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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...

The world must return to a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran to turn it into a more democratic country, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told an Iranian opposition event in Paris on Saturday. Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to wreck Iran's economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, ballistic missile programme and regional activities. "These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economic and diplomatic as well", Retired Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who is...

Russia has expressed support for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's willingness to resolve issues through dialogue, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. He reaffirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin's readiness to engage in talks with Trump, News.Az reports, citing Reuters. -snip- Peskov said Putin had repeatedly stated his willingness to hold talks with international leaders, including Trump. "No conditions are required for this, (only) a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue is required," he said. "We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue, we welcome this." Peskov...

US President-elect Donald Trump said that a meeting was being set up between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. "He wants to meet, and we are setting it up," Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Russia is closely monitoring Donald Trump’s territorial claims to Greenland, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said, after the US president-elect refused to rule out the possibility of using military force to acquire the Danish territory. “We are following this rather dramatic development closely. Thankfully, for now, it remains at the level of statements,” Peskov told a news conference in Moscow on Thursday. -snip- “The Arctic zone is an area of our national and strategic interests. We are present in the Arctic and will continue to be. Maintaining peace and stability in the region is paramount, and we are open to...

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...

A top Iranian general has accused Russia of lying to Tehran by saying its jets were attacking Syrian rebels while they were instead bombing the open desert. In a rare break from Iran's diplomatic line on Syria, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar Assad's government during a speech at a mosque in Tehran. An audio recording of the speech was published on Tuesday by Abdullah Abdi, a journalist in Geneva who reports on Iran. "We were defeated, and defeated very badly. We took a very big blow, and it's been very difficult," Esbati said...

A leading Vladimir Putin propagandist who urged the Kremlin to fire nuclear bombs at Ukraine is in a coma after suffering a "clinical death." Tigran Keosayan, 59, sanctioned by Britain and other Western countries, had urged the Kremlin dictator to use nuclear bombs and vowed Russia will take full control of Ukraine. His powerful wife Margarita Simonyan, 44, who heads the slavish RT international media empire and is also sanctioned, confirmed his condition after rumours swept Moscow. There was speculation that the satirical show host could have been the target of a Ukrainian military intelligence death squad but she insisted...

US president-elect Donald Trump has pushed back his campaign pledge to end the war in Ukraine in “24 hours” to several months, in a shift European partners have interpreted as a sign that his administration will not immediately abandon support for Kyiv. -snip- The incoming administration was also wary of comparisons being made with Joe Biden’s calamitous US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was something the Trump camp would not like to see repeated in Ukraine, the official added. -snip- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort last week, has ruled out that Washington would “abandon”...

US President-elect Donald Trump said he would like to hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and that could happen within six months from his return to the White House, APA reports citing TASS. Asked at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago mansion whether the talks could happen within three or six months after he takes office, Trump replied, "I hope long before six months." Ukraine would be one of the subjects for the talks, he said. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov on January 5 denied reports that Putin's meetings with Trump and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were in the works.

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...

A state of emergency has been declared in the Russian city of Engels after a Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil depot that supplies Russia's nuclear bomber planes. Saratov regional governor Roman Busargin said that two firefighters had been killed while tackling the blaze. A huge fire exploded at the “Kristal” oil complex, as well as multiple explosions, in the city of Engels after long-range strikes, said Ukraine’s military. It added that the oil depot supplied fuel to the “Engels-2” military airfield, where Russia’s nuclear bomber fleet is based. “The strike of the oil depot creates serious logistical problems for...