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TRUMP's POST ON TRUTH SOCIAL President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and I had a very good phone call earlier today. He congratulated me on a very successful Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for President of the United States. He condemned the heinous assassination attempt last Saturday and remarked about the American people coming together in the spirit of Unity during these times. I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless...

Residents of the Russian city of Krasnodar on July 20 staged a rare public protest to vent their anger over recent power cuts affecting southern Russia. An estimated 200 to 300 people turned out for the protest to demand that the authorities resume the supply of electricity and water. They blocked a street in the north of the city as they voiced complaints about the cuts to services, which they said are becoming more frequent, Russian online media reported. The protesters said that this summer their lights initially were turned off once a week, then three times a week, and...

A week after surviving an assassination attempt, US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday said he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by telephone, and pledged to end Ukraine's war with Russia. Trump has repeatedly claimed he would end the war quickly if elected but his frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reluctance to directly criticise the Russian invasion and suggestions to back away from NATO deeply concern Ukraine's allies.

Russia supports our adversaries because we still treat Russia as our adversary. A change in policy could change the global world order overnight. China and Islamists are our true enemies.

Russia has refuted social media rumors of a nuclear emergency after speculation spread on Friday that a radiation incident had occurred at the Rostov nuclear power plant. "The Rostov nuclear power plant is operating normally, the background radiation is normal, the messages that have appeared about the emergency are fake," Russian state nuclear company Rosenergoatom told state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Rosenergoatom also responded to the rumors on the social media platform VKontakte, asking internet users to "be vigilant." "The units are operating normally, the radiation background is at the natural level!" it said.

Ukrainian forces downed a Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft on Friday, according to the country's Khortytsia group of forces operating in the eastern Donetsk region. The aircraft was shot down by anti-aircraft guns from the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade as it attacked Ukrainian frontline positions near the town of Pokrovsk, the forces' statement posted on Telegram said. The Soviet-designed Sukhoi armored aircraft has been used extensively by both sides since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Dear President, Please find below a summary evaluation of my recent discussions with leaders of Ukraine, Russia, China, Türkiye and President Donald J. Trump, as well as a few suggestions for your consideration. 1. It is a general observation that the intensity of the military conflict will radically escalate in the near future. 2. I personally witnessed that the warring parties are determined to involve themselves deeper into the conflict, and neither of them would like to make initiatives for a ceasefire or peace negotiations. Therefore we can assume that tensions will not decrease and the parties will not start...

Trump shooter Thomas Crooks had “3 encrypted overseas accounts” — Rep. Michael Waltz (R–FL) ... Rep. Waltz did not comment further and said more will be learned Monday during House hearing.

A top Russian general has been formally dismissed from his post after being arrested on bribery charges in May, according to Russian state media. Lt Gen Vadim Shamarin was arrested amid a wider crackdown on corruption in the defence ministry and was accused of taking "a particularly large bribe" from a telecommunications company. Prior to his arrest he had served as deputy chief of the army’s general staff overseeing the signals corps and military communications. Prosecutors have accused him of taking bribes between April 2016 and October 2023 to ensure an increase in orders from the company's factory. A military...

Ukraine's security services launched a raid on a key Russian base which they claimed was destroyed in the fighting. The SBU released a video which it said showed airborne and waterborne drones attacking the target, followed by large explosions. Ukrainian broadcaster Suspline said of the video: "Last night, SBU drones hit the Russian coast guard base on Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea, law enforcement sources told Sospilny. "As a result of the combined attack of sea and air drones, the following were damaged and disabled: the headquarters with a control post, a warehouse of ammunition and equipment, an electrical substation,...

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to 4 billion euros ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around 8 billion euros in 2024, according to a draft of the 2025 budget seen by Reuters. Germany hopes Ukraine will be able to meet the bulk of its military needs with the $50 billion in loans from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets approved by the Group of Seven, and that funds earmarked for armaments will not be fully used.

-snip- HOW AN AMERICA FIRST FOREIGN POLICY REDUCED RISKS FROM RUSSIA DURING THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION We believe the most important way the America First approach to national security could have affected the Ukraine War was to prevent it. A strong and decisive president who stood up to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a tough and coherent U.S. foreign policy for Russia, Ukraine, and NATO could have prevented Putin from ordering the February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In our view, tough and coherent policies implemented by President Donald Trump are why Russia refrained from invading its neighbors during his presidency...

Trump said that he is not a supporter of sanctions against RussiaUS presidential candidate Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg that he is not a supporter of sanctions.“I don’t like sanctions,” he said, commenting on the policy of the current White House administration towards Russia.At the same time, as the agency specifies, the former president made it clear that he is equally cool to the idea of protecting Taiwan from a possible invasion of mainland China and attempts to “punish” Russia for the special operation in Ukraine.

Russia has denied its ground offensive on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region is failing after an official said he would seal off border villages to shield them from Ukrainian shelling. Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Tuesday that civilian access to 14 Russian border villages would be restricted given the ongoing intensity of the attacks. Asked if this meant that the Kharkiv operation had failed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday: “No, it doesn’t.”

Millions of Russians in the south of the country were left without electricity on Tuesday after a power unit at the Rostov nuclear power plant was shut down due to a malfunction. The Rostov nuclear power plant supplies power to the Russia's entire Southern Federal District, and rolling power outages affected residents of Russia's Krasnodar Territory, Rostov region, Sevastopol, and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by President Vladimir Putin from Ukraine in 2014. Russia's state-owned energy group Rosatom said one of the nuclear power plant's four power units was shut down due to a malfunction of the turbine...

Boris Johnson urged Donald Trump to back Ukraine in a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention. -snip- The former prime minister, who enjoys warm relations with his former counterpart, shared an image of himself posing with Trump on Tuesday. Mr Johnson said: “Great to meet president Trump who is on top form after the shameful attempt on his life. “We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and decisive in supporting that country and defending democracy.” -snip- In particular, he has argued that Trump, whom he has endorsed in November’s US...

Russian Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov has attempted to reach out to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin once again to remind the Pentagon that NATO is backing Russia into a corner. NATO held a summit that concluded by providing Ukraine with an additional $43 billion in aid. The call between the two leaders of defense “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.” The United States, after all, is the primary backer of NATO. Jens Stoltenberg may be the head of NATO, but the United States controls the alliances since it all comes down...

In May, Vance was among nearly 50 members of Congress added to a long list of lawmakers banned from entering Russia in retaliation for U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow. "In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly introduced by the Biden administration, which are intended, according to Washington's plan, to inflict maximum damage on Russia by personally affecting officials and ordinary citizens of our country, entry into the Russian Federation for 500 Americans is being closed as a countermeasure," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement at the time... It isn't clear why Vance was specifically targeted by Russia in May,...

The war in Ukraine has long become one of attrition and endurance, where the status of the competing forces is arguably more important than individual pieces of terrain changing hands. In this piece, leveraging the work of various people and sources, we look at what we can determine about the status of Russian equipment stocks and active vehicle fleets in 2024, and try to project potential paths forward and establish a baseline for comparing against Ukrainian forces in a coming episode.

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump came about through Joe Biden’s enfeebled administration creating “the atmosphere” that enabled the shooter to undertake his failed mission, Russia claimed in the wake of the attack. The Kremlin laid the blame squarely at the doorstep of the White House, the Daily Telegraph reports. “We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters, suggesting even in the denial that it was a possibility.