Ukraine-Russia war latest: Top Putin general shot in Moscow as Kremlin blames Kyiv without evidence

Vladimir Putin is mentioned 1,055 times in the latest Epstein files release.

Many of the items referencing the Russian president only refer to him tangentially, such as in media bulletins sent to Epstein’s email address.

Amid scrutiny over Epstein’s interest in Russia, The Independent takes a closer look at what the files actually say:

A top Russian military intelligence official was shot in his Moscow flat and rushed to hospital on Friday, investigators said.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev was identified as the target of the attack. He is the deputy head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence arm.

Alexeyev, 64, whose work has been recognised by President Vladimir Putin with a Hero of Russia award, was reported to be in a serious condition in hospital.

The officer was previously placed under U.S. sanctions over Russian cyber interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

The EU also imposed sanctions on him over the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.

The European Commission has proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia that targets energy, financial services and trade sectors, its president revealed today.

Ursula von der Leyen said the new sanctions would include a full maritime services ban for Russian crude oil and set up a new import ban on metals, chemicals and critical minerals not yet under sanctions.

Russia exports over a third of its oil in Western tankers – mostly to India and China – with the use of Western shipping services. The ban would end that trade, which is mostly done through the fleets of EU maritime countries, including Greece, Cyprus and Malta.

A Russian aerial attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region during early daylight hours injured eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks, according to regional military administration head Ivan Fedorov.

A dog shelter in the regional capital was also struck, killing 13 dogs, Zaporizhzhia City Council secretary Rehina Kharchenko said.

Some dogs were rushed to a veterinary clinic but they could not be saved, she said.

Seven other animals were injured and are receiving treatment.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the performance of the air force in some parts of the country is “unsatisfactory” and steps are being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone barrages of civilian areas.

His comments came after Russia fired 328 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine overnight and in the early morning, according to the air force, claiming that air defences shot down 297 drones.

“I consider the performance of the Air Force in some regions of Ukraine to be unsatisfactory, and together with the Commander of the Air Force and the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, we discussed which decisions must be immediately implemented to more effectively intercept ‘shaheds.’,” Zelensky said.

More than six in ten Ukrainians (61 per cent) say that they trust President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a new survey.

The results of a nationwide opinion poll conducted in the week up to January 29 suggest that confidence in the Ukrainian leader remains stable amid ongoing negotiations with the US and Russia over an end to the war.

A third of respondents (33 per cent) said they did not trust Zelensky, according to the survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

A firefighter works at the site of an industrial enterprise hit by overnight Russian drone strikes in the Poltava region of Ukraine.

Senior Russian general Lieutenant Vladimir Alexeyev is fighting for life after being shot in Moscow.

The Kremlin said that Alexeyev, the deputy chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff at the Defence Ministry, had been shot “several times” outside a residential building in the capital.

In December, a car bomb killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.

In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by a bomb placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow.

A Russian man who previously lived in Ukraine pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack and said he had been paid by Ukraine’s security services.