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With little chance of NATO membership for Ukraine, the country’s Western allies have bought into an alternate strategy for helping it repel Russian aggression: invest billions in Ukraine's weapons industry so it can better defend itself. If the strategy works, Ukraine's weapons industry will eventually be able to help equip U.S. and European armies, too, with cutting-edge drones and other military technology being developed in the midst of its war with Russia. “The Ukrainians are the leaders in the world in terms of drone technology,” Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's special envoy for Ukraine said last week at a conference...

Ukraine has carried out a drone attack on a Gazprom-owned oil refinery in Bashkortostan, APA reports, citing Unian. The strike targeted the ELOU-AVT-4 unit of the facility No further details have been provided regarding the incident.

One of Vladimir Putin's advisers has left his post due his opposition to the Russian president's policies on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been reported. Dmitry Kozak, who is of Ukrainian origin, "resigned" from his position as Kremlin deputy chief of staff, according to Russian publication RBC. But the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that he was likely pushed from his post following "years of disagreement" with Putin about the Ukraine war. Why It Matters Kozak is said to have opposed the full-scale invasion. His exit from the Kremlin inner circle signals the commitment from...

Vladimir Putin’s blundering chief TV propagandist has given away the top secret location of Russia’s most elite drone unit. An unburied toilet sign in a report by Vladimir Solovyov led to the Rubicon HQ being geolocated. The trail leads to Hall D and part of Hall C at the Patriot Exhibition Centre, near Moscow. The site has been already targeted by Ukrainian attack drones, and could be again. Solovyov is a highly-paid state TV propagandist for Putin and the war - and the careless blunder failing to mask the toilet signs in a report about Rubicon is a huge embarrassment....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the number of Russian servicemen currently in the war zone in Ukraine, APA's Moscow bureau reports. He noted at a meeting with the leaders of the State Duma factions that more than 700,000 Russian servicemen are currently on the line of contact.

Russian forces are preparing two more large-scale offensives after three failed campaigns this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Monday (September 16). Speaking during an interview with Sky News, the Ukrainian leader said: "The mood in Europe and the US is indeed changing a little. Overall, I am glad, truly glad, that all of Russia's advances, all of their offensive missions – there have been three – and they are planning two more heavy offensive campaigns. Their last three missions have failed. In my view, this is a very important signal". The remarks follow earlier reports that Russian President Vladimir...

He finally accepts the impossibility of restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders. Zelensky recently told ABC News that “Victory, to my mind, Putin's goal is to occupy Ukraine, this is to destroy us, occupy, and did he occupy it?...He didn't occupy us, we win, and I think so, because we have our country.” This is a far cry from the mantra that he’s chanted almost daily for the past 3,5 years since the special operation began about restoring his country’s pre-2014 borders. Quite clearly, he’s hinting that he’ll accept an end to the conflict that doesn’t achieve that aim, thus going with...

Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain its more than three-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday. The financial arrangement known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment. “We received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program," Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. "We will receive...

Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently advised President Trump that Russia is losing its war on Ukraine — as Moscow has seen more than 1 million casualties while taking less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since November 2022. Speaking at the Yalta European Security Conference in Kyiv, Kellogg revealed he and the chairman, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, each reassured the president of Moscow’s wilting position roughly six weeks ago — shortly before Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. “If Putin thinks Russia is...

France has reportedly deployed Rafale fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons to Poland, a move interpreted as a direct signal to Russia as tensions continue to rise on Europe’s eastern flank.

Ukrainian forces launched an overnight strike on Sept. 16 targeting the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, causing explosions and a major fire, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported. The refinery, operated by Rosneft, produces more than 20 petroleum products—including gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and bitumen—and processed 4.8 million metric tons in 2023. Ukrainian authorities said the facility supports the Russian military, making it a strategic target, News.Az reports, citing foreign media. The strike was reportedly carried out in coordination between Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces and other military branches. Officials are still assessing the full extent of the...

Senate Republicans are growing increasingly exasperated over President Trump’s refusal to give them permission to move tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that buy its oil. Trump pressed European allies over the weekend to levy harsher sanctions against Russia, but he has dragged his feet on the bipartisan sanctions bill, which Republican senators were hoping to get done in July. The failure to act is fueling growing disillusionment among some Senate Republicans that Trump is not serious about helping Ukraine. One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on the stalemate over the sanctions legislation questioned whether...

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy may meet in New York during the UN General Assembly high-level week which starts on 22 September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday. Rubio said the US president is “trying to do everything possible to bring the war to an end," as Russia's all-out war against Ukraine continues, now well into its fourth year. "The president had multiple calls with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, multiple meetings with Zelenskyy, including probably next week again in New York."

Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently advised President Trump that Russia is losing its war on Ukraine — as Moscow has seen more than 1 million casualties while taking less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since November 2022. Speaking at the Yalta European Security Conference in Kyiv, Kellogg revealed he and the chairman, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, each reassured the president of Moscow’s wilting position roughly six weeks ago — shortly before Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. -snip- “I responded quite forcefully,...

Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine said the United States would 'kick Russia's a*s' on the battlefield in the event of all-out war. Keith Kellogg, the U.S Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, and a retired lieutenant general, suggested Vladimir Putin's rhetoric was overblown during a meeting in Kyiv. 'We had a discussion recently in the Oval [Office] where... they were talking about the primacy of the Russian military and how they were pretty good,' he told British historian Niall Ferguson. 'And I said to the people in the room: "We'd kick their a*s." 'I mean by that, don't take...

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday that Poland opposes Beijing’s indirect support for Moscow in its war with Ukraine – which Beijing refers to as “the Ukrainian crisis”. During the meeting, which took place in Helenow, located close to the Polish capital Warsaw, Sikorski also urged for more Chinese engagement on ending the war various media reported. Tensions have also been rising along Poland’s eastern border. Last week, Warsaw closed the Małaszewicze border crossing with Belarus, effectively halting a key artery of Sino-Polish and Sino-EU trade. -snip- According to diplomatic sources cited by...

Sir Keir Starmer and Nato chief Mark Rutte said more pressure – including through sanctions – must be heaped on Vladimir Putin to engage with peace talks. It comes as US President Donald Trump has threatened stronger sanctions against Russia after it carried out the largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the war began. Sir Keir hosted Mr Rutte at Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon, after the Nato Secretary General joined a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG). A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Turning to Ukraine, the leaders reflected on the situation on the frontline and underscored the...

President Donald Trump said he was ready to sanction Russia after Moscow launched its largest air attack against Ukraine since the start of the war on Sunday, setting Kyiv’s government headquarters on fire and killing at least five, including one infant.Forty-four more were injured in the attack that the Ukrainian Defense Department said included over 800 Shahed-type strike drones, 9 Iskander-K cruise missiles, and 4 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, which hit residential apartments and set ablaze the main government building where ministers meet.It was the second mass Russian drone and missile attack to target Kyiv in as many weeks, and comes...

Two wars — Ukraine and Gaza — are killing civilians, destabilizing allies, and draining American power. At their core stand Russia and Iran, two regimes that cannot survive without Beijing’s support. If America wants to end these conflicts on terms that serve U.S. interests, it must compel China to use its leverage — or face consequences. Only Donald Trump has the toughness and pragmatism to make that happen. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has leveled cities, created Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, and cost American taxpayers tens of billions in aid. Hamas’s assault on Israel and the regional...

Putin also said he doesn't see the need for foreign troops after a peace deal.Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that his country's military would consider any foreign troops that appear on Ukrainian territory, especially before an agreed-upon ceasefire, to be "legitimate targets."His remarks came after European leaders said they finalized a plan outlining potential postwar security guarantees for Ukraine at a meeting in Paris on Thursday."As for possible military contingents in Ukraine, this is one of the primary reasons for Ukraine's involvement in NATO. Therefore, if any troops appear there, especially now, during the course of hostilities, we assume...