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Pro-Russia paramilitary leader killed in Moscow blast

The leader of a pro-Russian paramilitary group in eastern Ukraine has died in hospital after being injured in an explosion in Moscow on Monday morning, Russian media have said.
Armen Sargsyan, the leader of the “Arbat” battalion, was severely injured following a blast in the entrance hall of a residential building in north-west Moscow, 12km (7 miles) from the Kremlin.
He was evacuated to a hospital by helicopter and placed in intensive care after the explosion, but eventually succumbed to his injuries, according to usually reliable Telegram sources.
Others – including one of Armen Sargsyan’s bodyguards – were also reportedly seriously injured, with some sources saying one other person had died.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the blast.
In December, the Ukrainian security service SBU said “crime boss” Mr Sargsyan was a suspect in “recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine” and added that he had been on an international wanted list since May 2014 for his involvement in murders carried out in the centre of Kyiv.
The SBU added that Mr Sargsyan was part of the inner circle of fugitive former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
“The assassination attempt on Sarkisyan was carefully planned and was ordered. Investigators are currently identifying those who ordered the crime,” TASS quoted a law enforcement official as saying.
Images shared on social media show rubble and plaster strewn across a heavily damaged entrance hall with blown-out windows and doorways.
Olga Voronova, a 36-year-old mother of three who lived in the building next door to the explosion, told AFP news agency that she was “very scared” and did not understand how the blast could’ve happened.
“We have quite serious security guards, they ask every car at the checkpoints, we order passes for guests, even for family members,” she said.
Mr Sargsyan was born in Horlivka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
In a Telegram post confirming his death, the town’s mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said Mr Sargsyan’s “most significant achievement was the creation and leadership of a separate special forces battalion”.
Mr Prikhodko said Mr Sargsyan was also the head of the Boxing Federation of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
The “Arbat” battalion has been known to operate in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops are still present after they launched a surprise offensive in August.
There have been a number of attacks on high profile supporters of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Moscow and in occupied areas.
Senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian prison boss Sergei Yevsyukov died after car bombs exploded in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late 2024.
And in December, a high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces and his assistant were killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security service, a Ukrainian source told the BBC.
[BBC]
Latest News
Hamas releases three Israeli hostages in Gaza, after fears over ceasefire

Hamas has released three Israeli hostages, after days of fears over the Gaza ceasefire.
The freed hostages are Israeli – Russian Alexander Troufanov, Israeli – Argentine Yair Horn and Israeli – American Sagui Dekel-Chen.
Israel is releasing 369 Palestinian prisoners in return, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office- some are now arriving in the West Bank.
Latest News
Grant Fisher smashes world indoor 5000m record in Boston

Less than a week after he took apart the world indoor 3000m record in New York, USA’s Grant Fisher added another world indoor record* to his tally, this time over 5000m at the BU David Hemery Valentine International in Boston on Friday (14).
The double Olympic bronze medallist dropped Jimmy Gressier just after the half way point and continued to extend his lead throughout the second half. After passing 3000m in 7:39.16 – a comfortable 16 seconds outside the world indoor record of 7:22.91 he clocked last Saturday – Fisher continued to churn out sub-31-second laps.
After covering the final 400m in 59.36 seconds, Fisher charged through the line in 12:44.09, a five-second improvement on the previous world indoor record of 12:49.60 set by Kenenisa Bekele in 2004.
Gressier held on for second place in 12:54.92, a European indoor record and outright French record.
[*Subject to the usual ratification procedure]
[World Athletics]
Latest News
Ghosh, Ahuja script stunning comeback as RCB complete WPL’s biggest chase

A run-fest that produced the highest aggregate as well as the highest successful chase in the WPL ended with defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru chasing down 202 in a canter in Vadodara.
Richa Gosh who was dropped first ball, showed there was more to her game than just brute force. Her 23-ball half-century injected momentum into RCB’s chase after Ellyse Perry’s dismissal for 57 left them needing 93 off 46 balls. Ghosh’s unbeaten, 26-ball 64 included a stunning takedown of Gujarat Giants captain Ashleigh Gardner in a 23-run 16th over to turn the game on its head.
Ghosh was supported by the diminutive left-hander Kanika Ahunja who scored an unbeaten 13-ball 30. Their unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 93 off just 37 balls completed a sensational RCB turnaround, consigning Gardner’s scarcely believable 37-ball 79 not out from earlier in the evening to second best.
Renuka Singh struggled for accuracy in her first two overs, but her first attempt at bowling stump-to-stump rather than searching for devious inswing led to Laura Wolvaardt being bowled for 6 in the fifth over. D Hemalatha came in at N0. 3 for Giants rather than Harleen Deol, and they were two down when she sliced the offspinner Ahuja to point. Giants were 41 for 2 in the seventh.
Beth Mooney shifted gears in the 10th over after she successfully overturned an lbw appeal through DRS off legspinner Georgia Wareham, whome she hit for three back-to-back fours while bringing up a 37-ball half-century. Mooney then stepped out and lofted legspinner Prema Rawat inside-out to the extra-cover boundary, but fell in the same over when she picked out Smriti Mandhana at midwicket for 56.
That brought in Deandra Dottin and she took just four balls to announce herself. She first thumped Kim Garth over mid-off and then played a neat little glide past the keeper to the deep third boundary.
At the other end, Gardner continued from where she had left off at the Women’s Ashes earlier in the month by taking toll of Rawat’s inexperience and hitting her for three consecutive sixes. After hitting the first two over long-off and long-on, she pummelled the half-tracker that followed over deep backward square leg.
Gardner was able to sustain this momentum against Wareham in the following over when she hit her for back-to-back fours. The Dottin-Gardner partnership had surged to 63 off 26 balls when Perry dropped a set Dottin at long-on, but it wouldn’t cost RCB much as she fell four balls later.
Gardner ended the innings in a blaze, taking down the teenaged seamer VJ Joshita as Giants hit 49 off the last three overs. Garner’s innings was studded with three fours and eight sixes.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women 202 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Richa Ghosh 64*, Ellyse Perry 57, Raghvi Bist 25, Kanika Ahuja 30*; Ashleigh Gardner 2-33) beat Gujarat Giants Women 201 for 5 in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 79, Mooney 56, Deandra Dottin 25; Renuka Singh 2-25) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
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