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US President Joe Biden has said he is “contemplating” steps to punish Moscow after he blamed Vladimir Putin and his “thugs” for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Mr Biden said he was “outraged” but “not surprised” by the death of the prominent Putin critic as he joined other world leaders in saying the Kremlin should be held accountable.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Navalny as the “fiercest advocate for Russian democracy”, while Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said his passing is a reminder of “exactly what a monster Putin is”.

Mr Navalny had been serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges in Russia’s Polar Wolf penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.

Russian prison authorities said he died after feeling unwell following a walk on Friday.

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Mourners arrested after Navalny’s death

‘Putin is responsible’

Speaking at the White House after the reports emerged, Mr Biden paid tribute to a man he said “bravely” stood up to the Russian president’s “corruption” and “violence”.

Mr Biden continued: “Russian authorities are going to tell their own story.

“But make no mistake. Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.”

He added: “We don’t know exactly what happened, but there is no doubt that the death of Nalvany was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Joe Biden speaks after it was reported Alexei Navalny had died. Pic: Reuters
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Joe Biden speaks after it was reported Alexei Navalny had died. Pic: Reuters

The White House is still seeking more information about Mr Navalny’s death, but the development has put a further chill into already frosty relations between Washington DC and Moscow.

Mr Biden had warned Mr Putin after they met in Geneva in June 2021 that Mr Navalny’s death would lead to devastating consequences for the Kremlin.

Asked what consequences Mr Putin will face, Mr Biden said at the White House on Friday: “That was three years ago, in the meantime they have faced a hell of a lot of consequences.”

He referenced sanctions Moscow has faced since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and the hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who have been killed in the conflict.

Read more:
How Navalny still posed a threat to Putin from prison
The extraordinary life of Navalny

Alexei Navalny makes a heart gesture standing in a cage during a hearing in Moscow in 2021 
Pic: AP
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Alexei Navalny makes a heart gesture to his wife during a court hearing in Moscow in 2021. Pic: AP

Mr Biden said he is “contemplating what else could be done”, but added that when he issued the warning in 2021 there were no sanctions already in place.

The US president also urged Republican hardliners in Congress to support additional funding to pay for more weaponry for Ukraine’s military nearly two years after the country was invaded by Russian forces.

He said: “History’s watching the House of Representatives. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten.”

The Russian president himself has not commented on Mr Navalny’s death, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had been made aware of the development.

Mr Peskov, who said he could not reveal any details as to how Mr Navalny died, added that the reaction of Western leaders has been “unacceptable” and “absolutely rabid”.

Mr Putin chairs a meeting in Chelyabinsk on the day Mr Navalny's death was reported. Pic: Reuters
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Mr Putin chairs a meeting in Chelyabinsk on the day Mr Navalny’s death was reported. Pic: Reuters

Sunak, Macron and Scholz respond to ‘huge tragedy’

Among those world leaders was Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who said the jailed dissident’s death was “terrible news”.

“My thoughts are with his wife and the people of Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” Mr Sunak said.

“As the fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible courage throughout his life,” he added.

Lord Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary, said that Mr Navanly had “fought bravely against corruption” throughout his life.

He continued: “Putin’s Russia fabricated charges against him, poisoned him, sent him to an Arctic penal colony and now he has tragically died.

“Putin should be accountable for what has happened – no one should doubt the dreadful nature of his regime.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was “obvious” Mr Putin was responsible, adding that the Russian leader doesn’t care who dies so long as his position is secure.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “anger and indignation” over Mr Navalny’s death, adding that Russia is a place where “free spirits are put in the gulag and sentenced to death”.

He said the treatment of Mr Navalny shows the “weakness of the Kremlin and their fear of all opponents”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Mr Navalny’s death makes clear “what kind of regime this is” and that he had “probably now paid for (his) courage with his life”.

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The life and death of Alexei Navalny

EU says it will ‘spare no efforts’ to hold Kremlin to account

The European Union demanded Moscow immediately release all political prisoners after the death of Mr Navalny.

The Russian opposition leader was “slowly murdered” by Mr Putin, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and vice president Josep Borrell said in a joint statement.

“We will spare no efforts to hold the Russian political leadership and authorities to account,” they added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the country’s CBC Radio that Mr Navalny was a “strong fighter for democracy, for freedoms for the Russian people”.

He added: “It really shows the extent to which Putin… will crack down on anyone who is fighting for freedom for the Russian people… It is a tragedy and it’s something that has the entire world being reminded of exactly what a monster Putin is.”

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Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia was at the Munich Security Conference in Germany when reports of her husband’s death emerged.

She said: “I don’t know whether to believe or not this terrible news that we only receive from Russian government sources… But if this is true, I want Putin and everyone around him to know that they will be held accountable for everything they did to our country, to my family. And this day will come very soon.”

Yulia Navalnaya, wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, attends the Munich Security Conference (MSC), on the day it was announced that Alexei Navalny is dead, by the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region where he had been serving his sentence, in Munich, Germany February 16, 2024. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/Pool
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Yulia Navalnaya, wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, at the Munich Security Conference. Pic: Reuters

Protester detained seconds after attempting protest at Navalny-related ceremony in Moscow
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Flowers were laid in Moscow for Alexei Navalny, where some protesters were arrested. Pic: AP


Meanwhile, flowers have been laid at vigils for Mr Navalny in Russia and across Europe.

People gathered at the Wall of Sorrow, in Moscow, a memorial to victims of political repression under Joseph Stalin, while others laid flowers at a memorial for victims of political repression in St Petersburg.

Protesters have also gathered outside the Russian Embassy in central London.

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Netanyahu vows to retaliate against Houthis and Iran after missile attack

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Netanyahu vows to retaliate against Houthis and Iran after missile attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.

A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.

“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Pic: Reuters
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Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters

The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.

Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.

Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.

The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.

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Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.

Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.

Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.

Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.

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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.

Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.

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Israeli pilots’ protest letter reveals deepening rift over ongoing war in Gaza

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Israeli pilots' protest letter reveals deepening rift over ongoing war in Gaza

The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.

So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.

This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.

The pilots' protest letter
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The pilots’ protest letter

Part of the letter translated
Image:
Part of the letter translated

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.

But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.

That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.

Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.

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“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.

It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.

“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.

“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”

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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza

Anti-government campaign spreads

Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.

More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.

Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.

He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the annual ceremony at the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers (Yom HaZikaron) at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.  (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP

He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.

A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.

Threat of dismissal

The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.

We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.

“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.

The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.

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Israel ‘starving, killing’ civilians
Seriously ill Gaza kids arrive in UK
Israeli minister called a ‘war criminal’

It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.

The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.

More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

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Drone attacks are intensifying in Sudan – hitting schools and camps homing the displaced

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Drone attacks are intensifying in Sudan - hitting schools and camps homing the displaced

The smell of explosives is still in the air when we arrive.

Hours before, a displacement camp in Atbara housing families who fled the war in Sudan’s capital Khartoum was hit by two drone strikes in a four-pronged attack.

The first bomb on 25 April burned donated tents and killed the children in them.

The second hit a school serving as a shelter for the spillover of homeless families.

Sudan

Chunks of cement and plaster had been blasted off the walls of the classrooms where they slept when the second explosive was dropped.

Blood marked the entrance of the temporary home closest to the crater.

Inside, shattered glass and broken window frames speak to the force of the explosion. We were told by their neighbours that four people in the family were instantly killed.

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“People were torn apart. This is inhumane,” says their neighbour Mahialdeen, whose brother and sister were injured. “We are praying that God lifts this catastrophe. We left Khartoum because of the fighting and found it here.”

Wiping a tear, he says: “It is chasing us.”

Sudan

The sanctuary city held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) about 200 miles northeast of Khartoum has been hit by six drone attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the start of the year.

These latest strikes are the most deadly.

The drones – known for targeting civilian infrastructure – hit the displacement camp twice, the nearby power station supplying the city with electricity and an empty field with four bombs in the dark, early hours of the morning. First responders have told Sky News that 12 people were killed, including at least two children.

Sudan

RSF increasingly using drones to carry out attacks

Data from the conflict-monitoring organisation ACLED shows the RSF has carried out increasing numbers of drone attacks across the country.

The most targeted states have been Khartoum and North Darfur, where fighting on the ground has been fierce, as well as Atbara’s River Nile State.

The data suggests that the increase in strikes has been driven by a change in tactics following the SAF’s recapture of Khartoum in late March, with the number of strikes carried out by the RSF spiking shortly after their withdrawal from the capital.

Satellite imagery shows the RSF’s airpower has allowed it to continue to attack targets in and around Khartoum.

Nearby Wadi Seidna Airbase was targeted after the attack on Atbara, with damage visible across a large area south of its airfield.

We were given access to the remains of latest suicide drones launched at Khartoum and could not find discernible signs of commercial origin.

Drone experts told Sky News that they are self-built devices made from generic parts with no identifiable manufacturers for the components.

Read more:
Sky reporter returns to family home left in ruins
UK announces £120m aid package for Sudan

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Two years of war in Sudan

Drones sighted in South Darfur are consistent with Chinese models

High-resolution satellite images confirm the presence of drones at the RSF-held Nyala Airport.

While the total number of drones kept at this location is unknown, imagery from Planet Labs shows six on 24 April.

This is the highest number of drones observed at the airport, suggesting an increase in the RSF’s available airpower.

The location and number of drones visible in satellite imagery at Nyala Airport has varied over time, suggesting they are in active use.

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Yousra Elbagir visits wartorn home in Sudan

While it is not possible to determine the exact model of drones sighted at Nyala Airport, a report published by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Lab has previously found them to be consistent with the Chinese-produced FH-95.

Analysis carried out by Sky News confirms these findings, with the measurements and visible features matching those of the CH-95 and FH-95. Both designs are produced in China.

The United Arab Emirates is widely accused of supplying Chinese drones to the RSF through South Sudan and Uganda, as well as weapons through Chad. The UAE vehemently denies these claims.

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Sudanese military in presidential palace

Evidence of new airfields

Satellite imagery viewed by Sky News suggests the RSF has worked to increase its air capabilities outside of South Darfur.

In late 2024, five new airstrips appeared in West Kordofan between the contested cities of North Darfur capital Al Fashir and Khartoum.

While the purpose of these airstrips is unknown, it is clear they carry some level of military significance, having been targeted by air in April.

In high-resolution images, no aircraft can be seen. Damage is visible next to a structure that appears to be an aircraft hangar.

The rapid escalation in drone strikes is being brutally suffered on the ground.

In Atbara’s Police Hospital, we find a ward full of the injured survivors.

One of them, a three-year-old girl called Manasiq, is staring up at the ceiling in wide-eyed shock with her head wrapped in a bandage and her feet covered in dried blood.

Her aunt tells us the explosion flung her small body across the classroom shelter but she miraculously survived.

She has shrapnel in her head and clings onto her aunt as her mother is treated for her own injuries in a ward on the first floor.

Sudan

In a dark room deeper in the ward, a mother sits on the edge of a hospital bed holding her young injured daughter. Her son, only slightly older, is on a smaller adjustable bed further away.

Fadwa looks forlorn and helpless. Her children were spending the night with relatives in the temporary tents when the first strike hit and killed her eight-year-old son.

His surviving sister and brother have been asking after him, but Fadwa can’t bring herself to break the news.

“What can I say? This is our fate. We fled the war in Khartoum but can’t escape the violence,” Fadwa says, staring off in the distance.

“We are condemned to this fate.”

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