A summary of today's developments
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s mother and his lawyer were told on Saturday that he had been struck down by “sudden death syndrome”, his team has said. Another lawyer of Navalny’s, however, was told by the penal colony’s investigative committee that the cause of death had not yet been established, Navalny’s spokesperson said.
G7 foreign ministers have demanded that Russia fully clarify the circumstances surrounding Alexei Navalny’s death. The foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States met in Munich on Saturday.
Alexei Navalny’s spokeswoman has said that the opposition leader’s body was not in the morgue in Salekhard, the town near to the prison where Navalny died on Friday.
More than 340 protesters have been arrested at Alexei Navalny memorials across Russia, Sky News reported.
Ukrainian forces shot down three Russian warplanes over eastern Ukraine on Saturday, the country’s air force chief has said. This claim has not been independently verified.
A number of Ukrainian troops were captured by Russia during their withdrawal from the town of Avdiivka, Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, the Ukrainian commander responsible for forces in Ukraine’s south-east, has said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy told world leaders not to ask when the Ukraine war will end but instead “why is Putin still able to continue it” as he underlined the threat Russia poses beyond his own country and called for more support.
Kamala Harris on Saturday criticised Donald Trump’s cajoling of Russia to attack Nato allies of the US who don’t pay their dues, saying the American people would never accept a president who bowed to a dictator. “The idea that the former president of the US would say that he – quote – encourages a brutal dictator to invade our allies, and that the United States of America would simply stand by and watch,” Harris said. “No previous US president, regardless of their party, has bowed down to a Russian dictator before.”
Ukrainian troops withdrew from the devastated eastern town of Avdiivka, Kyiv’s military chief said on Saturday, paving the way for Russia’s biggest advance since it captured the city of Bakhmut last May.
U.S. President Joe Biden warned earlier this week that Avdiivka could fall to Russian forces because of ammunition shortages following months of Republican congressional opposition to a new U.S. military aid package for Kyiv.
“This is the cost of congressional inaction,” said Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said.
