40 m. ago A big thank you to Reform for the comic relief in dark times

Very public squabble between Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe has been a joy to witness – even if predictableThese past few weeks have been grim. The world hasn’t felt less safe in decades. European leaders desperately scrabbling to secure a peace in Ukraine that isn’t a capitulation to Russia. A US manchild president who is giving a convincing impression of a Russian asset. Vladimir Putin struggling to believe his good fortune.So a big thank you to Reform for providing so much comic relief. Never has the UK needed a good laugh more than now. Which isn’t to say that the very public squabble between Nigel Farage and Rupert Lowe was in any way unexpected. Given enough time away from dissecting the niceties of the Nazi salute – these things matter to supporters of Reform. Strictly arm out to the front, not the side – Nige can usually manage to fall out with anyone. Apart from Richard Tice. Dicky only exists as an echo to Farage. Without a mind of his own. His tragedy has been to be born a ...

Politics

5 h. ago Fact check: Nigel Farage said he admired Vladimir Putin more than a decade ago

Claims were made about what Mr Farage had said about the Russian president.

Politics

8 h. ago Keir Starmer to host second 'Coalition of Willing' summit on sending UK, French and more troops to Ukraine

The British action comes as Ukraine and the US are set to hold talks on ending Vladimir Putin’s three-year war

Politics

13 h. ago Vladimir Putin expels two Brits accused of spying from Moscow embassy

Russia today expelled two British diplomats in Moscow - the pair have been told they have two weeks to leave Russia after being accused of 'intelligence and subversive activities that threaten Russia's security'

Politics

24 h. ago Defiant Ukrainians blame Trump betrayal over aid and intelligence for latest battlefield horrors

As the globe reels from the political events of the last week, Ukrainians blame Donald Trump for backing Vladimir Putin in what they see as another attempt by Russia to wipe them out completely. World affairs editor Sam Kiley reports from Kyiv

Events

34 h. ago Vladimir Putin issued awkward reply after Lewis Hamilton made promise in toe

Lewis Hamilton has endured several awkward encounters with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the years, with the duo having crossed paths on multiple occasions

Politics

35 h. ago Lewis Hamilton received awkward reply after making promise to Vladimir Putin

No one has won more Russian Grand Prix titles than Lewis Hamilton, and the Formula 1 great had an awkward stand-off with Vladimir Putin following one such victory

Politics

36 h. ago Still uncertain about Trump? Let Boris Johnson guide you on this ‘very compassionate man’ | Catherine Bennett

Some of the president’s Tory fans seem to find the grim reality of the president’s actions invigorating rather than terrifyingShort of emigration, what is the best option for Britain’s dazzled Trump followers now their hero confirms he is not Europe’s ally but Vladimir Putin’s? That’s assuming what we can’t in the case of Nigel Farage MP: that they do not share the US president’s well-documented weakness for a genocidal invader. Even his more respectable British acolytes have until recently finessed, quite successfully, their love of Trump with his long history of Putin-pleasing. No one more so than Boris Johnson, former prime minister, self-styled saviour of Ukraine and still Trump’s most dependable British idiot.To Johnson’s way of thinking, detailed in numerous Daily Mail columns, it is Trump-doubters who are always the ridiculous, panicking, hysterical, whingeing headless chickens. When Trump looked likely to win the US election, Johnson likened the reaction of the “western libe...

Politics

50 h. ago Donald Trump's warning to Vladimir Putin to stop 'pounding Ukraine' is ignored as Russia kills 20 and injures dozens more in sickening missile strikes

A single town in the war-torn Donetsk region was bombarded 11 times, days after the US suspended military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into accepting a peace deal.

Events

55 h. ago Russia launches devastating attack on Ukraine after Trump’s defence of Putin

Latest attacks came hours after Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin was ‘doing what anybody would do’Ukraine war – live updatesRussia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured. Continue reading...

Politics

55 h. ago Being Putin’s stooge won’t win Trump a peace prize. The Order of Lenin, though, is in the bag | Simon Tisdall

The strange warmth between the leaders has sent a chill globally at the prospect of a troika of authoritarian statesDonald Trump’s sinister affinity for Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has long been the subject of intense speculation. Former KGB officers claim Trump was recruited in Moscow in 1987 and cultivated as an asset in the years prior to his 2016 US election victory.Two retired Russian spies weighed in again last month, alleging that the then 40-year-old Trump, codename “Krasnov”, was personally compromised in an “active measures” operation and has secretly danced to Putin’s tune ever since.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Politics

57 h. ago ‘We’re here to stop Russia taking the Black Sea’: with the Ukrainian Navy as they battle for supremacy on the waves

Captain Oleksandr and his crew are on constant alert to shoot down Vladimir Putin’s swarming dronesCaptain Oleksandr put his hand on the throttle and nudged it forward. His patrol boat roared into action and zipped through the waves. Behind him was the Ukrainian port of Odesa. In front – beyond a grey expanse of water, and 180km (112 miles) away, was occupied Crimea. “We’re here to stop the Russians from taking the Black Sea,” Oleksandr said, as his boat – travelling at a nippy 30 knots – rolled up and down.In 2014 Ukraine lost three-quarters of its modest naval assets when Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula. Then, in 2022, Russia sank most of what was left. Its own fleet, by contrast, seemed invincible. It included a mighty flagship carrier, the Moskva, two modern frigates, several smaller warships and multiple missile boats and landing vessels, as well as four submarines carrying deadly Kalibr missiles. Continue reading...

Events

57 h. ago Vladimir Putin unleashes missile hell on Ukraine civilians – defying warning from Trump

Putin seems undeterred by Trump's warnings with Ukraine receiving another round of heavy missile shelling –resulting in dozens of civilians casualties in several cities

Events

60 h. ago Russian strike on Ukrainian town kills 11 as US cuts intelligence sharing with Kyiv

A Russian strike on a town in Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk region has killed at least 11 people as a wave of heavy aerial attacks continued into the second night following a U.S. decision to stop sharing satellite images with Ukraine

Events

60 h. ago Vladimir Putin defies Donald Trump's threat as missile hell unleashed on civilians

Vladimir Putin's forces continued bombing Ukrainian civilians overnight despite Donald Trump threatening more sanctions on Russia if the 'pounding' attacks did not come to an end

Events

61 h. ago Journalist targeted by ‘clumsy’ Russian spies says he is ‘lucky to be alive’

Roman Dobrokhotov, an investigative journalist, said the spies were ‘clumsy’ but still ‘dangerous’.

Events

63 h. ago How Putin, Xi and Trump have made rejoining the EU inevitable

With Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping creating a world in which might is right, any hard-headed and sober analysis of the UK’s best path forward would conclude that it should rejoin the European Union

Politics

63 h. ago Why SNP's stance on nuclear weapons makes no sense when monsters like Putin possess them

The UK needs its nuclear deterrent to help protect itself and its fellow Nato countries from being attacked by Vladimir Putin’s forces

Events

66 h. ago Trump administration briefing: defending Putin, Columbia cuts and Doge’s power over EPA spending

From Donald Trump’s latest remarks to actions taken against crucial government agencies – key US politics stories from Friday at a glanceDonald Trump has said he finds it it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv.“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards,” Trump said in his latest attack on Kyiv. “In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia. Continue reading...

Politics

66 h. ago REVEALED: Putin's conditions to END the war in Ukraine immediately

Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined strict conditions for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, demanding a defined framework for peace and restrictions on NATO involvement.

Politics