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Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after a maternity ward was struck by drones in Ukraine. The US president responded to news that drones had damaged a maternity hospital in Kharkiv, as he said: “I know. You'll be seeing things happen.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that among the nine wounded in Kharkiv were women in the hospital - “mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery.” He said: “Russia is targeting life itself – even in the very places where it begins.” It comes ahead of Trump’s “major statement” on Monday for Russia as he grows frustrated...

VLADIMIR Putin's brutal war machine was dealt another blow today as Moscow confirmed the death of another top Russian military chief. Russian authorities have confirmed the death of Colonel Sergei Ilyin, commander of Russia's notorious 155th Marine Brigade. Telegram news channel Astra reported the Colonel's death on Friday, citing a now-deleted post from officials, the Moscow Times has reported. Ilyin had died "during the special military operation" according to a post attributed to the Urmarsky district administration. "Special military operation" is the euphemism used by Kremlin authorities when referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It follows speculation that the...

A 1-year-old boy was “mercilessly and deliberately” executed in a Russian drone attack in southern Ukraine — where terrified residents say they feel they are being hunted in a sick game of “human safari,”officials said. The boy, identified as Dmytryk, was playing at his grandmother’s yard in Pravdyne on Wednesday when the drone came crashing in, causing shrapnel to pierce his heart and kill the toddler who celebrated his first birthday just two months ago. “Our little boy was here, in the playpen, walking around,” his distraught grandmother, Halyna, 64, told local Ukrainian outlet Podrobnosti.

President Trump tore into Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talking “bulls—“ and making “meaningless” overtures while keeping his bloody invasion of Ukraine going. “A lot of people are dying and it should end,” the president complained to reporters during a cabinet meeting. “We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin — [if] you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Putin is 'shocked' at the death. THE death of Vladimir Putin's transport minister has raised a series of awkward questions for the dictator. Roman Starovoit, 53, was sacked by Vlad on Monday after he couldn't stop Ukraine causing mayhem to Russia's aviation industry. But he was dead just hours later - with the circumstances unclear and conflicting details emerging about what happened. It's just the latest mystery death among Russia's elite, including many who have plunged from windows. Was the body moved? Versions of Starovoit's death from official sources were constantly changing, with initial reports saying his body had been...

The Kremlin said on July 8 that it was shocked by the sudden death of Russia’s former transport minister Roman Starovoit, news of which broke hours after President Vladimir Putin had sacked him. Mr Starovoit was found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on July 7. Asked about Mr Starovoit’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Mr Putin had been briefed on the incident and described the news as “tragic and sad”. Mr Peskov declined to speculate on the cause of...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on the phone on Thursday about arms deliveries to Ukraine, a spokesperson for the German leaders told Reuters. Merz initiated the call with Trump, the spokesperson said on Friday. Spiegel magazine first reported on the call.

A top Russian oil executive was killed after falling from a window in a Moscow tower block. His demise is just the latest in a string of high-profile and unexplained deaths among senior executives in Russia's energy sector. Andrey Badalov, 62, was confirmed dead after falling from his penthouse on Rublyovskoye Highway. He was the vice-president of Transneft - Russia's state oil pipeline operator and the largest such company in the world. The company transports 82% of the oil produced in the country through its pipelines. -snip- Transneft confirmed Badalov’s death but did not comment on the circumstances. The company...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Friday he spoke with his United States colleague Donald Trump on the phone, stating that he discussed potential joint defense programs with Washington, as well as recently Russian strikes on his country. "We spoke about opportunities in air defense and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies. We have also agreed to a meeting between our teams," the Ukrainian leader wrote on X. He stated that Kiev is ready for "direct projects" with the US "especially when it comes to drones and related technologies." The two presidents also considered...

President Trump told Ukrainian President Zelensky in a call on Friday that the U.S. wants to help Ukraine with air defense, due to escalating Russian attacks, a Ukrainian official and a source with knowledge of the call said. Why it matters: Earlier this week the Pentagon paused a weapons shipment, including air defense interceptors and ammunication, to Ukraine's army. The decision caught Ukraine and many Trump administration officials surprise. Behind the scenes: The two sources said the call between Trump and Zelensky lasted around 40 minutes, with a major focus on Ukraine's air defense needs. One source said Trump was...

Russia pounded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles on Friday in the largest aerial attack of the three-year war — just hours after President Trump admitted he was “disappointed” with his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A total of 539 drones and 11 missiles were fired at Kyiv over a seven-hour onslaught — injuring at least 23 people and damaging scores of buildings across the capital, Ukraine’s Air Force said.

President Trump spoke by phone Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine but made no headway on halting the fighting. “I didn’t make any progress with him today at all,” Trump said of Putin, speaking to reporters as he left Washington to deliver a speech in Iowa. According to a Kremlin briefing on the call, Trump urged Putin to quickly end the war in Ukraine but Putin refused. It was the two leaders’ first conversation since U.S. officials said this week they had paused a series of weapons shipments for Ukraine. Trump indicated the U.S. hadn’t...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that no progress was made in ending the war with Ukraine after he conducted another lengthy call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews ahead of a trip to Des Moines, Iowa. -snip- We had a call. It was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things including Iran and we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine,' Trump said. 'And I'm not happy about that,' he said. Trump was then asked if he made progress with Putin on a peace deal with...

The Kremlin has doubled its funding in 2025 for Yunarmiya ("Youth Army"), the state-sponsored youth organization that combines ideological indoctrination with military training for children and teenagers. According to documents reviewed by the independent Mozhem Obyasnit news outlet, Yunarmia is receiving 1 billion rubles (approximately $11 million) in funding this year, the largest amount since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This year, Yunarmiya is set to receive 800 million rubles ($9.7 million) in state subsidies through the Youth and Children national project, which was launched in 2024 by presidential decree to create “advanced schools” across Russia’s regions. The funds will...