Free Republic

President Donald Trump told Newsmax on Tuesday that it's possible Russia and President Vladimir Putin are "dragging their feet" on a peace deal with Ukraine. Trump made the assertion in an interview with "Greg Kelly Reports" from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Tuesday. "I don't know. I mean, I'll let you know at a certain point. But I think that Russia wants to see an end to it, but it could be they're dragging their feet," Trump told Newsmax host Greg Kelly. "I've done it over the years, you know; I don't want to sign a contract,...

Russia has attacked at least eight Ukrainian energy facilities since March 18 when Moscow says it halted such attacks, a senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Wednesday. Ihor Zhovkva, speaking on national television, also said that, contrary to Russian statements, no preconditions were discussed with U.S. officials as they agreed a Black Sea truce with Russia during talks in Saudi Arabia this week. The Kremlin said earlier that a number of conditions must be met before the Black Sea maritime security deal negotiated with the United States can be activated.

Russia launched an overnight drone strike against the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, just hours after the US announced that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to a maritime ceasefire, authorities said. The mayor of Mykolaiv said on Wednesday morning that the city was experiencing emergency power outages. Meanwhile, the region's governor confirmed that the Ukrainian military had destroyed seven Russian drones in the region overnight. -snip- Although Moscow and Kyiv agreed to a Black Sea ceasefire after three days of separate talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, questions remain about its implementation. Speaking on Tuesday, Zelenskyy...

With America’s drone technology a disappointment on the battlefield, defense startups have joined forces with Ukrainian manufacturers to build better, war-proven aircraft for the U.S. military. U.S. startups have spent billions of venture-capital dollars in hopes of developing the small drones that the Pentagon says it needs for future conflicts, but many have produced only expensive aircraft that don’t fly very well. Ukrainian drone makers, meanwhile, have mastered mass-producing drones despite limited resources and are looking for new customers and capital. Now, the two sides are coming together, and the unlikely pairing is getting attention from the Defense Department. Southern...

Russia has got so desperate it has had to go back to one of the most old-fashioned ways to carry bullets and guns during a war. The Soviet army had to start using donkeys and horses to carry ammunition in Ukraine – something that hasn’t been done for over a century. Military blogger Kirill Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel that Putin and his soldiers have started to send the animals to the front line. He said that an official government transport list says these animals include horses, camels and deer. He wrote: ‘The fighters were given a donkey to...

President Trump is prepared to double down on US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week — but he knows both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make concessions to end the “industrial-sized” killing in Europe’s largest country. Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a three” on a scale of one to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said. The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector —...

-snip- Late on February 2, Trump said talks with Ukraine and Russia were going "pretty well." "We have meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia. And I think those discussions are actually going pretty well," he added without being specific. Hours earlier, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, warned both sides will have to make concessions if they hope to negotiate a settlement to the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "has already indicated he will soften his position on land," Kellogg said. "And [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going to have to soften...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a backlash from within the Kremlin over his pro-China policy, with elites fearing that Moscow is becoming a 'colony' of Beijing. Vladimir Putin is facing intense criticism from rival factions within the Kremlin over his China policy, which could worsen Russia's economic crisis, with earlier reports suggesting China is 'bailing' Russia out by buying distressed assets. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict - where Russia have endured huge personnel losses - in February 2022, Putin has strengthened political and economic ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, boosting their bilateral trade to a record...

Russia's Ryazan oil refinery has suspended operations after an attack by Ukrainian drones late last week, two industry sources told Reuters on Monday. They said oil storage at the refinery had been set ablaze. Among damaged equipment were a railway loading rack and a hydrotreater unit used to remove impurities from refined products. "The railway loading equipment has been damaged. There have been no railways loadings, they stopped oil processing," one person said. Another source said the loadings have been suspended since Friday, also confirming that the plant has been stopped due to inability to dispatch oil products. Rosneft (ROSN.MM),...

A top ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin has advised him to remove Vladimir Lenin's body from a mausoleum in Moscow in order to seal his legacy as Moscow's leader. Alexander Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, has advised the president to remove Lenin's body from the burial site in order to "make room there for the real Emperor" and make other changes to the mausoleum, according to the Telegram post by the account Kremlin Snuffbox. -snip- The Russian philosopher also reportedly advised Putin to make improvements to the mausoleum by rebuilding the structure, decorating it with military trophies accumulated during...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he wanted to immediately meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had told him he was ready to make a deal to end the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed on Tuesday how to build ties with Donald Trump, prospects for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine and Moscow's firm support for Beijing's position on Taiwan. Xi and Putin, who spoke for an hour and 35 minutes by video call after Trump was sworn in as U.S. president on Monday -snip- Putin, 72, speaking from his Novo-Ogarevo residency outside Moscow and Xi, 71, speaking from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, called each other "dear friends", and Xi told Putin about a call with Trump...

United States President Donald Trump stated that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would be "well-off" to end the war in Ukraine, adding that "he is not doing too well" and that Russia lost one million troops. "I have to speak to President Putin, we're gonna have to find out," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office after signing executive orders. "Russia's bigger they have more soldiers to lose but that's no way to run a country," said Trump of Putin. "Zelensky wants to make a deal. I don't know if Putin does. He should make a deal. I think he's...

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says that currently only Biden is authorised to engage with Russia on behalf of the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow is not satisfied with the proposals of US president-elect Donald Trump’s team to postpone Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years and to deploy a contingent of EU and UK peacekeepers in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already rejected the “peace proposals” of Trump’s team, according to TASS news agency. Although there have been no official initiatives from the United States yet. In an interview with TASS, Lavrov said,...

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...

A leading Putin missile scientist has reportedly been gunned down in a Moscow park by a Ukrainian military assassin. Mikhail Shatsky, the Deputy Chief Designer at the Mars Design Bureau, which develops and manufactures onboard guidance systems for the Russian military and space industry, was allegedly eliminated by an unknown assassin in Kuzminsky forest park, at Kotelniki, eight miles southeast of the Kremlin. Reports say the scientist, an associate professor, was working actively on upgrading the Russian Kh-59 cruise missile to the Kh-69 level, which Russian troops use to strike Ukraine. There was immediate speculation that he was assassinated by...

Vladimir Putin has been dealt a significant geopolitical blow with the downfall of Bashar al-Assad, whose regime in Syria the Russian president had committed considerable funding and military resources to propping up. Assad fled Syria and has claimed political asylum in Russia, Kremlin-backed media reported, his now exiled status depriving Moscow of a key regional ally. Russia's military assets in Syria are now under threat, such as its naval base in the port city of Tartus, which gave the Kremlin a presence near NATO's southern flank in the Mediterranean Sea. -snip- Pro-Moscow military bloggers have expressed concern over the future...

CHILLING footage shows Putin’s minions grabbing terrified civilians off the streets and forcing them to sign up for Vlad’s meatgrinder army. The kidnapping of a young man was caught on camera, with the video showing huge uniformed officers hauling him from a car despite his protests. He is ripped from the vehicle, manhandled and frogmarched away - likely delivered to a conscription office, according to the footage from Astra media outlet. It is illegal in Russia for the police to deliver people to conscription offices, but these cops are taking no notice. Separate footage shows dozens of migrant workers who...

Vladimir Putin has been branded a "psychopath" as he was seen in a video asking Russian soldiers who have lost their legs in the war with Ukraine whether they are "used to their new condition". -snip- In the footage, Putin is all smiles among the amputee soldiers, even asking one, "Are you used to your new condition? " The soldier responds affirmatively, answering "Yes sir, already new victories, achievements." In the chilling footage another mentions how some have been adapting for two years, still chasing victories and new goals. Putin nods approvingly, saying, "That's a very good thing. It's very...

Vladimir Putin is facing an economic crisis on multiple fronts as the rouble collapses and inflation soars. The head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, looks set to compound Moscow's economic misery further as she warns that inflation is continuing to rise. She warned on Wednesday that interest rates may have to be hiked further but added that the decision is “not predetermined.” Ms Nabiullina said: “We have indicated that the Central Bank is open to the possibility of raising the rate, but I want to emphasise that this is not predetermined. "Yes, there is a new pro-inflationary factor,...