Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, previously holding the position from 1999 until 2008. He was also the Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.
ICYMI: Ukraine, Glastonbury and Pride – this week’s five top stories, explained
Glastonbury – it looked rubbish anyway. While you’re all sure to have loads of Pride plans to get to, you’ve got the news to get through first.
Never one to shy away from fulfilling its role of supplying existentialism and dread, the old news cycle showed up with some potential war crimes, travel carnage and a bit of nasty ablism.But this week has given us some cheerer-uppers as well, even if one of them (*cough* Glastonbury) caused an epidemic of FOMO and envy.
While Metro.co.uk sincerely hopes anyone who went to Glastonbury is still suffering the worst hangover of their lives, we also hope Monday’s will compare.Have a wonderful Pride weekend!But before you get to that fun, here’s our breakdown of the biggest stories of the week.
Russia launched a missile strike on a shopping centre in the city of Kremenchuk with more than 1,000 civilians inside it. Moscow’s defence ministry claimed the mall was ‘non-functioning’ and that it had only burnt down because the bombing of a nearby ammunition depot had sparked a secondary fire which spread outwards.But several videoclips filmed before the blast, including verified footage, show shoppers walking around and businesses open as usual.Putin’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations also claimed the entire tragedy was ‘false’ or ‘staged’.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 videoCCTV footage appears to show one missile striking the shopping centre while another hits a factory on another site.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: ‘Russia continues to take out its impotence on ordinary civilians.
