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Just two weeks after fleeing his home with barely more than the clothes on his back and the phone in his pocket, 23-year-old Ashot Gabrielyan is at a tech conference promoting one of the last things he has left: his startup. He is one of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees who were forced out of Nagorno-Karabakh in late September when Azerbaijani forces retook control of the breakaway enclave. Alongside his two brothers – who evacuated in a single car with their parents and a grandparent on 28 September – Gabrielyan is now attempting to start a new life from temporary accommodation in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan. “We lost our property, but we also lost ourselves,” he says. “We have lost our previous lives. We are starting everything from scratch.” His online marketing startup, Brothers in Business (BIB), was offered a last-minute stand at the DigiTec Expo, with organisers hoping that technology will help offer a solution for the country. As a landlocked nation lacking the natural resources of its historically hostile neighbours, Armenia’s nascent tech industry is seen as a way to achieve sovereignty and future stability in the long term, while also assisting with the humanitarian crisis in the short term. The country was once a tech hub in the region – one of the world’s first computers was built in Armenia – but much of Armenia’s talent left following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. A new scene emerged when émigrés returned to the country after finding success in Silicon Valley, establishing the country’s internet network and providing a foundation for startups to emerge. There are now an estimated 300 pre-seed-stage startups in Armenia, and around 100 seed-stage startups, in fields ranging from quantum computing to electric bikes. “We have this vision: Tech is the ultimate direction that will help Armenia to succeed,” says Narek Vardanyan, CEO of Prelaunch.com, whose company acts as a platform to help local startups establish themselves on the market. “We are landlocked, we have no natural resources. All we have is talent. And our only way we can develop is technology,” he says. “We don’t have a backup plan. There is no Plan B. We are betting everything on technology.” Armenia’s most successful startup so far is Picsart, an online photo editor that has grown to become the country’s only unicorn – a company with a valuation north of $1 billion. Picsart is among those offering their resources to help refugees, fast-tracking the launch of an educational program that will be offered for free to refugees and war veterans, training and reskilling them in everything from machine learning to graphic design. Hayk Sahakyan, a creative director at Picsart, says there has been a “huge number” of people interested so far, including children. This idea of building up Armenia’s tech industry through education can be found through two privately funded initiatives that are providing free courses in STEM subjects to tens of thousands of young people throughout the country. The first is TUMO, which provides free supplemental education to 12-18 year olds in creative technologies, ranging from game development to music. Since the first TUMO centre opened in Yerevan in 2011, dozens of centres have sprung up throughout Armenia and the rest of the world, including hubs in Berlin, Paris and Los Angeles. One of its six core centres and three smaller “Box” centres had to be abandoned during the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month. “External circumstances can literally kill us. But whenever anyone asks me whether Armenia has a future, it’s here,” says Zara Budaghyan, head of communications at TUMO. “Technology has the potential to provide a more stable economy, but also better lives. International support has been lacking. We need to rebuild by ourselves. We are broken. But this gives us something to believe in.” The second educational initiative is a network of technology, science and engineering laboratories set up in rural communities, offering children from 10-18 free after school classes. Established by UATE – a business association that also runs the DigiTec Expo – several of the labs in Nagorno-Karabakh also had to be shut down in September. UATE chief executive Sargis Karapetyan, who grew up in the region, says around 200 of his relatives were among the refugees. Karapetyan considered cancelling the DigiTec conference, saying there is still a deep distrust of Azerbaijan. There are fears that the annex was only part one. The next stage, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes could happen “within weeks”, could be an invasion to establish a land corridor between the two parts of Azerbaijan. When asked what prompted the decision to persevere with the tech conference despite personal tragedy and the threat of further chaos, Karapetyan replies: "Technology will save the world.” Read More Students told ‘avoid all robots’ after Oregon University bomb threat prank AI being used to create child abuse imagery, watchdog warns More than 500 potential cyber attacks logged every second, BT says Students told ‘avoid all robots’ after Oregon University bomb threat prank AI being used to create child abuse imagery, watchdog warns More than 500 potential cyber attacks logged every second, BT says

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War is returning to Russia, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, after early-morning drone attacks hit Moscow on Sunday. Although Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strikes, Mr Zelensky said such attacks were an inevitable and fair process of the war between the nations. Earlier on Sunday, Russia blamed Ukraine for what it called an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime” and said three drones had targetted the capital. Its defence ministry said two buildings were damaged in the Moskva-Citi business district after being brought down using electronic jamming equipment, while another was shot down over the Odintsovo area. One of the residential buildings damaged was home to three government ministries, local media reported. Vnukovo airport on the southern outskirts of the capital was forced to temporarily close due to the attacks, according to Russia’s state news agency. Nobody was hurt, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. It is the fourth attempt at a strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, fuelling concerns about Moscow’s vulnerability to attacks as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on into its 18th month. President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the attempted attacks, his spokesperson said. He was in his home town of St Petersburg for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration at the time. “On the morning of 30th July, an attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime using unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in the city of Moscow was foiled,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement. In a video address from the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Mr Zelensky said that Ukraine was getting stronger. “Today is the 522nd day of the so-called ‘Special Military Operation’, which the Russian leadership thought would last a couple of weeks,” he said. “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.” A Ukrainian airforce spokesperson did not claim responsibility for the attacks but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ – it’s already touching them,” Yurii Ihnat told journalists. “There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.” Mr Ihnat also referenced an attempted drone attack in Crimea early on Sunday – the Ukrainian territory occupied and illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 16 Ukrainian drones and neutralised eight others through electronic jamming. No injuries or damage were reported. Mr Zelensky has vowed to take back all land Russian forces have occupied, including Crimea, and his efforts have been strengthened by the receipt and deployment of increasingly advanced Western weapons. It comes after a ramping up of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in recent weeks, with the head of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate telling Ukrainian news site TSN on Saturday that Kyiv’s forces were set to enter Crimea “soon”. In Ukraine, the airforce claimed it had destroyed four Russian drones above the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike late on Saturday killed two people and wounded 20 in the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said a four-storey college building was hit, with local authorities saying accommodation and teaching buildings were damaged in the blast and fire that followed. Read More Ukraine war – live: Putin blames Kyiv for early morning drone attacks on Moscow Volodymyr Zelensky takes selfies with soldiers during Bakhmut visit Ukraine’s newest attack on Russia? Moving Christmas Putin thanks North Korea for ‘unwavering support’ for Ukraine war The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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Russia has warned Western countries that supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets would carry “colossal risks”, after US president Joe Biden announced the US would support the delivery of warplanes. As G7 leaders met for the second day of the summit in Japan, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko accused Western countries of “still adhering to the escalation scenario”. “It involves colossal risks for themselves,” he added. “In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the goals we have set.” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has long stressed the need for F-16 jets, but the US previously hesitated to provide them. The warplanes can travel at twice the speed of sound and can engage with targets in the air and on the ground. Mr Biden has now informed his allies that it will allow the advanced planes to be donated to Kyiv. Mr Biden, who is attending the G7 with other members, also announced training for Ukrainian pilots. It comes as Ukraine has denied claims by Russia that it has taken full control of Bakhmut but warned the situation in the key battle town is “critical”. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s defence minister, pushed back on the claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin that his Wagner Group of mercenaries had seized the town around lunchtime. “Heavy fighting in Bakhmut. The situation is critical,” she said on the Telegram messaging app. “As of now, our defenders control some industrial and infrastructure facilities in the area and the private sector.” Prime minister Rishi Sunak welcomed President Biden’s decision on the F-16 fighter jets, having previously pressed allies to provide the Ukrainian president with the jets. “The UK will work together with the USA and the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark to get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs. We stand united,” he said in a statement. The RAF does not have any US-manufactured F-16s. Mr Zelensky touched down in Japan to join the G7 summit on Saturday morning, saying in a statement that “peace will become closer” as he headed to talks. It is understood it was Mr Sunak who suggested to the Ukrainian war leader that he should attend the Asian summit in person. Mr Sunak is understood to have pitched the idea during a phone call about a month ago before it was then broached with the Japanese hosts. Mr Zelensky’s presence at the meeting will potentially bring him into contact with India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have not supported Ukraine like their Western allies. Neither are G7 members, but India is being represented at the summit because it is the current G20 chair, while Brazil has been invited as a guest. Mr Zelensky’s attendance at the G7, the group that Russia was expelled from over its 2014 annexation of Crimea, is another show of solidarity from Western allies. Japan said Mr Zelensky has a “strong wish” to take part in the talks that will influence his nation’s defence against Vladimir Putin. On Saturday, Mr Sunak met with French president Emmanuel Macron for discussions at the summit and had a short “brush-by” meeting with German chancellor Olaf Scholz. They discussed providing military aid and “longer-term security assistance” to Ukraine as well as tackling small boat crossings of the Channel, Downing Street said. Meanwhile, the G7 announced it would establish a new team to root out and counter Russia and China’s use of economic coercion to influence nations’ decisions. Worried by the outsized role China now plays in supply chains for everything from semiconductors to critical minerals, the G7 issued a communique that set out a common strategy towards future dealings with the world’s second-largest economy. “We call on China to press Russia to stop its military aggression, and immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine,” the leaders said in a statement. They warned that countries attempting to use trade as a weapon would face “consequences”, sending a strong signal to Beijing over practices Washington says amount to economic bullying. “We are not decoupling or turning inwards. At the same time, we recognise that economic resilience requires de-risking and diversifying,” they said. “A growing China that plays by international rules would be of global interest.” Later on Saturday, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has asked Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, head of the Italian bishops’ conference, to carry out a peace mission to try to help end the war in Ukraine. Pope Francis first spoke of his intention to launch a mission when he was returning from a trip to Hungary last month. A Vatican diplomatic source said Cardinal Zuppi would try to meet separately with both President Zelenskiy and Russia’s President Putin but gave no timescale for the plans. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Sunak meets Zelensky at G7 summit as hopes rise of Ukraine getting fighter jets ‘Peace will become closer today’: Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives for G7 summit in Japan

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Russia’s defense ministry says forces of the Wagner private army, with the support of Russian troops, have seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut