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Ukraine’s military was forced to dismiss Donald Trump’s claim that thousands of its troops are encircled in Russia’s Kursk region as “false”.Its general staff instead accused Russia of fabricating reports for “political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners”, while Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin was lying about the battlefield situation.Putin claimed on Thursday night that his forces had encircled thousands of Ukrainians in the western Kursk region, which Ukraine invaded in August, warning they would have to “surrender or die”.

Ukrainian troops operating in Russia’s Kursk Oblast continue in their tasks despite intense Russian pressure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing on March 12. “The military command is doing what it should do, preserving the maximum of lives of our soldiers,” Zelensky said, urging a "sober" assessment of the battlefield situation rather than reacting to Russian information warfare. His remarks come as multiple Ukrainian and Russian sources claimed that Russian troops had entered Sudzha, a key Ukrainian-held stronghold in the Russian border region of Kursk.

In a move likely to cause considerable offense in the White House, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has compared US President Donald Trump’s “America First” concept to Nazi propaganda. This provocative statement from Russia’s top diplomat offers an indication of the mood in Moscow as the United States and Russia engage in preliminary talks over a possible deal to end the invasion of Ukraine. In an article published on February 4 by the Russia in Global Affairs journal, Lavrov accused the US of undermining the international order with “cowboy attacks,” and claimed that the rhetoric of the Trump administration was...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that excluding his country from talks between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be “very dangerous” and asked for more discussions between Kyiv and Washington to develop a plan for a ceasefire. Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Zelenskyy said Russia does not want to engage in ceasefire talks or to discuss any kind of concessions, which the Kremlin interprets as losing at a time when its troops have the upper hand on the battlefield.

Russian energy has continued to transit unimpeded through Ukrainian territory every day until now, with the taps being firmly closed on New Year’s Day. Zero Russian gas is flowing to European customers through Ukrainian pipelines for the first time in decades today, confirmation there was to be no last-minute deal to keep the route open, sending energy prices spiking on Tuesday. The route has seen billions of cubic feet of gas delivered since the end of the Cold War, and a five-year contract between Moscow and Kyiv governing the transit of gas continued to be observed, remarkably, right to the...

Russia could launch another hypersonic ballistic missile in Ukraine in the coming days, but Washington does not consider the Oreshnik weapon a game-changer in the war, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Russia first fired the Oreshnik missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Nov. 21, in what President Vladimir Putin cast as a response to Ukraine's first use of U.S. ATACMs ballistic missiles and British Storm Shadows to strike Russian territory with Western permission. Putin has previously said Russia may use the Oreshnik again, including to hit "decision-making centers" in Kyiv, if Ukraine keeps attacking Russia with long-range...

Russia’s widespread overnight attack targeting critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine was a response to strikes on Russian territory using US-made ATACMS missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Putin claimed Russia hit 17 targets that were “military facilities, defense industry facilities and their support systems,” without acknowledging the hits to power infrastructure. “As I have said many times, there will always be a response from our side (to the use of American ATACMS),” Putin said during comments made at a security summit in Kazakhstan. Air defenses were activated across the country, with damage reported in 14 regions, according to the...

More than one million people in Ukraine have been left without power after Russia launched a "massive strike" on the country's energy grid overnight. The co-ordinated assault unfolded over several hours with waves of drones and missiles flying across the length and breadth of Ukraine - the second attack of its kind this month. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said cluster munitions were used specifically against civilian and energy infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia launched 90 missiles and 100 drones in response to Ukraine's attacks with UK and US-supplied weapons last week. "We carried out a comprehensive strike," Putin...

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the BBC that Ukraine can shoot French longer-range missiles into Russia in the "logics of self-defense." The French Scalp missiles are the same as the UK's Storm Shadow missiles, which Ukraine had already used in attacks on Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova tolt state media that Barrot's comments are "not support for Ukraine, but rather a death knell for Ukraine." Barrot spoke after the United States greenlit the use of US-provided longer-range ATACMS missiles by Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine shot down dozens of Russian drones targeting regions across the country. On the other...

"Trump, alongside Ukraine's Zelenskyy, says Russia's war needs to end" Former President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speak to the press after meeting at Trump Tower in New York City. Former President Donald Trump met with the president of Ukraine at Trump Tower in New York City on Friday, saying he has a "very good relationship" with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "It's very important to share our plan, all of our steps on how we can strengthen Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. He explained to reporters that he decided to meet with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris because "after November, we don't...

◾️It is necessary to adapt the principles of state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence to current realities ◾️A deep and comprehensive analysis of Russia's approaches to the possible use of nuclear forces and their possible adjustments was conducted ◾️Russia has always approached the issues of using nuclear forces with the utmost responsibility, this is an extreme measure to protect the country's sovereignty ◾️It was proposed to introduce a number of clarifications in terms of defining the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia ◾️The modern military-political situation is changing dynamically, the Russian Federation is obliged to...

In the pre-dawn hours on Tuesday, a large flock of Ukrainian drones winged north from Ukraine all the way to Toropets, a town in western Russian that hosts the 107th Arsenal, a sprawling ammunition dump feeding the Russian force fighting in Ukraine, 300 miles to the south. The arsenal exploded with enough force to register as a small earthquake, draw the attention of NASA fire-spotting satellites and compel local authorities to order an evacuation of nearby residents. A lot of Russian munitions went up in flames. (snip) That so many of Russia’s best munitions were reportedly concentrated in a single...

Russell Bentley, 64, who fought alongside pro-Putin rebels in eastern Ukraine, was tortured and murdered by Russian servicemen, Kremlin investigators said on Friday. Bentley, a self-described communist from Dallas, Texas, went missing in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in April and was later found dead. Nicknamed “Texas”, he regularly appeared on pro-Kremlin social media channels, backing Moscow’s full-scale military offensive.

Other Russian Telegram channels said the attack resulted in about 50 Russian casualties. Ukrainian forces have used the Washington-supplied HIMARS on several occasions throughout the war, including in its Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are largely occupied by Russian forces. The Kremlin has been pushing for the total capture of the two regions—which together comprise the Donbas—since Russia's initial invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014. HIMARS has allowed Ukraine to destroy Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft missile systems. Washington has supplied the Ukrainians with at least 39 HIMARS since the war began on February 24, 2022. In February, Serhiy Bratchuk, a...

Russia appears to have launched its first major counterattack to drive Ukrainian forces out of Russia's Kursk region more than a month after Ukraine began its surprise offensive, according to Russian and Ukrainian sources as well as independent military analysts.Russian forces appeared already to have some success on Tuesday -- retaking some territory and driving a wedge into Ukrainian lines in Kursk, analysts said.Videos posted by pro-Russian military bloggers and geolocated by ABC News showed a large Russian armored column attacking toward the village of Snagost. Another video appears to show Ukrainian troops taken prisoner.The Russian counterattack is focused on...

Russian President Vladimir Putin ruffled some feathers inside his own country this weekend when he appeared to dismiss the recent Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk Oblast inside of Russia as having had "no effect" on the overall war. He insisted that the primary objective of the war had been to retake and fortify annexed lands, primarily in the eastern Donbas region, and that Ukraine's actions in Kursk had actually hastened Russia's success there. Meanwhile, Ukraine's top military commander was marched out to counter those claims, saying that the invasion of Kursk was "working" and that Russia had made no new...

The Russian army is currently focusing all its efforts on isolating the combat area in and around Pokrovsk. In particular, a few days ago the Russian Armed Forces took the western exits from the city under strict fire control, and now there are reports of serious damage to the bridge on the E-50 highway, which the Ukrainian army used to transfer cargo and personnel from the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region. As experts explain, it was along this overpass that the Armed Forces of Ukraine transferred personnel, equipment and ammunition to Pokrovsk.

Russia’s future will be characterized by a smaller population. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war has virtually guaranteed that for generations to come, Russia’s population will be not only smaller, but also older, more fragile, and less well-educated. It will almost certainly be ethnically less Russian and more religiously diverse. While some might view diversity as a strength, many Russians do not see it this way. In a world with hordes of people on the move to escape war, persecution, poverty, and the increasing impact of climate change, xenophobic political rhetoric sells well. Putin has spoken frequently about Russia’s demographic problems,...

Daria Korkh made a good show of a stiff upper lip as she prepared to abandon her home.“We don’t want to, but we’ve got to,” she said bluntly. “The shops and supermarkets are closing. Medical facilities are still open, but it’s only a matter of time before the gas and electricity go.“The shelling has become more frequent and now there are enemy drones in town. Today the first drone flew in. Everyone knew after they [the Russians] took Avdiivka that this could be expected. It’s not sudden.Ms Korkh, a practical 39-year-old who has no children but a host of rescue...

"Russians record a video accusing Putin of treason, demanding his resignation" Kanal13 1.66M subscribers 8-30-2024 2:30 a.m. Minutes 6:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgnjPv8BWww