World

Could F-16 fighter jets soon be screaming over Kharkiv or breaking the sound barrier as they tear through the skies above Zaporizhzhia? It once seemed impossible, but now? Maybe not. As the Western world looks to Germany for a decision over Leopard 2 tanks, it was from the Netherlands that a possibly more radical idea

Kawa adjusts his baseball cap and sips some hot tea. He is a slight, softly spoken young man with few distinguishing features. His friends roar with laughter when he asks us not to show his ears on camera. It’s a moment of levity, but Kawa is deadly serious. As one of Iran’s protest leaders, he

The city of Bakhmut is almost under siege. As you approach, the rumbling percussion of artillery echoes all around – it’s the sound of a coming storm. The first thing that draws your eye is the smoke from shelling in the centre, spiralling up against a bruised skyline. Russia‘s advance is choking routes into this

Ghislaine Maxwell has repeated claims that a photograph showing Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre is “fake”. The 61-year-old was speaking from a Florida prison, where she is serving a 20-year sentence after being found guilty of luring young girls to massage rooms for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fought back tears as he met with the families of those killed in a helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb earlier this week. At the sombre service in Kyiv, Mr Zelenskyy and his wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, laid flowers on seven coffins draped in the blue and yellow flag of

Western nations have failed to agree on a deal to send much-wanted Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, despite holding a summit in Germany. The US and its allies had hoped to convince Berlin to allow the powerful battle tanks to be used by Kyiv to aid in Ukraine’s fightback against Russia. The UK has already

Walking through Kyiv’s central station with Oleksandr Kamyshin is like accompanying a general touring his territory. His authority clears a path through the crowds as he guides us with a brisk stride. His staff stand a little straighter when he walks past. “I visit the station once a day. Some days, more than once. I

The graves are all fresh. Row after row of them, almost identical. The same mound of sandy soil, the same black, red and yellow wreath mounted with a golden star. The same wooden, orthodox cross to mark the grave, though there are some Muslim headstones too. Just the names and the dates on a small

A country that operates German-made Leopard tanks has asked for permission from Berlin to give the heavy armour to Ukraine, Britain’s defence secretary has revealed. Ben Wallace did not say which nation he was referring to but it is likely to be Poland, which has made clear it would like to send some of its

We set off before dawn to drive to Taiwan’s most southern point. A remote, wind-swept place with a unique insight into a potentially perilous standoff playing out above. Atop a blustery hill, you can see out across the water in three directions, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Bashi Channel to the south and

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is resigning. Her final day in office will be on 7 February – and a general election has been called for 14 October. The 42-year-old, who became New Zealand’s prime minister in 2017, choked back tears during an emotional news conference. “I know what this job takes, and I

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is among 14 people who have died after a helicopter crashed by a nursery in a Kyiv suburb, authorities have said. Images from the scene show huge flames and a plume of smoke going into the sky in Brovary, which is located northeast of the capital. Minister Denys

Two Ukrainian soldiers who had amputations after being wounded by landmines are being fitted with state-of-the-art bionic arms made in the UK. They are the first war veterans to be fitted with the new Hero Arm – a 3D-printed prosthesis made by Bristol-based tech company Open Bionics. Andrii Gidzun and Vitalii Ivashchuk tried out the

The co-pilot of Nepal’s fatal plane crash had lost her husband who was a pilot in another Yeti Airlines accident 16 years ago. Anju Khatiwada, 44, was the co-pilot on Sunday’s fatal flight from Kathmandu which crashed into a gorge in clear weather near Pokhara airport killing at least 70 people. Ms Khatiwada’s career in

At least five people have died and another eight are missing after a massive explosion at a chemical plant in north-eastern China, according to state TV in the country. The blast occurred at 3.13pm local time (7.13am GMT) on Sunday, just outside the city of Panjin in Liaoning province, east of Beijing. A further 30

The black box and cockpit voice recorder of the plane that crashed in Nepal have been found, a Kathmandu Airport official has said. The ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Yeti Airlines, was carrying 72 people when it crashed. Rescuers called off their search on Monday evening local time with two people still unaccounted for, and

Hopes are fading for more survivors to be found in the wreckage of an apartment block in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro – a day after the building was hit during a major Russian missile strike. Thirty people have been confirmed dead so far and more than 30 are in hospital, including 12 in

A plane carrying 72 people has crashed in Nepal, killing at least 69, officials have said. Video on local media showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers and crowds gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft. Footage on social media showed the plane flying low before beginning to spin. At

The nephew of a British-Iranian national who was put to death by hanging in Iran has spoken of his shock, describing the execution as a “political game”. Official Iranian news sources reported on Saturday that Alireza Akbari, the country’s former deputy defence minister, had been executed on charges of spying for Britain, but did not

China has reported almost 60,000 COVID-related deaths since early December after the country dropped its strict lockdown restrictions. The announcement follows complaints that the Chinese government was failing to release data about the status of the pandemic. China dropped its strict zero COVID policy on 7 December, leading to a surge in infections among the