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Tara Reade, who accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, has defected to Russia. The former Senate aide appeared in a bombshell interview on Russian state TV on Tuesday alongside accused Kremlin spy Maria Butina and said she was feeling “at home” in Moscow. Ms Reade, 59, who worked in Mr Biden’s office decades ago, said she made the “very difficult” decision to move to the Russian capital because she no longer felt safe in the US. “I am still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good. I feel very surrounded by protection and safety,” she said. “And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I am safe or not.” “You have US and European citizens looking for safe haven here. And luckily, the Kremlin is accommodating. So we’re lucky,” she was quoted as saying by state-owned news agency Sputnik. Ms Reade previously accused Mr Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 when she was a staff assistant and had called for him to drop out of the 2020 presidential race. She worked as Mr Biden’s aide in 1993. There have also been some media reports about inconsistencies in her allegations against Mr Biden. Ms Reade’s educational background had been called into question years ago. The president had previously denied the sexual assault allegations against him. “To my Russian brothers and sisters, I am sorry right now that American elites are choosing to have such an aggressive stance,” she said in the interview. “Just know that most American citizens do want to be friends and hope that we can have unity again.” “I am enjoying my time in Moscow, and I feel very at home,” she said. “I just didn’t want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices,” she added. She also said she took her time to decide for herself. “I’m not an impulsive person. I really take my time and sort of analyse data points. And from what I could see based on the cases and based on what was happening and sort of the push for them to not want me to testify, I felt that while [the 2024] election is gearing up and there’s so much at stake, I’m almost better off here and just being safe.” “My dream is to live in both places, but it may be that I only live in this place and that’s OK,” she added. In 2020, a high-profile lawyer of the #MeToo era, Douglas H Wigdor, had dropped Ms Reade as a client. Read More Ahead of House debt ceiling vote, Biden shores up Democrats and McCarthy scrambles for GOP support Debt limit agreement clears first hurdle despite Republican anger. Here’s what happens next UN court issuing appeal ruling in long-running trial of 2 Serbs accused of crimes in Balkan wars The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

By Deep Kaushik Vakil BENGALURU India's Bengaluru may need nearly 28 billion rupees ($362.7 million) to restore a

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Many South Sudanese are returning to areas riddled with mines left from decades of conflict as they trickle back into the country after a peace deal was signed in 2018 to end a five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions

A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles ablaze, Russian officials said on Wednesday. A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack buildings in Moscow, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery. The report could not be immediately independently verified. Earlier, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “terrorist activity” after Moscow was hit with a drone attack for the first time since the war in the besieged country began. The Russian president accused Ukraine, which has denied any involvement in the drone attack, of choosing the path of attempting “to intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings”. Drones hit several buildings in Moscow, forcing some people to evacuate their homes after Russia launched its third attack on Kyiv in 24 hours. Read More New US aid package for Ukraine will total about $300 million and include munitions for drones UN nuclear chief urges Russia and Ukraine to ban attacks at Europe's largest nuclear power plant ‘Putin’s only response is violence’: How Russia is expected react to the drone attack on Moscow Drone attacks on Moscow pose a significant problem for Putin

Two allies of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic convicted of aiding and abetting murder and other crimes committed by Serb paramilitaries in a Bosnian town in 1992 are set to hear the results of their appeal, 20 years after they were first indicted by a United Nations court

He’s heir to the throne in one of the oldest monarchies in the Middle East and a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad

Russia suffered a surprise attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning when as many as 30 drones zeroed in on Moscow, bringing Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war to his own doorstep after 15 months of bloody conflict. The country’s defence ministry has only admitted to sighting eight drones, all of which it says were shot down, causing only minimal damage and injuring just two people. Even if that is true, the incident follows an assault on the Kremlin earlier this month and creates a problem for Mr Putin, who has so far largely been able to shield Russian citizens from the realities of the war. Life has been allowed to proceed as normal in the capital but the sight of debris hitting some of the city’s most prestigious areas – including the grand Soviet-era Leninsky Prospekt Avenue and the Odintsovsky District, in which the wealthy elite, including Mr Putin, have residences – cannot have gone unnoticed. Residents in southwestern Moscow reported hearing loud bangs at between 2am and 3am BST on Tuesday morning, followed by the smell of petrol, while some filmed the unmanned devices being downed in smoke over the city skyline. “It is, of course, obvious that this is an attack by the Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “And this must be absolutely clearly understood.” Kyiv has itself been under siege from drone strikes by the aggressor in recent days, but Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied his side was behind the attack, adding drolly: “Of course, we are pleased to watch and predict an increase in the number of attacks.” Mr Putin is said to have been briefed early on Tuesday about the strikes and continued working in the Kremlin, later saying only that the episode was intended to “intimidate” and “clearly a sign of terrorist activity”. He will surely respond militarily, even if his initial instinct is to downplay the extent of the damage. Writing on Telegram, Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said the president’s eerie calm was about projecting the impression that he “isn’t afraid” because his control is “built on the idea that has been voiced more than once … [that Russians are] a patient people who will understand everything and endure everything”. Mr Putin has so far left much of the sabre-rattling following the attack to others, such as lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein, who warned his countrymen: “The sabotage and terrorist attacks of Ukraine will only increase. It is necessary to radically strengthen defence and security measures, especially in terms of countering drones.” Another politician, Andrei Kartapolov, told local media the attack was a Ukrainian endeavour “designed to create a wave of panic”. Speaking to The Independent, Tim White, a Ukraine expert and journalist, commented: “Putin’s only response is violence, we’ve seen it time and time again. “The problem is how much of his arsenal is left? I strongly suspect there was another large shipment of drones from Iran recently, hence the big uptick in drone strikes. “But I believe this tactic is primarily to locate Ukraine’s air defence systems, especially its Patriot [missile] systems, and get Ukraine to exhaust its own air defence missile stocks. The Kremlin is not able to manufacture missiles as quickly as it is using them.” Among the residents of Moscow, the episode is likely only to entrench existing attitudes towards the war, Mr White said, noting the stranglehold exerted by state media. “I think opinion in Russia will be even more anti-Western rather than anti-Putin,” he said. “The absolute control of the media ensures most people believe the indoctrination, wrongfully describing Ukraine as a nation of Nazis.” That observation has already been borne out, with one woman, Natalia, 59, telling news agency Reuters: “The Kyiv regime is already crossing all the lines. This is very sad, especially since they are directing these drones at residential buildings, at the city, at civilians, where there are no military facilities.” More surprisingly, another resident told the same outlet: “All of this is because of our ruler. It’s no surprise it’s bounced back to here.” As for what might happen next, Mr White is in little doubt that there will be a retaliation, perhaps targeting a region the Kremlin had expected to welcome its “special military operation” with open arms. “My best guess is that there will be a strike on a city, masquerading as a military hit, with what we describe as ‘plausible deniability’,” he said. “But it won’t be Kyiv, which is too well protected judging by the last month’s bombardment. Lviv is a target, but more at risk is likely to be Odesa or Mykolaiv in the south. These are areas that previously spoke almost exclusively Russian and Putin believed would welcome his illegal invasion.” The Russian foreign ministry has already made threats to that effect, declaring: “Russia reserves the right to take the harshest possible measures in response to the terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime.” Read More Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin responds after Moscow hit with drone attack Wealthy Moscow suburb where Putin has a home targeted in drone attack Moscow targeted by ‘30 drones’ as Ukraine war reaches Russia’s capital Russian soldiers flee after tank struck by Ukrainian drone The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

The multi-billionaire has not yet publicly commented on the visit, which comes amid US-China tensions.