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Ukrainian forces reportedly launched a massive push against Russia's front-lines in the country's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, threatening Russian positions that had been overseen by a general who was recently fired. The surge marks a dramatic change in pace for Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive. For nearly two months, Kyiv's troops were forced to make slow and steady advances to liberate occupied territory as they faced Russia's formidable defensive lines, which include deadly networks of trenches, barbed wire, anti-armor obstacles, and minefields. Clearing the Russian fortifications — particularly the minefields — has been a painstaking process for Ukraine, which managed to preserve lots...

Former President Donald Trump was ripped by some on social media and questioned by others after a bizarre Truth Social post in which he appeared to criticize Ron DeSantis shortly after the Republican Florida governor launched his bid for president. “‘Rob,’ My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!), yours does not! (per my conversation with Kim Jung Un, of North Korea, soon to become my friend!),” read Trump’s baffling post on Wednesday. The post was later shared by the Trump campaign in an email to supporters.

Russia’s scaled-down Victory Day military parade showed not only Moscow’s insecurities over possible Ukrainian attacks but also highlighted the country’s depleted military resources due to the conflict, political analysts said. May 9 is a public holiday in Russia when it commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. It is arguably the most important day in Russia’s public calendar and history, forming a central part of the country’s modern national identity. This year’s military parade through Red Square in Moscow and celebrations around the country were noticeably smaller than in previous years or entirely canceled, with...

Explosions hit Russian targets in and near occupied Crimea overnight into Wednesday, as Ukraine appeared to be intensifying attacks on Russian military strongholds ahead of an expected counteroffensive. In Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, drones struck a border guard post in Simferopol on Tuesday night, according to photos and video shared on social media and geolocated by Radio Liberty, a U.S. government-funded broadcaster. Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the incident, but Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesman, Andriy Chernyak, said in a statement on Wednesday morning: “Of course, the enemy must be cut off from...

A secret plan drawn up by Russia’s security service, the FSB, lays out detailed options to destabilize Moldova – including supporting pro-Russian groups, utilizing the Orthodox Church and threatening to cut off supplies of natural gas. The document appears to have been drawn up to thwart Moldova’s tilt to the West, which includes closer relations with NATO and an application to join the European Union. It repeatedly refers to the importance of preventing Moldova from joining NATO. (snip)The document sets out a 10-year strategy for bringing Moldova, a former Soviet republic sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, within Russia’s sphere of...

Kidnapped Ukrainian children are being sent to Russian “re-education” camps — where they are kept in prison-like conditions, forced to watch Russian propaganda, beaten and subjected to sexual violence, according to parents and activists. Inessa Vertash, 43, hasn’t seen her 15-year-old son, Vitaliy, in five months — ever since he left on what was supposed to be a two-week trip to a camp at the urging of his school teacher. It was billed as a retreat to escape the fighting. “I told her I wanted to think about it but she said there’s nothing to think about, they were leaving...