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Russians are “united as never before,” Vladimir Putin said at his first international summit since an armed revolt that briefly triggered fears of a coup. “Solidarity and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly shown,” he said, “by the entire society by standing as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.” He was speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, hosted via videoconference by India and one of the few remaining global platforms where he can get a sympathetic hearing. It was founded by Russia and China to counter western alliances, and also welcomed Iran as a new member, bringing its membership to nine. On a video link from the Kremlin, Mr Putin thanked the SCO for supporting Moscow during the short-lived mutiny mounted by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and said the West has turned Ukraine into “a virtually hostile state - anti-Russia.” It came as Russia's military claimed to have fended off a Ukrainian drone attack that briefly forced the closure of one of Moscow’s airports. Four out of the five drones were downed by air defences and the fifth was jammed and forced down, the defence ministry said. Flights were disrupted at Moscow's Vnukovo airport and arrivals diverted to others in the city. Ukrainian forces continue to probe Russian defences in the south and the east of the country in the initial stages of a counteroffensive. They are up against minefields, anti-tank ditches and other obstacles, as well as layered defensive lines reportedly up to 12 miles deep in some places as they try to dislodge Russian occupiers. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's Security and Defence Council, claimed that the last few days of fighting have been particularly “fruitful,” though he provided no evidence for his claim. Western analysts say the counteroffensive, even if it prospers, will not end the war which started with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia, meanwhile, has continued its missile and drone barrage deep behind the frontline. Shelling of Pervomaiskyi, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, wounded 31 civilians. Nine children, including two babies, were among the wounded. Meanwhile, tearful mourners filled one of Kyiv's main cathedrals to honour a prominent Ukrainian writer and war-crimes researcher killed in a Russian missile strike on a cafe. Victoria Amelina, 37, died from injuries in a 27 June attack on a restaurant packed with civilians in Kramatorsk. "She was a real crusader for truth. She was extraordinarily persistent," Roman Avramenko, executive director of Truth Hounds, an NGO that documents Russian war crimes, told reporters after the service. A wide array of writers, journalists and other public intellectuals streamed into the golden-domed St. Michael's Cathedral to pay tribute. Relatives and friends broke down as they filed past Amelina's coffin. It came as armed masked men attacked and seriously injured a prominent female Russian journalist. Yelena Milashina, a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, was travelling to Grozny, Chechnya from the local airport with a lawyer when they were attacked. "It was a classic kidnapping... They pinned (our driver) down, threw him out of his car, got in, bent our heads down, tied my hands, knelt me down there, and put a gun to my head," Milashina told Mansur Soltayev, a Chechen human rights official. Memorial, a rights group outlawed in Russia, said the pair had been “brutally kicked, including in the face, threatened with death, had a gun held to their heads, and had their equipment taken away and smashed.” Separately, the Kremlin has opened the door for talks with the US over a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich - but said they must be held away from the public eye. “We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject but we don't want them to be discussed in public,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Mr Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip and is being held at Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary He was the CIA whiz kid in 'Charlie Wilson's War.' His new book offers advice for the US in Ukraine. Putin claims Russia more united than ever just days after Wagner’s failed mutiny AP News Digest 7 am

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Leicester manager Enzo Maresca hailed the contribution of veteran striker Jamie Vardy as the Foxes continued their flying start to the season with a 2-0 Carabao Cup victory at Tranmere. Second-half strikes from Wilfred Ndidi and former England international Vardy proved the difference as the Championship side ran out 2-0 victors against their League Two opponents. It was a sixth win out of six for Leicester in all competitions this season and saw 36-year-old Vardy open his account for the campaign after returning to the starting line-up. Maresca said: “I’m happy to continue in this competition and I’m happy for the players, especially the young players who don’t play every week. “I’ve been really happy with Jamie Vardy because when a striker scores they are always happy for them as well as the team. “He’s been performing well when he starts and as well when he’s been on the bench and his contribution has been amazing.” The Foxes enjoyed large amounts of possession in the opening stages of the second-round clash at Prenton Park and had a number of chances to open the scoring with Harry Winks coming the closest after seven minutes. But the 2016 Premier League champions did not have it all their own way with Rovers growing in confidence and, after defending resolutely for half an hour, created some decent openings through Dan Pike and Josh Hawkes. The deadlock was finally broken nine minutes after the break when Ndidi’s effort from the right side of the box found its way into the net via both posts, and just four minutes later Vardy put the result beyond doubt with a close-range header from an Ndidi cross. Further chances fell to the visitors as Rovers pushed forward with Vardy and Ndidi who were both foiled by Joe Murphy, a veteran of the meeting between these two in the final of this competition at Wembley 23-years ago. Maresca added: “I was not happy at half-time so made some changes and we’ve played six games in around 20 days and we have one more to go before the international break. “We’ve won six from six now and all the attention now turns to the game on Saturday before the international break when some of the players can conserve their energy.” Despite the defeat, Tranmere manager Ian Dawes was keen to focus on the positives from the encounter. He said: “We knew going into the game today that they don’t make many changes, they go really strong and the manager takes the competition seriously. “We knew we had to get our defensive organisation right and we knew we needed to limit their chances on goal and push up as the game went on. “We had to stifle the game a little bit, keep possession and then make opportunities ourselves and I thought we did that really well and it all went to plan and they probably scored the first goal when we were on top. “We’ve got to be positive at the end of it, it still hurts getting beat and we obviously wanted to go through, but you’ve got to look at what they’ve got on the pitch. “You look at their team and they’ve still got Premier League players in their team and taking things into context we can be nothing but positive and we have to take that into Saturday against Wrexham.”

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