Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.

Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured.

Writing on social media, Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “vile and inhuman intimidation tactic often used by the Russians”. Three people also died and seven injured in a drone attack in the city of Bohodukhiv, in the Kharkiv region.

Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukrainian cities has intensified after a torrid week in which Trump has pulled the plug on intelligence sharing with Ukraine and halted the supply of US weapons.

These hostile moves mean the alarm system that warns Ukrainian civilians of incoming enemy missiles is less effective. Asked if Putin was taking advantage of US aid pauses, Trump on Friday acknowledged Ukraine was experiencing a “tremendous pounding”.

He suggested, however, that “anyone in Putin’s position” would do the same. Before a meeting on Tuesday between US and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he was “finding it easier” to deal with Moscow than with Kyiv.

European leaders suggested the US president was complicit in the latest devastation.

The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said there had been “another tragic night in Ukraine”, with “more bombs, more aggression and more victims”. Without mentioning Trump directly, he said: “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians.”

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the “relentless” Russian missiles demonstrated that Putin had no interest in peace. “We must step up our military support. Otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price,” she said.

Zelenskyy has been seeking to repair relations with Trump after their acrimonious White House meeting last month. Ukraine’s president has sketched out a peace plan – beginning with a truce on land and sea – and said he is ready to sign a favourable minerals deal with the US.

So far, however, Trump has piled pressure on Ukraine while making no demands of Russia. Zelenskyy said Saturday’s strike showed Moscow’s objectives had not changed. He called for an increase in sanctions against Russia to “collapse” its war economy.

Russia’s latest strike transformed the centre of Dobropillia into a sprawling ruin. The apartment block was a gutted mess. There were burnt-out cars and vans and smouldering debris. Rescuers swept up glass and twisted pieces of metal. Video from the strike showed a terrifying explosion.

Irina Kostenko, 59, spent the night cowering in her hallway with her husband. When she left the apartment building on Saturday, she saw a neighbour “lying dead on the ground, covered with a blanket”. “It was shocking, I don’t have the words to describe it,” she told the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, Russia has exploited the US intelligence and weapons freeze to launch a series of bold attacks. North Korean and Russian troops have broken through Ukraine’s defences in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian units have for seven months occupied a parcel of territory.

There were unconfirmed reports on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had managed to stabilise the situation and avoid encirclement, at least for now. A hundred Russian soldiers crept through a gas pipeline in a raid on the Kyiv-held Russian town of Sudzha, Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper reported.

Ukraine’s hold on territory in Kursk is increasingly precarious. Soldiers told the Observer two supply roads with the Ukrainian city of Sumy were open, but came under constant attack from Russian drones and artillery.

Serhiy Sternenko, a prominent Ukrainian activist, described the logistics situation there as “rapidly deteriorating and already critical”. “Logistics routes to Sudzha are under full enemy fire control,” he posted on X.

According to Kremlin bloggers, Russian combat groups advanced several kilometres across the border into Ukraine’s Sumy region. Russia also said it had retaken three villages in neighbouring Kharkiv oblast.

Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the frontline.

The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photos on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia.

The post included a message thanking the “dear mums” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons”. It said the gifts were the initiative of the women’s wing of the party.

Some online commentators called the gesture as “shameful” and “inappropriate”.

Russia is often accused of throwing its frontline soldiers into a “meat grinder” with scant regard for their lives.

The Russian word for meat grinder, myasorubka, has the same double meaning as in English.

It refers to a tactic in which small groups of soldiers are sent into attack, one after another, in waves, risking heavy losses, with the aim of eventually wearing out and overpowering Ukrainian troops.

The party’s local branch in the town of Polyarniye Zori defended itself against the online backlash, saying critics were making “callous and provocative interpretations” of its gifts.

The mayor, Maxim Chengayev, who took part in the handover of gifts, said that meat grinders were not originally intended to be included but “one woman asked for it and we of course could not say no”, United Russia said.

The local party later posted a video in which one of the soldiers’ mothers awkwardly thanked the party for the gifts and confirmed that she had asked for a meat grinder because she needed one.

Russia has rarely given any figures for its losses in Ukraine and the true toll is unknown, but independent media put it at many tens of thousands.

The Russian website Mediazona and the BBC’s Russian service said last month they had identified the names of 91,000 Russian soldiers killed, but added the actual toll was likely to be “considerably higher”.

At the end of 2024, the then US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, spoke of 700,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded.

Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses, whose full extent is unclear.

The president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in February that more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and about 380,000 wounded. Media reports based on western sources have given estimated Ukrainian military death tolls ranging from 50,000 to 100,000.

• Ukraine is “fully committed” to having a constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia next week over ways to end the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. “Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” the Ukrainian president said on X. He said he would visit Saudi Arabia next week and that after meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives would stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team. “On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” he said. The Ukrainian delegation will include the foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and the defence minister, Rustem Umerov.

• Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more. Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured.

• Three people were killed and seven others injured in a drone attack early on Saturday in the city of Bogodukhiv, the military head of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said. Russia fired two missiles and 145 drones at Bogodukhiv, Ukraine’s air force said.

• The attacks came as Donald Trump said the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, was “doing what anybody would do”. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday, the US president said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.

• Zelenskyy called for more sanctions on Russia in response to the attacks. “Such strikes show that Russia’s objectives have not changed,” he wrote on Facebook. “Therefore, it is crucial to continue to do our best to protect lives, strengthen our air defences, and increase sanctions against Russia. Everything that helps Putin finance the war must collapse.”

• The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Saturday that appeasement towards Russia was leading to more tragedy in Ukraine. “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” Tusk wrote on X. “More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine.”

• The Russian defence ministry announced the recapture of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina in its Kursk region. According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha, which is under Kyiv’s control. An army source interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said that the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to “stabilise the situation” but the Russian troops had “completely cut off the supply lines”.

• Moscow’s defence ministry on Saturday said its air defence systems had destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the previous night. A Ukrainian drone attack also targeted Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery and falling debris caused damage to a reservoir, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region, Aleksandr Drozdenko, said. A civilian was injured by a drone attack in Belgorod district near the Ukraine border, the local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on Telegram.

• Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said his country would consider taking part in a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine. The Australian leader spoke on Saturday with his UK counterpart, Keir Starmer, who has joined France in trying to rally a “coalition of the willing” to protect any ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. “Both of our nations are very clear about our support for Ukraine, and it of course is too early – you can’t have peacekeeping forces without having peace,” Albanese told a news conference. “I certainly have said very clearly, publicly, repeatedly, that we would give consideration to participating in any peacekeeping mission in the Ukraine.” Australia will send a senior representative to a chiefs of defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday to discuss future backing for Ukraine, Albanese said.

The US has rejected a Canadian proposal to establish a task force that would tackle Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, according to reports last night.

Canada, which has the current Group of Seven presidency, proposed the measure ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Quebec later this week.

In negotiations to agree a joint statement on maritime issues, the US is pushing to strengthen language about China while watering down wording on Russia, the reports said.

The “shadow fleet” refers to ageing oil tankers, the identities of which are hidden to help circumvent western economic sanctions imposed on Moscow since it launched its full-scale military invasion of Ukraine at the start of 2022.

As well as vetoing Canada’s proposal to establish a task force to monitor sanctions breaches, the draft G7 statement seen by Bloomberg News shows the US pushed to remove the word “sanctions” as well as wording citing Russia’s “ability to maintain its war” in Ukraine by replacing it with “earn revenue”.

G7 communiqués are not final until they are published through consensus. Further talks could still result in changes to the end-of-summit statement.

US diplomats briefed their G7 counterparts that the move was because of Washington’s “re-evaluation of its position in multilateral organisations, rendering it unable to join any new initiatives”, according to the Bloomberg report.

European countries are discussing plans that will let them carry out seizures of Moscow’s oil-exporting tankers in the Baltic Sea.

The proposals include using international law to allow them to take control of vessels on environmental or piracy grounds.

South Korea’s impeached conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been released from prison, a day after a Seoul court cancelled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for insurrection without being detained.

After walking out of a detention centre near Seoul on Saturday, Yoon waved, clenched his fists and bowed deeply to his supporters who were shouting his name and waving South Korean and US flags. Yoon climbed into a black van headed to his presidential residence in the capital.

In a statement distributed by his lawyers, Yoon said that he “appreciates the courage and decision by the Seoul central district court to correct illegality”, in an apparent reference to legal disputes over his arrest. He said he also thanked his supporters and asked those who were on hunger strike against his impeachment to end it.

On Saturday, about 55,000 Yoon supporters rallied in Seoul’s main districts, while 32,500 people demonstrated against him near the constitutional court, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unofficial police estimates.

The public, however, remains largely anti-Yoon, with 60% of respondents saying he should be removed from office and 35% opposing removal, according to a Gallup Korea poll on Friday.

Yoon was arrested and indicted by prosecutors in January over his 3 December martial law decree, which plunged the country into political turmoil. The liberal opposition-controlled National Assembly separately voted to impeach him, leading to his suspension from office.

The constitutional court has been deliberating whether to formally dismiss or reinstate Yoon. If the court upholds his impeachment, a national election will be held to find his successor within two months.

The Seoul central district court said on Friday it accepted Yoon’s request to be released from prison, citing the need to address questions over the legality of the investigations of the president. Yoon’s lawyers have accused the investigative agency that detained him before his formal arrest of lacking legal authority to investigate rebellion charges.

The Seoul court also said the legal period of his formal arrest expired before he was indicted.

Yoon’s release came after prosecutors decided not to appeal against the decision by the Seoul court. South Korean law allows prosecutors to continue to hold a suspect while pursuing an appeal, even after his or her arrest is cancelled by a court.

The main liberal opposition Democratic party, which led Yoon’s 14 December impeachment, lashed out at the prosecutors’ decision, calling them “henchmen” of Yoon, a former prosecutor general. Party spokesperson Cho Seung-rae urged the constitutional court to dismiss Yoon as soon as possible to avoid further public unrest and anxiety.

Investigators have alleged Yoon’s martial-law decree amounted to rebellion. If he is convicted of that offence, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment. Yoon has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions but that does not cover grave charges like rebellion and treason.

Yoon has said he did not intend to maintain martial law for long as he only attempted to inform the public of the danger of the Democratic party, which obstructed his agenda and impeached many senior officials and prosecutors. In his martial law announcement, Yoon called the assembly “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces”.

South Korea’s conservative-liberal divide is severe and rallies either supporting or denouncing Yoon’s impeachment have divided Seoul streets. Experts say whatever decision the constitutional court makes, the division is certain to worsen.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report

More than 1,000 people, including 745 civilians, were killed in the two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and fighters loyal to the former Assad regime and ensuing revenge killings, a war monitor has said, one of the highest death tolls in Syria since 2011.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, said 745 civilians were killed mostly execution-style, while 125 Syrian security forces and 148 Assad loyalists were killed. Death tolls from the two days of fighting have varied wildly, with some estimates putting the final death toll even higher.

Fighting began on Thursday after fighters loyal to the ousted Assad regime ambushed security forces in Jableh, in the coastal Latakia province.

The wide-ranging, coordinated assault was the biggest challenge to the country’s Islamist authorities so far, and came three months after opposition fighters led by Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham toppled the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

To crush the rebellion, the Syrian government called for re-enforcements, with thousands of fighters converging on Syria’s coast from all over the country. Though fighters are nominally under the auspices of the new Syrian government, militias still persist, some of which have been implicated in past human rights abuses and are relatively undisciplined.

The Syrian government has insisted that “individual actions” led to the killing of civilians and said the massive influx of fighters on the coast led to human rights violations. In a speech on Friday, Syrian president Ahmad al-Sharaa said that “anyone who harms civilians will face severe punishment.”

Videos showed dozens of people in civilian clothes piled up, dead, in the town of al-Mukhtariya, where more than 40 people were killed at one time, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. Other videos showed fighters wearing security uniforms executing people point blank, ordering men to bark like dogs and beating captives. The Guardian was not able to independently verify these videos.

The Syrian coast is heavily populated by the minority Islamic Alawite sect, from which the deposed Syrian president hailed, though most Alawites were not associated with the Assad regime.

Syria’s new authorities promised Alawites that they would be safe under their rule and that there would be no revenge killings. Government security forces’ killings of hundreds of mainly Alawite civilians this week, however, have sent waves of fear through the religious minority community.

A man from the town of Snobar, Latakia, detailed how gunmen killed at least 14 of his neighbours who were all from the Arris family, including the execution of a 75-year-old father and his three sons in front of the family’s mother.

“After they killed the father and his boys, they asked the mother to take her gold off, or they would kill her,” said the man who was close to the family but spoke under the condition of anonymity for his safety.

Another resident of Latakia said that power and water to the area had been cut off for the past day, and that they had been sheltering in their house, scared of the militants on the streets.

“There’s no water and no power for more than 24 hours, the factions are killing anyone who appears in front of them, the corpses are piled up in the streets. This is collective punishment,” the Latakia resident said.

The UN envoy for Syria, Gier Pedersen, urged civilians to be protected on Friday, while France condemned what they said was violence targeting “civilians because of their faith.” The French foreign ministry also urged Syria’s authorities to make sure that “independent investigations can shed light on these crimes and that the perpetrators are sentenced.”

Rights groups said that a real commitment to transitional justice and an inclusive government was key to preventing Syria from spiralling into a cycle of violence. Syria’s current transitional authorities are set to announce a new government this month, which will be scrutinised closely for being representative of Syria’s religious and ethnic diversity after this week’s violence.

When it comes to the issues on the table – schools, healthcare, independence – Tuesday’s election is “not that exceptional”, says Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz Larsen. And yet, it will potentially be the most consequential in the Arctic island’s history.

What makes this general election unlike any other, says the Inuit Ataqatigiit member of the Danish parliament, is the global spotlight on it. “What we’re seeing is influence from the US, Denmark and other places. It is not the same as other elections.”

Donald Trump’s fixation with acquiring Greenland “one way or the other” , as he told Congress to laughs last week, means the US – and as a result, the world – is watching Greenland’s election like never before. Denmark, which ruled the now autonomous territory as a colony until 1953 and continues to control its foreign and security policy, is also paying unprecedented attention for fear of losing a crucial part of its kingdom.

Even before Trump’s inauguration in January, he was aggressively mooting a renewed version of his first-term idea of “buying” Greenland – which his administration sees as a valuable asset for its strategic location and its considerable natural resources – this time with threats of military action and tariffs if Denmark did not comply. This came after a whistlestop private visit to the capital, Nuuk, by his son, Donald Trump Jr, which despite being a private trip was broadcast across the world on social media by his entourage.

Among an electorate where little polling takes place, analysts are reluctant to predict whether the ­coalition led by Greenlandic prime minister Múte Egede, of Inuit Ataqatigiit (the ruling democratic socialist pro-independence party) will remain in power. Naleraq, Greenland’s largest opposition party, has been gaining traction with its prominent voice for independence and openness to collaborating with the US.

Society feels more divided during this election, says Chemnitz Larsen, and for the first time politicians have security with them while out campaigning. There is also public anger about a documentary by Danish broadcaster DR that claimed Denmark earned the equivalent of up to 400bn Danish kroner (£45bn) from a Greenlandic cryolite mine between 1854 and 1987. Some critics have claimed the amount is inaccurate because it did not include costs, but in Greenland the documentary has been cited as an example of colonial injustice. According to a poll for Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq, more than a third of voters say its findings will influence their vote.

This comes on top of other recent revelations over alleged mistreatment of Greenlanders by the state of Denmark. These include an IUD scandal in which 4,500 women and girls were allegedly fitted with contraception without their knowledge or consent between 1966 and 1970. Egede recently labelled the scandal genocide. And the Danish government recently did a U-turn on the use of controversial “parenting competency” tests on Greenlandic families which have led to the separation of many Inuit children from their parents.

With a voting public of only about 40,000 – Greenland’s total population is 57,000 – the margins are small.

Unlike the reaction in Copenhagen, which went into crisis mode over Trump’s apparent threats, Trump’s interest in Greenland was seen by many in Nuuk with bemusement and a hope that it could be leveraged to negotiate a better deal with Denmark or to secure a quicker route to independence.

Rasmus Leander Nielsen, head of Nasiffik, the University of Greenland’s centre for foreign and security policy, said it is an election of everyday politics colliding with geopolitical questions over Trump. “You have those two narratives kind of clashing.”

He added: “We see different dynamics going in different directions but also it’s very unpredictable what’s going to happen.”

What he is sure of is that while there may be a referendum on independence in the next election cycle, it is unlikely that Greenland will achieve independence in the next four years. “It could take a decade or longer.” Like Brexit, he said, even if Greenland voted yes in a referendum, there would still need to be lengthy discussions and negotiations.

Among the more likely scenarios, he believes, is that Greenland will try to renegotiate its relationship with Denmark within the kingdom. “Now with heightened tensions, Greenland has pretty good cards in its hands and could make the argument that they need to do something different from the status quo.”

Greenlandic politician Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam said time is of the essence when it comes to Greenland’s voice on the global stage, which she believes will not wait for Greenland to make up its mind on independence. Høegh-Dam, who left the social democratic Siumut party, which she represented in the Danish parliament, to run for Naleraq for Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament, said: “I hope people will vote in people who are excellent in foreign policy because with major interest from the outside world it’s more important now.”

Interest from outside Greenland has been unprecedented, she said. “We have never seen so much international media interested in participating in our election campaigning.”

There has also been considerable foreign interest in the business world.

Drew Horn, a member of the first Trump administration and chief executive of Washington DC-based mineral investment company GreenMet, said there are “tens of billions” of dollars ready to be invested in Greenland immediately.

Tom Dans, Trump’s former Arctic commissioner and an investor, said while there is not a “quick buck” to be made – mining, he says, is a long-term business – it is an “exciting time” for Greenland. “It’s really frontier in the true sense of things,” he said.

Dans added: “We talk about outer space and trips to Mars and then when you realise Nuuk is a three-hour flight from New York City, or thereabouts, it gets interesting.”

A second Kremlin spy operation has been discovered targeting Russian dissidents in Britain, it can be revealed.

Roman Dobrokhotov, a journalist in the sights of the six Bulgarians convicted of spying for Russia, said he had been informed of fresh attempts to surveil his family.

“I received a warning from the police last spring,” said Dobrokhotov, 41, who moved to the UK in January 2023. “These attempts are ongoing.”

The details of the warning given to Dobrokhotov, who fled Moscow in 2021, are being withheld on his request, as is the location of him and his wife, Kate, and their two sons, aged eight and 10.

Six Bulgarian nationals with resident status in the UK – Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, Orlin Roussev, 47, Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 34 – were convicted of carrying out espionage operations at home and abroad.

Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian national believed to be working as a Russian agent, masterminded the British operation from Moscow despite being wanted for his links to an alleged £1.6bn fraud at the disgraced German financial company Wirecard.

Two of their targets were the journalists Christo Grozev and Dobrokhotov, who were responsible for unmasking the two Russian military intelligence officers who tried to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in 2018.

Messages discovered by the police revealed that Dobrokhotov had been followed so closely that his iPhone pin number was picked up by one of the spies sitting next to him on a plane.

There had also been discussions within the group about poisoning Dobrokhotov with ricin on the streets of London or abducting him using a small boat.

The police warning of a new attempt to target Dobrokhotov came months after the arrest of the spy ring in February 2024.

Dobrokhotov is the editor-in-chief of the Insider website, whose investigative work has led to about 80 companies and 60 people being hit with economic sanctions by the west over their roles in facilitating Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Dobrokhotov said: “I understood that after the arrest of the Bulgarians, there must be still some continuous attention to me and Christo because we didn’t stop our work.

“Also, because we were told by our source that, after this team controlled by [the] FSB [Russia’s security service] was arrested, the task – the same task – is now given to the GRU [military intelligence].

“We were expecting that there will be something continuing. So after police said that they know about some new attempts, that was not very surprising, just confirmation of what our Russian source was telling us.”

Dobrokhotov said he recognised the need to be constantly on the move to avoid the attentions of the Kremlin.

He said: “All my family are worried, of course. They worry about me and they understand that they are not safe – if they put novichok [the biological agent used in the murder attempt on the Skripals] on the door handle, they can all suffer.

“On the other hand, it’s the worst situation when you don’t know whether you should be very much worried, or you can relax. You always doubt if you are paranoid about all of this stuff. So in some way, it’s good to know that you know this situation.”

A counter-terrorism policing spokesperson said: “Counter-terrorism policing works closely with police forces, partners and communities to identify any repressive activity by foreign states in the UK and will seek to disrupt this activity where possible.

“This has been shown to be the case with a number of recent arrests and charges that have been made in relation to offences under the National Security Act.

“We would encourage members of the public to report any allegations of foreign interference to their local police force.

“On receipt of any such reports, officers would also assess whether there are any safeguarding or security concerns or issues and, in liaison with specialist officers, would be able to provide individuals affected with appropriate safety and security advice and support as required.

“Briefings on personal safety are not the limit of our activity to keep people safe, but they do create direct connections between individuals, organisations and policing.

“The importance of that advice should not be underestimated, and neither should the scale of operational activity taking place within our proactive investigations teams and with partner agencies to keep people safe.”

A second Kremlin spy operation has been discovered targeting Russian dissidents in Britain, it can be revealed.

Roman Dobrokhotov, a journalist in the sights of the six Bulgarians convicted of spying for Russia, said he had been informed of fresh attempts to surveil his family.

“I received a warning from the police last spring,” said Dobrokhotov, 41, who moved to the UK in January 2023. “These attempts are ongoing.”

The details of the warning given to Dobrokhotov, who fled Moscow in 2021, are being withheld on his request, as is the location of him and his wife, Kate, and their two sons, aged eight and 10.

Six Bulgarian nationals with resident status in the UK – Vanya Gaberova, 30, Katrin Ivanova, 33, Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, Orlin Roussev, 47, Biser Dzhambazov, 43, and Ivan Stoyanov, 34 – were convicted of carrying out espionage operations at home and abroad.

Jan Marsalek, 44, an Austrian national believed to be working as a Russian agent, masterminded the British operation from Moscow despite being wanted for his links to an alleged £1.6bn fraud at the disgraced German financial company Wirecard.

Two of their targets were the journalists Christo Grozev and Dobrokhotov, who were responsible for unmasking the two Russian military intelligence officers who tried to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in 2018.

Messages discovered by the police revealed that Dobrokhotov had been followed so closely that his iPhone pin number was picked up by one of the spies sitting next to him on a plane.

There had also been discussions within the group about poisoning Dobrokhotov with ricin on the streets of London or abducting him using a small boat.

The police warning of a new attempt to target Dobrokhotov came months after the arrest of the spy ring in February 2024.

Dobrokhotov is the editor-in-chief of the Insider website, whose investigative work has led to about 80 companies and 60 people being hit with economic sanctions by the west over their roles in facilitating Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Dobrokhotov said: “I understood that after the arrest of the Bulgarians, there must be still some continuous attention to me and Christo because we didn’t stop our work.

“Also, because we were told by our source that, after this team controlled by [the] FSB [Russia’s security service] was arrested, the task – the same task – is now given to the GRU [military intelligence].

“We were expecting that there will be something continuing. So after police said that they know about some new attempts, that was not very surprising, just confirmation of what our Russian source was telling us.”

Dobrokhotov said he recognised the need to be constantly on the move to avoid the attentions of the Kremlin.

He said: “All my family are worried, of course. They worry about me and they understand that they are not safe – if they put novichok [the biological agent used in the murder attempt on the Skripals] on the door handle, they can all suffer.

“On the other hand, it’s the worst situation when you don’t know whether you should be very much worried, or you can relax. You always doubt if you are paranoid about all of this stuff. So in some way, it’s good to know that you know this situation.”

A counter-terrorism policing spokesperson said: “Counter-terrorism policing works closely with police forces, partners and communities to identify any repressive activity by foreign states in the UK and will seek to disrupt this activity where possible.

“This has been shown to be the case with a number of recent arrests and charges that have been made in relation to offences under the National Security Act.

“We would encourage members of the public to report any allegations of foreign interference to their local police force.

“On receipt of any such reports, officers would also assess whether there are any safeguarding or security concerns or issues and, in liaison with specialist officers, would be able to provide individuals affected with appropriate safety and security advice and support as required.

“Briefings on personal safety are not the limit of our activity to keep people safe, but they do create direct connections between individuals, organisations and policing.

“The importance of that advice should not be underestimated, and neither should the scale of operational activity taking place within our proactive investigations teams and with partner agencies to keep people safe.”

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have shot up since Donald Trump returned to the White House and shocked Europe by withdrawing political and military support for Ukraine, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

Starmer’s Labour government as a whole has also gained public support for its response to the global turbulence caused by Trump’s return – on security and economic issues. His personal ratings have risen by 10% – albeit from an alarmingly low point – compared with a month ago.

Strikingly, Labour, rather than the Conservatives who are traditionally seen as stronger on defence, are now seen as by far the best at dealing with key foreign policy and defence challenges. Around 30% of voters said they would prefer Labour when it comes to “dealing with allies against threats to the UK”, compared with 18% for the Tories. On “allocating funding to the armed forces and defence”, 27% support Labour to do so best against 20% for the Tories. Some 28% say Labour will best safeguard “the UK’s reputation abroad” against 19% for the Tories.

On working to ensure a strong relationship between the UK and EU – as both seek to enhance to Europe’s defence capabilities against a background of the US’s potential scaling back of support for Ukraine and for Nato – 32% prefer Labour to do so against just 16% for the Tories.

Since Trump unveiled his controversial plans to bring peace to Ukraine and announced talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Starmer has won praise from MPs across the House of Commons for his response.

While many of his ratings remain solidly in negative territory (when the number disapproving of his performance is subtracted from the number approving) Downing Street will be cheered to see most of them moving in the right direction. Compared with the last time the same questions were asked on 5 February, Starmer’s rating for being “decisive” has gone up by 12%, that for being a “strong leader” by 13%, and for being able to “stand up for Britain’s interests abroad” up by 15%. His rating for being “competent” has climbed by 10% and that for being “likeable”by 10%.

Asked about the Ukraine conflict, 62% of voters say they trust the handling of it by the UK and 52% trust the EU. But just 19% trust the US and 9% Russia. When asked how united or divided they believe countries are over what to do about Ukraine, 67% said the UK and Ukraine were united, 51% said Europe as a whole was united, but only 26% thought the UK and US were united.

On Tuesday Trump announced the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine; 60% thought this the wrong thing to do, compared with 17% who thought it was right – 23% didn’t know. There was strong support from voters of all major parties that this was the wrong thing to do. Reform UK voters are the only group where there is clear division on the issue (44% wrong, 33% right).

Uncertainty is high on whether there will be a US-facilitated peace deal in Ukraine. A quarter (24%) think it likely compared to a third who think unlikely (33%), with 24% saying they don’t know. In the event the US did broker a peace in the region over half (55%) think it would benefit Putin and Russia the most, with only 17% thinking Zelenskyy and Ukraine would be main beneficiaries.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has criticised what he described as bullying tactics a day after Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran.

“Some bully governments – I really don’t know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying – insist on negotiations,” Khamenei told officials after Trump threatened military action if Iran refused to engage in talks over its nuclear programme.

“Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination,” Khamenei said on Saturday.

On Friday, Trump said he had written to Iran’s supreme leader, urging new talks on the country’s nuclear programme or face possible military action if it refuses.

Khamenei said on Saturday that bullying powers aim to assert their own expectations.

“They are setting new expectations that they think will definitely not be met by Iran,” he said, without naming the United States or referring to Trump’s letter.

Iran said it had not yet received a letter from Trump. “We have heard of it [the letter] but we haven’t received anything,” the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on state television.

On Friday, Araghchi told AFP in an interview that Tehran would not negotiate under “maximum pressure”, although he did not directly address Trump’s letter.

Trump reinstated his first-term policy of maximum pressure on Iran upon returning to the White House in January.

Under this policy, in 2018 the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The JCPOA, set between Tehran and western powers in 2015, had offered relief from economic sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear activities.

Tehran has in recent months engaged in diplomatic efforts with three European countries, Britain, France and Germany, aimed at resolving issues surrounding its nuclear ambitions.

However, on Saturday, Khamenei also rebuked the three European countries for “declaring that Iran has not fulfilled its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA”.

“You say that Iran has not fulfilled its commitments under the JCPOA. OK, have you fulfilled your commitments under the JCPOA?” he responded.

Khamenei said Tehran had kept its commitments for a year but there was “no other way” but to roll back from them in accordance with legislation passed by the country’s parliament.

US officials now estimate that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon within weeks if it so chose.

Tehran has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons, emphasising the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.

Officials have always cited a religious decree issued by Khamenei that prohibits the development of such weapons.

Last month, Khamenei reiterated his opposition to negotiations with the US, calling this “unwise” just days after Trump called for a new nuclear deal.

Khamenei accused Washington of having “ruined, violated, and torn up” the 2015 agreement.

In 2019, more than a year after Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, Japan’s then premier, Shinzo Abe, visited Iran in an attempt to mediate between Tehran and Washington.

But Khamenei firmly rejected the possibility of talks with the US, saying he did not “consider Trump as a person worthy of exchanging messages with”.

Germany’s conservative election winner, Friedrich Merz, came a step closer on Saturday to forming a government that he says will revive Europe’s top economy and its armed forces with massive new spending.

The bold moves are part of his plan to rebuild Berlin’s standing in Europe, which Merz has said must respond to the sweeping changes driven by the US president, Donald Trump, that have rocked the transatlantic alliance.

Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) of the defeated chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on Saturday announced they had wrapped up exploratory talks and would move on to the decisive stage of fully fledged coalition negotiations.

“We concluded the consultations between CDU/CSU and SPD, and we have drawn up a joint exploratory paper,” Merz said.

He praised the “extremely good and very collegial atmosphere” of the talks that had passed a major hurdle less than two weeks after the 23 February elections.

Merz said both sides shared “the conviction that we have a great task ahead of us”. He said all were “aware of the great challenge we are facing – above all the international situation, but also … facing the whole of Europe”.

Merz said both sides had agreed on tough new steps to limit irregular immigration, including refusing all undocumented migrants at the borders, even those seeking asylum.

The move was a key demand of Merz, who has stressed the need to win back voters from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which scored a record of more than 20% in the election.

Lars Klingbeil of the SPD called Saturday’s deal “an important first step” and said both sides agreed on the need to “get our country back on track”. He said his party had won assurances on key demands, such as a €15-an-hour minimum wage from 2026 and stable pensions.

The plan is for Germany to have a new government by mid-April that would end half a year of political paralysis after Scholz’s three-way coalition imploded in November.

The probable future governing allies have already surprised European partners with their plan to spend hundreds of billions of euros to revive the ailing economy and rebuild the military.

The ambitious plans would cast aside Germany’s historic reluctance to take on large-scale debt and see it invest in defence on a scale not seen since the second world war.

The spending boost – which Merz’s Bavarian ally Markus Söder has termed an “XXL”-sized splurge – comes in response to Trump and his administration casting doubt in Europe on the future strength and reliability of the Nato alliance.

Alarm at Trump’s actions has added urgency to the talks, spurred by his public berating of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a White House meeting.

The two parties are moving to talks on a detailed formal coalition agreement, including haggling over cabinet posts. Their spending plans would circumvent Germany’s constitutionally enshrined debt brake and exempt defence spending when it exceeds 1% of GDP.

The parties also agreed a €500bn (£420bn) fund to invest in creaking infrastructure over 10 years.

The SPD has long pushed for action on Germany’s economy, which has been mired in two years of recession. Merz voiced hopes on Saturday that the stimulus would help the economy grow by “one, preferably two, per cent”.

However, both proposals will need a two-thirds majority in the outgoing parliament, with the two big blocs needing the Greens’ cooperation.

Merz said new investment could flow into climate projects and voiced confidence that “we will find a way together to achieve a constitutional amendment”.

But the Greens’ co-chair Felix Banaszak warned they were “further away from an agreement today than we have been in recent days”, criticising the fact that “climate protection financing plays no part” in the joint document.

The CDU/CSU and SPD are in a hurry to push the changes through before a deadline looms. On 25 March the newly elected parliament will convene. From then on, the AfD and the far-left Linke will be able to block any such proposals.

A man scheduled to become the first person executed by nitrogen gas in Louisiana is challenging the method in court, arguing it violates his religious beliefs.

A federal judge will decide whether executing Jessie Hoffman Jr by nitrogen hypoxia violates his constitutional right to practice his religion, which includes Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises that would be impeded by the gas during the capital punishment.

Hoffman’s attorneys argued against the nitrogen gas method, an execution that causes death by forcing a person to breathe pure nitrogen, in a Baton Rouge federal court on Friday. A decision by the US district judge Shelly Dick could could come by the end of the weekend.

Hoffman has proposed using a drug mixture similar to those used in assisted suicides, but state attorneys have said those drugs are unavailable for executions. His attorneys have also argued that the method, which requires an industrial, full-face mask, would worsen Hoffman’s diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and claustrophobia, and cause severe mental distress.

The move comes amid an intense debate about the role of the death penalty in the US and methods of execution. On Friday, South Carolina used a firing squad to kill a death row prisoner after the condemned man elected that method over the use of drugs.

Hoffman is scheduled for execution on 18 March at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Louisiana adopted its nitrogen hypoxia execution plan just last month, and Hoffman would be the first to die under the new protocol.

Hoffman was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a New Orleans advertising account executive, Mary “Molly” Elliot, in 1996. Her body was found in a wilderness area near the Pearl River in eastern St Tammany parish. Elliot was 28 years old.

The Louisiana attorney general, Liz Murrill, has defended the state’s decision to use nitrogen hypoxia.

“On March 18, 2025, the State of Louisiana will execute Hoffman by nitrogen hypoxia for Molly’s murder. We have and will continue to vigorously defend the State’s obligation to carry out this sentence and bring justice to the family and friends of Molly Elliot,” Murrill said in a statement.

Louisiana scheduled two executions on consecutive days in March, but Christopher Sepulvado, who was scheduled to be executed one day before Hoffman, died of an illness on 23 February.

Hoffman had previously challenged Louisiana’s lethal injection protocol in 2012, arguing that the method constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Dick dismissed that lawsuit in 2022 because no executions had been scheduled at the time.

The judge reopened the case last month, and said the state’s recently scheduled executions presented “extraordinary circumstances” that required further review.

Louisiana’s last execution happened 15 years ago, when the state used lethal injection to execute Gerald Bordelon.

Two men have been arrested in India in connection with the alleged rape of an Israeli and a local woman.

The Israeli woman and her homestay operator were said to be stargazing with three male travellers in Koppal town in southern Karnataka state on Thursday night.

Police said three men on a motorbike approached them and asked for money. After an argument, the men pushed the male travellers into a nearby canal before sexually assaulting the two women.

Ram L Arasiddi, a local police official, said one of travellers had drowned and his body was recovered on Saturday. The other two men swam to safety, he said.

Koppal is about 217 miles (350 kilometres) from Bengaluru. Arasiddi said police had set up a special investigation team that arrested two of the suspects on Saturday. They were being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, gang-rape and robbery, he said.

Sexual assaults on women have become a prominent issue in India, where police recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022, a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The real figure is believed to be much higher given the stigma surrounding sexual violence and victims’ lack of faith in police.

Rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the 2012 gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus. The attack galvanised huge protests and inspired lawmakers to set up fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases and stiffen penalties.

The rape law was amended in 2013, criminalising stalking and voyeurism and lowering the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16. The government approved the death penalty in 2018 for people convicted of raping children under age 12.

High-profile cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue. Last year, in a video that was later deleted, a Spanish tourist said his wife had been raped in northern India, while an Indian-American woman said she had been raped at a hotel in Delhi. A British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa in 2022.