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Ukrainian forces in a priority section of the front line near Avdiivka appear to have defeated a large Russian mechanized assault involving tanks and fighting vehicles over the weekend. -snip- On March 30, Ukrainian troops outside occupied Avdiivka fought off a Russian battalion-sized mechanized assault, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said. ISW cited a Ukrainian serviceman who, on March 31, said that elements of Russia's 6th Tank Regiment sent 36 tanks and 12 BMP infantry fighting vehicles into a battle on the front line near Tonenke, a village east of Avdiivka. The serviceman said...

The incumbent Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, who is vying for the country’s top office as an independent candidate, has cast his electronic vote in the presidential election, APA reports quoting TASS. The published video footage shows Putin walking to a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. The computer monitor displayed a standard notification for a successfully cast vote.

Russian citizens have conducted a string of explosive protests in defiance of a presidential election rigged in favour of Vladimir Putin as voting opened on Friday. Video purported to show a woman dousing a Moscow voting booth in flammable liquid before setting it on fire and recording the drama on her smartphone. The fire was promptly extinguished and the woman detained, according to local media. But similar acts of vandalism continued around the country, with a voter setting a ballot box alight in Khanty Mansi region in Siberia, according to local reports. In Saint Petersburg, a woman threw a Molotov...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of trying to disrupt his country’s presidential election by shelling Russian territory and using 2,500 soldiers to try to pierce Russia’s borders, promising to punish Kyiv for its actions. Polls opened across 11 time zones in Russia on Friday to begin three days of voting with Putin almost certain to secure his fifth term since winning his first election in 2000 with dissent in the country almost completely stifled. The shadow of the Ukraine war fell across the election with what Putin said was repeated shelling of western Russia and an attempt by...

As I walk around Borovsk, two things strike me about this town 60 miles (100km) from Moscow. First, there is almost no sign of the presidential election coming up this weekend. I see few election banners or billboards and no political flyers being handed out. Not surprising, really. The absence of election preparations mirrors the absence of drama surrounding a stage-managed event that will hand Vladimir Putin a fifth term in the Kremlin. The other thing you can't help noticing in Borovsk is the street art. It's everywhere. Much of it has been created by street artist Vladimir Ovchinnikov. All...