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Ukraine (News/Activism)

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  • US to cut military aid to Ukraine, Hegseth says

    06/10/2025 3:03:17 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 41 replies
    The Kyiv Independent ^ | June 10, 2025 | Abbey Fenbert
    The United States will reduce funding allocated for military assistance to Ukraine in its upcoming defense budget, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a congressional hearing on June 10. "It is a reduction in this budget," Hegseth told lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives. "This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe." The Pentagon has not yet released the full documentation regarding its 2026 budget. According to Hegseth,...
  • Ukraine’s Cutting-Edge Ballistic Missile Reportedly Enters Combat Use

    06/10/2025 11:00:38 AM PDT · by Grzegorz 246 · 57 replies
    United24 Media ^ | Jun 10, 2025 | Vlad Litnarovych
    Ukraine has achieved a breakthrough in its domestic missile program. A new Ukrainian ballistic missile has completed a combat test, striking a Russian command post nearly 300 kilometers from the launch site, military analyst and director of the Center for Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Studies Valentyn Badrak revealed. The missile’s development began in May 2022, with a successful test already conducted in the summer of 2024. According to Badrak, the system is now entering serial production, Badrak stated in a recent interview with Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform on June 10. “I don’t know how many missiles we can expect per...
  • Russia Won't End Ukraine War Until NATO 'Pulls Out' of Baltics: Moscow

    06/10/2025 5:51:44 AM PDT · by PghBaldy · 62 replies
    Newsweak ^ | 9 June 2025 | Isabel van Brugen
    The Ukraine war won't end until NATO withdraws troops from the Baltics, a top Russian official has warned. Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister responsible for U.S. relations, nonproliferation and arms control, made the remarks in an interview with state-run news agency Tass.
  • ‘Not just a party:’ World Pride celebrations end with defiant politics on display

    06/08/2025 3:33:45 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 12 replies
    AP News ^ | Updated 2:55 PM CDT, June 8, 2025 | CHRISTINE FERNANDO, FATIMA HUSSEIN, JACQUELYN MARTIN and MIKE PESOLI
    Washington (AP) — After the raucous rainbow-hued festivities of Saturday’s parade, the final day of World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital kicked off on a more downbeat note.Thousands gathered under grey skies Sunday morning at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally and protest march, as the community gathers its strength for a looming fight under President Donald Trump’s second administration. “This is not just a party,” Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance. “This is a rally for our lives.”Smith acknowledged that international attendance numbers for the bi-annual World Pride were measurably down, with many potential attendees avoiding...
  • Planned Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap descends into blame game and uncertainty

    06/07/2025 1:44:04 PM PDT · by McGruff · 18 replies
    CNN ^ | Jun 7, 2025 | Christian Edwards, Kosta Gak and Billy Stockwell
    A planned exchange of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war failed to take place on Saturday, with Moscow accusing Kyiv of postponing the swap at the last minute, something Ukrainian officials dismissed as “dirty games” from the Kremlin. Russia said Ukraine unexpectedly postponed a transfer involving prisoners of war and the bodies of dead soldiers, leaving more than 1,200 frozen Ukrainian bodies waiting in refrigerated trucks at an exchange point with no one to collect them. Ukraine rejected Russia’s account of the events, saying that the two sides had agreed to exchange seriously wounded and young troops on Saturday but...
  • As Trump Wavers, Europe Is More Optimistic About Defending Ukraine

    06/07/2025 12:06:23 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 69 replies
    The New York Times ^ | June 4, 2025 | Steven Erlanger
    European nations are increasingly optimistic that they can support Ukraine financially and militarily against Russia even if President Trump decides to wash his hands of the conflict, as he often threatens, and instead focuses on normalizing relations with Moscow. But even with their best efforts, the Europeans cannot replace all of what the United States provides Ukraine — most important, real-time intelligence about Russian forces, incoming missiles and how and where to target the enemy. Ukraine’s ability to fight effectively relies largely on that American intelligence. “The Ukrainians don’t want this to be cut off no matter what,” said Camille...
  • Mi-8 military helicopter blown up, Mi-35 wrecked as Ukraine hits Russia’s Bryansk airport

    06/07/2025 9:33:20 AM PDT · by Grzegorz 246 · 8 replies
    Euromaidan ^ | 06/06/2025 | by Yuri Zoria
    Last night, explosions and secondary detonation were reported at the facility, evidently used militarily. A Ukrainian drone attack on Bryansk airport overnight on 5–6 June destroyed a Russian Mi-8 helicopter and damaged a Mi-35, according to Russian news Telegram channel Astra. There are signs of the long-lasting military use of the civilian facility, Militarnyi notes.
  • The battle for Poland isn’t over Traditional values aren’t welcome in Brussels

    06/06/2025 10:10:40 PM PDT · by Cronos · 5 replies
    Unherd ^ | 5th June 2025 | Michał Kranz
    Sometime in the Twenties, Józef Piłsudski quipped that the “most beloved state” of the Polish people is indecision. Almost exactly a century on, the modern nation’s founding father has never been more right, with last week’s presidential election resulting in an almost literal dead heat. Though the conservative Karol Nawrocki finally carried the day, the populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) candidate only defeated Rafał Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, by just 1.78% of the vote, with less than 370,000 ballots separating the two men in a country of 37 million. Since Nawrocki’s win, commentators of all stripes have...
  • Slammed by Russian missiles, Ukraine seeks more U.S. air defense systems

    06/06/2025 5:40:33 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 55 replies
    The Washington Post ^ | May 26, 2025 | Isobel Koshiw, Siobhán O'Grady and Ellen Francis
    Ukraine is increasingly worried about securing more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, as stockpiles sent during the Biden administration are drying up and the new administration is resistant to sending more, according to six Ukrainian and Western officials. While Russia bombards Ukraine with drones and cruise missiles, it is the ballistic missiles that are the most feared, and they can be reliably countered only by Patriot missiles. Ballistic missiles travel several miles per second, and they obliterated half of Ukraine’s power capacity in strikes on power plants. Their speed and size, plus the fact that they are difficult to intercept,...
  • Russia Pounds Ukraine with Massive Drone Strikes /Lt Col Daniel Davis

    06/06/2025 2:38:47 PM PDT · by SaxxonWoods · 54 replies
    Deep Dive ^ | 6/6/2025 | Daniel Davis
    The war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying, growing more violent and escalating rather than moving toward peace. A recent Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia damaged bomber bases, but this has provoked a major retaliatory response: Russia launched over 400 drones and missiles, overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses. Many of these were advanced Iranian-made drones now upgraded by Russia, making them harder to intercept. Ukrainian forces reportedly intercepted only about half the attacks, and even Patriot systems were either ineffective or destroyed. Footage shows multiple successful Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, with minimal air defense response in cities like...
  • A couple of minutes ago, a Russian IL-76MD military transport aircraft landed at Engels-2 Airbase in Saratov Oblast. This is the second since the last missile strike 12 hours ago.

    06/06/2025 7:56:30 AM PDT · by hardspunned · 65 replies
    AMK Mapping ^ | 6/6/25 | AMK Mapping
    Since the missile attack, all 8 Tu-95s which were airborne and 1 of the Tu-160s landed at Engels-2 Airbase. The whereabouts of the other 3 Tu-160s is currently unknown. A few hours ago, 7 Tu-95s departed from Engels-2, and are redeploying to Ukrainka Airbase in Amur Oblast. The other Tu-95 and the Tu-160 have likely been equipped or are in the process of being equipped with Kh-101 cruise missiles, from the first IL-76MD which landed there 12 hours ago. This also means that this is one of the rare instances where there are no strategic bombers stationed at Olenya Airbase...
  • BREAKING: Russia Retaliates Against Ukraine With MASSIVE Missile & Drone Strike Targeting Kiev

    06/06/2025 9:02:42 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 55 replies
    100 Percent Fed Up ^ | June 06, 2025 | Staff
    After Ukraine launched a huge drone strike on Russian airbases last weekend, Putin vowed retaliation. In a phone call with President Trump, Vladmir Putin was reportedly insistent that Russia must respond to Ukraine’s attack, which damaged over 40 aircraft. Now, we have reports that that retaliation may be underway. Russia has launched a massive overnight drone and ballistic missile strike on Ukraine, targeting Kiev and several other major cities. Alleged footage of the strike is going viral online: VIDEOS AT LINK..................... The Kyiv Independent said: Russia barraged Ukraine with missiles and drones throughout the night, threatening every region in the...
  • “We are no longer allies": Trump's entourage sent a "black mark" to Zelensky. The United States will not forgive this.

    06/05/2025 11:44:48 PM PDT · by doc maverick · 115 replies
    Pravda ^ | 06/06/2925
    “ The strike on Russian airfields was a tactical victory for Ukraine, but a strategic failure - at least in the eyes of the closest circle of the American leader Donald Trump. The rhetoric has changed dramatically. Kiev is no longer an ally, but a potential threat to global security. One of those who is sure that Kiev screwed up and at the same time exposed not only itself, is retired US Air Force General Blaine Holt. On the air of the Newsmax TV channel, he stressed that the attack of Ukrainian drones on airfields in Russia had affected a...
  • President Trump Compares Russia and Ukraine to Children Fighting

    06/05/2025 8:51:50 PM PDT · by Cronos · 37 replies
    New York times ^ | 5th June 2025 | Jonathan Swan
    “Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday in an Oval Office news conference. “They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.” “And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday,”“I said, ‘President, maybe you have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering, before you pull them apart, before they’re able to be pulled apart.’” Merz had come to Washington...
  • Ukraine is using an AI-powered, automated turret to shoot down Russia's devastating Shahed drones

    06/05/2025 6:49:40 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 16 replies
    Business Insider ^ | Jun 2, 2025 | Sinéad Baker and Jake Epstein
    Ukraine has deployed an AI-powered turret that has already shot down at least six of Russia's devastating Shahed drones, a military officer told Business Insider. Yuriy, the commander of Ukraine's air defense group, told BI last week that the system, called the Sky Sentinel, has "already been deployed in real combat, demonstrating high effectiveness." He said one prototype shot down six Shaheds in as many operational uses. This appears to be the first confirmation that one of the Sky Sentinels had downed up to six exploding drones. Ukraine previously said that the turret had been successfully tested, including on the...
  • After Putin call, Trump suggests Ukraine, Russia should ‘fight for a while’

    06/05/2025 5:49:23 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 50 replies
    The Washington Post ^ | June 5, 2025 5:54 p.m. EDT | Mary Ilyushina , Robyn Dixon and Michael Birnbaum
    The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that he was unsure he would be able to quell Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine and Russia may need to keep fighting, President Donald Trump said Thursday, comparing the warring nations to squabbling children in what appeared to be a signal that the U.S. leader was losing interest in brokering peace in a conflict he once promised to end in a day. The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that...
  • Trump likens Russia-Ukraine war to kids fighting ‘like crazy’ on playground

    06/05/2025 12:00:57 PM PDT · by McGruff · 3 replies
    NY Post ^ | June 5,. 2025 | Steven Nelson
    President Trump said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are similar to children fighting on a playground and that more time may be needed before “pulling them apart.” “Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled,” Trump told reporters while hosting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart. And I gave that analogy to Putin...
  • Russia Kills Five, Including Child, in Drone Attack on Ukrainian City

    06/05/2025 8:49:04 AM PDT · by ChicagoConservative27 · 29 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 06/05/2025 | reitbart London
    PRYLUKY, Ukraine (AP) – At least five people, including a 1-year-old child, his mother and grandmother, were killed Thursday in a nighttime Russian drone attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, officials said. Six drones hit a residential area in the city shortly before dawn, injuring nine others, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of the local fire chief, Ukraine´s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The fire chief, identified by local officials as 50-year-old Oleksandr Lebid, “arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on...
  • Country That Allegedly Had No Cards to Play Keeps Finding New Cards to Play

    06/04/2025 6:34:27 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 74 replies
    National Review ^ | June 2, 2025 | Jim Geraghty
    President Trump, angrily, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, February 28: “You don’t have the cards! You’re buried there! Your people are dying! You’re running low on soldiers!” Since that time . . . In March alone, the Russians suffered an estimated 41,000 combined killed or wounded in action, with 272 Russian tanks, 1,644 artillery systems, and 607 combat armored vehicles destroyed or disabled. (Since the start of the war, Russia has lost an estimated 12,835 tanks and armored vehicles, 305 aircraft, and 22 naval vessels.) Without anything resembling a manned navy, Ukraine has largely nullified the...
  • Are the surprise airfield attacks a turning point for Ukraine?

    06/04/2025 4:30:40 PM PDT · by MinorityRepublican · 150 replies
    BBC News ^ | June 4, 2025 | Paul Adams
    Three days on, and Ukraine is still digesting the full implications of Operation Spider's Web, Sunday's massive assault on Russia's strategic aviation. On Wednesday, the agency which orchestrated the attack, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), released additional, vivid footage of the attacks in progress, as well as tantalising glimpses into how the whole complex operation was conducted. Satellite images that have emerged since Sunday, showing the wrecked outlines of planes sitting on the tarmac at the Olenya, Ivanovo, Dyagilevo and Belaya airbases, also help tell the story of the operation's unprecedented success. For Ukrainian observers, the whole operation, a...