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Vladimir Putin has for seven months insisted his invasion of Ukraine was only a special military operation.

That way he hoped the conflict would seem distant and contained to the broad Russian public.

With his military suffering setback after setback, a week ago he announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists. But even that was qualified.

It was a partial mobilisation and so far the bulk of men being drafted are said to be from areas far from Moscow and in the Russian federation’s autonomous republics.

Putin faces ‘imminent defeat’ – Ukraine war latest

He will have hoped again that the bulk of ethnic Russians will still not feel directly affected by this latest escalation.

But it is not working out that way, it seems, not for hundreds of thousands of Russians across the country.

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They’ve felt so strongly about his latest moves that they have left their homes and everything in them and made the long and difficult journey out of Russia. To Georgia, or to Mongolia and Kazakhstan or Finland, where so many Russians have crossed that the authorities have now closed the border to them.

As many have left in the past week as in the entire conflict. One young mother crossing into Georgia told Sky News that you cannot raise children in a country that sends men to kill against their will.

Others are less prepared to talk to news crews when they cross. Many of them are from those autonomous republics.

Areas such as Dagestan, in the north Caucasus, Buryat far to the east and Chechnya have suffered a disproportionately high amount of casualties in the Ukraine war and suspect the new mobilisation will mean an unfair number of their men are forced to join up.

Startling levels of unrest

There has been an unprecedented level of unrest in these republics in the last week. We have seen startling videos online of men headbutting policemen and kickboxing them in mass brawls.

And in deeply conservative Islamic areas of Russia, women have been so angry they have taken to the streets to chant “No more war” against police.

We were able to talk to a few men anonymously who come from these areas.

One from Dagestan would not show his face on camera, but said the situation there was getting worse. Young men, he said, were being forced into minibuses and sent for military training. He was getting out of Russia while he could.

Another man from Chechnya said zthat since Mr Putin’s mobilisation order “the mood of younger Chechens worsened. Everybody is trying as fast they can to leave Chechen territory, fearing they’ll be mobilised.”

He questioned the Kremlin’s logic in forcing men to fight against their will.

“I don’t think they’ll try hard because many of us think this isn’t our war and that Russia is an aggressor. This is not defending the interests of their motherland.”

He had been working hard to get Chechen men across the border.

‘I don’t really understand’

We filmed our interview at night and obscured his identity to avoid retribution by Chechen authorities back home against members of his family. Chechnya has been subject to brutal repression since its subjugation by Russia in two conflicts.

He said Russia was fighting a war and there was no other way of describing it.

So did another man who approached us under cover of darkness. A military veteran, he had fought for Russia and served four years, he said, but had just crossed the border to avoid being called up.

Mr Putin’s announcements showed Russia was not fighting a limited military operation, he said.

“I really don’t understand why I should go,” he told us. “This is not our territory. The fact they’re trying to mobilise this many people means it’s the start of something very serious.”

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He had comrades who had fought in Ukraine, he said, but their experience was far from encouraging.

“I have some friends who are in Ukraine and friends who have come back. But they’re not saying anything good about it.”

Mr Putin is doubling down on his war, but for an increasing number of Russians that has brought the conflict far closer to home.

It is provoking widespread unrest and a mass exodus. He is gambling that those downsides will be worth it, but he may be raising a fighting force of only dubious quality, hastily trained poorly equipped and reluctant to fight.

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Manhunt after shooting at Brussels underground station

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Manhunt after shooting at Brussels underground station

Belgian police have launched a manhunt after a shooting near an underground station in the capital.

It happened outside Clemenceau metro station in Brussels at around 6.15am local time on Wednesday, according to local media reports.

Security personnel secure the area at the Clemenceau metro station
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Pic: Reuters

Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Clemenceau, Trone and Gare de l’Ouest underground stations are closed to the public as police search for the perpetrators in the tunnels of the city’s metro system, The Brussels Times reported.

CCTV footage showed two people walking into the station and opening fire, according to the Reuters news agency. It said it could not immediately verify the images.

Security personnel secure the area at the Clemenceau metro station.
Pic:Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Members of the forensic police work at the Clemenceau metro station.
Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

“The suspects fled in the direction of the metro station and may still be in the tunnel between the Clemenceau and Midi stations,” a police spokesperson told Belga News Agency.

“The Brussels Midi police and the federal railway police are searching the area. No one was injured in the shooting.”

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Images showed emergency services, including firefighters and paramedics, at the scene and a police cordon in place.

Several tram and metro lines have also been shut on the heavily used underground system.

Clemenceau metro station is near Brussels-Midi Station – the arrival point for Eurostar trains from London and Paris.

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Trump says US will take over Gaza and all Palestinians should relocate

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Trump says US will take over Gaza and all Palestinians should relocate

The US will take over Gaza and “own it”, Donald Trump has said.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said the two million Palestinian people living in the territory, which he described as a “demolition site”, would go to “various domains”.

Asked about deploying US troops to fill a potential security vacuum, the president replied: “We’ll do what is necessary.”

Expanding on plans for the territory, he said the US would “develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs” and turn it into “something the entire Middle East can be very proud of”.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. Pic: AP

The president reiterated his suggestion from 25 January that Palestinians could be relocated to Egypt and Jordan – something both countries, other Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, and Palestinian leaders, have rejected.

Palestinians in Gaza could go to countries beyond Jordan and Egypt too, he said.

Follow latest: Trump accused of ‘openly calling for ethnic cleansing’

Asked whether he thought Egypt and Jordan would accept Palestinians, he said he believed they would.

But, he added: “I hope we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back. Who would want to go back?

“They’ve experienced nothing but death and destruction.”

Saudi Arabia immediately responded, stressing its rejection of attempts to displace Palestinians from Gaza, and insisted it would not establish relations with Israel without a Palestinian state.

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Asked on what authority the US could take control of Gaza, Mr Trump told reporters he sees a “long term ownership position” which would, he claimed, bring stability to that part of the Middle East.

“This was not a decision made lightly,” he said.

“Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs.”

It would be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

He continued: “I’ve studied it. I’ve studied this very closely over a lot of months, and I’ve seen it from every different angle.”

He does not believe Palestinians should return to Gaza because it is a “guarantee that they’re going to end up dying”.

He talked about finding a “beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza”.

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Gazans return home to rubble

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The war, triggered by Hamas carrying out a massacre of 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage during the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel, has temporarily stopped since the long-sought ceasefire deal came into effect on 19 January.

More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s attack, according to local authorities.

Mr Netanyahu, the first world leader to meet Mr Trump since the pro-Israel president’s return to the White House, sat beside the Republican as he answered questions from the press.

Trump relocation call will horrify Palestinians

President Trump has a habit of saying the quiet stuff out loud. And the proud global disrupter did just that today with his breathtaking announcement. Critics will say he is either ignoring history, is indifferent to it or is ignorant of it.

But if President Trump is to be taken at face value then he is set to repeat history – the history of American occupation of the Middle East and the history of Palestinian displacement.

It would end the prospect of a two-state solution – Israelis and Palestinians living side by side on the same land. It could also wreck any prospects of diplomatic normalisation between Israel and Gulf Arab states.

Nations like Saudi Arabia wouldn’t stand for such a permanent resettlement and probably wouldn’t trust any resettlement presented as ‘temporary’ – which this is conspicuously not.

The two countries being told to take the people of Gaza – Egypt and Jordan – have firmly refused to do so. The American president seems convinced they will roll over.

Maybe though this is part of Trump’s art of the deal: to suggest something, then not follow through – and present that as a concession down the line.

There’s something else too.

Even if Israeli PM Netanyahu believes it’s a plan that can’t work and could further the cries of ethnic cleansing (it’s notable that he didn’t add his overt support to it alongside Trump) the president’s plan will certainly help him domestically where his future is fragile.

Netanyahu can dangle ‘permanent relocation’ in front of the real hardliners in his government who keep him in power.

Whatever is at play here, the announcement today will horrify Palestinians and it will delight and embolden the hardline elements of Israeli society who have dreamt of a Jewish state free of Palestinians.

‘Plans change with time’

The US president hinted he would seek an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long Israel-Palestine conflict.

“Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he told reporters when he was asked if he was still committed to a plan similar to the one he spelled out in 2020 that described a possible Palestinian state.

That plan proposed a series of Palestinian enclaves surrounded by an enlarged Israel, did not have the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, but suggested a Palestinian capital on the outskirts of the city.

“A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back. Now we are faced with a situation that’s different – in some ways better and in some ways worse. But we are faced with a very complex and difficult situation that we’ll solve,” he said.

On the likelihood of getting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Mr Trump said: “We are dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know, and maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don’t.

“We’re dealing with a very complex group of people, situation and people, but we have the right man. We have the right leader of Israel. He’s done a great job.”

Mr Trump was also asked whether he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said: “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”

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Worst mass shooting in Sweden’s history as around 10 killed at adult education centre

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Worst mass shooting in Sweden's history as around 10 killed at adult education centre

Swedish police have said around 10 people have been killed at an adult education centre, in what the country’s prime minister said is the worst mass shooting in Sweden’s history.

The attack happened at around 12.30pm local time (11.30am UK time) at Campus Risbergska in the town of Orebro, around 200km (125 miles) west of the capital Stockholm.

A spokesperson told a news conference on Tuesday evening that police believe the “primary perpetrator” is dead and acted alone. They do not expect more attacks, the spokesperson added.

Police at the scene of a shooting at Risbergska School, in Orebro, Sweden 
Pic: Kicki Nilsson/TT News Agency
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Police at the scene of the shooting. Pic: AP/Kicki Nilsson/TT News Agency

Police said they carried out investigations at various addresses in Orebro, with technical personnel working at the scene.

Sweden shooting latest: ‘Everything points to typical loner attack’

“At present, the police believe that the perpetrator acted alone, but we cannot rule out more perpetrators connected to the incident,” the update on the Swedish police’s website said.

Police also said they do not know the motive but do not believe it is terrorism, adding they “had no warning sign” about the attack.

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Officers are working to identify the perpetrator and the victims.

The damage at the crime scene was so extensive that investigators were unable to be more definitive on the number killed, said Roberto Eid Forest, head of the local police.

Head of the local police Roberto Eid Forest attends a press conference after a shooting at the adult education center Campus Risbergska school in Orebro, Sweden, February 4, 2025. Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. SWEDEN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SWEDEN.
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Head of the local police Roberto Eid Forest. Pic: Reuters

“When it comes to saying anything more about the perpetrator, it is still very early. The operation is ongoing and that will undoubtedly become clearer. But we are working very intensively right now,” Mr Forest said.

He described the attack as a “horrible” incident, calling it “exceptional” and a “nightmare”.

The suspected gunman had not previously been known to police, Mr Forest said..

Speaking at a press conference this evening, Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson said the tragedy is the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.

“Today, we have witnessed brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people,” Mr Kristersson told reporters.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks to media during the Joint Expeditionary Force Leaders' Summit, at the Estonian Knighthood House in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. File pic: AP

“This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history. Many questions remain unanswered, and I cannot provide those answers either.

“But the time will come when we will know what happened, how it could occur, and what motives may have been behind it. Let us not speculate,” he said.

Meanwhile, the country’s king Carl XVI Gustaf said the shooting was a “terrible atrocity”.

Danish Royals State Visit To Sweden - Day 2 ** STORY AVAILABLE, CONTACT SUPPLIER** Featuring: King Carl Gustaf Where: Stockholm, Sweden When: 07 May 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**  (Cover Images via AP Images)
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King Carl Gustaf. File pic: AP

“We send our condolences tonight to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts at this time also go to the injured and their relatives, as well as to others affected.

“My family and I would like to express our great appreciation for the police, rescue and medical personnel who worked intensively to save and protect human lives on this dark day.”

Police earlier urged the public to stay away from the centre as they were searching and evacuating the premises.

At least five people were taken to hospital. Four underwent surgery – one is critically injured, two are stable and one is lightly injured, police said at an earlier news conference.

Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter said police officers had been shot at, but police said no officers had been shot.

A police officer at Risbergska School in Orebro, Sweden.
Pic: TT News Agency/Kicki Nilsson/Reuters
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A police officer at the school. Pic: Reuters

Emergency personnel and police officers work at the adult education center Campus Risbergska school after a shooting attack in Orebro, Sweden, February 4, 2025. TT News Agency/Kicki Nilsson via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. SWEDEN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN SWEDEN.
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Pic: Reuters

The centre is for students over the age of 20, according to its website. It offers primary and upper secondary school courses, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programmes for people with intellectual disabilities.

Google Maps shows a number of schools for children in the vicinity.

The shooting happened after many students had gone home following a national exam.

A helicopter at the scene of the shooting  at Risbergska School, in Orebro. 
Pic: Kicki Nilsson/TT News Agency/AP
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A police helicopter above the scene. Pic: AP

Students were taking shelter in nearby buildings and other parts of the campus were evacuated.

Teacher Lena Warenmark told SVT News that there were unusually few students on the campus on Tuesday afternoon after the exam. She also told the broadcaster that she heard probably 10 gunshots.

Andreas Sundling, 28, was among those forced to barricade themselves inside the school.

Read more: What we know about Sweden shooting so far

“We heard three bangs and loud screams,” he told the Expressen newspaper while sheltering in a classroom.

“Now we’re sitting here waiting to be evacuated from the school. The information we have received is that we should sit and wait.”

Police cars pass near the adult education center Campus Risbergska school after a shooting attack in Orebro, Sweden, February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Philip O'Connor
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Police cars pass near the Campus Risbergska school. Pic: Reuters

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported one person trapped in the centre as saying: “We have heard several shots outside.”

The newspaper also quoted a person who had received a text from a teacher at the centre saying “there was a shooting with automatic weapons”.

It said local emergency and intensive care departments are being made ready for casualties.

Fatal attacks at educational establishments in Sweden are rare, with 10 killed in seven incidents between 2010 and 2022, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

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