Russia-Ukraine war
Vladimir Putin removes defence minister in major shake-up of Kremlin security team
Longtime defence minister Sergei Shoigu is being replaced but - in a way calibrated not to suggest seismic changes amid Russia’s protracted war in Ukraine.
- by Mary Ilyushina
Latest
Plot to assassinate Zelensky and top Ukrainian officials a ‘gift to Putin’
Ukrainian authorities said they arrested two officers in the agency responsible for protecting senior government leaders and accused them of developing the assassination plot.
- by David L. Stern and Serhiy Morgunov
Opinion
World markets
Gold fever: Why China and the rest of the world are stocking up
The gold price is behaving very strangely, but there is a simple explanation.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
‘New round of escalation’: Putin’s Russia threatens UK, plans tactical nuclear drills
The drills are a response to “provocative statements and threats of certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Opinion
Opinion
Vladimir Putin humiliated as his gas empire crumbles
Vladimir Putin is throwing everything he has got at ramping up Russia’s war machine. But it does not include one previously reliable source of cash.
- by Tim Wallace
This prominent Melburnian thinks Australia is failing Ukraine. He’s trying to fill the gaps
Investor James Baillieu, the nephew of former premier Ted Baillieu, says the war in Ukraine has been wiped off the news cycle and the Australian government doesn’t care.
- by Stephen Brook
Meet the hero dog so popular he’s been targeted by the Kremlin
Bomb sniffing dog Patron is now so popular in Ukraine that he’s inspired hit songs, an animated YouTube series and various forms of fan art.
- by Rob Harris
Opinion
Putin's Russia
Western banks have no excuse for funding Putin’s war machine
Some of the world’s biggest banks are now generating far more money in Russia than they were before the war started. It is shameful.
- by Ben Marlow
Europe must prepare to send troops to defend Ukraine, Macron says
The French president told The Economist that governments will need to act if Vladimir Putin makes a significant breakthrough in the coming months.
- by Rob Harris
Russian missile hits law school, kills several in Ukraine’s Odesa
“Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don’t know what else to say,” Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said in a video posted on Telegram.
- by Iryna Nazarchuk
Kremlin displays Australian-made Bushmasters as ‘trophies’ in Moscow
The propaganda exercise comes ahead of a May 9 military parade to commemorate the end of WWII, which has become a homage to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- by Rob Harris