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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions a “farce” on Sunday. “Recently, someone somewhere held pseudo-referendums, and when the Ukrainian flag is returned, no one remembers the Russian farce with some pieces of paper and some annexations,” Zelensky said in his nightly address. “Except, of course, law enforcement agencies of Ukraine,” he continued. “Because everyone who is involved in any elements of aggression against our state will be accountable for it.” Russia on Friday annexed four regions in Ukraine’s east and south, a major escalation in the seven-month war after Russian President Vladimir Putin called up...

Russian President Vladimir Putin came out swinging at the U.S. on Friday in an aggressive speech as he announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions. In a message that was already expected to be hostile, Putin further escalated threats against Ukraine and the West by saying the U.S. set a "precedent" of nuclear warfare by hitting Japan with atomic bombs during World War II. Fears have mounted since last week when Putin said he was "not bluffing" after he warned that Moscow would use "all weapons systems available" to defend Russian territory.

Robert Keith Packer’s sister asked people not to judge him by his cover, a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt. A prosecutor said he was wearing a Nazi SS T-shirt underneath. The revelation of what Packer, a 57-year-old Virginia pipefitter, was wearing on Jan. 6, 2021, came Thursday when a federal judge sentenced him to 75 days for his role in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. The sweatshirt, which became a symbol of the rioters’ ties to white supremacist movements, was “incredibly offensive,” U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said before handing down the sentence. “It seems to me that he wore...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said his country has reclaimed 6,000 square kilometers of occupied territory from Russia in recent weeks as its troops push forward with a counteroffensive. “From the beginning of September until today, our warriors have already liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine – in the east and south,” he said in an address to Ukrainians. “The movement of our troops continues.”

A high-level executive in Russia’s energy sector has died after apparently falling off a boat over the weekend, becoming the latest Russian powerbroker to perish under mysterious circumstances. Ivan Pechorin, 39, managing director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (ERDC), was sailing off the coast of Russky Island in the Sea of Japan on Saturday when he fell overboard from the speeding vessel. His body was recovered from the water on Monday following an extended search. Only days earlier, Pechorin had attended the Eastern Economic Forum, which was hosted by President Vladimir Putin in Valdivostok. “Ivan’s death is...

Ukraine is reportedly on the precipice of a major victory, with its counter-offensive around the eastern city of Kharkiv (Kharkov) unexpectedly putting the Russian army on the back foot. According to British intelligence, Russian forces appear to have been “taken by surprise” by the Ukrainians, who have reportedly advanced “up to 50 kilometres (31 miles) into previously Russian-held territory on a narrow front.”

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday said Russia’s strategic objectives in its attack on Ukraine have “been defeated.” “The war is not over, but so far the Russian strategic objectives have been defeated,” Milley said at a news conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian shelling hit the southern Ukraine port city of Mykolaiv during the night, damaging a medical treatment facility, the city’s mayor said Sunday. Mykolaiv and its surrounding region have been hit daily for weeks in the conflict. On Saturday, a child was killed and five people were injured in rocket attacks in the region, governor Vitaliy Kim said. Mykolaiv city mayor Oleksandr Senkevych did not specify whether there were any injuries in the overnight attack, which he said also damaged some residences.

United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned on Wednesday that the world could face a surge in energy prices in case no price cap on Russian energy is introduced."Without a price cap we face the threat of a global price spike if the majority of Russian oil production is shuttered," Yellen said during a meeting with her British counterpart Nadhim Zahawi. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom chancellor of the exchequer remained confident a G7 price cap on Russian oil "will deliver" and urged more countries to support the action.

A must-watch lecture! Energy Markets and war briefing: With Dr. Dan Fine, T. Greg Merrion and John Byrom with special emphasis on the Resource war between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.

Inna Yaschyshyn, 33, insists she didn't raise cash for RUSSIAN GANGSTERS through the fake children's charity. Yaschyshyn said: 'I am the victim right now, that’s all I can tell you. 'I think there is some misunderstanding.' Grilled about the five fake IDs - including a US passport - with photo attached to the name Anna de Rothschild, she insisted: 'That’s all fake, and nothing happened.' Yaschyshyn was found to have Ukrainian and Russian passports as well. She was born in the Ukraine, and became a permanent US resident by marriage in 2011. Yaschyshyn was president of a children's charity was...

European banks have joined Wall Street in allowing clients to trade Russian debt once again after the US Treasury gave the green light last month for investors to wind down their positions.The global market for Russian sovereign and corporate bonds froze in June after US investors were banned from buying Russian securities on the secondary market as part of the wests sanctions against Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.

Thirteen tankers at heart of new ship-to-ship transhipment hub established mid-Atlantic to consolidate Russia-origin oil cargoes ... Evolving marine transport model seeks tankers to operate outside established markets, yet remain compliant with class, insurance and other regulatory and technical rules ... MYSTERY surrounds the identity of a China-based shipowner who has spent around $376m to acquire 13 tankers for deployment in high-risk, ship-to-ship transfers of Russia-origin crude in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Lloyd’s List has tracked five aframax tankers, seven very large crude carriers and one suezmax vessel to the anonymous buyer, via 20 separate but interconnected single-ship...

Russian lawmakers have proposed extending a ban on the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relationships to minors to include adults as well, a senior legislator said on Monday. Russia’s existing “gay propaganda” law, passed in 2013, has been used to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists.Authorities say they are defending morality in the face of what they argue are un-Russian liberal values promoted by the West, but human rights activists say the law has been broadly applied to intimidate Russia’s LGBTQ community.Under the proposed changes, any event or act regarded as an attempt to promote homosexuality could incur...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department on Thursday offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about Russian interference in American elections, including a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a troll farm that officials say fueled a divisive social media campaign in 2016. The reward, offered by the department’s Rewards for Justice program, seeks information about the Internet Research Agency, Yevgeniy Prigozhin - a wealthy businessman whose ties to Putin earned him the nickname “Putin Chef” - and other entities involved in interfering in the 2016 U.S. election won by Republican Donald Trump. Prigozhin and...

Environmentalist groups in Germany and the Netherlands are challenging plans for a new gas field in the North Sea, a German non-profit organisation said on Friday, possibly complicating Europe's hunt for alternatives to Russian fuel. Environmental Action Germany (DUH) said it had filed the lawsuit with the Court of Justice in The Hague together with Dutch organisation Mobilisation for the Environment (MOB) and a citizens' initiative from the coastal region of East Frisia. Privately-owned Dutch company ONE-Dyas has been given the go-ahead by Dutch authorities to develop its N05-A gas field in the North Sea, straddling German and Dutch waters,...

Special counsel John Durham requested a federal court to issue 30 subpoenas for testimony in the trial against Igor Danchenko, British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s alleged main source for his discredited dossier. Danchenko was charged with five counts of making false statements to the FBI, which Durham says he made about the information he provided to Steele for the dossier. His trial is scheduled for October. The DOJ’s watchdog said FBI interviews with Danchenko “raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting” and concluded Danchenko “contradicted the allegations of a ‘well-developed conspiracy’ in” Steele’s dossier. He has pleaded...

Durham blamed the delay on intelligence agencies' slow production of documents Special Counsel John Durham on Monday requested a delay to produce classified documents ahead of the trial of primary Steele dossier source Igor Danchenko, citing federal agencies' slow declassification of documents. While the bulk of classified discovery documents have been produced to Danchenko's lawyers, Durham noted that "recent world events continue to contribute to delays in the processing and production of classified discovery." Durham indicted Russian analyst Danchenko in November 2021 for repeatedly lying to the FBI during the alleged Trump-Russia collusion investigation. The special counsel wrote that the...

krainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia's military is too cowardly to concede defeat, and touted his own country's military prowess as a counter-offensive is launched in southern Ukraine. Zelensky struck an assured tone in a national speech on Tuesday where he also highlighted Ukraine's growing closeness with the Western-based NATO alliance. The Ukrainian president's remarks come after an infusion of weapons from Western allies and as the country seeks to beat back Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine. Zelensky said in the speech that Russian occupiers "will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land." He said that intercepted...

It was a piece of news so obscure and implausible that I missed it when it first surfaced last month. The news was that the Russians are going to put hypersonic nuclear missiles into Nicaragua and terrify the Americans into backing down over Ukraine. Or kill them all if they don’t.“If American missile systems can nearly reach Moscow from Ukrainian territory, it’s time for Russia to roll out something powerful closer to the American ‘city on a hill,’” Olga Skabeyeva said on the news show on “Rossiya-1,” the most popular Russian TV channel.Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega published a decree last...