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Polish President Karol Nawrocki has announced plans to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honour, after the Ukrainian president named a military unit after a group that led massacres of ethnic Poles during World War Two. However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government regularly clashes with the opposition-aligned president, has sought to calm emotions, warning that the only one to benefit from conflict between Poland and Ukraine is Russia. Zaproponowałem, aby jednym z punktów było odebranie prezydentowi Zełenskiemu Orderu Orła Białego – Prezydent RP @NawrockiKn. pic.twitter.com/4NaOAIjO3C — Kancelaria Prezydenta RP (@prezydentpl) May 29,...

"Russia is considering limiting exports of diesel and jet fuel," Bloomberg and other sources reported Tuesday, "as refinery run rates fall to multi-year lows amid Ukraine’s escalating attacks." An Interfax source claimed that the decision to ban exports is at "an advanced stage," but no date has been set. If it comes to pass, that would be bad for diesel prices and inflation right here at home, but worse for Moscow's finances. Just the fact that the Kremlin is considering an export ban is more evidence that Kyiv's drone campaign is increasingly effective — against Russia's energy production at home,...

Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded that Ukraine be granted full membership of the European Union. Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, had called for the country to be given a special half-in, half-out relationship, which would mean it could participate in European summits and ministerial meetings – but not cast a vote. Mr Zelensky criticised the “associate membership” concept, branding it an “unfair” move that would leave Ukraine “voiceless”. The Ukrainian president urged the EU to commit to his country’s full entry in a letter addressed to Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of...

MOSCOW, May 14 (Reuters) - Russia is establishing a "full-fledged partnership" with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and is encouraging ‌other countries in the region to expand cooperation ‌with Kabul, a senior Russian security official was quoted on Thursday ​as saying. Russia last year became the first country to formally recognise the Islamist Taliban government that seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces staged a chaotic withdrawal ‌from Afghanistan after ⁠20 years of war. Interfax news agency quoted Russian official Sergei Shoigu as saying cooperation ⁠with Kabul was important for the security and development of the region. Shoigu, who is secretary...

Russia pummeled Ukraine’s capital with hundreds of drones and missiles early Thursday, the latest in a string of deadly Russian strikes this week. The attacks suggested that President Vladimir V. Putin had little intention of de-escalating his war, after he declared recently that he believed it was “coming to a close.” Explosions shook Kyiv, the capital, over several hours Thursday morning as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept and shoot down the drones and missiles, some of which evaded overwhelmed air-defense systems. The attack included cruise and ballistic missiles that Moscow often stockpiles for mass bombardments. As the sun rose, rescue...

A very interesting video about the Carney Doctrine: Behind the Scenes in Toronto and President Trump's Doctrine.

More than a dozen airports across southern Russia suspended operations on Friday morning, while hundreds of flights were either cancelled or delayed after a Ukrainian drone crashed into the air traffic control center for the region, transportation authorities said. The strike damaged equipment at the control center in Rostov-on-Don, which manages aviation for southern Russia, the Transportation Ministry said. No one was reported injured, but the attack forced the center to suspend work. As a result, airports in southern Russia halted operations, including in the cities of Astrakhan, Vladikavkaz, Volgograd, Gelendzhik, Grozny, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Magas, Mineralnye Vody, Nalchik, Sochi, Stavropol...

About 352,000 Russian soldiers had died in the war against Ukraine through the end of 2025, according to a new estimate, underscoring the high cost that President Vladimir V. Putin is willing to bear to pursue his battlefield aims. The figure was released on Saturday — the day of Russia’s annual May 9 parade celebrating victory over Germany in World War II — by the exiled Russian media outlets Meduza and Mediazona. The number raises the prospect that about half a million soldiers in total have died on the Russian and Ukrainian sides. In the more than four years since...

If symbolism matters, and in Russia it always has, then today’s Victory Day parade on Red Square spoke volumes. The absence of tanks grinding across the sacred cobblestones was not merely an omission; it was an admission. A regime that once flaunted military might before the world could muster neither armour, missiles, nor meaningful battlefield hardware for its most important national spectacle. For a country that has built so much of its modern identity around martial power, this was less a celebration of victory than a carefully stage-managed display of strategic exhaustion. When Vladimir Putin resurrected and expanded the Victory...

It was all over in record short time. Russia’s annual Victory Day on Red Square ended after only 45 minutes with no displays of any of the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) military hardware and under extremely tight security. Tensions were running extremely high following the threat of a possible Ukrainian drone attack on the event that commemorates the end of WWII, known as the Great Patriotic war in Russia, and one of the most significant events on the Russian public calendar... Ukraine threat Security at the event was overwhelming. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived with a very large security...

There were no neat rows of tanks or ballistic missile carriers rolling down the smooth cobbles of Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, as Russia scaled back what is usually a grand militaristic Victory Day parade celebrating the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. 'Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, addressing columns of troops. He vowed to fight on in Ukraine North Korean troops marched in the parade for the first time, a visible sign of Moscow’s deepening partnership with Pyongyang that has resulted in the deployment of over 10,000 troops to fight the war in...

I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine. The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country. This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hopefully, it is the beginning of the...

Asian economies are dramatically increasing imports of discounted Russian crude amid global supply disruptions. A temporary U.S. sanctions waiver is enabling more Russian oil to flow into global markets. The shift risks boosting Moscow’s war revenues while exposing the limits of Western energy sanctions. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several major world powers introduced strict sanctions on trade with Moscow. .. However, some countries, such as India and China, have used these sanctions as an excuse to buy discounted crude and gas from Russia, in a bid to reduce costs and boost energy security. Imports of Russian...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday accused Israel of accepting Russian shipments filled with stolen Ukrainian grain. Mr. Zelenskyy has for years accused Russia of harvesting grain from agricultural centers it occupies in eastern Ukraine, aiming to make a steady profit during the war. Russia has denied Ukraine’s allegations. “Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload,” Mr. Zelensky posted on X. “The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying.” Mr. Zelenskyy was referring to the vessel Panormitis,...

Consider a thought experiment. Imagine the US Congress paid a freshman representative his full salary, gave him immunity from criminal prosecution, and then quietly arranged for him to skip 98% of all floor votes so that no voter could ever discover what he actually believed. Now imagine that same representative ran for governor on the promise that he was “just like the incumbent, minus the corruption,” while powerful institutions spent billions creating the conditions for his victory. You would call that election interference. When the European Union did precisely this in Hungary, the Western press called it democracy. On...

See that guy above? His name is Akos, and I’ve been seeing him around ever since I moved to Hungary. Big man with a big heart, loves Orban. There he was last night at the Fidesz Party’s election gathering, bathed in orange light (orange is the party color), waiting for the first election results to come in. (snip) The thing is, Magyar is not a figure of the political Left, which remains unpopular in Hungary. What he basically offered voters is “Orban, but without the corruption.” On the key issues that infuriate Brussels about Orban’s Hungary — his hardline on...

Summary of Video Transcript Victor Davis Hanson suggested letting NATO "die on the vine" by putting into it exactly the amount of effort that Canada does, while making bilateral deals with European countries that support the U.S., in this video for "The Daily Signal." "Even though they have a $22 trillion GDP, apparently they don’t want to invest that in their own defense," he said. "And they don’t want us to use it when we need it." "What’s the future? Do we get out of NATO? I don’t think we do. I think we just let it die on the...

Orbán offered his support to Putin, likening his assistance to that of a mouse helping a lion in a well-known Hungarian fable, according to a phone conversation transcript obtained by news agency Bloomberg. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin his friendship and assistance, including by hosting peace talks in Budapest, in a phone call last year adding to concerns about Hungary's ties with Moscow. The news was first reported by US news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing a transcript from a bilateral call in October 2025 from the Hungarian government. “Yesterday, our friendship reached such heights...

Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday in a vote that could bring down long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and have significant repercussions for the rest of Europe, the US and Russia. Most polls favour Péter Magyar, who formed a grassroots party after splitting from the ruling Fidesz party, but the night before the vote Orbán was in defiant mood. "We are going to achieve such a victory that will surprise everyone, perhaps even ourselves," he told several thousand supporters in a small square on Budapest's Castle Hill. Voting takes place from 06:00-19:00 (04:00-17:00 GMT) and results will start to...

Four years after the liberation of Bucha, the town remains a central reference point for understanding the nature of the war in Ukraine and the limits of current diplomatic efforts. The events that followed the withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2022, when hundreds of civilians were found dead across the Kyiv suburb and the wider region, continue to shape how Ukraine defines both security and peace. Bucha has become more than a historical episode. It functions as a political and moral benchmark in discussions about any future settlement. Ukrainian authorities report over 400 civilian deaths in the town itself...