Russia Ukraine news today live: Kyiv hits out at ‘ridiculous’ suggestion it could give up land to Putin

Former Ukrainian captives have alleged they were subjected to torture, including electric shocks, while they were held at a detention facility in Russia.

Speaking to the BBC over a dozen former detainees detailed the alleged physical and psychological abuse they suffered at the hands of Russian officers and guards at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility Number Two in Taganrog.

They have since been released in prisoner exchanges.

Guards at the facility carry black batons and metal bars to beat the captives in the legs, arms, or “anywhere they wanted”, senior lieutenant Artem Seredniak was quoted as saying. “It’s what they call ‘reception’,” he said.

The captives were left under-nourished and the injured were not provided appropriate medical assistance, according to the report, which details a number of potential serious violations of international law.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, told BBC that nine in every 10 former detainees claimed they had been tortured while in Russian captivity. “This is the biggest challenge for me now: how to protect our people on the Russian side,” Mr Lubinets said. “Nobody knows how we can do it.”

This is the moment armed Russian naval inspectors storm a cargo ship in the Black Sea after the vessel allegedly failed to stop when told to by a Kremlin warship.

Moscow said it fired warning shots at the Sukru Okan after it failed to respond to a demand for it to halt on Sunday.

In the video, released by Moscow, the servicemen make their way down a corridor carrying automatic weapons. They enter the vessel’s bridge and question the captain on why the ship had not stopped.

It appears the vessel’s failure to stop may have been caused by a language barrier.

Russia’s central bank is due to hold an unscheduled meeting to discuss the level of its key interest rate – in the wake of the rouble falling to its lowest value for more than 16 months.

Pressure on the Russian economy is growing as the Kremlin continues pumping vast sums into its invasion of Ukraine. The country has been targeted with sanctions led by Western nations since the invasion began.

Imports are also rising faster than exports sending the rouble past 100 per US dollar.

The rouble plummeted as low as 119 per US dollar shortly after president Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February 2002, but was later stabilised through capital controls and Russia’s lucrative oil and gas exports. The rouble has lost about a quarter of its value against the dollar tha start of the war.

Russia is likely aiming for self-sufficiency in Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (OWA-UAVs) in the coming months, the British military has said.

Russia has almost certainly started to deploy domestically produced one-way attack OWA-UAVs based on Iranian Shahed designs, the defence ministry said today in its daily intelligence.

“Indigenous manufacturing will likely allow Russia to establish a more reliable supply of OWA-UAVs,” it said, adding, “the performance of these weapons has been variable and Ukraine has proved effective in neutralising the majority of incoming OWA-UAVs.”

Ukraine has slammed a top Nato official for suggesting that Kyiv may have to cede territory to Russia in order to join the military bloc.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed the idea suggested by Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff.

“Trading territory for a NATO umbrella? It is ridiculous,” Mr Podolyak wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.

That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations.

“Obviously, if Putin does not suffer a crushing defeat, the political regime in Russia does not change, and war criminals are not punished, the war will definitely return with Russia’s appetite for more.”

He made the remarks in response to Stian Jenssen’s suggestion that Kyiv might have to cede land to become a Nato member.

“I’m not saying it has to be like this,” he told Norwegian newspaper VG. “But that could be a possible solution.”

Alternative rock band, the Killers, has apologised for bringing a Russian drummer on stage during a show in Georgia while describing fans as “brothers and sisters”.

The seven times Grammy nominated band performed yesterday in the Black Sea resort of Batumi during a European tour.

“Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone!” the band said in a statement on its Facebook page, adding that it had a longstanding tradition of inviting people to play the drums.

“We recognise that a comment, meant to suggest that all of the Killers’ audience and fans are ‘brothers and sisters,’ could be misconstrued,” it added.

The reference was to a remark band leader Brandon Flowers made to the crowd, saying he did not want the situation to turn “angry”.

“I see you as my brothers and my sisters,” he added to the sound of boos and whistles.

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones early this morning over the Kaluga region, the country’s defence ministry said.

There were no casualties and no damage in the attempted attack which took place at around 5am (local time), the ministry added, according to Reuters.

The Kaluga region borders the Moscow region to the north.

Poland held its biggest military parade since the Cold War to showcase its state-of-the-art weapons as war rages in neighbouring Ukraine.

President Andrzej Duda, the commander in chief of the armed forces, said in his opening speech that the protection of Poland’s eastern border is a key element of state policy.

He also noted that Poland, a Nato member, is supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s aggression of almost 18 months.

“The defence of our eastern border, the border of the EU and of Nato is today a key element of Poland’s state interest,” Mr Duda said.

Some 2,000 troops, 200 vehicles and almost 100 aircraft took part in the parade to mark the 103rd anniversary of Poland’s victory over the Soviet Union’s Red Army in the Battle of Warsaw in 1920.

Poland’s armed forces have more than 175,000 troops, up from some 100,000 eight years ago, Mr Duda said.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland’s conservative government has focused on strengthening the armed forces and has spent more than $16bn on tanks, missile interceptor systems and fighter jets, many purchased from the US and South Korea.

The US has warned Russia and North Korea against military cooperation between the countries, arguing it would violate UN resolutions aimed at restricting Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

“Our concerns persist as North Korea continues its assistance to Russia’s invasive war against Ukraine,” US state department official Vedant Patel said yesterday.

He said Moscow is compelled to rely on countries such as North Korea and Iran for military support. “Any security cooperation or arms trade between North Korea and Russia will violate a series of UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and Russian president Vladimir Putin exchanged letters yesterday pledging to develop their ties into what Mr Kim called a “long-standing strategic relationship”, according to Pyongyang’s state media KCNA.

In his letter to Mr Putin, North Korea’s leader said the two countries’ friendship was forged in the Second World War with victory over Japan and is now “fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony”.

Russian mines are washing up on busy Black Sea tourist beaches, frequently exploding, and sometimes even killing holidaymakers.

A Russian mine exploded in the Romanian Black Sea resort of Costinesti as recently as Monday, although it caused no injuries or damage, according to local reports.

Another mine was also discovered in the water there.

“It is believed that a Russian sea mine exploded,” said the spokesman of the Romanian Navy, Colonel Corneliu Pavel, Sofia News Agency reported. “These sea mines are a danger not only to shipping but also to shore-based activities.”