Ukraine war live: Terror threat emerges in Moscow as Putin warns of full-scale war in Europe

Large NATO drills in the frigid fjords of northern Norway may be just war games meant to hone the fighting skills of the newly expanded 32-nation military alliance. But for troops taking part, they are very real.

And that’s the whole point.

With drills underway now, NATO is baring its fangs in its biggest exercises since the Cold War, sending an unmistakable message to Russia that alliance members are ready to defend each other if needed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 41 drones that were launched over the Rostov region, which borders Ukraine and is home to Russia‘s southern military command, along with two drones over the Kursk region and three over Volgograd.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.The ministry also said the air force had shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet over Pokrovsk, a city and important railway junction in the Donetsk region that is a prime Russian target following Ukrainian forces’ February withdrawal from Avdiivka, a significant setback for Ukraine‘s struggling war effort.

The governor of Russia‘s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, reported that Ukrainian drones attacked two villages near the border Saturday, but that no one was injured. The governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, did not specify damage from the attacks.

Despite its military setbacks, Ukraine resists suggestions of peace negotiations with Russia. During a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was willing to host a peace summit of Russia and Ukraine.

But Zelensky remains firm on not engaging directly with Russia on peace talks and has said multiple times the initiative in peace negotiations must belong to the country which has been invaded.

Ukrainian authorities said two people including a teenage boy were killed Saturday in Russian artillery attacks and Russia reported it had shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet and destroyed a wave of drones over several regions.

The attacks came as Russia is gaining momentum on battlefield and Ukraine is running low on ammunition.

Ukraine‘s allies in the West are delicately raising the prospect of sending troops. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Friday that deploying NATO troops to Ukraine “is not unthinkable.” French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that the idea should not be ruled out.

Serhiy Lysak, governor of Ukraine‘s Dnipropetrovsk region, said a 16-year-old boy was killed and a 22-year-old man injured in a morning artillery attack that hit the town of Chervonohryhorivka. The town is on the opposite bank of the river from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, and the area is subject to almost-daily Russian attacks.

In the town of Chasiv Yar, one person was killed in artillery fire, according to authorities in the Donetsk region, much of which is under Russian control and where fighting has been heavy throughout the war that is now in its third year.

Russian air defences have downed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet over Ukraine‘s Donetsk region, the RIA news agency cited Russia‘s defence ministry as saying on Saturday.

Ukrainian authorities have not reported any fighter jet losses in recent days.

For Margarita, a 33-year-old event planner in St. Petersburg, the prison death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny was devastating news that left her dispirited and longing to take some sort of action.

But she said she had “no courage or strength” to stage a protest in Russia‘s increasingly repressive climate, where even the most innocuous expression of dissent can land people in jail.

Then she saw a call by activists urging people to write letters to female political prisoners for International Women’s Day on March 8. She bought postcards for herself and several acquaintances to sign in what she saw as a safe and simple expression of support for the growing number of those imprisoned for their beliefs.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, the chief Rabbi of Moscow, witnessed first-hand the rise of Putin, writes Adam Luck. Now that he’s fled the country after criticising the Ukraine war, he has a stark warning for the West – the Russian leader has his sights set on more than just Kyiv…

When the chief rabbi of Moscow was summoned by Putin’s FSB agents to Sadovnicheskaya Street police station in 2003, they had one goal: to turn him into a Russian agent.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who had been chief rabbi for the previous decade, was able to resist the Russian state in their efforts to turn him. But when Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, his time was up.

For Margarita, a 33-year-old event planner in St. Petersburg, the prison death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny was devastating news that left her dispirited and longing to take some sort of action.

But she said she had “no courage or strength” to stage a protest in Russia‘s increasingly repressive climate, where even the most innocuous expression of dissent can land people in jail.

Then she saw a call by activists urging people to write letters to female political prisoners for International Women’s Day on March 8. She bought postcards for herself and several acquaintances to sign in what she saw as a safe and simple expression of support for the growing number of those imprisoned for their beliefs.

Donald Trump will have to pay the six-figure legal costs of the company he sued over allegations he took part in “perverted” sex acts and gave bribes to Russian officials.

Christopher Steele, who previously ran the Secret Intelligence Service’s Russia desk, was the author of the so-called Steele dossier, which included denied allegations that Mr Trump had been “compromised” by the Russian security service, the FSB.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presided at a ceremony in which Sweden’s “instrument of accession” to the alliance was officially deposited at the State Department.