Humiliated Putin battered as Kremlin troops ‘evaporate’ in Kyiv but genocide fears grow in east

INCREDIBLE drone footage shows one Ukrainian tank taking on an entire Russian column, leading to several vehicles being destroyed.

The T-64 tank can be seen lurking beside a house, waiting to ambush Vladimir Putin’s forces coming along the road about 50 yards in front of it.

As the Russians roll by, the Ukrainian tank opens fire at the middle of three BTR-82 armoured personnel carriers, each carrying up to 10 troops.

The first shot misses with the shell exploding on a hill bit a subsequent shot hits one of the BTR-82s, which can be seen in a fire ball on the road.

Meanwhile the Russians begin firing back wildly at where they think the tank is hiding but none of their shots hit the tank as they steer around the flaming wreck.

Russian soldiers soon begin pouring from the vehicles and fan out to seek cover.

The battle continues as the Russians finally locate the Ukrainian tank and begin firing at it, though none of the rounds find their target.

The video was shared by researchers Ukraine Weapons Tracker, who say that the tank’s attack managed to hold up the convoy allowing more Ukrainian fire to take out more vehicles.

Ukraine seeks arms from NATO

Ukraine told residents to leave while they still can and urged Western nations to send weapons, today after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup.

Russias focus is now on the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking region in eastern Ukraine.

In Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged NATO to provide more weapons for his war-torn country to help prevent further atrocities like those reported in Kyiv’s northern suburbs.

“My agenda is very simple its weapons, weapons and weapons”, Kuleba said as he arrived at NATO headquarters for talks with the military organizations foreign ministers about Ukraine’s fight to defend itself.

“The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved,” he said.

More humanitarian corridors open today

Ukraine is seeking to evacuate civilians through 10 humanitarian corridors today, the country’s deputy prime minister has said.

Iryna Vereshchuk also said that trapped residents in Mariupol will have to leave the city in their own vehicles.

Latest MoD report

The UK’s Ministry of Defence have provided their latest intelligence report on the Russia – Ukraine war.

In a post on Twitter, they wrote that Russian forces are continuing to launch artillery and air strikes in the Donbas.

They also added that the Kremlin focused its efforts on the eastern region after pulling out troops from areas around Kyiv.

Morning! Milica Cosic logging on for the Russia – Ukraine live blog. I’ll be bringing you the latest news and updates until 6pm today.

Oil giant Shell to lose $5bn after quitting Russia and offloading assets

Oil giant Shell has confirmed it will take a hit of between 4 billion and 5 billion dollars (£3.1bn-£3.8bn) from offloading its Russian assets as the company pulls back from the country.

Bosses said they will no longer buy oil on the so-called spot market but would continue to fulfil contracts on buying fuel from Russia that had been signed before its invasion of Ukraine.

The company said: “Shell has not renewed longer-term contracts for Russian oil, and will only do so under explicit government direction, but we are legally obliged to take delivery of crude bought under contracts that were signed before the invasion.”

It added that the state of the global oil markets remains “volatile”.

Last month Shell’s boss was forced to apologise after buying oil on the spot market from Russia at knock-down prices.

The update on the cost of no longer doing business in Russia includes Shell quitting joint ventures with Gazprom.

Russia facing expulsion

The United Nations will hold a vote in New York on Thursday on whether to expel Russia from its Human Rights Council.

Yesterday, Zelensky said how people had been shot in the street and in their homes “just for the pleasure” of the Russian soldiers.

He repeated his claim that the actions of the Russians is much like that of the terrorist group, Islamic State.

He also said that President Putin’s propaganda seeks to “export” his own hatred into other countries beyond Ukraine.

‘Wave of measures will bring an end to the UK’s imports of Russian energy’

Foreign Sec Liz Truss hit Vladimir Putin’s cronies with new economic crackdown but stopped short of a total ban on buying gas.

But ministers vowed to stop buying it “as soon as possible” as it emerged the EU has bought Russia gas worth €35 billion since the invasion.

Britain also blocked the sale of technical equipment used to refine oil, in a bid to stop Moscow diverting its black gold profits into the war effort.

Ms Truss said: “Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK’s imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine.

“Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin’s orders. We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”

British embassy security guard charged with spying for Russia in Berlin

A BRITISH security guard working has been charged with spying for the Russian state in Berlin.

David Ballantyne Smith, 57, was extradited from Potsdam, Germany, after being charged with nine offences under the Act.

The security guard was working at the British Embassy in Berlin, whenhe was arrested by German cops on August 10 last year.

He is accused of spying for the Russian state in the alleged offences between October 2020 and August 2021.

German officials extradited the Brit back to the UK today following his arrest and he will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow.

The nine charges relate to the collection and communication of information useful to the Russian state.

‘Putin, and many of his cronies, hide their wealth, with family members’

More now on why Putin’s secret daughters will be hit with sanctions.

The US’ decision is based on the belief that ‘many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members’.

A senior administration official said: “We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members, and that’s why we’re targeting them.

“We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world.”

New sanctions

The UK has imposed sanctions on Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank.

It’s also committed to ending all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022.

Anonymous ‘leaks nearly a MILLION Russian state network emails’

Hacking group Anonymous claims to have leaked more than 900,000 Russian state network emails in a major attack.

The email addresses are associated with Russia’s largest media corporation, that has been accused of spreading propaganda.

The media company is known as the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK).

VGTRK has been accused of spreading false information about the Ukraine war by multiple other media outlets and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The leaked emails have been shared with a journalist organization called the Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets).

All the emails have also been also made public.

Putin’s ‘secret’ doctor and dancer daughters hit with sanctions

VLADIMIR Putin’s secret daughters will be hit with sanctions in wake of their tyrant father’s horrific war crimes in Ukraine.

Dr Maria Vorontsova, 36, a geneticist, and Dr Katerina Tikhonova, 34, a dancer-turned-mathematician, are being blackballed by EU leaders amid the Russian despot’s continuing atrocities.

The 67-year-old head of state has always tried to keep his offspring out of the limelight and has rarely ever discussed them.

But their dad’s denial has done little to keep them off the sanctions-hit list, with travel bans and asset freezes expected to come into force from Wednesday.

The pair are said to have been thrown into the firing line due to the exposure of the horrors in Bucha and across Ukraine.

The mayor of Bucha recalls seeing people get shot

The mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, has spoken about the allegations of war crimes by Russian forces in his town.

Anatoliy Fedoruk recalled hiding in a building from Russian troops during their occupation and says he witnessed the killings and people being ‘brutally shot’.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newshour programme he said: “Currently we know there were 320 peaceful civilians shot dead by Russian occupiers and this figure is getting bigger.”

He went on to say: “There was a pregnant woman. Her husband was screaming, asking for them not to shoot her, but they just brutally shot her.

“So he had to bury her on the sideroad and instead of a cross [he] put the number plate of his car.”

Bucha is now back under Ukrainian control.

Borodyanka horrors

Borodyanka has been reduced to little more than a wasteland amid fears the death toll could be “worse than Bucha” after terrifying Russian airstrikes buried civilians beneath endless mountains of rubble.

The small town just north-west of the capital was one of the first areas to be decimated after Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24.

Russian jets tore across the town, unleashing bombs from above as several apartment blocks crumbled – burying the dozens of people taking shelter in their apartments.

More than 200 people are feared dead following the cruel shelling attacks according to acting mayor Gerogii Yerko, as heartbreaking pictures show distraught residents weeping as they walked through the destruction.

Haunting drone footage reveals the sheer level of destruction in the one-street town with piles of debris surrounding the burnt-out remains of apartment blocks where people once lived.

Hungary PM asks for ceasefire

Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, says he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin at length earlier today.

During their conversation he reportedly asked the Russian leader to put in place a ceasefire in Ukraine.

He told a news conference that he’d invited Putin for peace talks in Hungary.

He says Putin’s response was “positive, but with conditions”, but gave no further detail.

‘We need to be prepared’ for the conflict to last a long time

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, is speaking in Brussels, where foreign ministers from the security alliance are gathering.

He said: “We have seen no indication that President Putin has changed his ambition to control the whole of Ukraine and rewrite the international order.”

He went on to say that the conflict in Ukraine may take a long time “and we need to be prepared for that”.

The Butcher at centre of probe

The Butcher, Lt Col Azatbek Omurbekov, is now at the centre of a probe into the rape, pillage and murder of hundreds of Ukrainians.

International law states a military commander is responsible for any war crimes committed by his troops.

Volunteers group Tretya Sila said: “In Bucha, there was a military unit 51460 from the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye, Khabarovsk region.

“Soon all these murderers, rapists and looters will be known by name.”

Russian butchers knocked on door to ‘liberate us’ then executed my husband

Russian troops allegedly executed a Ukrainian woman’s husband in front of her, after knocking on her door and claiming they were there as liberators.

The distraught wife from Bucha claimed Putin‘s soldiers gave her three minutes to get out of the house following the killing, meaning she was forced to leave her husband’s dead body in the street.

Iryna Abramov, 48, told Ukraine‘s Ministry of Culture that she was in her house in the town on the outskirts of Kyiv with her husband Oleg and her elderly father when the Russian soldiers arrived.

Bucha, recently reclaimed by Ukrainian troops, was allegedly the scene of war crimes after at least 300 Ukrainian civilians were found dead in the town.

Iryna said Russian forces stormed her home on March 5 and dragged her husband, 40, into the street.

According to a translation of the interview posted on social media, the Russian troops first told Iryna: “We are the liberators. We have come to liberate you.”

UK sanctions

Russia’s largest bank was also slapped with an asset freeze while British businesses were banned from investing in the nation, and will soon also ban imports of iron and steel.

Another eight oligarchs were sanctioned, bringing the total to 82, with assets worth more than £170 billion frozen.

US will impose new sanctions

The US will impose new sanctions on Russia which target their biggest financial institution and its biggest private lender.

President Joe Biden said the measures would “raise the economic pressure on Putin”.

He said: “First the United States will impose full blocking sanctions on Sberbank, by far the largest financial institution in Russia and Alfa Bank, its largest private bank.

“We’re locking down any accounts, any funds that those banks hold in the United States. They’ll not be able to touch any of their money, they’ll not be able to do any business here.

“And second, I’m going to sign an executive order, going to ban any new US investment in Russia, more than 600 private sector companies.”