See for supporting our efforts.”

A civilian cargo ship sailing to load grain hit a Russian mine in the Black Sea, injuring two crew members, Ukrainian officials say.

Kyiv says Russian attacks on shipping and port infrastructure have increased.

Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“A Panama-flagged civilian vessel was blown up on an enemy sea mine in the Black Sea … The vessel lost its course and control, and a fire broke out on the upper deck,” Ukraine’s southern military command said on Telegram.

Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on 25 December for the first time after switching away from the Julian calendar, under which it fell in January.

Ukraine and Hungary are preparing a meeting of President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the near future, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff has said, amid recent steps by Hungary that have soured ties.

Earlier this month, all European Union states except Hungary agreed to start accession talks with Ukraine. The bloc’s leaders bypassed Orban’s opposition by getting him to leave the room when the decision was made.

But leaders could not overcome Orban’s resistance to revamping the EU budget to channel 50 billion euros to Kyiv and are expected to revisit the issue at an emergency summit on 1 February. Orban wants funding for Kyiv to come from outside the EU budget.

Mr Zelensky earlier said countries need to organise a constructive meeting to discuss problems in their relations. Orban later confirmed he had accepted an invitation to meet.

Read why Ukraine’s potential EU membership matters:

The president of Russian ally Belarus has attended a government-organised meeting with children taken from Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, defying international outrage over his country’s involvement in Moscow‘s deportation of Ukrainian children.

President Alexander Lukashenko vowed to “embrace these children, bring them to our home, keep them warm and make their childhood happier.”: