Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine
Russia's opening salvoes and its force posture around Ukraine suggests its military planners have the objective of seizing the Ukraine capital for the installation of a pro-Moscow administration.
Briefings by senior Western officials suggest it is likely President Vladimir Putin’s troops will now attempt to take a number of key Ukrainian cities and ports including Odessa, Mariupol and the eastern city of Kharkiv.
There is an “immediate objective to seize and control large chunks of Ukraine”, the Western officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It is clear there is a desire to change regime in Kiev and install an alternate regime which will be favourable to Russia,” the officials said. “This will be a regime imposed on Ukraine by Russia to drive relations closer between the territories.”
Analysts believe that the West was not strong enough in deterring Mr Putin by stationing troops in Ukraine and by clearly stating he would not face military retaliation.
“The moment you say to Putin that you are not going to fight whatever happens, he has got the upper hand. He was content to take that (sanctions) risk because to him that risk looked calculable,” said Jonathan Eyal of the RUSI think-tank in London. “The only problem was that we were not prepared to take the ultimate risk.”
Putin is an old-school, old-fashioned, unreconstructed 19th-century imperialist hankering after the lost territories of the Russian Empire
Russia expert Keir Giles
The views reflect that of Russia expert Keir Giles who told The National that Mr Putin’s intent was for a “decapitation strike” on the Ukraine’s command centres “to render Ukraine's military unable to fight” and causing such human misery that the government capitulates.
“It is still too early to tell at this stage what direction Russia's campaign against Ukraine is going to take but there are multiple options,” said the Chatham House Russia expert.
“This also needs to be put in the broader context of Russia's strategic aims. There is no doubt that Ukraine is just one step in President Putin’s ambition to reassert Russia’s dominance over the territories. Putin is an old-school, old-fashioned, unreconstructed 19th-century imperialist hankering after the lost territories of the Russian Empire."
Russia has been “intensely practising the current version of warfare” with the widespread use of standoff strikes, by missile or cyber to achieve its goals “without actually entering into close contact by ground forces,” Mr Giles said.
“We don't know precisely what Russia's plan is or how effective Ukraine's forces may be in disrupting those plans. Both of those are wide open.”
The Western officials believe that Russia’s forces are now “battle-hardened” following urban fighting in Syria, as well as Ukraine since 2014.
“It’s not how many people in armed forces it’s about how you bring force to bear in particular time,” a military official said. The war experiences had “given the Russians opportunities so they are battle-hardened” and could “take out military around the city”.
Key to achieving its objectives was to secure Kiev, the Western officials said. It is understood that Russian agents or so-called “green men” are already in the capital ready to disrupt and destabilise the city. If that failed Moscow might have to undertake the dangerous and costly urban warfare campaign using tanks and infantry. “With Ukrainian resistance it may well be that Russia has to put troops into the city to take the city,” the Western officials added.
Intelligence sources have also told The National that once Mr Putin had begun operations in Ukraine “there is now reason to see why he will now stop”.
“It’s our assessment that when someone like Putin gets a feel for this kind of course of action he finds it very hard to stop,” a Western intelligence source said.
With a raft of former Soviet and eastern bloc states in Nato, the alliance must now assume different risks in the relationship with Moscow.
“After Ukraine, the next direct threats are against territories that were formerly part of the Russian Empire and are now sovereign, independent countries,” said Mr Giles, author of Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West. “It is time for Europe to realise that Russia has been at war with it for several years and that war is now moving into the active phase. Europe needs to wake up and take an interest in defending itself.”
From the European perspective a reset in thinking is sorely needed. The Western states will need to take a long, hard look at the defence cuts that have reduced its armoured force to a mere 200 tanks. By contrast, Russia has at least 16,000 main battle tanks.
Over the past decade Mr Putin has transformed his military into a modern fighting force fit for a 21st- century battlefield.
In the same period, Nato countries became fixated on counter-insurgency in Afghanistan and elsewhere. As their tank forces shrank, Mr Putin’s confidence in using heavy metal to project Moscow's might grew.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
match info
Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 37')
Atletico Madrid 1 (Costa 39')
Man of the match Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao)
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The%20specs
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MATCH INFO
Championship play-offs, second legs:
Aston Villa 0
Middlesbrough 0
(Aston Villa advance 1-0 on aggregate)
Fulham 2
Sessegnon (47'), Odoi (66')
Derby County 0
(Fulham advance 2-1 on aggregate)
Final
Saturday, May 26, Wembley. Kick off 8pm (UAE)
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh810,000
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
