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25 Mins Ago

Mark Hamill attends the Premiere of Disney's "Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker" on December 16, 2019 in Hollywood, California.

Rich Fury | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

"Attention. Air raid alert," the voice says with a Jedi knight's gravitas. "Proceed to the nearest shelter."

It's a surreal moment in an already surreal war: the grave but calming baritone of actor Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker of "Star Wars," urging people to take cover whenever Russia unleashes another aerial bombardment on Ukraine.

The intrusion of Hollywood science-fiction fantasy into the grim daily realities of war in Ukraine is a consequence of Hamill's decision to lend his famous voice to "Air Alert" a downloadable app linked to Ukraine's air defense system. When air raid sirens start howling, the app also warns Ukrainians that Russian missiles, bombs and deadly exploding drones may be incoming.

"Don't be careless," Hamill's voice advises. "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

The actor says he's admired from afar, in California how Ukraine has "shown such resilience ... under such terrible circumstances." Its fight against the Russian invasion, now in its second year, reminds him of the "Star Wars" saga, he says of plucky rebels battling and ultimately defeating a vast, murderous empire. Voicing over the English-language version of the air-raid app and giving it his "Star Wars" touch was his way of helping out.

Associated Press

An Hour Ago

Alexei Moskalyov, 54, a single parent of Maria Moskalyova, the 13-year-old girl who drew a picture critical of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine at school in April last year, looks out through the window of his flat after he was placed under house for repeating Ukraine posts discrediting the Russian army, in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region on March 23, 2023.

Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty Images

A Russian man who was investigated by police after his daughter drew an anti-war picture at school was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in a penal colony after being convicted of discrediting the armed forces, the OVD-Info rights group said.

Alexei Moskalyov has been separated from his daughter Masha since he was placed under house arrest at the start of this month and she was moved to a children's home in their hometown of Yefremov, south of Moscow.

The case has provoked an outcry among Russian human rights activists and sparked an online campaign to reunite father and daughter.

Moskalyov was convicted over comments he himself had posted online about the war in Ukraine. But the investigation started after Masha, 12, drew a picture last April showing Russian missiles raining down on a Ukrainian mother and child, prompting the head of school to call the police.

Police began examining Moskalyov's social media activity and he was initially fined 35,000 roubles ($460) for comments critical of the Russian army.

In December, investigators opened another case against him on suspicion of discrediting the armed forces, this time based on a social media post in June.

The banned Russian human rights group Memorial said it considered Moskalyov to be a political prisoner.

A lawyer for the family visited Masha on Tuesday in a children's home and came away with drawings she had made for him. He was also allowed to photograph a letter she had written him that read "Dad, you are my hero", according to a video posted by the independent news outlet SOTAvision.

Shortly after invading Ukraine last year, Russia passed laws against discrediting the armed forces or knowingly spreading false information about them, with a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail.

Reuters

2 Hours Ago

The Kremlin said it would keep demanding an international investigation into explosions that affected the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last year.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "everyone should be interested in an objective investigation involving all interested parties."

"All those who can shed light on the customers and perpetrators of this terrorist act. We consider this extremely important," he said.

In this Handout Photo provided by Swedish Coast Guard, the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on September 28, 2022 in At Sea.

Swedish Coast Guard | Getty Images

Peskov's comments came after Russia on Monday failed to get the U.N. Security Council to approve its bid for an independent inquiry into the Nord Stream gas explosions that damaged the pipelines last September. The subsea pipelines were designed to bring gas from Russia to Germany.

"We regret that our initiative did not pass. But of course, the Russian side will continue its efforts not to silence this topic," Peskov said.

Germany, Denmark and Sweden, who are carrying out their own individual investigations into the incidents, said last month in a joint letter to the Security Council that they believed the explosions were a result of sabotage.

But Russia has complained that it has been sidelined by international investigations into the explosions and doubts the "transparency" of ongoing inquiries into the cause of the damage.

Asked Tuesday what other options Moscow could pursue, Peskov said, "It is hardly possible to answer specifically, but we will do everything in our power to continue to insist and initiate such an international investigation."

Holly Ellyatt

An Hour Ago

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water from volunteers in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine.

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians receive humanitarian aid and drinking water by volunteers amid Russian-Ukrainian war in Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Civilians charge their mobiles phones at a point set up due to power outages amid Russian-Ukrainian war, in the city of Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, March 27 2023.

Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

- Ignacio Marin | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

2 Hours Ago

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, has reportedly pledged to increase cooperation with North Korea.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

The pro-Russian leader of separatists in Donetsk said Tuesday that Russian forces are advancing in the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the self-styled "Donetsk People's Republic," told a Russian TV channel that Russian fighters have almost taken complete control of a metals plant in Bakhmut.

He said fighters in the Wagner Group private military company, who have been fighting to take control of Bakhmut for months, were "working hard" and "confidently," Pushilin said on theSoloviev LiveTV channel on Tuesday, news agency TASS reported.

Pushilin said such forces were creating "unbearable conditions" for Ukraine's armed forces and making it hard for them to supply their troops.

"They have created impossible conditions for the enemy to even carefully try to bring in combat equipment, bring in reserves, or take out even the wounded. All this is extremely difficult," he said, because all the roads are under Russian control, he claimed.

Russia was seen to be making progress in its conquest of Bakhmut in the last few months but in recent weeks, defense analysts have said its forces appeared to be losing momentum.

There has also been speculation that the Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has had a high-profile dispute with Russia's defense ministry, could be ready to pull his fighters out of the area, though he denied that suggestion.

Ukraine is gearing up for an expected counter-offensive although it has said it needs more weaponry from its Western allies before it launches fresh assaults to reclaim lost territory in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Holly Ellyatt

4 Hours Ago

Possible drone attacks against key energy infrastructure are a serious threat to Russia's energy security, Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Tuesday.

Shulginov did not mention Ukraine by name, but Russia says it has foiled a number of attempted Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months.

Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged launching attacks against targets inside Russia, but senior officials in Kyiv have on occasion appeared to welcome the news of successful drone attacks on Russian soil.

"The key threat now is acts of illegal interference through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)," Shulginov said during a roundtable discussion where he addressed the security of Russia's energy facilities.

He said he was cooperating with Russia's defence ministry and FSB security service on the issue.

This photograph shows an object of a critical power infrastructure as it burns after a drone attack to Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

Russia has previously reported drone attacks in several towns and cities, some of them hundreds of kilometres (miles) from its border with Ukraine.

On Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said it had halted a UAV attack in a town 220 km (140 miles) south of Moscow, bringing down the drone over residential houses in the town of Kireyevsk.

Russia accused Ukraine of mounting drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russian territory in December, including the main base for strategic bomber planes near the city of Saratov, after flying hundreds of kilometres through Russian airspace.

Russia itself has launched waves of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the last six months of the conflict, often knocking out power for millions of civilians across Ukraine.

Reuters

5 Hours Ago

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visits the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus on Jan. 6, 2023.

Andrei Stasevich | Belta | Reuters

Belarus' Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it had decided to host Russia's tactical nuclear weapons reportedly because of NATO's "coercive measures" and "the build-up of military potential" in neighboring countries.

"Unilateral coercive measures in politics and the economy are accompanied by the build-up of military potential in the territory of neighboring countries NATO members in close proximity to our border," Belarus' Foreign Ministry said in a statement, reported by Russian news agency Tass.

"Considering these circumstances and the legitimate concerns and risks in the field of national security arising from them, Belarus is taking forced response actions to strengthen its own security and defense capability," the ministry said.

Russia's ally Belarus is seen as something of a bulwark for Moscow against NATO, given that it borders Poland, Lithuania and Latvia all NATO members and Ukraine to the south, and Russia to the east.

Over the weekend, Russia announced that it would locate tactical nuclear weapons (designed for use on the battlefield rather than mass wholescale destruction) within Belarus, saying President Alexander Lukashenko had made the suggestion to do so.

Minsk and Moscow both insisted the plans would not contravene international non-proliferation agreements, saying the U.S. already did the same thing with its allies and that Belarus would not have control over the weapons.

NATO criticized Russia's nuclear rhetoric, calling it "dangerous and irresponsible."

Holly Ellyatt

5 Hours Ago

Ukrainian personnel on top of a Challenger 2 tank during training at Bovington Camp, near Wool in southwestern Britain, on Feb. 22, 2023.

Toby Melville | Reuters

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that British Challenger 2 battle tanks have arrived in the country.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said onTwitter that the tanks had arrived in the country but did not specify when. The tweet included a video of Reznikov trying out one of the tanks.

"It was a pleasure to take the first Ukrainian Challenger 2 MBT for a spin. Such tanks, supplied by the United Kingdom, have recently arrived in our country," Reznikov wrote.

The U.K. was the first country to agree to send battle tanks to Ukraine, before Germany and the U.S. decided in January to send their own heavy tanks. The first shipment of German-made Leopard 2 tanks arrived in Ukraine Tuesday, Berlin's Defense Ministry said.

Holly Ellyatt

7 Hours Ago

Russia's Pacific Fleet fired cruise missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

In a post on Telegram, the ministry said two of its ships were involved in the exercise that saw it fire Moskit cruise missiles supersonic anti-ship cruisemissiles at a "mock enemy" target at sea."The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometers [62.1 miles], was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles," the ministry claimed, saying the combat exercise was carried out safely. It did not state which ships had taken part in the exercise.

The "Varyag" guided-missile cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Pacific Fleet, docked at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in 2017.

South China Morning Post | South China Morning Post | Getty Images

Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo will stay vigilant against Moscow's military operations, Reuters reported. He added that no damage was reported after the missile launches.

"As Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, Russian forces are also becoming more active in the Far East, including Japan's vicinities," Hayashi told a regular press conference, the news agency said.

When asked about Russia's plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Hayashi said Japan condemned the move and demanded Russia and Belarus stop "such an action that would further increase tensions."

Holly Ellyatt

Read more here:
Ukraine war live updates: German and British tanks arrive in Ukraine; Russia fires supersonic missiles off Japan's coast - CNBC