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"The return of Crimea to Ukraine is a requirement of international law." Erdoğan said in his video address that Turkey has always been opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea. He decried the persecution of Crimea's ethnic Tatars since 2014. Erdoğan added: "Our sincere wish is for the war to end with a fair and lasting peace based on Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence." In October 2020, the Turkish leader said during a joint press briefing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that his country would never recognize the annexation of Crimea. "We have and always will support Ukraine's sovereignty and...

Vladimir Putin has sought to shift blame for Ukraine's surprise incursion into the Kursk region, as evidence emerged that his country's handling of the offensive was damaging the Russian leader's image. At a virtual meeting held by Putin Thursday on the situation in Russia's Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions, which border Ukraine, the president told regional officials that the "security issues" in Kursk "are problems that are the responsibility of the security agencies." -snip- "I hope that, as was reported today, interaction between local and regional authorities, the government, and security agencies has been established, and this will also play...

"The complete collapse of the entire railroad network in the country could happen in days," the channel said. "[Russian Railways] chiefs have been ordered to work to the point of exhaustion. Those who fail to cope are threatened with dismissal and 'execution.' This is the motivation." Russian Railways in 2023 reported that the number of trains suspended due to issues with its trains more than doubled to 42,600 amid a shortage of critical parts. This was due to "insufficient maintenance of the locomotive fleet," Kommersant reported in March. A Russian Railways spokesperson told Vedomosti in February that the issue "became...

A staunch ally of Vladimir Putin lamented the destruction of the Black Sea Fleet, dealing the Russian president a double blow as his Navy was forced to hold a muted annual parade on Sunday. In a rare admission of Russia's military failures, Yevgeny Fyodorov from the ruling United Russia party complained that Ukraine has disabled such a large proportion of Putin's prized Black Sea Fleet that it is essentially "gone." -snip- "The Russian fleet as an operational mechanism in the Black Sea does not exist! Not physically, but in terms of its actual combat presence. This is a fact," the...

Russia has refuted social media rumors of a nuclear emergency after speculation spread on Friday that a radiation incident had occurred at the Rostov nuclear power plant. "The Rostov nuclear power plant is operating normally, the background radiation is normal, the messages that have appeared about the emergency are fake," Russian state nuclear company Rosenergoatom told state-run news agency RIA Novosti. Rosenergoatom also responded to the rumors on the social media platform VKontakte, asking internet users to "be vigilant." "The units are operating normally, the radiation background is at the natural level!" it said.

Millions of Russians in the south of the country were left without electricity on Tuesday after a power unit at the Rostov nuclear power plant was shut down due to a malfunction. The Rostov nuclear power plant supplies power to the Russia's entire Southern Federal District, and rolling power outages affected residents of Russia's Krasnodar Territory, Rostov region, Sevastopol, and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by President Vladimir Putin from Ukraine in 2014. Russia's state-owned energy group Rosatom said one of the nuclear power plant's four power units was shut down due to a malfunction of the turbine...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the Global South, a new Pew Research Center poll showed. The poll—which was published on July 2 ahead of the NATO military alliance's summit in Washington, D.C., on July 9 to 11—surveyed global public confidence in the Russian leader, asking respondents if they had confidence in Putin "to do the right thing regarding world affairs." The poll was conducted between January 5 and May 21 and includes respondents in 35 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment...