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Russia pushes second meeting in Istanbul, Ukraine tells Moscow to pony up ceasefire terms first. Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed some 50,000 troops on Ukraine’s northern border despite a united push by the U.S. and Ukraine to get Moscow to enter into "meaningful" ceasefire negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday warned that Putin is preparing a massive summer offensive in a move to push Ukraine’s troops out of Russia’s Kursk region, and to launch a new invasion into Ukraine’s Sumy region – a mere 200 miles from the capital city of Kyiv. Zelenskyy reiterated this week that he...

Vladimir Putin is demanding urgent potato imports from Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, while he delays supplying the ally with promised notorious Oreshnik horror missiles. Putin has made the shameful admission that he has run out of spuds - one of his country’s leading food staples - amid economic meltdown during his war with Ukraine. It now appears Belarus will not get the lethal missiles until after Lukashenko supplies Putin with new exports of potatoes which have spiralled in prices in Russia. The Minsk tyrant has even cancelled sanctions against imports from the EU to stock up to supply Russia. -snip-...

The Kremlin has not yet disclosed what conditions it will propose for a ceasefire with Ukraine, nor whether those terms will appear in a draft memorandum, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. Peskov noted that there is no need to publicly discuss the contents of the draft documents, News.Az reports, citing TASS. "We won’t publicly discuss the contents of the draft documents that [the parties] are supposed to exchange. The reason is because talks should always be held behind closed doors rather than in public," the Kremlin spokesman added.

Donald Trump issued an ominous warning to Vladimir Putin after accusing him of deliberately drawing out the fragile peace process in Ukraine. The US president was asked whether he thought it was "disrespectful" of his Russian counterpart to accuse him of being overly emotional. A reporter questioned: "Do you believe the Russians are being disrespectful when they say that your criticisms of Putin are simply an emotional response? And do you still believe that Putin actually wants to end the war? Mr Trump responded: "I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks. Within two...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a statement on Wednesday that the Russian delegation led by President Vladimir Putin's aide Vladimir Medinsky is ready to present a memorandum to Ukraine on June 2 in Istanbul. "The Russian side, as agreed, promptly developed a corresponding memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis. Our delegation is ready to present this memorandum to the Ukrainian delegation and provide the necessary explanations during the second round of resumed direct negotiations in Istanbul next Monday, June 2," the Russian diplomat stated.

President Donald Trump's social media attacks on Vladimir Putin have prompted derision and a warning from Russian state media. Trump took to Truth Social to condemn Putin following last weekend's Russian missile and drone barrage on Ukraine which he followed up with a post that said the Russian leader is "playing with fire." But the state-run propaganda outlet RT said Trump changes his opinion frequently, while a Russian state television anchor warned that the U.S. president should keep in mind that Moscow can "destroy the world several times over."

Russian president Vladimir Putin has acknowledged crop shortages as pressure on the country’s economy continues to mount. Pressure is mounting on Russia amid labour shortages, international sanctions, record interest rates, and inflation, but Putin’s admission of shortages of key crops marks a milestone in the nation’s woes. Speaking yesterday in a televised meeting, he said: “Yesterday, I met with representatives from various business sectors, including agriculture. It turns out that we don’t have enough potatoes. “I spoke with Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko. He said, ‘We’ve already sold everything to Russia’.” Potato shortages have become a serious problem in neighbouring Belarus, with...

President Trump’s “Golden Dome” plan has riled the three countries whose weapons technology poses the greatest threat to American territory, with China, Russia and North Korea claiming the missile-defense project is driving a dangerous new arms race. -snip- North Korea slammed the Golden Dome on Tuesday as the “largest arms-buildup plan in history.” China and Russia in a joint statement earlier this month called the project “deeply destabilizing.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a briefing to journalists Tuesday, said the plan “represented a direct disruption to the foundations of strategic stability.” All three countries have also denounced Trump’s...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States "cannot agree on everything" after US President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin "absolutely crazy" and criticized strikes on Ukrainian cities. "But the political will to implement the agreements that are reached is there, and the work continues," Peskov added.

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...

A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin erected in Moscow's metro is stirring debate, with some Russians welcoming it as a historical tribute, but others saying it's a mistake to commemorate someone who presided over so much suffering. -snip- Nearly 700,000 people were executed in Stalin's 1937-38 Great Terror amid show trials and purges of his real and perceived enemies. Many other Soviet citizens were sent to the Gulag, a grim network of prison camps, spread across the world's largest country. The Moscow metro said in a statement that the new version of the monument, which was presented to the...

Drone warfare once again forced Moscow into lockdown on Wednesday as three of the capital’s four airports abruptly suspended operations. Panic rippled through Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo as incoming flights were turned away and departures stalled. Sirens blared as air defences scrambled to intercept the latest wave of Ukrainian drones breaching Russian skies. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed multiple drones were shot down on approach, with emergency crews deployed to the crash sites. Ukraine launched a large-scale drone offensive overnight, targeting multiple regions in Russia. One since-deleted clip from Oryol shared by a Kremlin-aligned Telegram channel appeared to show a flaming...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, will speak by phone on Monday evening. During a press conference in Moscow on Monday, Peskov confirmed that the call is scheduled for 5 p.m. Moscow time (GMT1400). According to him, the purpose of the call is to discuss the outcomes of the recent Russia-Ukraine talks held in Istanbul last week. Peskov described the upcoming contact as "important," noting that the leaders will also discuss future communications between the two countries.

Vladimir Putin’s chief delegate at peace talks with Ukraine is a historian who once claimed that Russians have an extra chromosome due to their superiority. -snip- Mr Medinsky also earned widespread ridicule after arguing that Russians were particularly heroic and able to survive hardship because they “have one extra chromosome”. While it is likely that he was trying to speak figuratively, the assertion, made in 2012, prompted scorn even within Russia, with critics pointing out that having an extra chromosome is associated less with genetic superiority than with conditions such as Down’s syndrome.

President Donald Trump said he may travel to Turkey for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as he doesn’t believe President Vladimir Putin would show if he isn’t there. "I don’t know if he’s showing up," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I know he would like me to be there. And that's a possibility." -snip- The president noted that he has a "full day" scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Thursday, and he’d planned on sending Secretary of State and interim national security advisor Marco Rubio. But, he added, "I don't know that [Putin] would be there...

Important events are developing on the international political scene - according to Keith Kellogg, the US special representative for Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin may personally participate in the Russia-Ukraine talks scheduled for May 15 in Istanbul. If this happens, it is possible that US President Donald Trump will also attend the meeting. Kellogg explained this proposal as follows: "We hope that President Putin will also go to the talks. If so, then President Trump may also come to Istanbul. This will be a completely unexpected, historic meeting," he told reporters. Hope and pressure from Trump's visit According to a...

U.S. President Donald Trump's senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will travel to Istanbul for potential talks on Thursday on how to end Russia's war in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the plans said on Tuesday. However, a senior U.S. official said it was unclear whether anyone from the Russian government would show up. The White House, State Department, National Security Council and a spokesperson for Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will only attend the talks this week if Russia's Vladimir Putin is also there, an aide to the Ukrainian leader...

Vladimir Putin will not show up for peace talks because his 25-year stranglehold on Russia ends if he yields, experts say. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to an offer of direct talks aimed at achieving peace, but Moscow said it would refuse to honour a ceasefire before and during any meeting. The showdown was tentatively set for Istanbul with US President Donald Trump saying he would show up, but the meeting has yet to be confirmed. The apparent foot-dragging by the Kremlin was seen as a deliberate ploy to continue a bloody war with its neighbour that has rumbled...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the "way forward for a ceasefire" in Ukraine with European counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and the EU's foreign policy chief, the State Department said on Monday. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout.

I picked a J6 case at random to review because I wanted to see how bad it was. And let me tell you the random one I picked did not disappoint. This defendant went into the capital and walked down the corridor. He was not accused of violence. He did not break anything. He did not hurt anybody. He was sentenced by a jury to 19 months in prison he was overcharged by the prosecutor to the point where it should be called malicious prosecution, and a judge rubber stamped every single thing the prosecutor asked for. The most egregious...