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Oversight mechanisms for American aid to Ukraine are effectively preventing fraud and diversion, according to Congressional testimony from those involved. Nicole Angarella, the acting deputy inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said there is no evidence that direct assistance to embattled Kyiv has been fraudulently or otherwise diverted from its intended purposes. “I want to be clear that providing timely, impactful, and independent oversight of USAID’s Ukraine response is my office’s top priority,” Angarella said. “From our substantiated work that we’ve done thus far, we have not identified any instances of fraud or misuse with respect...

A month after Russia informed the U.S. that it is suspending participation in the last remaining nuclear pact between the two countries, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday that Moscow is now refusing to hand over data on its nuclear warheads, due at the end of this week. In response, the U.S. will not provide Russia with data on its deployed strategic warheads, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said on Capitol Hill. Plumb told a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces that the U.S. had pressed the Russians on the issue...

The International Criminal Court said Friday it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine. The court said in a statement that Putin "is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its one-year invasion of its neighbour. The ICC issued the warrant for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

The International Criminal Court said Friday it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine. The court said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” It also issued a warrant Friday for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, on similar allegations....

Russian officials railed against Ukraine’s talk of changing Russia’s official name to Muscovy, after a Ukrainian petition regarding a potential name change garnered 25,000 signatures. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly instructed Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal to “carefully” consider renaming Russia to Muscovy, accounting for consequences under international law and whether it was possible in historical and cultural contexts. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted to Telegram on Saturday that Zelensky is trying to create an “anti-Russia Ukraine.”

The total number of Russian deaths in Ukraine is likely to have exceeded all fatalities in 16 of the nation's military actions since the Second World War, it has been claimed. The rate of soldiers being killed per month in the first year of the war was 25 times higher than in Chechnya and 35 times higher than in the Soviet Union's ten-year war in Afghanistan, a US think-tank said. It is thought Russian troops are dying at five times the rate of Ukrainians, at a total of around 70,000. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Russia...

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are preparing for a counteroffensive, which will begin in about two months, Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the head of the presidential office has said. “We are not in a hurry, we will reorganize over the next two months. We will exhaust the Russians in Bakhmut and then focus elsewhere,” Podolyak said in an interview published today by the Italian newspaper La Stampa. Ukraine is pursing two main goals in its defense of Bakhmut: to gain time to replenish its forces, and to inflict heavy losses on the Russian army. Russia is losing five to...

Russia’s ongoing offensive around Bakhmut has cost Moscow between 20,000-30,000 casualties, with the private security contractor Wagner Group sustaining the majority of the losses in human-wave assaults against entrenched Ukrainian positions.For its part, Ukraine has opted to defend the city rather than pulling out, with President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly stating recently that Ukrainian forces would bolster troops numbers in the region. Russian efforts to undertake a renewed offensive in early-2023 have so far stalled, with any capture of Bakhmut offering a tactical but not strategic victory, according to western officials. It is unclear what casualties the Ukrainian forces have sustained...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday vowed to find those responsible for the death of a Ukrainian soldier who was seen executed in a brutal video posted online. Zelenksy’s response comes after a video circulated showing a Ukrainian soldier being shot to death by Russians right after saying “Slava Ukraini,” or “Glory to Ukraine,” on the battlefield, according to multiple reports. The apparently freshly captured Ukrainian is seen smoking a cigarette in a ditch before a Russian yells out “you b—-,” a barrage of gunfire is heard and the soldier falls to the ground as the Russian adds “die, b—-,”...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed Monday not to retreat from Bakhmut as Russian forces encroached on the devastated eastern city they have sought to capture for six months at the cost of thousands of lives. Less than a week ago, an adviser to Zelenskyy said the defenders might give up on Bakhmut and fall back to nearby positions. But Zelenskyy on Monday chaired a meeting in which top military brass “spoke in favor of continuing the defense operation and further strengthening our positions in Bakhmut.” Later in his nightly video address, the president reported that his advisers unanimously agreed to...

London CNN — Russian oil is still finding its way to buyers around the world. But even those who spend their days tracking its movement across oceans struggle to work out exactly who is ferrying it. As Western sanctions against Russia have escalated over its invasion of Ukraine, more ships have joined an existing fleet of mysterious tankers, ready to facilitate Russia’s oil exports. Industry insiders estimate the size of that “shadow” fleet at roughly 600 vessels, or about 10% of the global number of large tankers. And numbers continue to climb. Who owns and operates many of these ships...

Russia has never been a technological superpower. The downsizing of the scientific budgets in the 1990s killed much of what was left of Soviet tech potential centered around closed scientific towns. Subsequent attempts to spur government-induced innovation, in particular under former President Dimitri Medvedev — a young Western-looking technocrat who’s now the chief Russian hawk — failed. Top-down tech ventures such as Rusnano and Skolkovo Center ended up as Potemkin villages, incapable of producing a fraction of the R&D output of American, European, or Chinese scientific clusters. ...But these diversions mask a broader collapse of Russian imports. Even though Russia’s...

"NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member of our alliance,..." Stoltenberg told reporters at a news conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Helinski..."The issue now is to ensure that Ukraine prevail as a sovereign, independent nation, and therefore we need to support Ukraine," he added...In response to Russia's aggression, Finland and Sweden reversed their longstanding policies of military neutrality and applied to join NATO in May 2022...the process for those countries to join NATO would soon be complete.

PRESS STATEMENT Nine years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea – a clear violation of international law and of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The United States welcomes the efforts of Ukraine’s Crimea Platform to focus global attention on Russia’s continued occupation. The United States does not and never will recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula. Crimea is Ukraine.

Britain’s defence minister has warned that Ukraine must learn to fight while using weapons and ammunition more sparingly, or face the possibility of running out. Ben Wallace, the UK’s Secretary of Defence, has warned that Ukraine must learn to fight like a “Western” nation, saying that the country risks running out of weapons and ammunition in its fight against Russia if it continues to fail to use its resources sparingly. The Conservative Party official’s warning comes as Ukraine’s war efforts begin to run the country’s own supply of munitions dry, but also those of a number of European nations keen...

The attacks have left millions without power, sometimes for days at a time, and almost five months later, they show no sign of letting up. In response, according to Forbes Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities plan to transfer some of the country’s transmission substations to shellproof underground bunkers. The first two facilities could reportedly be ready as soon as next winter.

Zelensky said that he intends to increase the army to a million people to attack the Crimea. The West is also pushing Kiev to at least some success on the battlefield. Air Defense Colonel Yuriy Knutov, a military expert, believes that Zelensky's statements should not be discounted: the enemy is really preparing the army for an offensive that, according to him, may look like a Tatar-Mongol invasion. More and more experts note Kiev's serious intentions to take revenge for the winter campaign, in which the Russian army was able to seize the initiative. One of the most priority areas of...

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) is likely to announce his decision on whether he’ll run for president in April, the prominent Republican said earlier this week. Hutchinson has hinted at a possible White House run for weeks, telling CBS News on Monday that he would make an announcement “probably [in] April.” It’s not clear whether Hutchinson has made a final decision, telling the outlet it depends on the “response to the message that I bring.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s defence minister expressed confidence Sunday that Western allies would agree to the country’s latest weapons request – warplanes to fight off Russian forces that invaded nearly a year ago. Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told a news conference in Kyiv that Ukraine has already received everything from its “wish list to Santa,” except planes. “There will be planes, too,” Reznikov predicted. “The question is just what kind exactly…. Consider that this mission is already completed.”