World

Ukraine could become a member of the European Union after the EU Commission proposed it as a candidate, the first step on a long road toward membership for the war-torn country. Ukraine applied for membership in the bloc less than a week after Russia first invaded the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the news from

Russia has “strategically lost” the war in Ukraine and is a “more diminished power”, the head of the UK’s armed forces has said. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said Vladimir Putin had lost 25% of Russia’s land power for only “tiny” gains. And while Russia may achieve “tactical successes” in the coming weeks, he said any

The wife of a British journalist killed in the Amazon has said his family can “say goodbye with love” after his body was found. The remains of Dom Phillips and his companion, indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, were found near where the pair disappeared on 5 June, the Brazilian justice minister Anderson Torres said. A suspect

The main suspect in the killings of a British journalist and indigenous expert has confessed to fatally shooting them in a remote part of the Amazon, police have said. Police told reporters that the suspect confessed on Tuesday night and also took officers to the spot where the bodies of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Rumours constantly circulate about Vladimir Putin’s health – but is there anything to back up the claims? During a live session of questions and answers on Sky News with defence and security analyst, Professor Michael Clarke, one viewer asked: Is Putin really ill or is it just wishful thinking? Mr Clarke said speculation about Mr

Russia has demanded that Ukrainian forces holed up in a Severodonetsk chemical plant lay down their weapons and surrender this morning. It comes as Moscow’s forces inch closer to gaining control of the strategically important city – one of the last in the Donbas region that they have yet to win. Ukraine has said that

Pope Francis has said the war in Ukraine was “perhaps in some way provoked or not impeded”. While condemning “the ferocity, the cruelty of Russian troops”, he said “we must not forget the real problems if we want them to be solved” – including the armaments industry among the factors that provide incentives for war.

All bridges to the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk are now impassable, making it impossible to get civilians out and humanitarian aid in. Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, which includes Severodonetsk, said that Russians had destroyed two of the three bridges connecting the city with Lysychansk, and the third is old and unsafe. Mr

The Court of Appeal has ruled the first deportation flight taking asylum seekers to Rwanda can go ahead tomorrow. Rights campaigners have argued that the government policy is inhumane and will put migrants at risk. But officials have said the strategy will deter people from making dangerous Channel crossings from France in flimsy small boats

Rwanda is a densely populated country of 13 million people and the capital Kigali is bursting with life and energy. With a compulsory monthly street clean and a ban on single use plastics, parts of the country are pristine and picturesque. The east African nation is now getting ready to welcome the first group of

Morocco has banned controversial British film The Lady Of Heaven over its “blatant falsification of established facts in Islamic history”. UK cinema chain Cineworld has already cancelled screenings of the film after protests over its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Lady Fatimah. Now the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM) has issued a statement to say

Maryna Berlizova is sitting on her low bed, a photo of her youngest daughter taped to the wardrobe and a pram in the corner, overflowing with baby clothes. She is absent-mindedly stroking her tummy and looking out the window of her mother-in-law’s small three-bedroom house she now shares with her children. In a few weeks’

The treeline gives a little respite from the blazing sun and cover for the soldiers on the frontline. A spotter crouches, binoculars to his eyes, scanning the woods in the distance for movement. The Russian forces are close. Each side knows where the other is; the Russians used to occupy this small camp until they

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered his ministers to do “everything in their power” to secure the release of two Britons captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine and sentenced to death. Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were captured in Mariupol in April during the intense fight for control of the port city and were

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has raised the issue of two British men sentenced to death by a Russian-backed court with her Ukrainian counterpart. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was said to be “appalled” by the sentences handed to Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and has ordered ministers to do “everything in their power” to secure their

Ukraine’s president says the fate of the Donbas hinges on “very brutal” fighting in Sievierodonetsk, a city that’s emerged as a key battleground in recent weeks. Russia is laying siege to the eastern city as it pursues its aim of capturing the sprawling Donbas region. “This is a very brutal battle, very tough, perhaps one

The head of an evangelical megachurch has been jailed for more than 16 years for sexually abusing three underage girls. Naason Joaquin Garcia, leader and self-styled apostle of the Guadalajara-based church La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) admitted two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and performing a lewd act on a

A fourth-grade survivor of last month’s Uvalde school shooting has told a hearing how she dabbed blood on herself and pretended to be dead after the gunman murdered her teacher and friends. Miah Cerrillo and the parents of multiple young Americans killed and wounded in recent mass shootings has testified at the US House Oversight

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blockade of its ports is having a direct impact on food crises around the world, say charities. The World Food Programme has highlighted the impact on Somalia in particular. Spokesperson Petroc Wilton told Sky News the war is making a terrible situation even worse. He said: “Food prices were already

Reports of heavy shelling near Izyum in the east of Ukraine suggests Russia is preparing to make a renewed effort on the northern axis, Britain’s defence ministry has said. In a tweet it said that Russia’s progress made through May on the southern Popasna axis has stalled over the last week and that the country