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Ukraine has just four weeks to hold a "knife at Crimea's throat" and force Vladimir Putin into peace talks before Russia's army recoups over winter, experts have warned. Professor Mark Galeotti, academic and author of more than 20 books on Russia, said Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops need to move another 10 miles southwards to be in range of striking key Russian supply routes in Crimea. He claimed this is the only “serious” chance Ukraine has to force Mr Putin into negotiations before the Russian army has the opportunity to regroup over winter. “They’ve got about another month of campaign season. But if things slow down, the Russians will use the winter to regroup themselves and the whole thing will start up again in spring,” the professor, who teaches Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, told The Independent. “If Ukraine can move another 10 miles southwards, Russian road and rail links used to resupply Crimea will be in range of their artillery. “The only serious chance Ukraine has of forcing Putin to the negotiating table is by holding a knife at Crimea’s throat. But I think that is going to be next year’s campaign.” It comes after President Zelensky admitted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was progressing slowly, but insisted that more territory was being reclaimed every day. “The situation is tough,” he told CBS’s 60 Minutes. “We stopped the Russians in the east and started a counteroffensive. Yes, it is not that fast but we are going forward every day and de-occupying our land.” Ukrainian generals claimed they had recaptured the eastern villages of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near Bakhmut over the weekend. Earlier this month, Ukrainian forces also breached Russia’s first line of defence near Zaporizhzhia in the south of the country, taking the village of Robotyne. This Zaporizhzhia area is a “key” battlefield, as breaking through would allow Ukrainian forces to strike out towards the Sea of Azov, Professor Galeotti said. This would allow Ukrainian forces to disrupt and destroy supply lines linking Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. But Dr Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King’s College London war studies department, it was "very unlikely" there would be a major breakthrough for Ukraine this year as its "window of opportunity" was now closing ahead of winter. “The rain is already starting,” she said. “The weather will get a lot worse.” Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June to push Mr Putin’s forces out of land captured by Russia after the invasion began in February 2022, striking along the 600-mile frontline in areas including the Bakhmut, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. But as the offensive slows it is now “touch and go” as to whether Ukraine can make a “real, pivotal difference” in the war by the end of this year, Dr Miron said. “The main effort will be to sustain troops throughout the winter. Ukraine will not be in a position to carry on the offensive,” Dr Miron added. She explained Ukraine had a “heavy logistical” footprint with German Leopard and British Challenger 2 tanks, but they would be harder to use in wetter, muddier conditions, to assist a full breakthrough. “They’re just not designed for those types of terrains,” she said. “They would risk losing more equipment getting bogged down in winter conditions than waiting it out until getting F-16 fighter jets.” In August, Denmark promised the delivery of 19 F-16 jets to Ukraine. Six will be delivered by the end of this year, followed by eight in 2024 and five in 2025, according to Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. However, Ukraine admitted it could take up to six months to train its military to use the jets and they would not be in operation this winter. With fears growing around wavering Western support as the war draws on, Dr Miron said: “Neither side have an infinite supply of money or manpower. But Russia does have time. And that’s what they are betting on.” Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s brigades ‘suffer heavy losses’ as counteroffensive advances around Bakhmut Kremlin says Russia and China must edge closer to counter Western efforts to contain them US defense chief urges nations to dig deep and give Ukraine more much-needed air defense systems

By Leah Douglas WASHINGTON The top Senate negotiator of the United States' largest farm spending package is looking

By David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer OTTAWA Canada's annual inflation rate in August jumped to 4.0% from 3.3%

A former NFL player is missing after his mother was found dead in a creek behind her home in Illinois. Mystery erupted around Sergio Brown on Saturday after a concerned family member filed a missing persons report for the 35-year-old New England Patriots alum and his mother Myrtle Brown, 73. Myrtle was found dead less than 100 yards from her Maywood home the following day. Her death was ruled a homicide as the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office found injuries resulting from an assault. The case took a bizarre turn on Monday as video emerged from an Instagram account linked to Mr Brown, Fox32 reported. In the video, a man identified as Mr Brown claims he’s been kidnapped by law enforcement as he goes on a long-winded rant against “fake news” and the FBI. He also claims that he thought his mother was on vacation. The Independent has not been able to independently verify that the account belongs to Mr Brown. Police have not commented on the video. Read More Missing ex-NFL star posts bizarre Instagram about police and FBI after mother found dead in creek Ex-NFL star Sergio Brown and his mother went missing. Police say she was murdered and he has yet to be found

House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing next week in their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his family’s business dealings

Hopes were always high for Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”

The head of the United Auto Workers union is publicly denouncing former President Donald Trump ahead of his visit next week to Detroit as part of a plea to current and former union members.

Police in Denver are looking for a female suspect in connection with a mass shooting that injured five people at a bar in the city’s Lower Downtown district. The shooting happened at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row at around 11.14pm on Saturday. Surveillance cameras caught images of a woman pointing a gun in the direction of five people standing outside of the bar. According to police, the woman was denied entry into the bar, then started to walk away, but quickly returned to talk again with security staff. After she started to walk away from the bar for a second time, she took out a gun and fired it in the direction of the bar several times, injuring five victims who are presumed by police to not be the intended targets. Officers in the area quickly rushed to the scene along with paramedics who took the victims to the hospital. The injuries they sustained are believed to be non-life-threatening. Lissa Druss, a spokesperson for Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row told Scripps News, “We are disheartened by the events of last evening. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those that were injured,” she said. “We are grateful for the swift actions of DPD, but we are very concerned about the activity in LoDo and have been engaged with city officials and neighbourhood leaders on how to make positive improvements in the area. The safety of our staff and our patrons is paramount to our company." There has yet to be an arrest made in connection with the shooting. This particular shooting has been recorded as the 500th mass shooting this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The bar where the shooting took place opened in 2021 and is part of a chain of bars across the United States owned by American country music star Dierks Bentley. Another shooting also happened in the past few in Denver on 17th Avenue between Gilpin Street and Williams Street, where three people were shot, two of them hospitalised, Denver police say. The incident happened on Monday night, with a possible suspect in custody. Read More A Colorado mountain tied to an 1864 massacre is renamed Mount Blue Sky Minnesota man acquitted of killing 3 people, wounding 2 others in case that turned alibi defense Mother of Baltimore mass shooting victim condemns faulty police response: 'That's not right'

Prime minister Modi praises bill as "special moment" for his country, ahead of general elections.

Azerbaijan has launched what it has called an “anti-terrorist operation” targeting Armenian military positions in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, as heavy artillery firing was reported around its capital. The Azerbaijani defence ministry announced the start of the operation hours after four soldiers and two civilians died in landmine explosions in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It raises concerns that a full-scale war over the region could resume between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought heavily for six weeks in 2020. The ministry did not immediately give details but said “positions on the front line and in-depth, long-term firing points of the formations of Armenia’s armed forces, as well as combat assets and military facilities, are incapacitated using high-precision weapons”. The Azerbaijani statement said: “Only legitimate military targets are being incapacitated.” But ethnic Armenian officials in Nagorno-Karabakh said the region’s capital Stepanakert and other villages are “under intense shelling”. Earlier on Tuesday, Azerbaijan said six people died in two separate explosions in the region, which is partly under the control of ethnic Armenian forces. A statement from Azerbaijan‘s interior ministry, state security service and prosecutor-general said two employees of the highways department died before dawn when their vehicle was blown up by a mine and that a truckload of soldiers responding to the incident hit another mine, killing four. Nagorno-Karabakh and sizeable surrounding territories had been under ethnic Armenian control since the 1994 end of a separatist war, but Azerbaijan regained the territories and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself in a six-week war in 2020. That war ended with an armistice which placed a Russian peacekeeper contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh. But Azerbaijan alleges that Armenia has smuggled in weapons since then. The claims led to a blockade of the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, causing severe food and medicine shortages in the region. Red Cross shipments of flour and medical supplies reached Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday but local officials said road connections to the region were not fully open. The hostilities come amid high tensions between Armenia and its longtime ally Russia. Armenia has repeatedly complained that the 3,000-strong Russian peacekeeping force was unable or unwilling to keep the road to Armenia open even though that duty was stipulated in the agreement that ended the 2020 war. Armenia also angered Russia, which maintains a military base in the country, by holding military exercises with the United States this month and by moving toward ratifying the Rome Convention that created the International Criminal Court, which has indicted Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday denied claims that Russia was informed in advance of Azerbaijan‘s intention to mount the operation, saying the peacekeepers were notified only “a few minutes” before it began. Reporting by Associated Press.

Telephone and internet links were severed Tuesday to Libya's flood-hit city of Derna, a day after hundreds protested there against local authorities they blamed...

The International Criminal Court said Tuesday it had been affected by what it called "anomalous activity" regarding its IT systems and that it was currently...