Free Republic

President Trump is standing behind his most trusted negotiator, Steve Witkoff, following the leak of a phone call with a senior Russian official, which Ukraine’s backers have criticized for what they see as the special envoy’s attempts to sabotage American support for Kyiv and broker a deal favorable to Moscow.It’s the latest twist over a chaotic week in which the Trump administration’s behind-the-scenes dealmaking between Russia and Ukraine has spurred both optimism and questions about progress toward peace.This includes the leak last week of a 28-point plan for ending Russia’s war that was heavily criticized as hewing to Moscow’s maximalist...

The Polish authorities accused two Ukrainians on Tuesday of working with Russia to sabotage train tracks, implicating Moscow in an attack that slightly damaged a crucial supply line from NATO countries to Ukraine on Saturday. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the attacks “perhaps the most dangerous situation for the security of the Polish state today since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine.” He raised the threat alert for certain critical rail lines to Poland’s second-highest level. Mr. Tusk told Parliament that the two Ukrainian men had been identified but that they fled into Belarus before they could be...

Syria's former President Bashar al-Assad appears to say he never intended to flee to Russia - in what is purported to be his first statement since the fall of Damascus eight days ago. Assad's reported statement was put on the Telegram channel belonging to the Syrian presidency on Monday, although it is not clear who currently controls the channel. In it he says that, as the Syrian capital fell to rebels, he went to the Russian military base in his stronghold in the Latakia province "to oversee combat operations" only to see that Syrian troops had abandoned positions. The Hmeimim...