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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Cash-strapped Ukraine has secured a crucial European Union loan that will provide a vital lifeline to sustain its wartime efforts this year.The 90 billion-euro ($106 billion) package was formally approved on Thursday, days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline had been repaired and the flow of oil would resume to Slovakia and Hungary, conditions linked to the release of the funds.Approval had been held up for months amid political friction inside the 27-nation EU, including resistance from outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as the Kremlin’s...

Andrew Hugg, a U.S. Chief of Chemical Nuclear Surety, was caught on hidden camera casually revealing sensitive information to a stranger in a public restaurant... "They stole our money. They bought houses, $100,000 cars. They can get themselves rich and go live in Dubai. Like I said, I lived in Ukraine. I worked there with the government. That government is so corrupt. They just stole it and they they bought houses, cars, like $100,000 cars. They're officials in the government. And then now that it's like 100 billion, 200 billion, they're like stealing it all. But if they can get...

The U.S. military, which has been responding to Iran’s loitering drone attacks, has finally adopted Ukraine’s air defense technology. As low-cost drones continued to damage high-value military assets, it is interpreted that the U.S. has deployed Ukraine’s combat-proven response system at key Middle Eastern bases. On the 22nd, Reuters reported, citing multiple sources, that the U.S. has deployed Ukraine’s command and control platform at Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia, a key military asset in the Middle East, to defend against Iranian drones.… Ukrainian military officers are reported to have visited the base over recent weeks to train U.S. forces...

Since Ukraine’s population has shrunk dramatically, the army’s number one problem is no longer the lack of weapons, such as ballistic missiles and air defense systems, but the lack of soldiers to operate them, writes Világgazdaság. The competent authorities in Kyiv, however, must bring the army size required by Commander-in-Chief Zelensky (800,000 active soldiers), and since the number of men eligible for military service (between the ages of 18 and 60) is slowly running out, the Ukrainian leadership is now trying to fill the gaps by conscripting women. As of early 2024, approximately 5 million men are considered to be...

The Ukrainian military captured a Russian position using only ground robots and aerial drones — completely unassisted by any infantry, for the first time in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. No lives were lost when the robot force went into highly dangerous enemy-occupied territory and forced the soldiers there to surrender, he said in a video address to defense workers this week, without revealing additional details about the mission. “The future is already on the front line — and Ukraine is building it. These are our ground robotic systems,” Zelensky said, according to Business Insider. Over the last...

“The pro-EU Tisza party’s victory over Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Hungarian election means that the country has essentially been taken over by the Soros network, Elon Musk has said. In a post on X on Monday, Musk lashed out at Alexander Soros — the son of billionaire George Soros and chair of the Board of Directors of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) – who celebrated Orban’s fall as “a resounding rejection of entrenched corruption and foreign interference.” Soros Organization has taken over Hungary,” the SpaceX and Tesla owner said. In a separate post, Musk responded to a post...

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen waited less than a day after Hungary voted Viktor Orbán out of office to call for the EU to get more power over national governments to force through foreign policy decisions. Governments should be able to push through EU policies ― on issues that could include sanctions on Russia and funds for Ukraine ― by majority rather than allowing individual nations to wield a veto, she told reporters in Brussels. Under Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister for 16 years, Hungary has often blocked foreign policy decisions. “Moving to qualified majority voting in...

Péter Magyar, the Hungarian politician most likely to defeat Viktor Orbán, promises “regime change” but signals continuity on several core policies. The European Union should manage expectations and prepare for a more complex relationship than a simple post-Orbán reset. With less than two months to go before Hungary’s 12 April elections, the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar is polling ahead of Orban’s Fidesz. For the first time since 2010, a change of government appears genuinely possible. The stakes are high. A fifth consecutive term for Orbán would further entrench what the European Parliament has described as a “hybrid regime...

Viktor Orbán has conceded in a speech to supporters, telling them: "The result of the election is clear and painful."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conceded defeat Sunday in the country’s parliamentary election, calling the result "clear" and "painful" as partial vote counts showed a decisive win for opposition leader Péter Magyar.

According to the ministry, law enforcement officials are continuing their work on site to search for additional evidence and identify those involvedBELGRADE, April 5. /TASS/. Serbian law enforcement officials discovered a cache of explosives near the gas pipeline connecting the country with Hungary, the Defense Ministry reported. "During the operation, a significant amount of explosives was discovered, as well as items and tools necessary for their preparation and use. The suspicious items were found near the gas pipeline, that is, the gas infrastructure connecting Serbia and Hungary," the statement said. According to the ministry, law enforcement officials are continuing their...

Russia is ready to contribute to resolving ​the Iran conflict and President Vladimir ‌Putin is continuing to talk with regional leaders, Kremlin spokesman ​Dmitry Peskov said on ​Thursday. "The president is continuing these ⁠contacts, and if our ​services are somehow required, we ​are, of course, ready to make our contribution to ensuring that ​the military situation transitions ​to a peaceful course as soon as ‌possible," ⁠Peskov told reporters. Peskov was responding to a question about U.S. President Donald Trump's speech ​to the ​nation ⁠about the Iran war and his separate ​comment that he was ​considering ⁠pulling the United States out...

Few EU leaders will miss Hungary's Prime Minister ⁠Viktor ⁠Orban if he loses an April 12 election after ⁠he blocked key policies, including vital aid to Ukraine, but they don't expect his rival - if elected - to fully reverse Budapest's ​approach to Europe. Most opinion polls suggest Orban's nationalist Fidesz party, in power since 2010, could lose to Peter Magyar's centre-right Tisza party. Orban, who maintains friendly ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and is also ‌a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has ‌often infuriated his EU partners, most recently by blocking a vital 90 billion euro...

Russia proposed a deal to the US under which Moscow would halt intelligence sharing with Iran if Washington stopped providing intelligence to Ukraine about Russian military activity, according to a report on Friday by Politico. Two individuals familiar with the discussions told Politico that the proposal was presented by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev during a meeting last week in Miami with Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. According to the report, the arrangement would have required the Kremlin to stop providing Tehran with intelligence such as the precise coordinates of US military assets in the Middle East. In...

Russia will refer women who choose not to have children to psychologists in an attempt to reverse the country’s worsening demographic crisis. Under guidelines overseen by the health ministry, women who answer negatively to questions in a medical history survey about whether they intend to have children will be encouraged to seek psychological support. “It is recommended to send the patient to a consultation with a medical psychologist with the goal of forming a positive attitude towards having children,” according to the advice. Men who take the same medical history questionnaire will not face questions about their plans to have...

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - A drone struck a major U.S. diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday in suspected retaliation by pro-Tehran militias over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, ​the Washington Post reported, citing an unidentified security official and an ‌internal U.S. State Department alert. The strike hit the diplomatic support center, a logistical hub for U.S. diplomats near Baghdad airport and Iraqi military bases, the Post reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters he had a "very good call" with ​Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine ​and the conflict in the Middle East. "There's ⁠tremendous hatred between President Putin and (Ukraine's) ​President Zelenskiy. They can't seem to ​get it together, but I think it was a positive call on that subject," Trump said. Trump ​added that Putin "wants to be helpful" ​with the Iran conflict. "I said, 'You could be more helpful ‌by ⁠getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That will be more helpful,'" Trump told reporters in a press conference at ​his Florida ​golf...

Ukraine has received only about 600 advanced interceptor missiles for the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system during the entire course of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials told The New York Times. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv had received roughly that number of interceptor missiles over four years of war. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western partners to provide additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles as Russia continues to launch large-scale missile strikes targeting cities and critical infrastructure. The Patriot system remains among the few air defense platforms capable of reliably intercepting advanced ballistic missiles, including...

Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran on the location of US forces in the Middle East in an attempt to help Tehran fight back, according to a new report. The Kremlin has passed on the locations of American warships, aircrafts and other military assets ever since “Operation Epic Fury” kicked off a week ago, three sources told the Washington Post Friday. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one official familiar with the intel told the outlet.

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense. Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.