Free Republic

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Saturday the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to “dead solutions.”The Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, is seen as a potential breakthrough in the more than three-year war.Trump had previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy, stoking fears Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II.In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s territorial integrity, enshrined...

Key Points and Summary – Western aspirations for regime change in Russia are a “dangerous delusion” that ignores the lessons of past interventions in Iraq and Libya. Such efforts are not only unrealistic, given Russia’s nationalist resilience, but also risk provoking greater instability and a more aggressive Kremlin.

The five lives of Volodymyr Zelensky' (2/5). Before his presidency, Zelensky became known in the world of comedy and television at the turn of the millennium and lived in Moscow, where he established links with the country that he is now at war with. In January, Sochi, the Russian seaside resort on the Black Sea popular with tourists and spa enthusiasts, usually hosted the gala for KVN, a TV game show in which amateur troupes from all the former Soviet republics participated. Strolling along the waterfront palaces in January 1998, the small troupe from eastern Ukraine led by Volodymyr Zelensky...

Associated Press — An explosion rocked an upscale residential block in Moscow early Monday, killing two people – including the founder of a battalion that battled Kyiv´s forces in eastern Ukraine — and injuring three others, Russian authorities and news reports said. Footage released by Russia’s Investigative Committee showed a building lobby with shattered glass doors and a damaged ceiling. It didn’t say what caused the blast, but the state news agency Tass cited an unidentified law enforcement source as saying a bomb was planted in the building. The Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal inquiry on charges of...