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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...

-snip- Having talked to Donald Trump this week, I am more convinced than ever that he has the strength and the bravery to fix it, to save Ukraine, to bring peace — and to stop the disastrous contagion of conflict. -snip- The Ukrainians have shown they can and will win. Even today, they are pushing Putin back again in the Kharkiv region, and they are exacting a huge toll on the Russians in Donetsk. Their heroism is incredible. But the war has been going on too long, and the cost is immense, in lives, in economic misery and instability. I...

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social he had a "very good call" on Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine before he even takes office in January should he win the Nov. 5 election.

A day after officially accepting the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump is expected to speak by phone Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a source familiar with the plan told NBC News. -snip- Trump has vowed that if he wins the election, he'd have the war "settled" while he's still president-elect. He has not said how he'd do so. At his debate against President Joe Biden in June, Trump criticized the large amount of military aid going to Ukraine, but also said Russian President Vladimir Putin's terms to end the war are "not acceptable."

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.

Associates of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have discussed holding a phone call between the two leaders, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One source said the call could occur on Friday, but Reuters was not able to immediately determine if the conversation, which would be their first since the former U.S. president left the White House in 2021, had been confirmed. CNN reported earlier on Thursday that the two leaders had a phone call scheduled on Friday. The news organization warned that the schedule of the former president - who is in...

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,...

-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...

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...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the opening of two new Indian consulates in Kazan and Yekaterinburg, Russia, during his recent visit. This announcement was warmly received by the Indian community, who applauded the move aimed at enhancing travel and business opportunities between the two nations. At an event in Moscow with the Indian diaspora, PM Modi praised the Indian community's efforts in preserving and promoting Indian cultural traditions in Russia.

The Excalibur artillery round performed wonders when it was introduced into the Ukrainian battlefield in the summer of 2022. Guided by GPS, the shells hit Russian tanks and artillery with surgical precision, as drones overhead filmed the resulting fireballs. That didn’t last. Within weeks, the Russian army started to adapt, using its formidable electronic warfare capabilities. It managed to interfere with the GPS guidance and fuzes, so that the shells would either go astray, fail to detonate, or both. By the middle of last year, the M982 Excalibur munitions, developed by RTX and BAE Systems, became essentially useless and are...

A TOP Putin crony who was to be a key witness in a major Kremlin corruption scandal has "suddenly" died under mysterious circumstances. Russian general Magomed Khandayev, 61, was head of the State Expertise Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence. Khandayev was seen as a key witness in a corruption scandal shrouding the Russian defence ministry amid Putin's illegal war against Ukraine. His body was flown to Moscow to his home region of Dagestan for burial, according to reports. The cause of Khandayev’s death has not been specified. -snip- Khandayev worked under deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, 48, who...

Russia said on Wednesday that its military was still working to create a "buffer zone" in Ukraine's Kharkiv region but this would take time. President Vladimir Putin said in May that Russia was creating a buffer to protect its border regions, especially Belgorod which lies adjacent to Kharkiv, from Ukrainian attacks. "Of course, the realisation of this task is time-consuming, it takes time. Work in this direction is under way," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked how long it would take for Russia to guarantee the security of Belgorod.

Iran has lost one of its newest indigenous warships after it capsized in an "accident" in its home port, the country's state media said on Sunday. The Iranian navy's Moudge-class frigate the Sahand was under repairs at a dock in Bandar Abbas, on Iran's south coast, when the incident took place, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, quoting a statement from the military. A water leak caused the warship to "lose its balance," the Iranian military said. Photos carried by state media showed the Sahand rolled over and partially submerged among several ships moored nearby.

The dramatic pictures showed blood-covered mothers cradling their terrified children as they tried to escape the hospital after the strike. Horrifying pictures have captured the aftermath of a devastating Russian missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv that caused widespread damage and killed at least two people. Vladimir Putin's army launched a massive assault on Ukraine, targeting five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles - at least 33 people have been killed and more than 150 injured across the country. The onslaught hit apartment buildings and public infrastructure, including the newly reconstructed ward at Kyiv's Okhmatdyt Hospital. Windows...

At least 24 people were killed on Monday after Russia launched a massive missile attack against cities across Ukraine, including on a children’s hospital. In the capital, Kyiv, at least ten people were killed in a rare daytime attack. The Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, Ukraine’s biggest children’s medical facility, was hit in the attack, according to reports. There was no immediate word on casualties there. At least 10 people were killed in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, with three killed in the eastern town of Pokrovsk and one in Dnipro. The attacks included Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, one of the...