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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that nations who are willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus” will be given nuclear weapons, days after confirming the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow to Minsk had begun. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the comments in an on-camera interview released Sunday on the state-run Russia 1 channel. During the interview, Lukashenko said, “no one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation.” “It’s very simple,” he added. “Join the Union State of Belarus...

Chief of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary force and self-proclaimed "butcher" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has once again come out swinging at Moscow's defense ministry, this time warning there will be a revolution like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution if Russian elites do not get serious about the war in Ukraine. According to a Reuters report Wednesday, Prigozhin in an interview posted to Telegram said that there are already "tens of thousands" of angry Russians who are sick of seeing loved ones come back in zinc coffins while the children of Moscow’s elite "shook their a---s." "This divide can...

At least two people have been killed and 23 injured in a missile strike on a medical clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor says. Of the 23 injured, 21 are in hospital and three are in a serious condition. Two boys aged three and six were also among the wounded, governor Serhiy Lysak said. Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent weeks ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Mr Zelensky posted a video of the damaged clinic that showed firefighters at the scene and smoke billowing from the building. "Russian terrorists once again confirm...

Country 404 (the former 'ukraine') is a state sponsor of terrorism

New documents that suggest Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin offered to give Russian troop positions to Kyiv puts further strain on his relations with Moscow. The Kremlin on Monday attempted to downplay an explosive new report suggesting Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevegeny Prigozhin told a Ukrainian intelligence service that he would give them the positions of Russian troops in exchange for withdrawing from the besieged city of Bakhmut. “It looks like another duck,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, employing a Russian idiom for a hoax or a media stunt, lamenting that a “respected news organization” would buy into it....

Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine's battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new Ukrainian offensive, in a retreat that the head of Russia's Wagner private army called a rout. The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow's main objective for months during the war's bloodiest fighting. "In three days of counter-offensive activity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut sector have liberated 17.3 sq. km (6.6 sq. miles) of territory," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman...

The boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused a Russian brigade of abandoning its position in front-line Bakhmut, allowing Ukraine to seize territory. The remarks are the latest in a series of public criticisms from him of Moscow’s Ministry of Defense for the faltering invasion of Ukraine – and, in particular, the failure to capture the city of Bakhmut. But while Prigozhin has frequently poured scorn on the Russian military and its leadership, he has not previously accused Russian units of running from battle and allowing Ukrainian forces to recapture territory. Prigozhin said the 72nd brigade “just ran...

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growing. May is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army. The Russian government has warned...

Two Russian former convicts who claim they served as commanders for the Wagner mercenary group have apparently confessed to murdering hundreds of civilians, including children, in Ukraine. Both of the men gave interviews to an exiled human rights activist who runs the website Gulagu.net, which reports on corruption and torture in Russia. The former convicts -- Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev -- were pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net. In an hour-long confession, the men describe their actions in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, including executing 60 wounded prisoners, some of whom were Russian...

The U.S. has overtaken Russia as the top crude oil supplier to Europe, data shows, capping a remarkable 12-month period in which Moscow’s plan to weaponize its position as an energy superpower collapsed from strong Western opposition to the war in Ukraine...One sign of Russia’s diminished status as an energy superpower is futures trading. Russia’s premier Urals crude oil hit a two-year low of $48.40 a barrel last week while the global benchmark Brent crude was trading for more than $75.

President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Russia, which has already decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too. In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow's plans to station nuclear arms on the territory of its close ally would help protect Belarus, which he said was under threat from the West. (snip) "I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone. I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace for the Belarusian people," Lukashenko said. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that...

President Vladimir Putin will provide Chinese President Xi Jinping with detailed "clarifications" on Russia's point of view on the Ukraine conflict during Xi's state visit to Russia that begins on Monday, the Kremlin said. During a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders would discuss themes in a peace plan for Ukraine proposed by Beijing last month. "One way or another, the topics that figured in this plan will inevitably be touched upon during the exchange of views on Ukraine" between Putin and Xi, Peskov said.

The talks will focus on their 'deepening' relationship and 'strategic co-operation' The two leaders will also sign 'important bilateral documents', China sa No other details were given but China has declared a 'no-limits' friendship with Russia and refused to condemn Moscow's invasion of Ukraine - while declaring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries be respected. The Kremlin on Friday also announced the visit, saying it will take place 'at the invitation of Vladimir Putin'...... The visit, Putin said, could 'demonstrate to the whole world the strength of the Russian-Chinese ties' and 'become the main political event of the...

China's President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow next week to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials say. The Kremlin said they would discuss a "comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation". The visit comes as Beijing, an ally of Russia, has offered proposals to end the war in Ukraine, to which the West has given a lukewarm reception. Western countries have warned Beijing against supplying Moscow with weapons. This will be President Xi's first visit to Russia since Russian troops invaded Ukraine. He is due to have lunch with Mr Putin on Monday followed by talks on Tuesday. A...

The outspoken founder of the Wagner mercenary group complained that Vladimir Putin has cut off all contact with him following his constant demands for more ammunition for his fighters in Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering mogul and Putin’s long-time ally, said in a message on his Telegram channel Thursday that he has been unable to get through to anyone at the Kremlin. The apparent silent treatment came after Prigozhin publicly called on the Russian Ministry of Defense to supply ammunition to his mercenaries fighting to capture the key city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has seen some of the...

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed and wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The epic nature of the battle is out of all proportion to Bakhmut's strategic significance, they add. But after more than six months of grinding, horrific fighting, the future of Bakhmut still hangs in the balance. Since the fighting began, some 90% of its pre-invasion population has fled.

Shocking pictures reveal how Ukrainian city which once housed 10,000 people has been reduced to a dystopian wasteland by Vladimir Putin's Russian forces Footage reveals ruins left of Maryinka, in Donetsk, where front line runs through Grey ruins surrounded by debris create illusion of lifeless dystopian landscape Shocking pictures revealed how a Ukrainian city has been reduced to a dystopian wasteland by Vladimir Putin's Russian forces. Aerial footage reveals the ruins left of Maryinka, in Donetsk, where the front line runs through the little that is left of the town. Grey ruins surrounded by mountains of debris create the illusion...

Yes. I think they will. But not because Russia is running out of shells and rockets. Nope. I think China wants a chance to field test some of its weaponry and drones against a foe that shoots back in order to see how they perform in a combat environment. Firing artillery or surface-to-air missiles on a closed range does not compare with lighting them up on a bona fide battlefield.The warnings to China to not help Russia is not new. One year ago the Biden team put out the word that:China will face consequences if it helps Russia evade sanctions...

BUENOS AIRES — The young couple was determined to leave Russia. Alex Slepenkov, 36, knew he could be forced to join the military and fight in a war he had tried to protest. He and his wife, Natasha Slepenkova, 30, feared the country would turn into North Korea, closing its borders to the world. After they learned in September they were expecting their first child, they began looking up alternatives. The couple settled on a destination about as far from Moscow as possible, with a culture and language vastly different from their own. Argentina, unlike many countries, still allowed Russians...

Ukrainian president Zelensky just admitted that American troops will be needed to keep Ukraine from total collapse. At the same time NATO announces Ukraine will become a member of the alliance before too long. This is a non-starter for Russian President Putin. Colonel Douglas MacGregor joins Redacted host Clayton Morris for the very latest developments. Video at link.