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A decision has been made to create a security buffer zone along the border between Russia and Ukraine, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, APA reports. "I have already said that a decision has been made to create a necessary security buffer zone along the border. Our armed forces are now solving this task," Putin said during a meeting with members of the government.

Russia has handed Ukraine a list of 1,000 prisoners of war it wants Kyiv to return in a forthcoming exchange deal, the Kremlin said on Thursday, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. Ukrainian military intelligence told Reuters on Thursday that it had submitted its corresponding list. Russian state media outlet Interfax reported. An agreement to conduct such an exchange was reached earlier this month in Istanbul during the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.

Russia's oil price in roubles has fallen to a two-year low below the 4,000 rouble per barrel mark and some 40% lower than planned in the federal budget, data showed, piling pressure on the Kremlin, already saddled with a burgeoning budget deficit. -snip- According to Reuters calculations, the average price of Russia's mix of Urals and ESPO blends dipped on May 2 to $48.92 per barrel, or 3,987 roubles, which is more than 40% below the 6,726 roubles the government had originally planned for this year. That's the lowest since May 2023, according to Reuters data. It is also still...

An unmanned Ukrainian sea drone shot down a Russian SU-30 fighter jet near the port of Novorossiysk - home to the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet. The downing of the £38 million jet was carried out by Group 13 on May 2, a special unit within Ukraine's military intelligence. The sea drone was reported to be equipped with a R-73 air-to-air missile, which struck the jet in midair. The SU-30 crashed into the sea. Reports suggest that the crew were able to eject from the stricken jet and were later picked up by a civilian cargo ship. In a statement confirming...

The minerals deal was enough to entice President Donald Trump to cave, siding with Kiev and permitting the first US sale of military equipment to Ukraine since taking office. Trump has been extremely critical of Zelensky since the war began, consistently warning Zelensky that he has blood on his hands and must end the war. Congress approved a $50 million defense package to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS). Trump is a businessman first and foremost—the mineral deal had to be approved before he would approve of any aid package. The United States now has preferential rights to extract minerals...

Russian forces managed to capture around 68 square miles of Ukraine in April. But it cost them 4,800 vehicles and more than 36,600 dead and wounded troops, according to one statistician who collects data mostly from official Ukrainian sources including the general staff in Kyiv. In the same month, Ukrainian losses were “minimal,” concluded analyst Konrad Muzyka of Rochan Consulting in Poland. Ukraine sprawls across 233,000 square miles, 19% of which is under Russian occupation. At the current rates of advance and loss, the Russians would capture the rest of Ukraine in the year 2256 at the cost of 101...

Will Zelensky attack ther Victory Day parade and escalate the war to the maximum? On the one hand, we all know ‘talk is cheap’, so it may be that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is just posturing when he hints that his forces may well attack the May 9th Victory Day Parade in Moscow, Russia – an event that will gather thousands of people, including as many as 20 heads of state. This would amount to an especially damning escalation since Putin declared a 3-day truce from May 8-10 – a proposal that Kiev sneered at, but hasn’t publicly rejected. However,...

The text of the agreement, made public by Ukraine’s government, made no mention of the security guarantees that Kyiv had long sought. The minerals deal signed between the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday could bring untold money into a joint investment fund between the two countries that would help rebuild Ukraine whenever the war with Russia ends. But Ukraine’s untapped resources that are the subject of the deal will take years to extract and yield profits. And those could fail to deliver the kind of wealth that President Trump has long said they would. It is not yet clear...

Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg was also scathing about Russia's military record in Ukraine. -snip- He also issued a blunt assessment of Russia’s military record in Ukraine, arguing that Mr Putin’s forces had failed to achieve any decisive victories. Mr Kellogg said: “Russia's not winning this war. Russia has not made any major advances in the last year and a half. "They haven't taken the city of Kyiv, the capital, they haven't pushed to the west of the Dnipro river (which is the major river obstacle), they haven't taken Odesa. “They've lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers and they haven't really...

There will be a parade on May 9, said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports. Commenting on threats from Kyiv regarding the May 9 Parade in Moscow, the Kremlin spokesperson called Zelensky's threatening remarks unsuccessful.

The European Commission has issued a warning to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that his expected visit to Russia for the May 9 Victory Day celebrations could seriously complicate Serbia’s accession process to the European Union. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos conveyed this message during her recent visit to Belgrade, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media. According to European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier, the warning was communicated directly to the Serbian president. “We warned Serbia that a visit to Moscow could complicate the process of negotiations and preparations for joining the EU. We expect Serbia to confirm its strategic priorities,” Mercier...

Antonovsky Bridge, one of the Russian Army’s lifelines into occupied Kherson, was effectively knocked out of action in a perfectly timed missile strike — just one of many developments on an explosive day in the Ukraine War. What made the strike so timely was the presence of multiple Russian ammo trucks, headed north with supplies for troops in the Kherson region that Kyiv has vowed to take back. The exploding ammo only added to the destruction. https://mobile.twitter.com/lilygrutcher/status/1561720969630289925 https://mobile.twitter.com/PaulJawin/status/1561679383034830849? About 10 trucks loaded with ammunition were driving across the bridge. It's probably the detonation of one of them. Whether that was...