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This is the dramatic moment a low-flying Vladimir Putin warplane is shot down by Ukrainian troops and explodes into a huge fireball. The £11million Su-25 attack warplane was captured smashing into the ground near the village of Zaitsevo, close to a major battle scene in Toretsk, Donetsk region. The pilot ejected and is “alive and safe”, according to reports. The plane was hit by a shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile, confirmed the Ukrainians. Footage apparently showed a Russian rescue helicopter plucking the Su-25 pilot to safety after he had hidden in the forest. However, the rescue Mi-8 helicopter was attacked by Ukrainian...

Russia has got so desperate it has had to go back to one of the most old-fashioned ways to carry bullets and guns during a war. The Soviet army had to start using donkeys and horses to carry ammunition in Ukraine – something that hasn’t been done for over a century. Military blogger Kirill Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel that Putin and his soldiers have started to send the animals to the front line. He said that an official government transport list says these animals include horses, camels and deer. He wrote: ‘The fighters were given a donkey to...

President Trump is prepared to double down on US sanctions for Russia to bring about an end to its war on Ukraine, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, his special envoy to the conflict, exclusively told The Post this week — but he knows both Kyiv and Moscow will have to make concessions to end the “industrial-sized” killing in Europe’s largest country. Sanctions enforcement on Russia are “only about a three” on a scale of one to 10 on how painful the economic pressure can be, Kellogg said. The US sanctions themselves — such as those targeting Russia’s lucrative energy sector —...

Vladimir Putin’s Russian Space Agency boss has been fired after a “catastrophic” number of launch failures of missiles, satellites and rockets in recent years. Yury Borisov, 68, an ex-deputy premier and close ally, was replaced at the space agency, known as Roscosmos, by deputy transport minister Dmitry Bakanov, 39 -snip- A key failure for both men was the doomsday Sarmat - aka Satan-2 - missile, Russia's largest weapon. Under Borisov, also a former deputy defence minister, a test in September 2024 exploded on the launch at Plesetsk cosmodrome leaving a 200ft wide crater. A year earlier, Borisov had reported to...

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. -snip- Saudi Arabia and the UAE did not respond to requests for comment. The Kremlin declined comment. But both Trump and Putin have developed friendly relations with rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Trump said on Sunday that his administration had "meetings and talks scheduled with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia." When asked about those remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing a backlash from within the Kremlin over his pro-China policy, with elites fearing that Moscow is becoming a 'colony' of Beijing. Vladimir Putin is facing intense criticism from rival factions within the Kremlin over his China policy, which could worsen Russia's economic crisis, with earlier reports suggesting China is 'bailing' Russia out by buying distressed assets. Since the start of the Ukraine conflict - where Russia have endured huge personnel losses - in February 2022, Putin has strengthened political and economic ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, boosting their bilateral trade to a record...

Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to provide a specific timeline for when Ukrainian forces might be expelled from Russia's Kursk region during a news conference on Thursday, in response to a question from a resident who asked for clarity on the situation in the border area. Putin responded by saying: "I cannot and do not even want to name a specific date when they will be knocked out. There is a battle going on now, such serious battles. We will definitely knock them out. Sorry, I cannot name a specific date. I imagine there are plans, and they will be...

Vladimir Putin bizarrely suggested that Russian eating habits were to blame for rising food prices. His comments came in response to questions about the economy during a marathon press conference broadcast live on state TV. -snip- In an attempt to answer his own question about how to address food inflation, he noted that consumption of some goods had risen beyond supplies. As an example he pointed to meat consumption, saying Russians were eating "significantly" more than the global average. -snip- Putin also appeared to target Russian farmers, blaming a lack of milk production for rising butter costs. -snip- Russia's central...

An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has implied that Moscow cannot push Ukraine out of Kursk by the end of the year, despite Putin previously setting a deadline to kick them out by October. Russia's Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, said that all the tasks set by the country's leadership for the military in 2024 have been completed, according to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. He was speaking during a briefing for the military. As Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk, it is possible that driving them out was not a...

The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, in collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and other components of the Defense Forces, destroyed a train carrying 40 tanks of fuel and incurred damage to a railway line from temporarily occupied Crimea to Zaporizhzhia. “As a result of the special operation, the locomotive and 40 tank cars with fuel were destroyed, and an important railroad line that supplied Russian troops was put out of commission for a long time,” the sources said.

Kyiv knows that it will have to recalibrate and take care not to get on Trump’s bad side, hence Zelenskyy’s emphasizing the importance of exploring diplomatic solutions. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser and decorated retired U.S. general, to be his special envoy to Ukraine and Russia has reassured a nervous Kyiv up to a point. Ukrainian officials are familiar with Kellogg, a peace-through-strength advocate who’s argued publicly that any deal to end the nearly three-year-long war of attrition would have to include solid security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure there’s lasting peace...

Vladimir Putin will reject Donald Trump's proposed peace plan and would only end the conflict in Ukraine if he gives him huge concessions, a hardliner close to the Kremlin has warned. Russian tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, who is sanctioned by the West, slammed Trump's recently picked envoy Keith Kellogg and his proposals on how to end the conflict with Kyiv. 'Kellogg comes to Moscow with his plan, we take it and then tell him to screw himself, because we don't like any of it. That'd be the whole negotiation,' Malofeyev said bluntly in an interview from a luxury Dubai resort. -snip-...

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday to shelve the planned hosting of the "Friendship Games", a big multi-sports event that the International Olympic Committee had condemned as a purely political project. Russia announced last year that it planned to relaunch the competition first staged in 1984 as a Soviet-led alternative to the Los Angeles Olympics, which the USSR had boycotted in retaliation for a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games. -snip- Putin's decree, published on an official website, left open the possibility of staging the games at some point in the future pending a "special decision...

In a rather stern warning to the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—President-elect Donald Trump has threatened 100% tariffs on their exports to the United States if they pursue efforts to replace the U.S. dollar in global trade. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Trump said that any attempt by BRICS to create a new currency or support alternatives to the dollar would lead to severe consequences. “The idea that the BRICS countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER,” Trump wrote. Trump’s warning comes on the heels...

BRICS countries show little interest in Moscow’s proposal for an alternative financial system. Browsing through the official photos of the annual BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan last month yields intriguing surprises. In several of them, Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a mock-up banknote featuring the flags of the five core BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Looking at the pictures, one could be forgiven for assuming that the BRICS had just launched a common currency. This is exactly what Moscow would like the world to think as part of its bid to demonstrate that Russia...

Donald Trump announced Saturday he would impose a 100% tariff on BRICS nations if they try to replace the dollar in international trade, impacting a group of major developing economies whose members include Russia, India, China and Iran, among others, marking the latest threats by the president-elect to impose tariffs on imports from several countries. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the 100% tariff would affect all BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates—until they commit to not creating a new BRICS currency or back another currency that could replace...

Vladimir Putin has mysteriously disappeared from public view as his regime issued apocalyptic World War Three nuclear threats over the use of long-range Western missiles by Ukraine against Russian territory. It is unclear if during the past 12 days of high international tension the Kremlin dictator has been holed up in a hi-tech bunker, unwell, underwent another round of plastic surgery, took a secret holiday or simply chose to remain out of sight. Yet Putin, 72, has not been definitively seen since an appearance at the Valdai Forum in Sochi on November 7 when he congratulated a "courageous" Donald Trump...

Inflationary expectations among Russian households for the year ahead stood at 13.4% in November, unchanged from October, while inflationary pressure remained high, the central bank said on Monday. The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 21% last month, the highest level in more than 20 years, citing high inflation and elevated inflationary expectations as the main reasons for the move. -snip- The central bank board will convene for the next rate-setting meeting on Dec. 20, with the officials saying that a further tightening of monetary policy was possible.

Russia's president Vladimir Putin has denied reports that Donald Trump had spoken to him in recent days, adding that he had no concrete plans yet to speak to him. -snip- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied this call took place. 'This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information,' he said. 'There was no conversation.' 'This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications,' Peskov said. Asked if Putin had plans for any contacts with Trump, Peskov said: 'There are no concrete plans...

Ukrainian officials expect a counteroffensive in western Russia to begin in the coming days as North Korea’s troops train with Russian forces. -snip- The Russian military has assembled a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, as it prepares to begin an assault aimed at reclaiming territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. -snip- North Korea has sent more than 10,000 troops to fight with Russia in Kursk, American officials say. The troops are wearing Russian uniforms and have been equipped by Moscow, but they will probably fight in their...