Russia

Two payments of $50m will boost Ukraine’s air defence and munitions supply. Follow today’s news live• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.Jim Chalmers has defended the government’s changes to its controversial capital gains tax reforms and rejected claims it amounted to a backflip forced by business interests. More follows soon. Continue reading...

Prime minister says country needs to resist those who seek to ‘exploit division’ and ‘destabilise democracy’The trial of two Russian-linked arsonists who targeted property connected to Keir Starmer shows that the UK is under attack from bad actors who want to “exploit division” and “destabilise our democracy”, the prime minister has said.Roman Lavrynovych, 22, from Ukraine, and Stanislav Carpiuc, 27, from Romania, were found guilty on Monday of conspiring to carry out arson attacks on property linked to the prime minister, and appear to have operated under the instruction of an online handler with links to Russia. Continue reading...

• Finland employs a "whole of society" approach to national security, a strategy developed over a century of preparing for potential Russian aggression. • The Finnish model integrates civilian readiness, military planning, and government coordination to ensure the entire population can withstand and respond to an invasion. • Experts suggest the UK should adopt similar comprehensive preparedness measures to strengthen its own resilience against evolving geopolitical threats.

Jane and Alan Kelvey know what happened when their small holiday yacht met a warship in the Channel – but Moscow tells a different story“We actually had right of way,” said Jane Kelvey, a little crossly, though keeping it civil. “But we weren’t going to argue with a warship.”The dramatic stand-off in the Channel on Tuesday morning between Admiral Grigorovich, a 125-metre (409ft) battle-hardened Russian frigate, and Bright Future, a 12-metre (40ft) pleasure yacht owned and helmed by Jane, 69 and her husband Alan, 71, has rather caught the nation’s imagination. Continue reading...

No formal warning issued to captains or ship owners, but industry body says they are exercising greater vigilanceBritish officials believe Russia will try to retaliate for the Royal Marines’ seizure of the oil tanker Smyrtos, prompting UK ship owners to exercise greater vigilance until tensions with Moscow ease.Military sources said the UK had considered possible responses to a seizure of the vessel carrying Russian crude worth $40m (£30m) to India, and anticipate that the Kremlin will want to hit back. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer has called the firing of warning shots by a Russian warship at a British yacht sailing across the Channel on Tuesday ‘deeply concerning and reckless’.Russia’s defence ministry said the yacht was on a ‘dangerous course’ and several attempts were made to contact it – a claim disputed by the retired couple onboard the 40ft yacht.Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

British retirees Jane and Alan Kelvey say they do not want incident in Channel to stop them enjoying their sailing tripUK politics live – latest updatesA British woman on a yacht in the Channel near which a Russian warship fired warning shots has told how she does not want the incident to be blown out of proportion, saying: “We don’t want world war three to start because of this.”Jane Kelvey, 69, and her husband, Alan, 70, were on their yacht, Bright Future, travelling from the south coast of England towards France on Tuesday when they came into close contact with the Admiral Grigorovich, a 409ft Russian frigate. Continue reading...