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The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a new report that between 200 and 500 workers from the plant would be ordered to fight in Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. As a result, operations at the plant will be temporarily suspended, the report added. The plant is in the Ukrainian city of Yenakiieve and those working there may be Ukrainian born, but the Donetsk region houses the Russian-backed separatist state called the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR)....

Anatoly Antonov has been recalled to Moscow following the comments by the U.S. president during an interview with ABC News which aired on Wednesday. Biden agreed with the assertion that Putin was a “killer” and said that he would “pay a price” for alleged U.S. electoral interference. The interview followed an intelligence report that concluded Russia had tried to meddle in the 2020 presidential election, something that Moscow has denied....

Using the Kremlin terminology for the war, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the goals of Russia’s “special military operation” were “the protection” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in the Donbas region. The areas in the eastern part of Ukraine have been the scene of conflict since 2014, following Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Russia was also pursuing the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, she said, and sought to eliminate the military threat Ukraine posed to Russia due to its ties with NATO....

Moscow - Russia got off to a strong start in the Davis Cup as Dmitry Tursonov eked out a win over Great Britain’s Daniel Evans. Tursonov, ranked 67 in the world, took his opening singles match 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at Coventry’s RICOH Arena Friday despite a fighting effort from the World No.325 Evans. Tursonov, who has seven ATP Tour wins, recovered from a lost tie-breaker in the second set to capture the third, rallying back from a 15-40 deficit before taking the set on a double fault from Evans....

The Trump administration will provide a six-month notice of intent to withdraw from the treaty on Friday, according to the memo. “After careful consideration, including input from Allies and key partners, it has become abundantly clear that it is no longer in America’s interest to remain a party to the Treaty on Open Skies,” the State Department told Newsweek Thursday. “Effective six months from tomorrow, the United States will no longer be a party to the Treaty....

“The interests of the citizens of Poland have been sacrificed due to Russophobia of ‘mediocre politicians’ and their ‘puppeteers from across the ocean’ with clear signs of senile insanity,” the former Russian president and prime minister wrote in a post on his Telegram channel. Medvedev was referring to a decision made by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki last week to minimize dependence on Russia and sever economic ties with Moscow in response to the Ukraine invasion that began on February 24....

Andriy Zagorodnyuk—minister of defense from 2019 to 2020 and now the chair of the Centre for Defense Strategies thinktank in Kyiv—said on Saturday he has “absolutely no doubt” that Ukraine will emerge from the ongoing war victorious, as Kyiv’s forces drive deep behind Russian lines on multiple fronts. Speaking at the Yalta European Strategy summit—organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation—in Kyiv, Zagorodnyuk said occupying Russian forces are exhausted and incapable of responding to Ukraine’s escalating offensives....

The International Biathlon Union said Friday it found Ekaterina Glazyrina guilty of using a banned substance and said it would reveal further details of the case on Monday. The decision follows an investigation based on the McLaren report into Russian doping and cover-ups, and appears to be the first case based on that report to result in a ban for a winter sports athlete. All of Glazyrina’s results from 2013 will be erased, suggesting the offence occurred in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics, where Russia is accused of widespread doping....

“I am a patriot of my country. I would only compete under Russian flag,” Borzakovsky said at an athletics event in the central Russian region of Chuvashia. “Every athlete has his own right to decide. In case someone wants to - he is welcome to. If the (Russian athletics) federation allows - let him compete. But for me personally - I would never do it.” The Russian track and field team has been suspended from athletics events in Rio because of doping allegations....

They have asked the WADA to remove from its report former Russian doping lab chief Grigory Rodchenkov’s testimony on an alleged state-run doping cover-up. In August, Russian Doctor of Law Vladimir Botnev released a critical analysis stressing that the WADA report is based mainly on Rodchenkov’s testimony despite the former doping lab chief’s evident lack of trustworthiness, reports Sputnik. Botnev cited WADA’s own information on Rodchenkov’s criminal activities, corruption, bribe-taking, blackmailing and active doping misconduct and quoted a 2015 WADA report which dismissed the credibility of Rodchenkov’s statements on doping sample destruction....

The director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Department of Commonwealth of Independent States, Alexey Polishchuk, made the comments in an interview with the state-run TASS news agency, which was published on Friday. “If and when those contacts [with Ukraine] are resumed, they will most likely be direct as well. And it would be the best option as experience has proven that Western mediators often pursue their own objectives and try to influence the talks, acting not for settlement of the conflict, but in their own political and economic interests,” Polishchuk said when asked whether Moscow was willing to hold talks with Kyiv about ending the war....

Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Thursday ahead of his visit to the country, Putin called for sanctions to be revoked and falsely claimed that Robert Mueller’s probe found no evidence of Russian wrongdoing, Tass reported. Russia was accused of directing online disinformation campaigns to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. Hackers linked to Russian military intelligence also breached Democratic campaign organizations and stole sensitive files that were later leaked....

Novosibirsk Zoo, in Siberia, organized a public vote to determine its new mascot for 2022. The choices were between Batu the orangutan, Aisha the cat, Max the Amur tiger, Sayan the snow leopard and Shilka the polar bear cub. The vote caught the attention of Sergei Boyko, a member of Novosibirsk city council and supporter of Alexei Navalny, a longstanding opponent to Russian president Vladimir Putin. In a YouTube broadcast in January, Boyko said that against the backdrop of everything going on in Novosibirsk, the orangutan was the “best option to win....

The incident follows Russia’s announcement that it would withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border after a military buildup that had raised concerns among the international community. Russian agencies reported that Russian airspace control detected the American aircraft over neutral waters. “To identify the air target and prevent violation of the state border of the Russian Federation, a MiG-31 fighter from the air defense forces of the eastern military district was deployed,” a statement by Russia’s eastern military district said, according to Tass....

REvil’s online presence disappeared Tuesday after hitting software company Kaseya, based in Florida, with a ransomware attack on July 2 that affected more than 1,000 organizations internationally, the Associated Press reported. Following the attack, President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin to “take action” against cyber criminals living in Russia last Friday. Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia considers cybercrimes “unacceptable” actions that would warrant consequences. However, analysts say there is no evidence yet of Putin penalizing cybercrimes, according to the AP....

Leonid Vasyukevich, who was expelled from Russia’s Communist Party after criticizing Putin’s war in May, told Russian daily newspaper Kommersant that he had been charged with “discrediting” Russia’s armed forces. Russia’s parliament passed legislation in March imposing jail terms of up to 15 years for intentionally spreading “fake” news about Russia’s army. The Kremlin has used the law to crack down on those who veer from Putin’s narrative of the war....

Borussia Dortmund will sign defender Omer Toprak from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, according to Bild. A €12 million transfer fee has been agreed between the two Bundesliga sides, with the Turkish centre-back set to sign a four-year contract with BVB. The 27-year-old has been with Leverkusen since 2011, when he moved from Freiburg. Toprak is seen as an ideal purchase by Thomas Tuchel, especially after Mats Hummels left Dortmund for Bayern Munich and replacement Marc Bartra’s poor performances of late....

Perot is climbing in the polls, threatening to make a three-way race out of what had been viewed–even by many of Bush’s top advisers-as a Clinton waltz to the White House. It’s not clear how much higher Perot can go, or whether he can help derail Clinton’s plodding march toward an Electoral College victory. But Perot is poised to send a stern message to politics as we know it: shape up, or else....

Different distances require further refinements. A sprinter takes off and stays on the ball of his foot and so needs little cushioning in the heel or even middle of the foot, but lots in the front. A middle-distance runner has more of a midfoot-to-toe stride (or even a less efficient heel-to-toe stride), and so needs maximum spring at midfoot and heel. Marathoners also need heel cushioning but as little weight as possible: for them, a tongueless shoe....

An analysis of exit polling data by NPR following the 2016 election showed that Trump and Republicans managed to significantly grow their support in rural areas, continuing a trend going back to 2008. The GOP’s share of the electorate in rural America stood at about 53 percent in 2008. In 2012, it jumped to about 59 percent and then went up to 62 percent in 2016. Just over 70 percent of voters in rural areas with less than 2,500 residents not close to a metro area voted for Trump in 2016....