Ukraine war latest: Fallout after Biden mistakes Zelenskyy for Russian president; Putin ally admits Russia will 'crush' Ukraine if it accepts peace deal (2024)

Russian authorities have begun throttling YouTube, degrading its usability in a pattern similar to its censorship of Twitter, according to independent Russian media.

State-owned telecoms operator Rostelecom issued a statement this morning sayingequipment used for caching and loading videos were being overloaded, affecting YouTube download speeds across Russia.

But a source from the telecommunications industry told Meduza this is an excuse while the government's censorship agency acts to deliberately slow down the site.

Separately, Stanislav Shakirov, the technical director of an digital anti-censorship organisationRoskomsvoboda, told the BBC's Russia service the government was forcing users to leave the platform by making it impossible to use.

"The Russian authorities definitely have enough technical means," said Mr Shakirov.

"Why can't YouTube be blocked right away? Because in this case, some other infrastructure may fail and, for example, all Android smartphones in Russia will stop working."

He said authorities stopped pictures from loading on social media site X in February 2021 using the same methods.

The Kremlin has denied reports Russiaplanned to assassinate the chief executive of German armsmanufacturer Rheinmetall, which has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine.

CNN and the New York Times reported yesterday that US intelligence had discovered the plot.

But Moscow says the articles were based on "fake"information from anonymous sources and could not be taken seriously.

This hasn't stopped one of Rheinmetall's competitors, German defence groupHensoldt, from reassessing its safety measures.

"For us, this is an opportunity to review our already highsafety standards once again," said a spokesperson for Hensoldt,which produces radar technology for the IRIS-T air defensesystem used in Ukraine.

The German interior ministry said it cannot comment on details of individual threats coming fromRussia.

"We take the significantly increased threat of Russianaggression very seriously," a spokesperson said.

To Australia now, where the government has announced its largest single military assistance package to Ukraine, worth nearly $250m, Kyiv says.

It includes air defence missiles, air-to-ground and anti-tank weapons and ammunition for artillery, mortars, cannons, and small arms.

Meanwhile, an Australian army private and her husband accused of spying for Russia have been denied bail.

Kira Korolev, 40, and Igor Korolev, 62, are the first suspected operatives to be charged under modernised espionage laws passed in 2018.

Australian federal police commissioner Reece Kershaw said the couple allegedly "worked together to access Australian Defence Force material that related to Australia's national security interests".

"We allege they sought that information with the intention of providing it to Russian authorities. Whether that information was handed over remains a key focus of our investigation."

The couple did not appear in person and were represented by lawyers at Brisbane Magistrates Court on a charge each of preparing for an espionage offence.

The charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted.

They did not enter pleas and will appear next in a federal court on 20 September.

Australia quietly expelled a large Russian spy ring comprising embassy and consular staff as well as other operatives using deep-cover identities, a spy agency official and media reported last year.

Ukraine's top prosecutorhas called for the International Criminal Court to prosecuteRussia over a missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.

In one of the worst wave of Russian strikes across the country, 44 people were killed, includingtwo doctors at Okhmatdyt hospital.

The ICC's office of the prosecutor said one of its teams had visited the hospital, butdoes not publicly comment on which indictments it is investigating.

"It's important to show that Russia itself, at the moment, is a criminal state," said Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin.

Moscow denies attacking the hospital despite all available evidence indicating they did, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

A UN rights mission has said there was a "high likelihood"the hospital took a direct hit from a Russian missile, andUkraine's security service said it had unequivocal evidence themedical facility was hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.

The ICC has issued six arrest warrants for alleged Russian crimesin Ukraine, including one against Vladimir Putin.

A former Russian president has admitted Moscow will continue its military operation to "crush" Ukraine - even if Kyiv accepted the terms of the Kremlin's so-called peace deal.

Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Russia will "drive a long steelnail into the coffin" of Ukraine in the event it surrenders much of its eastern territory.

Mr Putin has been shopping around the proposal that Ukraine give up four regions and drop its aspirations to join NATO in return for a ceasefire - a plan deemed absurd by Ukraine and its allies.

"What if they take [the deal] and accept it?" asked Mr Medvedev on Telegram.

"This will not be the end of Russia's military operation. Even after signing the papers and accepting defeat, the remaining part of the radicals, after a regrouping of forces, will sooner or later return to power, inspired by Russia's Western enemies.

"And then the time will come to finally crush the reptile. Drive a long steel nail into the coffin of Bandera's quasi-state," he said, making reference to the Second World War-era, far-right Ukrainian nationalistStepan Bandera.

"Destroy the remnants of his bloody legacy and return the remaining lands to the bosom of the Russian land."

Russian propaganda frequently seeks to portray the modern day Ukrainian state as sympathetic to the Nazis in order to justify its full-scale invasion.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding Russia urgently withdraws from Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

It expressed "grave concern over the precarious nuclear safety and security situation" at the plant, which it said must be returned to Ukrainian control.

The resolution was approved by 99 votes to nine, with 60 countries abstaining and 25 countries not voting.

Russia was joined by Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria, Burundi and North Korea in opposing it.

There have been fears of a nuclear catastrophe since Russian troops occupied the plant shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Zaporizhzhia, which has six nuclear reactors, sits in Russian-controlled territory in south-eastern Ukraine near the front lines and has been continually caught in crossfire.

TheInternational Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about cuts to Zaporizhzhia's electricity, which is crucial for the plant's operation.

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said the repercussions of a possible incident "would be even more catastrophic" thanthe Chernobyl plant explosion in 1986.

Mr Kyslytsya warned that "if we simply stand with our arms crossed, that good luck will not last forever, and an incident will be inevitable".

Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky accused the communique's supporters of trying "to promote the false Western narrative about the source of threats to nuclear facilities in Ukraine".

Russia is likely jamming radars in European nations as part of a campaign targeting NATO allies, according to war analysts.

Disruptionsto aviation and maritime GPS are likely components of a "hybrid campaign" to undermine unity in the alliance and support for Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Finnish transport authorities told Iltalehti that GPS "malfunctions" increased in the past week, after a sailor reported severe interferencewhile guiding other boats near Kotka and Hamina on Finland's southern coast.

"Russia's apparent GPS jamming is likely part of Russia's intensifying hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO states, likely aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and NATO unity," the ISW said.

The US-based think tank said Russian jamming was likely responsible for GPS signal problems on a plane carrying former British defence secretary Grant Shapps in March, and for forcing Finnair to cancel flights to Tartu, Estonia, until May.

Jamming may originate from Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea separated from the Russian mainland by Lithuania and Belarus.

Hungarian Prime MinisterViktor Orban appears to be taking an approach to the war unrecognisable to his NATO and EU allies.

Hot on the heels of a surprise meeting with Vladimir Putin, as well as trips to Kyiv and Beijing, Mr Orban met with Donald Trump while the NATO summit was ongoing.

The pairdiscussed the "possibilities of peace"at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida"as the next stop of his peace mission," the prime minister's spokespersonsaid.

Trump has said he would quickly end the war - without any explanation. Advisers have reportedly presented him with a plan making aid to Kyiv conditional on Ukraine joining peace talks.

NATO and EU leaders have been angered by Mr Orban's antics, having launched his self-styled "peace mission" without their coordination and undermining their attempts to isolate Russia.

"Whatever adventurism is being undertaken without Ukraine's consent or support is not something that's consistent with our policy, the foreign policy of the United States," said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

On his trip to Kyiv, Mr Orban did not tell Volodymyr Zelenskyy he was stopping in Moscow afterwards.

"Not all the leaders can make negotiations. You need to havesome power for this," Mr Zelenskyy said at the NATO summit.

Mr Putin's so-called "peace plan" means Ukraine surrendering four of its regions and dropping aspirations to join NATO.

Ukraine was once again attacked by a barrage of missiles and drones overnight.

The air force said itshot down five cruise missiles and 11 out of 19 droneslaunched by Russia.

Moscow's main target was the town of Starokostiantyniv, an important Ukrainian air base and a frequent target of Moscow'sstrikes, the air force said.

The air force said it did not have the location of the remaining eightdrones launched in the attack.

"It is likely that the enemy is using imitators of attackdrones to overload air defence. There was no information oncasualties or damage."

It comes as the country continues to reel from a devastating wave of strikes on Monday, which killed 44 people and injured almost 200 more.

Joe Biden - a keen ally of Ukraine - is facing fresh calls to bow out of the presidential race after mistakenly referring to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

There were gasps from those in the room at the NATO summit in Washington at the first of two major gaffes - the second: referring to Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump".

Kyiv will be keenly watching what impact this has on the presidential race. The Biden administrations support for Ukraine - both directly and via NATO - has been crucial, while Donald Trump has questioned America's aid.

Indeed, at the news conference, Mr Biden argued Trump would weaken NATO.

The president trailed off before he had completed his thoughts during some answers, while in others, he delivered detailed responses on issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and the need for western countries to produce more weaponry.

The Biden campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, since
his poor debate performance against Trump.

At least 16 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate's 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race.

Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut joined that group
shortly after the news conference ended.

"We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump's promised MAGA authoritarianism," he said.

"I no longer believe that is Joe Biden."

The campaign has commissioned a survey to test how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare if she were to replace Biden as candidate, a source with knowledge of the matter told AP.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found Harris would fare no better than Biden in a match-up with Trump.