Free Republic

Russia insists on the international recognition of its hold over Crimea, as well as the entirety of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, as a condition for peace negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Brazilian news outlet O Globo published on April 28. This demand, reinforced last week by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, underscores how Russia continues to push its maximalist demands despite the U.S. efforts to broker a peace deal. Russia illegally declared the four Ukrainian oblasts as annexed in 2022 following widely condemned sham referenda, but it does not fully control the...

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, then-U.S. President Joe Biden took a firm stand in solidarity with Kyiv, forged a bulwark of European allies and set veteran advisers to the task of isolating Moscow economically and diplomatically. Washington's approach changed dramatically with Tuesday's initial meeting between U.S. and Russian negotiators. The officials met just a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House, with Ukraine and NATO partners sidelined by a relatively inexperienced team of Trump aides and Putin granted concessions even before the talks got...

President Trump on Wednesday ratcheted up his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of taking advantage of the United States and saying he has done a “terrible job” leading his war-torn country. Trump went after Zelensky and questioned U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia a day after he appeared to blame the Ukrainian leader for starting the conflict. Zelensky responded to those earlier comments by saying Trump “lives in this disinformation space.” “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into...

On Tuesday President Donald Trump told reporters he believed Ukraine should repay the United States the $350 billion the Biden regime sent to the country to fund their war with Russia. Of course, the billions of US dollars were never audited once they crossed the Atlantic. Much of the money disappeared. Even Ukrainian President Zelensky says he does not know where $100 billion US dollars went missing. One Ukrainian citizen responded to President Trump’s request to repay US billions donated to his country to fight Russia. Ukrainian citizen to President Trump: “We have lost the war with the United States....

Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle. The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a...

Some 400 calls for help went unanswered when the helpline at Ukraine’s Veteran Hub went silent for a week after key funding from the United States was abruptly cut last month. The Ukrainian NGO gets all sorts of calls. Some come from military families who have just found out their loved one was killed on the frontline. Some are from injured veterans who are struggling to cope with their return to civilian life or need help navigating the bureaucracy.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is living in a Russian "disinformation space" regarding his previous day's comments about the Ukrainian leader's approval rating. Trump said at Mar-a-Lago that Zelenskyy's rating stood at 4%. Zelenskyy replied in a news conference in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that "we have seen this disinformation. We understand that it is coming from Russia." He said that Trump "lives in this disinformation space." Trump also suggested Ukraine ought to hold elections, which have been postponed due to the war and the consequent imposition of martial law, in accordance with the Ukrainian...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to President Trump’s latest rebuke, calling out Trump for living in a Russian “disinformation space.” “Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us, unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” Zelensky told reporters early Wednesday. His claim follows Trump’s news conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday evening, where he criticized the Ukrainian leader and claimed his approval ratings were low. Zelensky also pressed Trump and U.S. officials to “be more truthful.” The request follows a high-stakes...

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has an approval rating of 57 percent, according to a poll released Wednesday hours after US President Donald Trump said Zelensky's rating was just four percent. Calling for presidential elections in Ukraine, which are banned under martial law, Trump said Tuesday of Zelensky: "He's down at four percent approval rating", US media reported.

Kyiv holds $15 trillion in natural resources which would help break the US’s dependence on China. The strategic significance of Ukraine’s mineral resources “cannot be overstated”, according to publicly-available Nato briefings. Its vast reserves span more than 100 metals across some 20,000 deposits, including several that have been identified as critically important by both the US and Europe.

Along Ukraine's frontline, the war rages on. But global attention spanned thousands of miles away today, as representatives from Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the conflict. Uninvited to those talks, and in Turkey instead, was Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. He made it known he won't accept a deal made about Ukraine without Ukraine's involvement, and that he wouldn't recognise parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia. Speaking after the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the talks "useful", but said any type of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine would be "completely unacceptable". Marco...

Keir Starmer has said he is prepared to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine if there is a deal to end the war with Russia, acknowledging it could put troops “in harm’s way” if Vladimir Putin launches another attack. It is understood to be the first time the prime minister has explicitly stated he is considering deploying British peacekeepers to Ukraine. The comments came just before emergency talks with European leaders in Paris on Monday. The leaders will aim to devise a strategy in response to Donald Trump’s push for a deal with the Russian president and to...

MUNICH — When Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, the United States helped whip Europe into a staunchly unified response. Now U.S. leaders may be splitting Europe into pieces as President Donald Trump seeks to end the war, European leaders and policymakers say.Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials made their European debut last week, slashing their way through a continent of allies as they embraced far-right leaders, demanded access to mineral wealth and offered sympathy to the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin.By the end of the week, European leaders found themselves potentially cut out of peace...

European leaders have planned an emergency summit on Ukraine, according to multiple outlets. The summit has been referred to as a “once in a generation” national security moment by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, CNN reported The BBC reported that French President Emmanuel Macron will pull together the Monday summit, which will happen in Paris. Last Wednesday, President Trump said he expects to meet face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times, with the president implying that they are probably going to meet first in Saudi Arabia. “We ultimately expect to meet,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “In fact,...

Trump is well aware that Zelensky does not want peace, and neither does Europe. They want World War III and have been trying to scheme to invoke Article 5 to try to force Trump to send troops to invade Russia. European officials now realize they will have to cover the cost of postwar security and cannot count on the USA funding their warmongering ways. They will have to cough up the costs Zelensky has been demanding to line his pockets for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The European Press has done nothing but promote war. They constantly claim that if Ukraine...

VIDEOMy favorite part of J.D. Vance's COMMON SENSE (which was attacked as "controversial") Munich Security Conference speech was when he pointed out the ABSURDITY of recently overturning the Romanian presidential election result due to supposed interference from Russia via online ads. If this sounds familiar it is because in the wake of the 2016 U.S. election the media here went into panic mode over Russia having spent (GASP!) $100,000 worth of Facebook ads supposedly to influence the election. The Democrats and the media went full FAKE NEWS hysteria about RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA! despite the fact that $100,000 in Facebook ads...

As Donald Trump and his officials rip up three years of US rhetoric on supporting Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is walking an unenviable diplomatic tightrope Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had some tough weeks in the past three years, but this past one may be up there with the worst of them. Back on Monday, in an hour-long interview with the Guardian at his Kyiv offices, the Ukrainian president was in a cautiously optimistic frame of mind. He said he had received “positive signals from the Americans” over upcoming negotiations. His team was working to fix a date for a meeting with Donald...

President Trump stunned, strangled and humiliated Europe — leaving America's closest continental ally dazed and dumbfounded. The big picture: No amount of "Trump-proofing" could have prepared Europe for the MAGA-shaped hurricane that swept across the continent this week, wreaking torrential havoc on America's closest allies. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth perplexed and perturbed allies on his first visit to NATO by seemingly taking some of Ukraine's bargaining chips off the table before those talks began. He also demanded that Europe take ownership of its own defense so the U.S. could focus on the more urgent threat from China. But it...

US Senators, including Republicans Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), John Cornyn (Texas), and Thom Tillis (North Carolina), flew to Europe this week to pledge their support to Ukrainian tyrant Volodymyr Zelensky and his war with Russia.During one press gaggle, Lindsey opened up about his respect and admiration for the Ukrainian president.Senator Lindsey Graham: “You and your people. You’re the ally I’ve been hoping for all of my life. Not one American has died defending Ukraine. You’ve taken our weapons and you kicked their ass. And, I’m very proud to have you as our ally.”At least $100 billion of US Aid sent...

The United States’ negotiating tactics for bringing an end to the war in Ukraine, which were shared with allies at the Munich Security Conference by US envoy Keith Kellogg, are unorthodox but give hope, Poland’s foreign minister said on Sunday. “General Kellogg has presented to me personally and to the circle of European allies the United States’ negotiating tactics,” Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters. “I will not reveal them here. They raise some hopes. They are unorthodox, but we wish them luck.”