Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin suffering losses on front line as ‘11,000’ troops killed in November

Finland will not extradite to Ukraine a Russian man suspected of terrorism in Ukraine, Finland’s supreme court has ruled, citing the risk of inhuman prison conditions in Ukraine.

Yan Petrovsky was taken into custody by Finnish authorities in August after a Ukrainian court issued an arrest warrant for him. He is suspected of participating in a terrorist organisation in Ukraine.

Social media channels linked to Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries said in August that Petrovsky was a top fighter in Rusich, a far-right subunit affiliated to Wagner.

Rusich identified Petrovsky as a founding member and leader of the unit who has been under EU and US sanctions.

The Supreme Court cited an earlier decision by the European Court of Human Rights which found Ukrainian prisons overcrowded and materially deprived over long term, concluding extradition to Ukraine could lead to inhuman and degrading treatment for Petrovsky.

The court ordered him to be released but he was immediately taken into custody by the Finnish Border Guard.

An official in Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s office said Kyiv would press requests for Petrovsky’s extradition. “We are continuing to seek ways of detaining and extraditing this suspect to Ukraine,” said Andriy Gulkevych, deputy head of the office’s international legal section.

Mr Gulkevych said Ukraine was working towards ensuring greater success for its extradition requests, often turned down on grounds that the country could not provide suitable conditions of detention while it is at war.

Ukraine’s human-rights commissioner says two arrest warrants issued for Vladimir Putin and another official over the unlawful wartime deportation of children to Russia had helped to return some of them.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued warrants in March for the arrest of Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin rejects the allegations.

Kyiv says it has officially confirmed the deportation of 19,546 children, and that the figure could be higher.

“In my opinion, after the two arrest warrants were issued by the International Criminal Court for Putin and Lvova-Belova, it has become easier to return children,” said Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian human-rights commissioner.

On Wednesday, eight children were brought back to Ukraine from Russia and Moscow-occupied territories, under a deal brokered by Qatar.

Mr Lubinets said Ukraine had so far managed to return 387 children from Russia and some more from Moscow-occupied territories.

Moscow says it transported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to protect minors abandoned in a conflict zone.

Mr Lubinets said Russia was now carrying out more deportations through ally Belarus to complicate the process of tracking and verifying the whereabouts of children.

Ukraine’s foreign minister described as “shameful” the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in the Paris Games as neutrals, and urged partners to condemn it.

Such a decision undermines Olympic principles, Dmytro Kuleba said.

Aides to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny say they are seriously worried about his health and have been unable to contact him for three days.

Mr Navalny, 47, is imprisoned in a penal colony east of Moscow and has been sentenced to a total of more 30 years on what he says are trumped-up charges to silence his criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

His aides said his lawyers had stood all day outside the colony but been refused entry to see him, and he did not appear at scheduled judicial hearings about his case.

“We have learned that last week he had a serious health-related incident. Navalny’s life is at great risk. He is in complete isolation right now,” Maria Pevchikh, chair of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, posted on social media.

Mr Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said prison staff had put him on a drip last week after he suffered a dizzy spell and lay down on the floor of his cell in what she said looked like a “hunger faint”.

Republicans have insisted on adding restrictions to legal immigration – particularly asylum and parole, wherein someone who otherwise would not be allowed into the United States is granted temporary status – in exchange for aid to Ukraine.

Nearly 200 Nepalese nationals are serving as mercenaries in the Russian army – but it’s not only a phenomenon benefitting the Kremlin’s military recruitment, as Namita Singh explains

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Russia faces the prospect of Vladimir Putin extending his two-decade stranglehold on power until at least 2030, with an announcement that he will run for president again in March 2024.

The 71-year-old Russian autocrat has been in power since 1999, bar a four-year stint as prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev, during which he was widely regarded to still be at the helm of the Kremlin. Given Putin’s domination of the Russian political and media landscape – and jailing opposition figures like Alexei Navalny who could challenge him on the ballot – there is little doubt about the result when the elections take place next year.

“Vasily Kukharsky passed away. He never made it back to life,” announced Kyiv-based Theater on Podil in a statement on Facebook.

Finland will not extradite to Ukraine a Russian man suspected of terrorism in Ukraine, Finland’s supreme court ruled on Friday, citing the risk of inhuman prison conditions in Ukraine.

Russian national Yan Petrovsky was taken into custody by Finnish authorities in August after a Ukrainian court issued an arrest warrant for the man who is suspected of participating in a terrorist organisation in Ukraine, Finnish court documents seen by Reuters showed.

Social media channels linked to Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries said in August that Petrovsky was a top fighter in Rusich, a far-right subunit affiliated to Wagner.

Rusich identified Petrovsky as a founding member and leader of the unit who has been under European Union and United States sanctions since last year.

In Finland, Petrovsky has used the name Voislav Torden, court documents showed.

“The Supreme Court has stated in its opinion today that the extradition request regarding Torden cannot be agreed to,” the court said in its decision.

Vladimir Putin has moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for another six years, state media said, announcing his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election that he is all but certain to win.

Mr Putin still commands wide support after nearly a quarter-century in power, despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of his countrymen’s lives, provoked repeated attacks inside Russia – including one on the Kremlin itself – and corroded its aura of invincibility.

A short-lived rebellion in June by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin raised speculation that Mr Putin could be losing his grip or that it would mar his strongman image.

But he has emerged with no permanent scars, and Mr Prigozhin’s death in a mysterious plane crash two months later reinforced the view that Mr Putin was in absolute control.

Mr Putin announced his decision to run in the March 17 presidential election after a Kremlin award ceremony, when war veterans and others pleaded with him to seek re-election.

“I won’t hide it from you – I had various thoughts about it over time, but now, you’re right, it’s necessary to make a decision,” Mr Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin after the event.

“I will run for president of the Russian Federation.”