Free Republic

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul.Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin declined to take him up on the offer.The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.The president has been pressuring Putin...

Russia seems to be preparing a significant offensive in Ukraine as it is moving troops toward key positions on the front, the Financial Times reported on May 13, citing undisclosed Ukrainian intelligence officials. These reported preparations indicate Moscow's efforts to escalate the war despite expected ceasefire talks this week and calls by Kyiv and its partners for an unconditional 30-day truce. Russia has rejected ceasefire proposals unless accompanied by a halt on military aid for Ukraine and continues ground assaults along the front and long-range strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Some 163 clashes were recorded at the front over the past...

Senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the signing of a minerals deal between Ukraine and the United States meant President Donald Trump had forced Kyiv to pay for future U.S. military aid. The deal, signed in Washington on Wednesday, will give the United States preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction. .... Trump has broken the Kyiv regime to the point where they will have to pay for U.S. aid with mineral resources," Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, wrote on Telegram....