- Israel warns Lebanese as intense strikes target Hezbollah
- UK's Labour looks to be more cheerful despite gifts and welfare row
- Eurozone business activity slumps after Olympics boost
- Russia, Ukraine cross swords in sea dispute court battle
- Albania plans Sufi Muslim microstate within its borders
- EU launches WTO challenge against China dairy probe
- Murdoch's REA ups offer for property website Rightmove
- India's one-horned rhino numbers charging ahead, govt says
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill seven
- Asian stocks boosted by US rate cut, China stimulus hope
- Sri Lanka's new leader says no magic solution to crisis
- Israel warns Lebanese as wave of strikes hits Hezbollah
- New Socceroos coach Popovic confident he can rescue World Cup campaign
- 'Put Austrians first': On a pub crawl with far-right voters
- Trial begins in Italy student murder case that opened eyes to femicide
- Family of murdered Sri Lanka editor seek justice from new president
- Austria's far right woos anti-vaxxers with fund for vaccine 'victims'
- Long wait for justice in India's backlogged courts
- Rohingya refugees detail worsening violence in Myanmar
- Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill six
- Sri Lankan leftist leader sworn in after landslide election win
- Indonesia, NZ deny Papua rebel claim 'bribe' paid for pilot release
- Swearing, shoeys and swift legs: Singapore GP talking points
- South Korea warns of 'decisive' action against trash balloons
- Football Australia names Tony Popovic as Socceroos coach
- Japan quake, flood victim attempts fresh start with wife's memory
- Japan quake, flood victim attemps fresh start with wife's memory
- Asian markets extend gains as focus turns to US inflation
- Six dead after floods in central Japan: media
- Australian golf prodigy suffers career-threatening eye injury
- Gaza hospital a symbol of the ruin of war
- October 7: how Israel's deadliest day unfolded
- Bibles, sneakers, silver coins: Trump's merch for sale
- Met Opera opens season with tech-heavy 'Grounded'
- Colombia's Inirida flower: from 'weed' to emblem for UN meeting
- Colombia rebel group imposes control in restive coca zone
- Rams fight back to upset 49ers, Cowboys lose again
- Sri Lankan leftist leader to take office after landslide election win
- 300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade
- Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump
- 'Atrocious' Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
- 'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: UN environment chief
- MLB White Sox fall to Padres to match one-season loss mark
- All-Australian Ripper squad captures LIV Golf team crown
- Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt
- Zelensky arrives in US to explain war plan to Biden
- Barca rout Villarreal but Ter Stegen hurt, Atletico draw at Rayo
- Darnold shines for Vikings, Steelers and Eagles win
- Atletico held to draw at Rayo Vallecano
- Marseille stun Lyon with 95th-minute winner after early red card
On patrol with Kharkiv's elite 'Spetsnaz' police force
Shouts, the doors are kicked down and a window smashed. In a matter of seconds, the hotel is surrounded and its occupants find themselves on the ground, wrists tied, or with their hands against the wall and a Kalashnikov in the small of their back.
In Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, the police special forces -- or "Spetsnaz" -- are searching for a group of suspected "saboteurs" working for the Russian invaders behind Ukrainian lines.
The four visitors with harsh faces and tattooed arms who arrived at this guesthouse the previous day caught the eye of security services. They are taken away unceremoniously to "verify their identities".
With the Russian army parked at Kharkiv's gates, the aim of the Spetsnaz is to try and "maintain order and protect the population" amid the chaos.
More than 1.5 million live in the majority Russian-speaking city, which has been regularly shelled by President Vladimir Putin's troops through their five weeks of offensive.
AFP was able to accompany these special forces -- akin to an American SWAT team -- on patrol during the city's night-time curfew.
First stop: a petrol station in the district of Saltivka hit by a rocket.
The truck speeds through the deserted streets towards the flames, which reach several metres into the air. The elite police squad travels in a bulky white van that until a few weeks ago served to ferry cash.
Wearing balaclavas and helmets, and strapped into their bulletproof vests, they keep a good distance from the blaze. There are no victims, it seems, and "the fire department are on their way", says Valery, "24 years in the force" and head of the patrol.
- Suspicious activity -
Valery points at the apartment buildings opposite with the beam of the torch strapped to the barrel of his AK-47, all of them apparently empty.
A third of Kharkiv's inhabitants have fled the city since the start of the war, according to authorities, especially in the northeastern areas of the city most exposed to Russian attacks.
"In the first two weeks of the war there were a lot of saboteurs that tried to get into the city from all over. Now there are very few," the redheaded commander says. "But there could still be spies who give the Russians our forces' coordinates to strike them."
A flash of red light excites the patrol, potentially a "laser" from a precision weapon. But having checked with night-vision goggles, it turns out to be a false alarm.
The team moves on, keeping their eyes peeled for any suspicious activity.
Almost no one is on the road at night in Kharkiv apart from a few solitary police cars which flash their blue lights when they approach the special forces van. In any case, "nobody is allowed to move around without the password".
A dilapidated car with its warning lights on pokes out from a side street. The patrol immediately holds up the vehicle, brusquely pulling the two passengers out to interrogate them.
The driver says he wanted to "take his wife back" to somewhere unclear. Both seem a little tipsy. The car is allowed to go and parks up on the pavement, and some swearing is heard. The pair did not seem to be up to anything untoward.
- 'Holding the rear' -
"The army is on the front line, we're holding the rear. We're maintaining order in Kharkiv and protecting citizens," says Valery. "If we weren't here then the army would be weaker."
"When there is an explosion or a fire we help with the evacuation of the injured, to secure the perimeter, to take families to safety."
"Our job is one hundred times more important during a war," Valery says.
"Primarily, we're an intervention group in charge of arrests," says Sergei, an engineer by training.
One last detour through a park on a hill "where young lovers liked to come before the invasion", Valery says, suddenly showing a softer side.
"Look, not a single light, almost every window is dark," he says. "I've never seen my city so quiet and sad."
Several loud explosions in a nearby neighbourhood tear through the silence. Valery's head turns sharply to the sky: "Watch out! Incoming!"
On that day, 380 rockets rain down on Kharkiv, along with a further 50 or so shots fired from tanks and mortars, according to authorities.
"Today, we're helping the population of a city at war," he says. "It's an important job, no? Being a Spetsnaz, it's not just a word, you have to be up to it, even when it comes to helping people under fire."
N.Fournier--BTB