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Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson TRUMP: "Zelensky, by the way, I see he's trying to back out of the rare earth deal — and if he does that, he's got some problems." From Rapid Response 47 8:18 PM · Mar 30, 2025

On March 5, 2022, the wreck of the sailing ship Endurance was found in the depths of the Weddell Sea off the coast of Antarctica. This, of course, was the vessel lost in Ernest Shackelton’s third expedition to Antarctica, which became trapped in the ice and sank in 1915. The story of that expedition is an extraordinary tale of human fortitude - with the Endurance lost to the ice, Shackleton’s crew evacuated to a loose ice flow where they camped for nearly 500 days, drifting about the Antarctic seas, before making a desperate dash across the open ocean in an...

In Ukraine, a commander has been arrested on suspicion of desertion. The special investigation service writes that he also urged his subordinates to run away. The man was leader of the brigade trained in France from which many hundreds of soldiers reportedly fled or did not show up at all. The commander led a company, which usually consists of 100 to 150 soldiers. As far as is known, he is the highest-ranking soldier in the brigade, with several thousand soldiers, who has been arrested so far in the scandal. Earlier, the supreme commander of the brigade was suspended. "Fled without...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US billionaire Elon Musk on Monday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an "all-time" champion for the US "greatest heist," commenting on US President Joe Biden’s decision to allocate another $2.5 billion to Ukraine. "All-time champ," Musk said on X in response to another user’s comment saying that the Ukrainian leader "has genuinely pulled off one of the greatest money heists of all time." Earlier in the day, Biden announced another package of aid to Ukraine worth nearly $2.5 billion. US President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the Ukraine conflict through talks. He has repeatedly said he...

Footage released by the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine shows the robots fighting in Kharkiv. The unit uses a number of different types of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) including robots for mining and demining, kamikaze drones, and mobile turrets. The robots, of varying sizes and speed, move across no man's land towards the Russians as they do their jobs.

Russia is willing to work with President-elect Donald Trump to help improve relations with Ukraine so long as the U.S. makes the first move, Kremlin officials said this week, adding fresh momentum for the possibility of peace talks as its war in Ukraine threatens to stretch into a third year. Speaking to reporters Thursday in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Russia could be ready to come to the negotiating table regarding its "special military operation" in Ukraine— echoing the phrasing used by the Kremlin to describe its war in Ukraine — so long as the U.S. acted...

Germany has promised to transfer to Ukraine 100 Soviet-made tanks, which will be delivered from Greece and Slovakia in a “circular scheme”. This was stated by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, reports CNN. Head of the German Defense Ministry During a visit to the German military stationed in Lithuania, the German military announced additional deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, including the IRIS-T air defense system and 100 tanks from Greece and Slovakia. The website of the German government reports that queues for delivery to Ukraine: 4 IRIS-T anti-aircraft missile systems 2 MARS II multiple launch rocket systems with ammunition; 4...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will appeal to Western nations at an emergency G7 meeting on Tuesday. Ukraine and Germany called the meeting following a wave of devastating missile attacks on Kyiv, Liviv and more than a dozen other major cities. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attacks are revenge for the bombing of the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia and Crimea this weekend. "They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth. Completely. Destroy our people who are sleeping at home in Zaporizhzhia. Kill people on their way to work in Dnipro and Kyiv," Zelenskyy...

Yesterday’s response revealed more than hypocrisy or even projection from Vladimir Putin — it revealed desperation. After the humiliation of the attack on the Kerch bridge, which Putin personally opened as a symbol of Russian permanence in Ukraine, Putin unleashed cruise missile attacks on cities across Ukraine overnight. Missiles struck as far from the front as Lviv, making it clear that this had no military value but instead was a terror attack on Ukrainians:(snip) Ahem. The Kerch bridge was and still is a legitimate military target, as it is a major line of communication for the Russian military. In fact,...

On Saturday, the Ukrainians hit the Kerch Strait Bridge, which leads from Russia to Crimea, with something—a missile, explosives planted by naval commandos, a truck laden with explosives. No one who knows is saying for sure.(snip)The tactical questions of how the Ukrainians pulled off this strike and of whether lasting damage has occurred are interesting and important but currently unresolvable publicly. What can, however, be more profitably discussed is what this tells us about where the Russia-Ukraine war is headed. “Battles are the principal milestones of secular history,” Winston Churchill wrote in his biography of the Duke of Marlborough. The...

Back in March I had warned that Lies Do Not Win Wars. Here is another practical example.After allegedly having 'run out of missiles' and, more importantly, patience, the leadership of the Russian Federation decided to de-electrify Ukrainian cities with a 'barrage of missile strikes'.But first came the propaganda blubber:320 missiles in a day: Russia targets short-range ballistic missiles at Ukraine; what is the result? - WION - Mar 2, 2022 Russia running short on guided missiles, firing indiscriminately - Ukraine - Jerusalem Post - March 17, 2022 Russia Running Out of Precision Munitions in Ukraine War Pentagon Official - US...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered troops to deploy with Russian forces near Ukraine in response to what he said was a clear threat to Belarus from Kyiv and its backers in the West. The remarks from Lukashenko, who has held power in Belarus since 1994, indicate a potential further escalation of the war in Ukraine, possibly with a combined Russian-Belarus joint force in the north of Ukraine. "Strikes on the territory of Belarus are not just being discussed in Ukraine today, but are also being planned," Lukashenko said at a meeting on security, without providing...

ST. PETERSBURG. October 10. /TASS/. Russia will respond toughly, if the Kiev regime continues attempts to carry out terror attacks on Russian territory, President of Russia Vladimir Putin said on Monday. "If attempts continue to carry out terror attacks on our territory, Russia’s responses will be tough and by their scope correspond to the level of threats created for the Russian Federation," the head of state said at a meeting with members of Russia’s Security Council. "No one must have any doubts about that," Putin stressed. By its acts, the Kiev regime has put itself on a par with international...

Ukraine's State Emergency Services said at least 11 people have been killed and more than 60 wounded in Russian missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities Monday. The strikes are the largest coordinated assault on Ukrainian cities since the early days of the war. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted Ukraine's military command and communication facilities and energy infrastructure. At least six people were killed in Kyiv when missiles struck several locations in the city center during morning rush hour. Officials in the central city of Dnipro said four people were killed. The leader of Ukraine's armed forces, Valeriy...

"For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” President Biden said of Vladimir Putin in March, a month after Russia’s second unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, in remarks the Washington Post called “the most defiant and aggressive speech about Russia by an American president since Ronald Reagan.” Biden’s staff, however, immediately backpedaled, saying, “the president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia or regime change.” Later, Biden himself dutifully resiled from regime change. (snip) Outsiders can assist in many ways, including augmenting dissidents’...

KYIV and DNIPRO, UKRAINE, and MOSCOW — Explosions rocked several cities across Ukraine in the most extensive attack on the country since the early days of Russia's invasion in February. The attacks came only hours after Russia blamed Ukraine for a weekend explosion that partially damaged a strategic bridge that connects Russian-occupied Crimea to mainland Russia. Ukrainian emergency services report that several people are dead across the country, including at least five people in the the capital Kyiv, which hasn't been hit since June. It's also the closest strike to the center of the city since the war began, coming...

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday people were killed and injured in multiple missile strikes on cities across Ukraine, including the first bombardment of the capital in months. CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata said the strikes, which could signal a major escalation in the eight-month-old war, appeared to be entirely punitive — retaliation meant to terrorize Ukrainian civilians in densely-populated urban neighborhoods, close to government buildings, with one even hitting a children's playground. Ukraine's national police later said at least 10 people were killed and about 60 others injured by the missile strikes early Monday morning. Russia's strongman leader...

Ukraine poked the Russian bear on Saturday by blowing up the Kerch Bridge from Russia to Crimea. According to Russian news agency Tass, an explosion occurred in early Saturday morning on one of Putin’s prestige projects and Europe’s longest bridge, which connects Russia and Crimea. “An object believed to be a fuel storage tank has caught fire on the Crimean Bridge, but the viaduct’s navigable arches sustained no damage, an aide to the head of Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, said on Saturday,” according to the news outlet. “According to preliminary information, a fuel storage tank is on fire… Navigable arches were...

Russia's “partial mobilization” and its sham referendums to justify the annexation of four provinces in Eastern Ukraine create new sources of uncertainty about the future course of the war. Yet Russia's actions should also produce a rare moment of strategic clarity for Ukraine's partners: No viable path to negotiated peace remains, and any result short of Ukrainian victory will be, in the long run, a worse outcome for the rules-based international order. The third, and more politically significant, alternative falls somewhere between the first two. This camp decries Russia's barbarity and lauds Ukrainians' bravery while, at same time, worrying about...