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The Kremlin said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was "pissed off" with Vladimir Putin, that the United States and Russia were working on ideas around a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties. -snip- "We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all, to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous administration," Peskov said. "And we are also working on the implementation of some ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement. This work is underway, but so far there are no specifics that we could or should...

Donald Trump is losing patience with Vladimir Putin’s stalling tactics over the Ukraine ceasefire, the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, said after spending nine hours with the US president – including winning a golf competition with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Stubb, who also spent two days with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week in Helsinki suggested in a Guardian interview a plan for a deadline of 20 April, by which time Putin should be required to comply with a full ceasefire. Stubb pointed out that a third golf partner on Saturday, the Republican senator Lindsey...

President Donald Trump said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” when Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s leadership, adding that the comments were “not going in the right location.” Agence France-Presse reported that Putin on Friday called for a transitional government to be put in place in Ukraine, which could effectively push out Zelenskyy. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault,...

Ukrainian officials and military analysts have warned that Russian forces are preparing a fresh offensive in the coming weeks, aiming to intensify pressure on Ukraine and strengthen Moscow's position in potential ceasefire negotiations. The anticipated push could lead Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay peace talks in favour of pursuing further territorial gains, Ukrainian officials said. They reiterated long-standing claims that Russia has no genuine interest in meaningful negotiations to end the war. As the spring fighting season approaches, analysts and military commanders report that the Kremlin is planning a multi-front assault across the 1,000-kilometre frontline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,...

Donald Trump's incoming national security advisor Mike Waltz suggested during an interview on ABC's "This Week" that if Ukraine expects "the entire world to be all-in" on supporting them, they should lower their draft age from 26 to 18. MIKE WALTZ: I will say, the other thing that we're going to need to see is really stabilizing things on the battlefield. And one of the things that we'll be asking of the Ukrainians is they have real manpower issues. Their draft age right now is 26 years old, not 18. I don't think a lot of people realize that they...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his generals have an artful knack for keeping the Russian military bear off-balance. On Sunday, they renewed their offensive in the Russian Kursk Oblast, once again catching the Russian high command, Kremlin, and many pundits by surprise. Reports of a demoralized Ukrainian army fighting to retain terrain captured during the August Kursk offensive — of which at least 40 percent has been lost — have circulated among western media and Russian milbloggers since November. So too reports that Ukraine’s 155th Mechanized Brigade — trained and equipped by France — was under-resourced in “first person view...

Furious Russians have been shown bitterly complaining about the soaring cost of groceries in a revealing clip which underlines the parlous state of the nation’s economy almost three years in Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. And the clip, uploaded to X by a Russian blogger and shared by among others former Ukrainian Interior Ministerial adviser Anton Geraschenko, demonstrated that ordinary Russians are feeling the pinch. In it, the narrator says: “Oh my God! Shaving foam costs 570 rubles [£4.39] already. What a horror. A couple of months ago I bought it for only 250 rubles [£1.77].” He then asks one...

Russian vodka enthusiasts are seething after the Finance Ministry implemented a 17 percent price hike for a half-litre bottle on New Year's Day. Russia holds the title as the world's largest vodka producer, accounting for over 30 percent of global production. Domestic consumption makes up more than 90 percent of Russia-made vodka, making it one of the country's most beloved beverages. As of January 1st, a bottle will now set consumers back 349 rubles (£2.53), up from 299 (£2.16) - a jump of 50 rubles. This follows a 6.4 percent increase in June 2024, meaning that within the last six...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked for his initials to be engraved on chains of crosses that will be given to the participants and the commanders of Russian military units in the operation in Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesperson said, Interfax reports. "I believe our friends will be honored to receive these symbols of faith which were consecrated by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia during the festive liturgy on [Orthodox] Christmas Eve," Dmitry Peskov quoted the Russian leader as saying. At Putin's request and in his presence, Patriarch Kirill held the consecration ceremony of these crosses and icons for...

Vladimir Putin has today been seen with red eyes and a mystery bruise on his hand, fuelling further speculation of his deteriorating health. The Russian despot, today seen calling a 15-year-old girl from Ukraine's Donetsk region called Arina Porkhal as part of the New Year Tree of Wishes nationwide charity campaign, was seen with weary eyes and bruise on his hand. It is not known why the 72-year-old Russian leader has this bruise, but he is believed to have long been in ailing health. In November, strange footage showed Putin's legs twitching uncontrollably at a public event yesterday amid rumours...

Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the southern Russian border region of Kursk, warning that Russia is “getting what it deserves.” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, an official body, said Ukrainian forces had launched surprise attacks against Russian forces in several locations across Kursk, months after launching its incursion in the region. In a short Telegram post Sunday, the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, said: “Kursk region, good news, Russia is getting what it deserves.” The Ukrainian military first launched an incursion into Kursk in August and has held much of...

Ukraine has launched a fresh offensive in Russia's Kursk region, the Russian Defence Ministry says. In a statement, the military said efforts to destroy the Ukrainian attack groups are ongoing. Officials in Ukraine have also suggested an operation is under way.

An article featuring statements from Ukrainian soldiers about American Abrams tanks was published on Business Insider. Although the war with Russia has shown that they are not invincible, their capabilities and equipment have been rated much better than Soviet-era and even newer Russian tanks. "It's better than T-72, T-62, and even Russian T-90," said a Ukrainian Abrams tank commander quoted by Business Insider. The Ukrainians pointed out that the Soviet-era T-series tanks are smaller and lighter than Abrams tanks. As a result, they are somewhat harder targets, but on the other hand, they have weaker armour and do not provide...

Watch the historic moment the sea drone takes down an aerial target. DRAMATIC footage shows the moment Ukraine claimed the historic downing of a Russian M-8 military helicopter off the coast of occupied Crimea by a missile-firing sea drone. Kyiv's military intelligence announced the strike in the Black Sea with a Magura V5 and included a clip of the historic moment. In the black-and-white footage taken from the sea drone, bursts of water can be seen around the drone launching into the air as Vladimir Putin's chopper attacked. Viewers can quickly spot the Russian aircraft in the top right-hand corner...

The Russian-occupied port of Sevastopol, Crimea has come under renewed attack by Ukraine's drone forces after a monthslong lull. Three loud and heavy explosions were reported in Kozacha Bay late Monday night, and citizen journalists said that a large fire was burning in the area. Both aerial and maritime drone attacks were reported. Sevastopol's Russian-backed governor, Mikhail Razvozhaev, told state media that two Ukrainian aerial drones had been shot down over the Black Sea. He did not confirm local reports of large blasts. Kozacha Bay is located five miles southwest of the main harbor, which is more heavily protected by...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to solidify the country's comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia in his letter to President Vladimir Putin on Monday, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday. In the message, Kim sent New Year greetings to Putin and all Russians, including their troops and expressed his willingness to further step up bilateral ties, which he said the two leaders have elevated to a new height this year, through new projects, KCNA said. Kim "wished that the New Year 2025 would be recorded as the first year of victory in the 21st century when the Russian army...

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizes to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for what the Kremlin said was a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25. Putin tells Aliyev that Russian air defense was active when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before it crashed in a phone call, the Kremlin says. “During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin says Putin told Aliyev, without explicitly acknowledging that...

Russia suffered a major setback after Ukrainian missiles reportedly destroyed a key army military command post in Kursk. HIMARS missiles reportedly took out the headquarters of Russia's elite 810th Marine Brigade, which was hidden in an abandoned five-storey civilian building in Lgov. The devastating attack took place overnight on Christmas Day and caused heavy casualties, killing 17 marines. Lieutenant Colonel Salim Pashtov, one of the brigade's senior officers, was reportedly among those killed. Video footage purportedly of the missile strike shows a huge mushroom cloud of flames and smoke rising into the night's sky on the horizon. Further images shot...

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has implied that Moscow cannot push Ukraine out of Kursk by the end of the year, despite Putin previously setting a deadline to kick them out by October. Russia's Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, said that all the tasks set by the country's leadership for the military in 2024 have been completed, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. He was speaking during a briefing for the military. As Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk, it is possible that driving them out was not a...

Russia has developed an mRNA-based vaccine aimed at combating cancer. The vaccine, developed in collaboration with multiple research centres, is set to be distributed free of cost to cancer patients, as announced by Andrey Kaprin, General Director of the Radiology Medical Research Center under the Russian Ministry of Health. This vaccine is expected to be released for public use by early 2025. Pre-clinical trials have already demonstrated its efficacy in suppressing tumour development and preventing potential metastases, according to Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. mRNA vaccines work by delivering specific instructions to...