Category: World

Russian soldiers tell BBC they saw fellow troops executed on commanders' orders4 hours agoShareSaveBen Steele,Mike RadfordandGeorge WrightShareSave”Anyone who runs is shot”: Russian soldiers tell BBC they saw commanders order fellow troops' killingWarning: This story contains details of extreme violence and reference to suicide.
Four Russian soldiers have exposed the horror and brutality of conditions on their side of the front lines in Ukraine, with two men telling the BBC they saw soldiers being executed on the spot for refusing orders.
One man told a documentary team he saw a soldier executed on the order of his commander, who was made a “Hero of Russia” in 2024.
“I see it – just two metres, three metres… click, clack, bang,” he said.
Another soldier, from a different unit, says he saw his commander shoot four men himself.
“I knew them,” he says of the soldiers executed. “I remember one of them screaming 'Don't shoot, I'll do anything!'”
One of them a..

Mexico sends thousands of soldiers to stop violence after death of drug lord13 hours agoShareSaveJack BurgessShareSaveGetty ImagesA member of Mexico's National Guard stands near the charred wreckage of a bus that appears to have been set on fire by organised crime groups in Jalisco state on SundayMexico has deployed thousands of soldiers to bolster security, the country's security minister has said, after a wave of violence erupted following the death of a powerful drug lord.
Defence Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said an extra 2,500 soldiers had been sent to western Mexico on Monday, with the government saying about 9,500 troops have been deployed overall since Sunday.
At least 20 states have seen unrest since Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes – better known as “El Mencho” – died in custody on Sunday shortly after being captured by Mexican special forces in Jalisco state.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is one of Mexico's most feared criminal organisations and its leader ..

Four years into its full-scale war in Ukraine, Russia is feeling the effects4 hours agoShareSaveSteve RosenbergRussia editor, in LipetskShareSaveBBCPosters offering large sums of money for joining the army are everywhere in RussiaAt first glance, Yelets in winter looks like something from a Russian fairy tale.
From the embankment I spy the golden domes of Orthodox churches and, down below, ice fishermen dotted along the frozen river.
But in this town, 350km (217 miles) south of Moscow, the fairy tale feeling is transient.
On the riverbank I spot an army recruitment billboard. It promises a one-off sum equivalent to £15,000 to anyone who'll sign up to fight in Ukraine.
Close by there's a poster of a Russian soldier taking aim with a Kalashnikov.
“We're there where we need to be,” the accompanying slogan declares.
The Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Outside Russia it was widely seen as an attempt to force Kyiv back into Moscow'..

Zelensky tells BBC Putin has started WW3 and must be stopped12 hours agoShareSaveJeremy BowenInternational editor, KyivShareSave'Will we lose? Of course not' – Zelensky tells BBCUkraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to send out a firm message of defiance.
When we met this weekend in the government headquarters in Kyiv, he said that far from losing, Ukraine would end the war victorious. He was firmly against paying the price for a ceasefire deal demanded by President Vladimir Putin, which is withdrawing from strategic ground that Russia has failed to capture despite sacrificing tens of thousands of soldiers.
Putin, Zelensky told me, has already started World War Three, and the only answer was intense military and economic pressure to force him to step back.
“I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him… Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the li..

Pakistan launches strikes on Afghanistan, with Taliban saying dozens killed2 hours agoShareSaveOttilie MitchellShareSaveEPA/ShutterstockIslamabad said the strikes were launched on Afghanistan following recent suicide bombings in PakistanPakistan has carried out multiple overnight air strikes on Afghanistan, which the Taliban has said killed and wounded dozens of people, including women and children.
Islamabad said the attacks targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that they had been launched after recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.
Afghanistan condemned the attacks, saying they targeted multiple civilian homes and a religious school.
The fresh strikes come after the two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October following deadly cross-border clashes, though subsequent fighting has taken place.
The Taliban's defence ministry said the strikes targeted civilian areas of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces.
Officials in Nangar..