Russian woman faces jail after leaving note on grave of Putin’s parents saying she wanted him to DIE

A Russian grandmother faces five years in jail after leaving a note on the grave of Vladimir Putin’s parents saying she wished the tyrant would die.

Irina Tsybaneva, 60, an accountant, was detained and charged for desecrating the grave in the anti-war protest. 

It is the second time a note has appeared at their resting place at the Serafimov cemetery in St Petersburg to protest about the war.

Irina Tsybaneva, 60, an accountant, was detained and charged for desecrating the grave (pictured) in the anti-war protest

Putin’s mother Maria died aged 87 in 1998, and his father Vladimir 1999 the following year aged 88

The pensioner’s son Maksim Tsybanev, 37, general director of a construction company, told Mediazona that his mother had been detained.

‘What was in the note is not known for certain,’ he said.

‘But she said that there was a wish [for Putin] to die.’

Putin’s mother Maria died aged 87 in 1998, and his father Vladimir 1999 the following year aged 88.

Tsybaneva at first refused to open her apartment when police came, only doing so when they threatened to smash their way in.

Her lawyer Sergey Trusov said a case had been opened under ‘desecration of the dead and their burial places, committed on the grounds of political, ideological, and racial, national or religious hatred or enmity’.

The pensioner’s son Maksim Tsybanev, 37, general director of a construction company, told Mediazona that his mother had been detained

It is the second time a note has appeared at the couple’s (pictured) resting place at the Serafimov cemetery in St Petersburg to protest about the war

Last month in a separate incident anti-war protesters posted a note at the cemetery (pictured) saying: ‘Dear parents! Your son is behaving disgracefully!’

She was hauled before Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg.

Investigators want her to be held in detention pending trial.

Last month in a separate incident anti-war protesters posted a note saying: ‘Dear parents! Your son is behaving disgracefully!

‘He skips history lessons, fights with classmates, threatens to blow up the whole school. Take action!’

The stunt was from Russian art activists known as The Party of the Dead.

The earlier protest also wished for Putin’s death.

The group expressed the hope that the dead parents would ‘take him to themselves someday’.

The messages on the tomb of Putin’s parents come as his unpopular ‘partial mobilisation’ has triggered an upsurge in protests over the war in Ukraine.

The messages on the tomb of Putin’s parents come as his unpopular ‘partial mobilisation’ has triggered an upsurge in protests over the war in Ukraine

 She was hauled before Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg and investigators want her to be held in detention pending trial

The head of GCHQ said Putin is now ‘desperate’ and faces a potential revolt against his leadership as ‘exhausted’ troops run out of supplies and munitions.

Sir Jeremy Fleming, the director of the UK’s intelligence, cyber and security agency,  claimed the war is badly backfiring in Russia as fighting-age men desperately try to avoid being drafted into his ‘war of choice’.

In a speech in London, Sir Jeremy said that despite claims of an ‘inevitable Russian military victory’ at the start of the war, ‘it’s clear that Ukraine’s courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide’.

The security chief also suggested that ‘Russia’s forces are exhausted’ and it has become reliant on prisoners and inexperienced conscripts to backup depleted numbers.

On the ground, Putin is also suffering heavy blows as Ukraine recaptured five more villages from Russian forces in the south of the country. 

Commanders said a cluster of villages – Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka, Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka and Chervone – in the Kherson region, had fallen into their hands.

Ukraine is consolidating its new frontline after breaking through Russian defences in the region last week, advancing 12 miles in just a few hours. 

The counter-attack continues despite brutal rocket attacks that Putin and his new top commander – Sergey Surovikin – have unleashed on Ukraine’s cities. 

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a tank in the southern Kherson region where Kyiv’s men have continued to take territory from Russia

A Ukrainian multiple-launch rocket system opens fire on Russian lines amidst a counter-attack in Kherson that is continuing to take ground

More than 100 missiles and dozens of drones attacked virtually every major city in Ukraine over 48 hours between Monday and Tuesday, causing widespread death and destruction to civilians.

At least 19 people died and scores more were hurt in the bombings which took out power and water supplies in major cities such as Lviv.

Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in ‘terrorist’ attacks, while Putin insists he is hitting military infrastructure.

The strikes were unleashed in response to an explosion which crippled the Kerch Bridge from occupied Crimea to Russia at the weekend which Putin has blamed on the Ukrainian secret service.

FSB agents on Wednesday said they had arrested eight people – five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia – over the attack.

The FSB accused the ring of smuggling 25 tons of explosives disguised as plastic sheeting used for construction around the Black Sea and into Russia.

They said 22 pallets carrying the explosives went from Odesa, in southern Ukraine, via Ruse in Bulgaria to Yerevan in Armenia, and then across Georgia and into Russia.

The last stop on their two-month journey was Armavir, in southern Russia, before they were shipped to a non-existent company in Simferopol, Crimea, the FSB says.

But as the shipment passed over the Kerch Bridge that links Russia to Crimea on the morning of October 8 it exploded, partially collapsing the road bridge, setting light to a nearby fuel train, killing five people, and infuriating the Kremlin.

Ukrainian artillerymen fire from a self-propelled 152mm SAU 2S3 Akatsiya gun  as fighting rages with Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region

Ukrainian artillerymen walk away from their gun having shelled Russian positions in Donetsk, where attacks are continuing

Rusting Russian armoured vehicles are pictured on a scrapheap near Lyman,  a city in the north of Ukraine that was recaptured last month

Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

The FSB alleged suspects were working on orders of Ukraine’s military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

Putin’s missile barrage continued overnight Tuesday though at a lower intensity than previous days, with the Zaporizhzhia region and the city which shares its name peppered with explosives. 

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though officials said that residential buildings had been damaged.

Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks. 

It is part of a larger region, including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law.

The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol – sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties.

Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. 

Ukrainian emergency crews help extinguish a fire after the city of Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, was hit by artillery fire overnight

A woman weeps after her apartment building was partially destroyed by a Russian rocket  strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia

The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the war’s front lines.

‘It brings anger, not fear,’ Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital’s streets. ‘We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.’

The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would ‘stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.’ 

Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine’s people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days. 

He appealed for ‘more modern and effective’ air defense systems – even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden ‘pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,’ the White House said.

Ukraine’s defense minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defense systems had just arrived, saying a ‘new era’ of air defense for Ukraine had begun.