World

China must modernise its military to make it a “Great Wall of Steel”, President Xi Jinping has said. Speaking for the first time in his precedent-breaking third term as head of state, Mr Xi called for China to step up its ability to safeguard national security and manage public security. “Security is the foundation for

The former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has told Sky News he is approaching death in the hospital he has been moved to from jail. In a moment of rare media access, the former leader also delivered a warning to the people of Georgia after days of protests had swept through the country. An appeal

We’d been worrying about Serhiy Petrushenko, a 21-year-old boy we met guarding a bridge in central Kyiv completely on his own on the second day of the war. He became an overnight sensation after our report, the interview was watched well over 50 million times on social media alone. When we spoke to him his

With Oscars glory and a possible economic boom at stake, a sense of anticipation has gripped the island off the west coast of Ireland where one of the Academy Awards heavyweight contenders was largely filmed. The Banshees of Inisherin, which boasts no fewer than nine nominations, including best picture and best actor, may be set

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been brutal and attritional, and has shocked most of the “civilised” world. Russia’s evident disregard for casualties and collateral damage in the pursuit of victory is very different to the West’s approach to warfare, which has profound implications for the war in Ukraine, and the West’s wider defence planning assumptions.

The unborn baby of a woman who was seven months pregnant was among those killed during a mass shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness building in the German city of Hamburg. Police identified the gunman as Philipp F, a 35-year-old German with no prior offences who had been a member of the congregation – but had

Eight people have been shot dead and three others seriously injured in an attack on a Jehovah’s Witness building in the German city of Hamburg, according to police. They said the shooting was carried out by a lone gunman who may be among the dead, although this has yet to be officially confirmed. Shots were

I met Larysa standing on broken glass outside her Kyiv apartment block trying to convince two council workmen to come up to her flat and mend her shattered windows. Only hours earlier she had been shaken to the core by a huge explosion in the residential complex car park three floors beneath her. She invited

Russia has launched a massive missile attack across Ukraine – striking targets in the capital Kyiv, the second biggest city of Kharkiv and the Black Sea port of Odesa – killing at least six people. The northern city of Chernihiv and the western Lviv region, as well as the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne,

Ireland will hold a vote in November on removing “outmoded” references to a woman’s place being in the home from the country’s constitution. The Irish government said on Wednesday that it will hold a referendum on Article 41.2, which says Ireland recognises that “by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a

Iran has secretly supplied large quantities of bullets, rockets and mortar shells to Russia for the war in Ukraine and plans to send more, a security source has told Sky News. The source claimed that two Russian-flagged cargo ships departed an Iranian port in January bound for Russia via the Caspian Sea, carrying approximately 100

Ukraine has vowed to avenge the death of a soldier it said was shot by Russian troops in a video that spread on social media. The video, which emerged online on Monday, purportedly shows the killing of an unarmed Ukrainian soldier. In a statement last night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “the occupiers” killed “a

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his top military commanders have pledged to continue defending the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut in the face of intense Russian pressure. The Ukrainian president said the generals agreed at a meeting to strengthen the defences and the top brass would “find the appropriate forces to help our guys” there. It comes

Kim Jong Un may be appearing with his daughter in public to present her as a potential successor as he seeks to portray his family as being a dynasty like the British Royal Family, an expert on the secretive country has said. Jean H Lee, who set up the Associated Press news agency’s first bureau

Dozens of Israeli air force reservists will refuse to turn up to training drills in protest over controversial plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the country’s legal system. Demonstrations have taken place nationwide for nine weeks running because of the proposals, which critics have warned would limit the power of judges and weaken

Two Ukrainian pilots are currently undergoing a training assessment in the US to fly American fighter jets, including F-16s. The F-16 planes are believed to be the aircraft Ukraine wants the most to fight back against Russia’s invasion in the skies. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has told Western nations the country needs jets to effectively

After 15 years of disagreement, failures and stalled formal and informal talks, there is finally a UN high seas treaty that will help to protect vast swathes of the planet’s oceans. The legally binding agreement was reached after five rounds of protracted United Nations-led negotiations that ended in New York on Saturday, a day after

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s longstanding foreign minister, provoked laughter from an audience at an international conference in India when he attempted to portray his country as the victim of the war in Ukraine. Addressing the Raisina Dialogue, an event in New Delhi that debates the major challenges facing the world in politics and economics and one

When Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury city centre – five years ago to this day – few would have known that a huge diplomatic crisis was about to erupt. Mr Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer turned British double agent, had been targeted with the deadly

A mother who killed her five children has been euthanised at her own request – 16 years to the day after their murders, her lawyer has said. Genevieve Lhermitte slit the throats of her son and daughters – aged three to 14 – with a kitchen knife at their family home in the Belgian town