UK ‘greenlights’ strikes against Putin’s forces in Russia as Ukraine on path to Nato

China accused Nato on Thursday of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.

The statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson came a day after NATO labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“Nato hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue.

The Chinese military has begun joint drills in Belarus that are being held over the next 11 days in Brest, close to the border with Nato state Poland.

The joint military exercises by two of Russia’s most important allies come after Belarus became the 10th member of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during its 24th meeting of heads of council in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Belarus’s government said the drills “will allow … the laying of a foundation for further development of Belarusian-Chinese relations in the field of joint training of troops”.

Oleg Orlov, a veteran Russian human rights campaigner, on Thursday lost an appeal against his two-and-half-year prison sentence but said he stood by his denunciation of “mass repression” in Russia.

Orlov, the 71-year-old co-chair of rights group Memorial, was found guilty in February of discrediting the Russian army after he protested against the war and wrote an article accusing President Vladimir Putin of leading the country into fascism.

“I have no remorse or regrets. I am in the right place at the right time,” he told a packed courtroom in Moscow, speaking by video link from a detention centre about 750 km (470 miles) away.

“When there is mass repression in the country, I am there alongside those who are persecuted, and in this way I help…” Orlov continued, before the sound was cut from his video feed.

On Wednesday, Nato labelled China a “decisive enabler” of Putin’s war in Ukraine – in the alliance’s strongest rebuke of Beijing.

But Beijing hit back and accused Nato of smearing the country while demanding the transatlantic alliance stay out of Asia.

“Nato keeps playing up the interlink between Europe’s security and the security in Asia-Pacific. We urge it to stay within its role as a regional defensive organisation in the north Atlantic,” Beijing said.

Kyiv‘s National Cancer Institute was busier than ever after a Russian missile struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital this week, forcing the evacuation of dozens of its young patients battling cancer.

Putin’s heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in four months severely damaged Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital on Monday, terrorizing families and severely impacting their children already battling life-threatening diseases.

Now, some families face a dilemma of where to continue their children’s treatment. Oksana Halak only learned about her two-year-old son Dmytro’s diagnosis — acute lymphoblastic leukemia — at the beginning of June.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has urged the British government to help put Vladimir Putin on trial for war crimes over his invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Brown, 73, said the “time for action” against Mr Putin “was now” and urged the new Labour government to help in putting Russian leadership on trial.

“I believe the new UK government, whose prime minister and foreign secretary have already supported the call for action on the crime of aggression, will add to the urgency of putting the Russian leadership on trial for the full totality of the harm it has inflicted,” Mr Brown wrote in The Guardian.

“It will send a message that there is no hiding place from prosecution for aggressors – and no immunity for war criminals, whether presidents or not. Anger and outrage are not enough. The time for action against Putin is now.”

Russia’s prosecutor general’s office has labelled The Moscow Times an “undesirable” organisation, a designation that bans Russians from working with or having links to the outlet.

“The work of the outlet is aimed at discrediting the decisions of the leadership of the Russian Federation in both foreign and domestic policy,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Russia introduced its “undesirable” list in 2015 to crack down on foreign NGOs and ban Russians from working with or donating to them.

British-supplied missiles can be used by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia, the UK has told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

UK defence secretary John Healey green-lighted Kyiv’s use of Storm Shadow missiles for defensive strikes inside Russian territory on Wednesday.

Signalling the move, but declining to get into “operational arrangements”, John Healey, the new defence secretary, told Sky News that Britain “will do all we can to help Ukraine in their fight to repel Putin’s invasion”.

The National Cancer Institute in Kyiv was busier than usual after a Russian missile struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital this week, forcing the evacuation of dozens of its young patients battling cancer.

Russia’s heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in four months severely damaged Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital on Monday, terrorising families and severely impacting their children already battling life-threatening diseases.

Now, some families face a dilemma of where to continue their children’s treatment.

Oksana Halak only learned about her 2-year-old son Dmytro’s diagnosis — acute lymphoblastic leukemia — at the beginning of June. She immediately decided to have him treated at Okhmatdyt, “because it is one of the best hospitals in Europe.”

She and Dmytro were in the hospital for his treatment when sirens blared across the city. They couldn’t run to the shelter as the little boy was on an IV. “It is vitally important not to interrupt these IVs,” Halak said.