CloseA man suspected of shooting a top military intelligence officer in Moscow has been detained, according to Russia’s security service.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev – an official previously linked to the Salisbury poisonings – was shot several times outside an apartment building in an alleged assassination attempt. He is currently recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said that a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai and has been extradited to Russia, in a statement on Sunday.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister accused Ukraine of the attack, which it has denied.
It comes as the US is aiming to get a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia over the line in March despite a lack of progress on territorial concessions, according to reports.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that the Americans “want to do everything by June” in comments released on Saturday.
But attacks continued as Russia launched more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles on Saturday in strikes on Ukraine's energy sector, targeting the power grid, generation facilities, and distribution substations, Zelensky said.
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Russian airstrike on Ukrainian city kills one
A Russian airstrike on a residential area in eastern Ukraine killed one person and wounded two, officials said on Sunday.
The attack on the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region caused a fire in a nine-story apartment block, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.
Russia also struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine's Poltava region overnight into Sunday, Serhii Koretskyi, chief executive of Ukraine's state-owned gas company Naftogaz said.
Russia has hammered Ukraine's power grid, especially in winter, throughout the nearly 4-year-old war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call "weaponising winter”.
Arpan Rai9 February 2026 03:13
Russia says man suspected of shooting top general has been flown to Moscow from Dubai
A Ukrainian-born Russian citizen has been extradited to Moscow from Dubai on suspicion of gravely injuring one of Russia's most senior military intelligence officers, Russian security officials and investigators said on Sunday.
The Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in a statement that a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.
Russian investigators said Korba, born in the Ternopil region of Soviet Ukraine in 1960, was tasked by Ukrainian intelligence to carry out the shooting. Russia said Ukraine was behind the shooting, a charge Kyiv has denied.
Russian media showed masked FSB officers escorting a blindfolded man from a small jet in Russia in the dark.
The FSB said it had identified two accomplices, also Russian citizens. One, Viktor Vasin, was detained in Moscow, while another, Zinaida Serebritskaya, escaped to Ukraine, Russian investigators said.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of Russia's vast GRU military intelligence service, was shot three times on Friday with a Makarov pistol equipped with a silencer in an apartment block on the Volokolamsk highway in northern Moscow, the investigators said.
Arpan Rai9 February 2026 03:05
Recap: Russia says it captured two settlements in eastern Ukraine
Russia has claimed to have captured two settlements in eastern Ukraine on Sunday.
The country’s defence ministry said its forces had captured the settlements of Hlushkivka in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region and Sydorivka in Sumy region.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Nicole Wootton-Cane9 February 2026 03:00
Ukraine backs call for ceasefire during Winter Olympics
Ukraine has backed calls for a ceasefire during the Winter Olympics.
The idea was proposed by Pope Leo under what he said was the tradition of the Olympic truce. Ukraine responded to the suggestion and backed the proposal.
“We are interested in a ceasefire and if Russia once again rejects, it will once again confirm who is the obstacle for peace and who wants to continue this war,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters.
Nicole Wootton-Cane9 February 2026 02:00
Top Russian general reportedly behind Salisbury poisonings shot in assassination bid in Moscow
The top Russian military general reportedly shot in an alleged attempted assassination outside his Moscow apartment has been accused of being involved in the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.
Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev is deputy head of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence arm.
Mr Alexeyev is believed to have been behind the deadly Salisbury poisonings that caused the tragic death of mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, according to reports. The EU imposed sanctions on him over the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018.
You can read more below:
Top Russian general reportedly behind Salisbury poisonings shot in assassination bid
Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of Russia's military intelligence arm, is in a serious condition in hospitalNicole Wootton-Cane9 February 2026 01:00
ICYMI: Trump envoy showed ‘troubling lack of knowledge at Ukraine peace talks and could not say when war began’
One of Donald Trump’s senior envoys for Ukraine has sparked alarm after making a series of blunders during crucial peace talks, according to a report.
The unnamed official is alleged to have made several comments that exposed a basic lack of knowledge about the war between Ukraine and Russia during trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi last month.
You can read more below in our piece from 31 January:
Trump envoy showed ‘troubling lack of knowledge at Ukraine peace talks
The unnamed official viewed ‘territorial issues like real estate’, a senior Ukrainian official claimed. The White House has pushed back on the reportNicole Wootton-Cane9 February 2026 00:00
Kremlin says it won’t stop fighting until Kyiv gives in
Russia has warned Ukraine that it will not stop fighting until Kyiv makes what the Kremlin considers the right “decisions” to end the conflict during peace talks held this week.
President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner led the US delegation while Ukraine was represented by Rustem Umerov and Russia by military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov.
However, despite reports that the discussions were constructive, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian troops would continue to fight until Kyiv made the right “decisions”.
The Independent’s Maira Butt and Alex Croft have more below:
Kremlin says it won’t stop fighting until Kyiv gives in as first day of talks end
The talks were hailed as ‘productive’ but Russia refuses to compromise on its territorial demandsNicole Wootton-Cane8 February 2026 23:00
Recap: Putin thanks UAE leader as Moscow general assassination attempt suspect detained
Vladimir Putin has thanked his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan after a man suspected of shooting a Russian military officer was detained.
A Ukrainian-born Russian citizen has been extradited to Moscow from Dubai on suspicion of the “assassination attempt” of Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of Russia's vast GRU military intelligence service said.
Nicole Wootton-Cane8 February 2026 22:00
How Putin lures foreign nationals to the frontlines with the promise of work
For average wage earners in Russia, it's a big payday. For criminals seeking to escape the harsh conditions and abuse in prison, it's a chance at freedom. For immigrants hoping for a better life, it's a simplified path to citizenship.
All they have to do is sign a contract to fight in Ukraine.
This desperate recruitment drive is part of Moscow's strategy to replenish its forces in the nearly four-year conflict, while simultaneously avoiding an unpopular nationwide mobilisation. The bloody war of attrition has also seen foreign combatants join the fray. Following a mutual defence treaty in 2024, North Korea reportedly sent thousands of soldiers to help Russia defend its Kursk region against a Ukrainian incursion.
Furthermore, men from South Asian countries, including India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, have reported being duped by recruiters who promised legitimate jobs, only to find themselves conscripted for combat. Officials in Kenya, South Africa, and Iraq have confirmed similar instances of their citizens being misled into fighting.
You can read more below:
How Putin lures foreign nationals to the frontlines with the promise of work
Moscow has largely relied on what it describes as voluntary enlistmentNicole Wootton-Cane8 February 2026 21:00
Ukraine says Russia is illegally targeting the power grid. Here's what the law says
Russian missiles and drones have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in recent weeks, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.
Ukraine has accused Russia of illegally targeting power infrastructure during the war to deny civilians light, heating and running water.
But Russia says its attacks are a legitimate part of its military campaign against its neighbour. Moscow's invasion of Ukraine itself is widely regarded as an illegal act of aggression.
So, are attacks on energy installations allowed during war? You can read more below:
Ukraine says Russia is illegally targeting the power grid. Here's what the law says
Russian missiles and drones have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in recent weeksNicole Wootton-Cane8 February 2026 20:00NewerOlder