Crimea's beach turned into frontline as Russia digs trenches

Crimea's beaches are being turned into defensive lines, with Russian forces digging trenches along the shore.

Photos online show trenches cut into a beach, their zig zag pattern running parallel to a promenade.

Russia is preparing for the possibility of further Ukrainian assaults, after Moscow's retreat from the Southern city of Kherson.  

“Fortification work is being carried out on the territory of Crimea under my control with the aim of guaranteeing the security of all Crimeans,” Sergei Aksyonov, Moscow-appointed governor of the region, said in November.

03:04 PM

Today's top stories

• The Ukrainian Embassy in Greece has received a bloody package, becoming the latest to receive suspicious post in what is thought to be a campaign of intimidation

• Russian forces 'terrorised' two communities in the eastern district of Nikopol overnight with a volley of at least 30 shells. Mariupol is on the verge of riots amid anger among residents over a lack of heating in homes and leaking roofs, according to a local official

• The body of a Zambian student who died while fighting in Ukraine after he was recruited in a Russian jail arrived home in a makeshift coffin Sunday

• President Zelensky said areas experiencing "very difficult" conditions with power supplies included the capital Kyiv and Kyiv region and four regions in western Ukraine and Dnipropetrovsk region in the centre of the country

• Russian forces pounded targets in eastern and southern Ukraine with missiles, drones and artillery, Ukraine's General Staff said on Monday, while millions remained without power in subzero temperatures after further strikes on key infrastructure

• Russia will be invited to attend meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc hosted by the United States next year

• US President Joe Biden told Mr Zelensky on Sunday Washington was prioritising efforts to boost Ukraine's air defences. Mr Zelensky said he had thanked Mr Biden in the call for the "unprecedented defence and financial" help the United States has provided

02:53 PM

'Ukraine to get MiGs in the coming weeks'

Slovakia will send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming weeks, according to the Slovak foreign minister.

Rastislav Kacer said Slovakia was is in discussions with Nato about how to deliver the jets and expected them to be in Ukraine soon.

The delivery is part of an 11 million euro aid package that also includes several thousand missiles, warm clothes and food.

"[On December 7] we approved a package of military aid, which included several thousand missiles used for the MIG-29," he told the Interfax Ukraine news agency.

"So you can equip your existing MIG-29 with missiles that will come to you from Slovakia. But we also discussed it in quite some detail with President Zelensky. And I think I need to keep it a secret as to how it will be done so as not to jeopardise it."

02:14 PM

Nato will not treat Russia like Moscow treats its neigbours, says Polish president

Nato countries can guarantee to Russia that they will not treat it in the same way Moscow is treating Ukraine, Poland's president said in response to a question about French President Emmanuel Macron's idea of security guarantees for Russia.

"What we, as honest people, politicians, Nato members, are able to guarantee to Russia is that no one is going to do to Russia what she is doing to her neighbours," Andrzej Duda told a news conference in Berlin on Monday.

02:12 PM

FIrefighters rush to a house that was damaged in shelling on Kherson

01:12 PM

Ukrainian Embassy in Greece receives bloody package

The Ukrainian Embassy in Greece has received a bloody package, becoming the latest to receive suspicious post in what is thought to be a campaign of intimidation.

The package was received on Monday morning and takes the total number of suspicious packages sent to Ukrainian Embassies in recent weeks to 33, said Oleg Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

Some of those have contained animal eyes and one a small explosive.

12:25 PM

Putin will not hold annual year-end press conference

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold his annual end-of-year press conference this year, which has been dominated by Moscow's Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin said on Monday.

"There will not be (a press conference) before the New Year," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He added that Putin "regularly speaks to the press, including on foreign visits".

Peskov gave no reason for the break with tradition.

During the media gathering - a major political event in the country - Putin takes questions from the press and the public in a marathon that usually lasts several hours.

Last year, he spoke for more than four hours.

11:44 AM

Video: Huge fire engulfs Russian shopping mall

11:41 AM

Latest Russian losses, according to Ukraine

11:20 AM

Mapped: The latest troop positions, according to the Ministry of Defence

10:46 AM

Massive fire guts Moscow shopping mall

A massive fire gutted a shopping mall on Moscow's eastern outskirts on Monday, the second such blaze in four days.

The blaze at the mall in Balashikha that trades in construction items and home decoration materials first erupted at a storage area and later spread to part of the building. A guard was hospitalized after inhaling toxic fumes from the fire.

Fire-fighting teams managed to localise it to an area of about 9,000 square meters and prevent it from engulfing the entire mall.

Officials said the fire was caused by a short circuit that came amid heavy rain in Moscow.

The blaze follows Friday's fire that destroyed the huge OBI construction materials store, part of the MEGA shopping mall in Khimki on the Russian capital's northwestern outskirts.

10:32 AM

Scenes from a supermarket in Odessa where power is limited

09:56 AM

Russian forces 'terrorized' Nikopol overnight

Russian forces 'terrorized' two communities in the eastern district of Nikopol overnight with a volley of at least 30 shells.

"It was a difficult night in the Nikopol district... the Russians terrorized two communities - Nikopol and Marhanets with Grad, Uragan and heavy artillery.

At least 30 shells were directed there," said Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration.

Representatives of the State Emergency Service are working at the scene, but there were no casualties at present, he said.
Nikopol sits across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

09:33 AM

Riots to break out in Mariupol, says local official

Mariupol is on the verge of riots amid anger among residents over a lack of heating in homes and leaking roofs, according to a local official.

Russia claimed full control of the city in May after defeating the last bastion of resistance at the Azovstal steel plant.

But it has reportedly been unable to get the city's utilities working in time for the winter after destroying an estimated 90 per cent of buildings and critical infrastructure.

"A riot is brewing in Mariupol. Propaganda images no longer work, occupation authorities are silent, while problems are piling up. All that is missing is a catalyst," said Petro Andryushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol said.

09:17 AM

Putin lacks troops to retake east, says UK MoD

08:26 AM

In pictures: The latest from Ukraine

08:19 AM

EU to discuss Russia, Iran sanctions, top up of Ukraine arms fund

European Union foreign ministers will meet on Monday to try to agree on further sanctions on Russia and Iran and an additional 2 billion euros (£1.72 billion) for arms deliveries to Ukraine.

However, it remained unclear whether Hungary will block some decisions, resorting to what diplomats have denounced as "blackmail diplomacy" due to a dispute over locked EU funds for Budapest.

"There is agreement, in principle, but there's also the big elephant in the room," a senior EU diplomat told reporters, referring to Budapest's use of its veto power. "It's a type of blackmail diplomacy that we would rather not see but it is what it is."

07:32 AM

Russia can attend APEC meetings, says host United States

Russia will be invited to attend meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation bloc hosted by the United States next year.

As "good stewards of APEC", the United States will invite Russia, which is a member of the 21-country bloc, Matt Murray, a senior US official for APEC, told a media briefing in Singapore.

Relations between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated to their worst in 60 years since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, an act it justifies as a "special military operation", but which has prompted sanctions and condemnation from Western nations as well as countries like Singapore.

07:00 AM

International legal experts assist Ukraine in sexual violence investigation

An international team of legal advisers has been working with local prosecutors in Ukraine's recaptured city of Kherson in recent days as they began gathering evidence of alleged sexual crimes by Russian forces as part of a full-scale investigation.

The visit by a team from Global Rights Compliance, an international legal practice headquartered in The Hague, has not previously been reported.

Their efforts are part of a broader international effort to support overwhelmed Ukrainian authorities as they seek to hold Russians accountable for crimes they allegedly committed during the conflict, now nearly 10 months old.

06:59 AM

Body of Zambian student killed in Ukraine repatriated

The body of a Zambian student who died while fighting in Ukraine after he was recruited in a Russian jail arrived home in a makeshift coffin Sunday.

AFP journalists saw a white, glass-panelled hearse adorned with small curtains affording a partial view of the container holding the body arrive on the tarmac at Lusaka airport, where grieving relatives gathered.

On the coffin was a code written in black marker pen along with letters in the Cyrillic alphabet, betraying its provenance.

Zambia demanded an urgent explanation from Moscow last month over the death of Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda in September while fighting on the Russian side in Ukraine, where he ended up after his spell in prison.