Free Republic

Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau said on Monday that it was conducting a large-scale operation to uncover corruption in the country's energy sector. "The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented," the bureau said about the investigation which involves 1,000 hours of audio recordings and took 15 months of work. "Its members have built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic enterprises in the public sector, in particular JSC 'Energoatom'," according to the post on the Telegram messaging app.

President Donald Trump made an announcement Monday aligning him more firmly with Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion than ever before. The US will send weapons to Ukraine through NATO, the president said during a meeting in the Oval Office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Trump also laid out a new deadline for Russia — threatening trade consequences, including secondary sanctions, if a peace deal isn’t reached in 50 days. Even before the weapons announcement, which the president had telegraphed last week, the hawks were celebrating. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina previewed the announcement Sunday as a “turning...