Free Republic

The idea that Russia might still lose the war in Ukraine has become a kind of security blanket for Western elites – a comforting illusion clutched in think tanks, editorial pages, and official briefings long after the battlefield realities have changed. We are now well past the phase where optimism could be excused as ignorance. The facts are in. Ukraine is exhausted. The West is demoralized. And Russia, despite its many internal challenges, is grinding toward its war aims with brutal consistency.

The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that he was unsure he would be able to quell Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine and Russia may need to keep fighting, President Donald Trump said Thursday, comparing the warring nations to squabbling children in what appeared to be a signal that the U.S. leader was losing interest in brokering peace in a conflict he once promised to end in a day. The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that...

TWO Russian airfields housing Putin's nuke bombers have reportedly been blitzed in an extraordinary drone strike - wiping out at least 40 aircraft. A Ukrainian security official told Reuters that the SBU conducted a large drone attack on Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers - which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukraine. The source did not specify where the drone attack took place, but Ukrainian media said that Olenya airbase - home to Russia’s Tu-95 strategic bombers - had been targeted. The second base under fire is understood to be the Belaya nuclear airbase in eastern Siberia’s Irkutsk region...

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday dismissed the idea of Turkey or any other country acting as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine during the proposed negotiations in Istanbul on June 2. Zakharova thanked Turkey for its hospitality and for creating a negotiating platform, noting that the first round of discussions was held in "comfortable conditions." Kiev has not yet confirmed its participation in the new round of talks, although Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the negotiations must "yield results." Additionally, the country's President Vladimir Zelensky said Moscow had not sent a peace memorandum to Kiev, despite...

Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member, three senior Russian sources told Reuters. They also point out that many Russian officials cannot even fly there due to Western restrictions. The Vatican has so far been silent in public on the idea raised by U.S. President Donald Trump after a call with President Vladimir Putin that Pope Leo XIV could host talks aimed at ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. Italian Prime...

It could happen if "If military aid to the Banderite regime continues," deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council saidMOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. A buffer zone will encompass nearly entire Ukraine if military aid to the Kiev regime continues, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has warned. "If military aid to the Banderite regime continues, the buffer zone could look like this," he wrote on his Telegram channel and posted a video where the buffer zone covers almost the entire Ukrainian territory but for a small part in the west. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced...

Ukraine’s former top general warns against false hopes of restoring 1991 borders and says only tech-driven warfare can overcome Russia’s war resources. Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UK and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (AFU), retired Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, has cautioned against hoping for a return to Ukraine’s 1991 borders, warning that Russia still possesses the resources to continue the war. Speaking at the “Export of Security: Ukrainian Weapons in the World” forum, Zaluzhny said, as quoted by Ukrainian media: “I hope that there are no people in this hall who still hope for some miracle or wonder, for some...

Ukraine and Russia conducted a massive prison swap Friday, a key breakthrough from their first direct talks in more than three years of war. “A major prisoners swap was just completed between Russia and Ukraine. It will go into effect shortly,” President Trump confirmed in a Truth Social post just before 6 a.m. “Congratulations to both sides on this negotiation,” he said of the exchange agreed last week in the first direct peace talks between the warring nations since the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion. “This could lead to something big???” he suggested. The warring nations each agreed to...

AP — Russia and Ukraine have no direct peace talks scheduled, the Kremlin said Thursday, nearly a week after their first face-to-face session since shortly after Moscow’s invasion in 2022 and days after U.S. President Donald Trump said they would start ceasefire negotiations “immediately.” “There is no concrete agreement about the next meetings,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “They are yet to be agreed upon.” During two hours of talks in Istanbul on May 16, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, in what would be their biggest such swap. Apart from that step, the...

The British maritime security firm warns that "should a future Russia-Ukraine peace agreement fail to address EU-UK sanctions on Russian hydrocarbon exports, Russia is likely to reallocate its security resources, previously concentrated on the Black Sea, to the Baltic region"LONDON, May 20. /TASS/. Attempts by European nations to detain allegedly Russia-linked merchant ships in the Baltic Sea are heightening the risk of "non-linear warfare" between NATO and Russia, according to a report by the British maritime security firm Ambrey. The assessment indicates that, in the near term, there will be "heightened maritime security risks, particularly around vessels transporting oil from...

President Donald Trump said his call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Monday went very well and that Moscow and Kyiv "will immediately start negotiations" toward a ceasefire and end to the war. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov revealed on Monday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his United States colleague Donald Trump is not being "in preparation" at this time, according to RIA Novosti. Meanwhile, Trump and Putin are expected to speak on the phone at 10 am ET. The White House further explained Trump also plans to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after speaking with Putin. The US president is expected to issue a statement after his conversation with Putin.

Russian state TV aired a video of Vladimir Putin warning Donald Trump to stop trying to dictate the terms of a ceasefire with Ukraine. Putin stressed that he plans to finish what he started three years ago and warned that Trump should not push him into a US blueprint for stopping the war.

U.S. and European diplomats went on a flurry of calls in the hours after U.S. President Donald Trump offered on Monday to join prospective Ukraine-Russia talks later this week, trying to find a path that would bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump's surprise offer to join the talks on Thursday in Istanbul came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a fresh twist to the stop-start peace talks process, said he would travel Turkey and wait to meet President Vladimir Putin there. -snip- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks late on Monday with his Turkish...

Putin could reject his own offer to Zelensky. UKRAINE is now piling the pressure on Russia as Vladimir Putin stays silent on his own offer to meet for peace talks on Thursday. Moscow's bungle has seen Volodymyr Zelenksy take up Vlad's offer to for a face-to-face meet in Istanbul for long-awaited negotiations between the two leaders. But the Kremlin has gone deathly silent as Putin weighs rejecting the offer he sent to the Ukrainians. Zelensky has filled the dead air and now said he will definitely go to Istanbul - but will only meet with his counterpart Putin and not...

Trump ‘thinking about’ joining Ukraine peace talks in Turkey Donald Trump said he could join Russia and Ukraine for talks on ending the war in Turkey on Thursday. The US president said on Monday that he was “thinking” of flying to Istanbul for negotiations after visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. “I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday. I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve...

US President Donald Trump has described the upcoming May 15 meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul as "very important," APA reports. Speaking to journalists, Trump expressed hope for a positive outcome from the talks between Moscow and Kyiv representatives. "The Thursday meeting with Russia and Ukraine is very important. I’ve been very insistent on making this meeting happen. I believe something good could come out of it," he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed he will personally attend landmark peace talks on Thursday with Russia in a direct ultimatum to Vladimir Putin. Writing on social media on Sunday afternoon, Ukraine's President said he "will be waiting" in Istanbul for his Russian counterpart to sit down and negotiate.

The Kremlin announces that Putin is set to make an announcement shortly. The statement will be issued in one hour. Putin is reportedly meeting with the security council right now. The 3-day ceasefire in Ukraine is set to end in 1 hour 10 minutes. Interesting timing.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine and its allies are ready for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” with Russia for at least 30 days starting on Monday, Ukrainian FM Andrii Sybiha said Saturday. His remarks came as the leaders of four major European countries visited Kyiv, amid a push for Moscow to agree to a truce and launch peace talks on ending the nearly three-year war. They followed what Sybiha said was a “constructive” phone call between them, U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Saturday also marked the last day of a unilateral three-day ceasefire declared by Russia...