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The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil, a boost to the Kremlin as Washington tries to contain energy prices sent soaring by the American-Israeli assault on Iran. President Vladimir Putin’s team welcomed the move to ease penalties that were imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pushed Friday for the U.S. to go further. The decision caused dismay in Europe, where officials feared it would give a timely boost to the Moscow war machine on their doorstep as attention shifts to the Middle East. The announcement failed to immediately calm oil prices, which have spiraled since Tehran...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters he had a "very good call" with ​Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine ​and the conflict in the Middle East. "There's ⁠tremendous hatred between President Putin and (Ukraine's) ​President Zelenskiy. They can't seem to ​get it together, but I think it was a positive call on that subject," Trump said. Trump ​added that Putin "wants to be helpful" ​with the Iran conflict. "I said, 'You could be more helpful ‌by ⁠getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That will be more helpful,'" Trump told reporters in a press conference at ​his Florida ​golf...

Ukraine has received only about 600 advanced interceptor missiles for the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system during the entire course of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian officials told The New York Times. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kyiv had received roughly that number of interceptor missiles over four years of war. Ukraine has repeatedly urged Western partners to provide additional Patriot systems and interceptor missiles as Russia continues to launch large-scale missile strikes targeting cities and critical infrastructure. The Patriot system remains among the few air defense platforms capable of reliably intercepting advanced ballistic missiles, including...

Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran on the location of US forces in the Middle East in an attempt to help Tehran fight back, according to a new report. The Kremlin has passed on the locations of American warships, aircrafts and other military assets ever since “Operation Epic Fury” kicked off a week ago, three sources told the Washington Post Friday. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one official familiar with the intel told the outlet.

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense. Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.

Russian forces unleashed a devastating overnight assault on Ukraine, hitting military-industrial sites, energy infrastructure, and UAV launch areas with precision strikes. Over 1,100 Ukrainian troops were killed in just 24 hours, alongside dozens of armoured vehicles, artillery pieces, and electronic warfare systems. From Sumy to Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia, Russian battlegroups advanced relentlessly, crumbling defensive lines and crippling logistics. Air defences were overwhelmed, morale is under siege, and Kyiv’s ability to resist is being systematically dismantled as Russia claims victory after victory.

Ukraine is outmatched by Russian forces and requires significantly more infantry and weapons if it hopes to win the war, according to military intelligence and independent battlefield monitors. Although Moscow is paying an extraordinary price for comparatively minimal gains, western officials believe the country can sustain at least another year of war at the current rate of attrition. On Tuesday it will be four years since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After months of incremental advances, it appears to be on the verge of capturing a series of strategic locations in Ukraine’s so-called “fortress belt” and is expanding...

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson says that the UK and its allies should deploy non-combat troops to Ukraine right now, to "flip a switch" in Russian President Vladimir Putin's head. Speaking exclusively to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg alongside the former head of the military, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, Johnson said troops should be sent to peaceful regions in non-fighting roles. He said: "If we can have a plan for boots on the ground after the war, after Putin has condescended to have a ceasefire, then why not do it now?" The UK government is currently working with its allies to...

Actor Giancarlo Esposito crystallized today’s Democrat Party by admitting he is willing to see people die to fulfill his revolution. This is a direct quote, per the far-left Variety, and these are the words of a narcissistic sociopath. Block quotes are Variety’s… This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting. We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of...

The last decade or so of American politics has inspired a lot of political statements from the people of Hollywood, who are pretty clearly as freaked out by what feel like ongoing and inexorable shifts toward both national and global authoritarianism as the rest of us. But few have been as blunt about it as Giancarlo Esposito was this week, stepping up on his soapbox at the Sundance Film Festival and declaring, “This is time for a revolution—and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting.” Esposito, at the festival to promote his new Jon Turturro movie The Only Living...

A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will fail unless it is backed up by “robust” security guarantees from western powers, the UK prime minister has said. Keir Starmer, speaking ahead of talks with European leaders in Berlin, told MPs on Monday he was opposed to any agreement that did not include sufficient military guarantees for Ukraine, as Kyiv comes under mounting US pressure to sign up to a Trump-backed plan. Starmer said: “European history is full of peace agreements that failed and sometimes led to even greater conflict. And that is why it’s really important we attend to this...

Russia launched its biggest attack of the war overnight against natural gas facilities run by Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz Group, officials said Friday. Russia fired a total of 381 drones and 35 missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s air force. in what officials was an attempt to wreck the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter and wear down public appetite for the 3-year-old conflict. “This is deliberate terror against civilian facilities that provide gas extraction and processing for the normal life of people,” Serhii Koretskyi, chief executive of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz, said in a statement. “It has no military...

US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York after blasting world leaders during his speech. Speaking to reporters before the bilateral talks, Trump hailed Zelenskyy as a courageous leader. "He’s a brave man, and he’s putting up one hell of a fight," Trump said. "We have about 30 meetings scheduled today, but this is an important one -- and we have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It is pretty amazing."

Most political philosophies work better as theories than in practice. Take communism, for example: If you’re struggling under a different political model, communism has some truly splendid talking points, and if you think otherwise, you’ve lost the plot. There’s a reason why it’s still so appealing to millions of revolutionaries. The problem, of course, is that communism is utterly dysfunctional in the real world. By many metrics, it’s the most destructive political system in history. But despite its (considerable) track record of death, destruction, and devastation, its popularity continues. No matter how many times it crashes and burns — no...

European nations are increasingly optimistic that they can support Ukraine financially and militarily against Russia even if President Trump decides to wash his hands of the conflict, as he often threatens, and instead focuses on normalizing relations with Moscow. But even with their best efforts, the Europeans cannot replace all of what the United States provides Ukraine — most important, real-time intelligence about Russian forces, incoming missiles and how and where to target the enemy. Ukraine’s ability to fight effectively relies largely on that American intelligence. “The Ukrainians don’t want this to be cut off no matter what,” said Camille...

These massively laid out burial complexes are very new. How many are now operating?

President Trump, angrily, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, February 28: “You don’t have the cards! You’re buried there! Your people are dying! You’re running low on soldiers!” Since that time . . . In March alone, the Russians suffered an estimated 41,000 combined killed or wounded in action, with 272 Russian tanks, 1,644 artillery systems, and 607 combat armored vehicles destroyed or disabled. (Since the start of the war, Russia has lost an estimated 12,835 tanks and armored vehicles, 305 aircraft, and 22 naval vessels.) Without anything resembling a manned navy, Ukraine has largely nullified the...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a Wednesday interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior is growing increasingly “desperate” as his war against Ukraine continues three years after Russia’s attempted takeover of its eastern European neighbor. “He seems to be more out of control than he used to be,” she told “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade. “He was always an imperialist, but there is something about him now that seems almost more desperate in wanting to extinguish Ukraine.” -snip- “It shows that the Ukrainians are very advanced in what they are doing in their defense industry with...

The German chancellor’s drive to keep a campaign pledge of more robust backing for Ukraine is running into blocks within his own government as he prepares to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin.Friedrich Merz made a full-throated declaration on Monday, hours before Zelenskyy’s one-day visit was announced, that Germany was for the first time lifting previous range restrictions on weapons supplied to Kyiv, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters.His statement – in an interview with a public broadcaster, which his team later posted to social media – was widely interpreted as a pivot toward bolstering Berlin’s aid to Kyiv at...

Are we about to see Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sitting across from each other at a negotiating table in Turkey? It looks like that could actually happen this week. If both leaders really do show up, there will be peace negotiations in Turkey starting on Thursday. But will these negotiations lead to peace, or will they lead to World War 3? Western leaders were threatening to hit Russia with a new round of very harsh sanctions if the Russians did not agree to a 30 day ceasefire beginning on March 12th. In response, Russian President...