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Russian deserters from the Ukraine war were burned alive in Vladimir Putin's infamous "torture jail". Five so-called 'refuseniks' were killed as a fire ripped through the army jail where they were being held in Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city. Reports suggest seven more were injured. The fire broke out at around 2am with seven people admitted to hospital, officials said, although the Russian defence ministry has not said what caused the fire. The notorious facility has been the target of numerous allegations of torture after footage from the grim prison was leaked in May. At the time of the blaze...

On November 27, a powerful force led by Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive in northern Syria. Taking advantage of the dysfunctional Assad regime forces – the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – and Russia’s preoccupation with its grinding war in Ukraine, HTS and its Turkish-supported allies advanced to the south – and swiftly liberated the city of Aleppo from Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad, his SAA and his Russian backers. (snip) The Russians know Tartus is in trouble. On December 3, commercial satellite imagery revealed that every major Russian warship known to operate from Tartus – three missile...

Lines of Russian troops in desert khaki greeted President Vladimir V. Putin in Syria in 2017. Declaring that Moscow had accomplished its mission in Syria’s civil war, Mr. Putin pledged that Russia was there to stay. “If the terrorists raise their heads again,” he said on the tarmac of a Russian air base, “we will deal unprecedented strikes unlike anything they have seen.” But over the last two weeks, as the rebels that Russia called terrorists swept across Syria aiming to topple one of Russia’s closest allies, President Bashar al-Assad, those “unprecedented” strikes were nowhere to be seen. Instead, with...

Kyiv is ready to make a deal with Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin should make efforts toward negotiating a truce, United States President-elect Donald Trump said early Sunday. "There should be an immediate cease-fire and negotiations should begin" in order to "stop the madness," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse," he said. "I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can...

Russia has removed a senior commander from his post for making false claims about the progress of the war in parts of eastern Ukraine, according to military bloggers and Russian media. Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the South Forces Group, was dismissed after providing misleading information about Russia’s progress near the Siversk settlement in the eastern region of Donetsk, according to the bloggers. Russian media RBC reported Anashkin’s removal, citing unnamed sources within the Russian Ministry of Defense who said he was removed as part of a planned rotation. There has been no official confirmation from Russian officials....

"Trump, alongside Ukraine's Zelenskyy, says Russia's war needs to end" Former President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speak to the press after meeting at Trump Tower in New York City. Former President Donald Trump met with the president of Ukraine at Trump Tower in New York City on Friday, saying he has a "very good relationship" with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "It's very important to share our plan, all of our steps on how we can strengthen Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. He explained to reporters that he decided to meet with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris because "after November, we don't...

<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.</p><p>He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.</p>

Russian State TV recently broadcasted a segment of a talk show during which the hosts discussed the potential of Alaska joining Russia. In the show, the host makes a joke saying: "Do you know what they call Alaska? Ice Crimea." He then adds that Alaska will "one day return to its native shores." The hosts are referencing the fact that Alaska once "belonged" to Russia, before being sold to the United States in 1866. This echoes rhetoric used in the war in Ukraine, that Ukraine "belonged" to Russia, and therefore should rejoin its so-called native land.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces. He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two U.S. officials and a third familiar with Zelenskyy’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public. He also will address the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New...

Dramatic video Thursday showed a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in southern Russia as Kyiv launches an expanding wave of strikes deep inside its neighbor's territory. Through the huge plumes of smoke filling the sky above the air base, three small explosions can be seen as a man driving through the flat landscape points his camera at the fire and delivers an expletive-laden rant. “There it is flying by, f---. F---ing flying over again. ... It’s a serious tragedy, folks. This is serious stuff. It’s all f---ing on fire," he says. "That’s really something else. And all the...

Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine continues to claim lives, as the Kremlin’s military leadership resorts to increasingly brutal tactics against civilians—including a ghastly attack on a children's hospital in Kyiv and other sites across Ukraine. In their comments on state television, prominent propagandists often reiterate that Moscow’s campaign of senseless brutality is designed to prompt Ukrainians to overthrow their government. Russian talking heads also resort to nuclear threats, which is always a sign that things on the battlefront are not going well. Indeed, Russian propagandists and military experts are tacitly acknowledging sinking morale and widespread lying in their military. Despite...

Former President Trump sought to distance himself from the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 on Friday, saying he has “nothing to do” with the initiative and disagrees with some of its aspects.Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he is not involved in the right-wing think tank’s proposal, which outlines various policies and initiatives that some conservatives hope a future Republican administration would administer.“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” he said. “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous...