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We have been reporting on the two different mindsets in Russian society these days: on the one hand, there’s a real engagement from the Vladimir Putin Government to rebuild diplomatic and commercial ties with the US administration of Donald J. Trump – this is personalized by Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev. But on the other hand, there’s profound mistrust of Ukraine – or rather, of the Kiev regime – and a sense that maximalist goals in the war are the safest way to go. This school of thought can be best represented by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Kirill Dmitriev is...

A prominent rebel leader in eastern Ukraine has been killed in an explosion in his office, his associates said on Wednesday. The rebels' Donetsk News Agency said Mikhail Tolstykh, better known under his nom de guerre Givi, died early Wednesday morning in what it described as a terrorist attack. The agency said 35-year old Tolstykh was killed by a rocket fired from a portable launcher into his office. Russian state television showed pictures of firefighters putting out flames in the building where Toltsykh's headquarters is believed to be. The footage from the scene showed several rooms in the building gutted...

For more than a decade, the United States has nurtured a secret intelligence partnership with Ukraine that is now critical for both countries in countering Russia... Nestled in a dense forest, the Ukrainian military base appears abandoned and destroyed, its command center a burned-out husk, a casualty of a Russian missile barrage early in the war. But that is above ground. Not far away, a discreet passageway descends to a subterranean bunker where teams of Ukrainian soldiers track Russian spy satellites and eavesdrop on conversations between Russian commanders. On one screen, a red line followed the route of an explosive...

Madrid-based Prisoners Defenders, an NGO focused on Cuban human rights, reported that the Cuban and Russian governments signed an agreement in which Cuba would send soldiers to join the war in Ukraine. Such a development raises many important questions. The Wagner Group’s dramatic failed mutiny displayed something the Kremlin knew long ago: the group, including its leader, Yevgeny Prighozin, has become a problem for Russia, particularly on the Ukrainian front. The group had little military training and served as cannon fodder in the war. Thousands of its fighters fell in battle. Wagner was convenient to Russia, as many of its...

REVEALED: The 60,000 US troops already based in Europe that Biden might call into action to defend against Russian aggression: American warships, stealth fighter jets, tanks and bombers could now train their sights on Putin.The USS Harry S. Truman and its strike group will participate in a NATO exercise in the Mediterranean until February 4; Biden said he and European leaders had 'total unanimity' about the situation in the Ukraine; The White House said NATO has emphasised a desire for a diplomatic solution; Putin discussed a 'strategic partnership' with Cuba in a phone call with President Miguel Díaz-Canel, days after...

Russia on Saturday publicly acknowledged for the first time that North Korean forces are fighting on its side against Ukraine. While reporting to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Kursk, southern Russia, General Valery Gerasimov praised North Korean DPRK soldiers for their efforts. Gerasimov said the troops had shown “high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism,” fulfilling combat tasks “shoulder to shoulder” with Russian servicemen. Following this admission, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “Russia will never forget its friends from the DPRK.”

... Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, recently got the all-clear for a massive increase in investment after parliament voted to exempt defence spending from strict rules on debt. The country's top general has told the BBC the cash boost is urgently needed because he believes Russian aggression won't stop at Ukraine. "We are threatened by Russia. We are threatened by Putin. We have to do whatever is needed to deter that," Gen Carsten Breuer says. He warns that Nato should be braced for a possible attack in as little as four years. "It's not about how much time I need, it's...

Throughout Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, repeated and escalating warnings of the potential for a wider war have only raised fears in the Baltic states that they could be next in the crosshairs of the Kremlin. Talk about a potential Russian invasion is "very common at parties, gatherings, lunch breaks, water cooler talk," Gabija Stasiukyne, a 32-year-old living in Vilnius, told the Kyiv Independent. "It’s everywhere. The conversation inevitably turns in the direction of — what are you going to do?" Lithuania's government is also taking the threat seriously — the country reinstated conscription in 2015, and Vilnius in January...

US President Donald Trump has decided to extend sanctions against Russia for at least another year, according to the relevant document in the Federal Register. The document emphasizes that the United States first imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 when Russian soldiers invaded Ukrainian territory, occupying Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Since then, the initial executive order on sanctions, #13660 from 2014, has been repeatedly expanded by US presidents through other orders as Russia continued and escalated its aggression.

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on February 24th, it caused a lot of problems for voices on the right and the left. Putin has a lot of fans in both corners, and these fans had spent years portraying him as a tactical genius, bamboozling us all with his four-dimensional chess moves. Right up until February 23rd, these Putin stans had been assuring us that Putin would never do something as dumb as launch a full-scale invasion of a sovereign democracy. Ever since then, the right have been able to change gears on Putin fairly seamlessly. This is WAR, and...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would likely impose sanctions on Russia if its president, Vladimir Putin, refuses to negotiate about ending the war in Ukraine. Trump gave no details on possible additional sanctions. The United States has already sanctioned Russia heavily for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Trump said his administration was also looking at the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine, adding his view that the European Union should be doing more to support Ukraine.

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher responded to accusations that President Joe Biden’s handling of Afghanistan emboldened Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine by stating that “it wasn’t just all Biden” because prior administration’s appeased Russia, including the Obama administration. “TRIGGERnometry” podcast co-host Konstantin Kisin said to Maher, “[Y]ou say he handled Ukraine well, and I agree with you. But, in my opinion, Ukraine wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t President, because what happened with Afghanistan is what emboldened Putin to do this.”

The Manhattan apartment and Southampton mansion of a Russian oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin were raided by federal agents on Thursday, according to the FBI and a report. An FBI spokesperson confirmed agents “conducted law enforcement activity” at the Upper East Side high-rise and Long Island estate linked to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, but declined to comment further. FBI officials and Homeland Security Investigation agents were seen carrying boxes out of Vekselberg’s 515 Park Ave. apartment building and his Southampton mansion at 19 Duck Pond Lane, according to NBC New York, which first reported the searches. The US...

While Moscow hails him for being an efficient mediator, Kyiv insists that Lukin sent the order to militiamen in Sloviansk from their Russian bosses. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) released a transcript of an intercepted telephone conversation between Lukin and Igor Strelkov, head of the pro-Russian self-defense of Sloviansk. According to the SBU, Strelkov’s real name is Igor Girkin, a Russian national and colonel of Russian Military Intelligence. “I’m in Donetsk right now, in good company… You do sort of have a general idea about the task that I’ve been given, don’t you?” Lukin said. “Yes, I know, I’ve been warned…...

The hedge fund founded and, until recently, run by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer was involved in a deal to sell a stake in a Russian oil company to a Russian oligarch who is the target of U.S. sanctions. Farallon Capital Management sold a part of its stake in Russian firm Geotech Oil Services to the Volga Group, a Luxembourg-based investment firm owned by Russian billionaire Gennady Timchenko, in 2010. Four years later, in April 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would target Timchenko, Volga, and a number of companies associated with them, in a round of sanctions aimed...

Ukraine has accused Belarus of 'concentrating' troops on the countries' shared border and warned its military against carrying out 'unfriendly actions'. Ukrainian intelligence recorded Belarus 'concentrating a significant number of personnel.... in the Gomel region near Ukraine's northern border under the guise of exercises', Kyiv's foreign ministry said in a statement today. Belarus had allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a launchpad for their February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has now warned Vladimir Putin-allied Belarus 'not to make tragic mistakes for their country under Moscow's pressure, and we urge its armed forces to cease unfriendly actions'. The...

Breaking: Volodymyr Zelensky approved the operation with US allies to blow up the Russian Nord Stream Pipeline to Europe.Via Euro News:• German prosecutors on Thursday issued the first arrest warrant in their investigation into the undersea explosions in 2022 that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe.• German media outlets reported in a joint report that federal prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant in June against a Ukrainian national who may be living in Poland.• The individual was identified as Volodymyr Z. (what a strange coincidence?)• The explosion caused 800 million cubic meters of gas, equivalent to about 3...

Allowing a Russian victory in the conflict would deprive America of access to vast mineral resources, Lindsey Graham says In an interview with 'Face the Nation' on CBS on Sunday, Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a "megalomaniac" who is attempting to "re-create the Russian Empire by force of arms," starting with Ukraine. He further claimed that if Moscow wins the current conflict, it will then take over Ukraine's wealth and share it with China. Graham described that prospect as "ridiculous," suggesting it would be better if this "gold mine" were available to the US instead. "They're sitting...

Update from Ukraine | Ukraine hit the biggest ammunition warehouse in Crimea | Military Map Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQ3psEu7xU The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 12th July 2023 – 22:00 https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-504-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/

Update from Ukraine | Kerch Bridge Kaboom | Grain Deal Cancelled | Ruzzia Lost again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b95zlfbW9yE The summary of the situation of Russian re-invasion to Ukraine covering the last 48 hours, as of 12th July 2023 – 22:00 https://militaryland.net/news/invasion-day-504-summary/ *** Great interactive map with viewer controlled Map magnification tool to use for each Front! https://militaryland.net/maps/