Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Monday said he held a "productive" call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a range of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump shared details of the call in a post on his TRUTH Social platform. "I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, Recep Erdoğan, concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more," Trump wrote. The president added that he is looking forward to working with Erdogan to end the "ridiculous, but deadly" Russia-Ukraine war.

Ukraine said it hit a drone command unit in the Kursk region, amid reports of fresh attempts to cross into Russia. Sunday's attack on the unit was located near the Russian village of Tyotkino, according to the Ukrainian general staff. Multiple Russian military bloggers also reported that Ukrainian forces had attempted to cross into the village, posting images - as yet unverified by the BBC - of vehicles breaking through tank traps on the border. The reports come after Moscow claimed in April to have regained control of the entire region, nine months after a Ukrainian forces launched a surprise...

Russia has reported that it repelled a drone attack on Moscow as the capital city prepares to host a major military parade with foreign leaders in attendance. Russia’s air defence systems intercepted “four drones flying towards Moscow”, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Monday. The attack appears intended to unsettle Moscow’s preparations for events marking the end of the Great Patriotic War, commonly known as World War II elsewhere, on May 9. -snip- The Kremlin has branded Putin’s declaration of a three-day unilateral ceasefire a humanitarian gesture. Military operations will be paused during the truce, according to Russian authorities, as world...

"The Victory Day parade will not be held in Sevastopol," said Governor of the city of federal importance Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev, APA’s Russia bureau reports. According to him, the decision was made due to security concerns.

DICTATOR Vladimir Putin has showed off his private chapel and his favourite drink in a bizarre tour of his Kremlin apartment. The Russian tyrant gave the public a glimpse into his home in an interview marking the 25th anniversary of his first inauguration as president. The bizarre footage shows Putin giving his favourite interviewer, Pavel Zarubin, a tour of the apartment while answering his questions. When asked about his grandchildren from daughters Maria, 39, and Katerina, 37, Putin says they occasionally visit him unexpectedly in his austere apartment. He said: “They can, they can. “But still everyone understands that I...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not arise. In a fragment of an upcoming interview with Russian state television published on Telegram, Putin said that Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a "logical conclusion."

Russian air strikes hit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Sunday, killing one person and injuring three others, while the death toll from Friday’s devastating attack on Kryvyi Rih rose to 19, including nine children. The Kyiv victim was found near the epicentre of the strike in the Darnytskyi district, where fires broke out in multiple non-residential areas, causing severe damage to buildings and cars. In a statement on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested the intensifying Russian attacks showed there is still insufficient international pressure on Moscow. He said Russia has launched more than 1,460 guided aerial bombs, nearly...

VLADIMIR Putin is clinging to power as rumours swirl that he’s dying from a cocktail of illnesses, with Volodymyr Zelensky saying it's a fact that he will die soon. The Ukrainian President made the blunt prediction during a speech in Paris, standing alongside French leader Emmanuel Macron as he urged the West to “stay strong” and not ease pressure on Russia. Zelensky said: “He [Putin] will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to an end.” The bold claim adds fuel to long-swirling speculation that the 72-year-old tyrant's grip on power may be slipping – not just...

The incumbent Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, who is vying for the country’s top office as an independent candidate, has cast his electronic vote in the presidential election, APA reports quoting TASS. The published video footage shows Putin walking to a computer in his office, casting his vote and then smiling and waving at the camera. The computer monitor displayed a standard notification for a successfully cast vote.

Vladimir Putin has weighed in on multiple reports alleging Russian citizens have burned down ballot boxes in protest as the Russian election is underway. -snip- Putin slammed the reports as he accused Ukraine of waging a "terrorist" campaign against Russia in an effort to thwart the election. He also accused Kyiv of intensifying military strikes on Russian territory to "intimidate" voters – a goal he claimed Ukraine will not achieve. According to the TASS news agency, Putin said: "These attacks, pointless from the military point of view and criminal from the humanitarian point of view, as has been said, are...