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French President Emmanuel Macron's push to deploy troops to Ukraine could yet prove the first domino of an official NATO military presence in the war-torn country, even while Russia's grinding frontline assaults and nationwide bombing campaign continue. The French leader said in late February that "nothing was excluded" with regard to officially putting NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine, though his American and German allies were quick to explicitly, and repeatedly, exclude that possibility. Macron has subsequently maintained his position, even garnering backing from eastern NATO states. This week, the commander of the French ground forces said his troops...

Residents in a region hit by the deepest drone strikes within Russian territory since the start of the war in Ukraine have been warned that air defenses may not be able to protect them from future attacks. Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has been hit with drone strikes reaching Moscow as well as ammunition depots and warehouses around the country linked to the war effort. Russian authorities blame Ukraine for the attacks, which Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for. In the latest incident, a drone attack on the Russian republic of Tatarstan on Tuesday reportedly hit industrial areas...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday signed a law that lowers the country’s conscription age from 27 to 25 as Kyiv struggles to replenish its troops in its war against Russia. Zelenskyy said last year that his government was exploring ways to mobilize more than 450,000 new troops to support soldiers facing exhaustion on the frontlines. But the proposal to lower the mobilization age is highly unpopular, and Zelenskyy was reportedly hesitant about signing the bill into law. Some had proposed mobilizing NATO troops in Ukraine to support Kyiv’s war efforts, but several bloc members dismissed the idea.

Dramatic footage shows the moment a suspected Ukrainian plane-type UAV explodes as it was targeted at a Russian plant assembling Iranian Shahed drones used in the war. There was a huge blast and fireball near Yelabuga, deep in Russia, at least 660 miles from the closest Ukrainian territory. A total of three strikes were reported in the area. Russian sources say it hit a dormitory for workers in the Alabuga economic zone in the Republic of Tatarstan, where it is believed the deadly Iranian drones are assembled. It is unclear so far if there was also damage to the drone-making...

Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's third largest oil refinery on Tuesday about 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines, hitting a core unit which processes about 155,000 barrels of crude refining per day. -snip- Pictures from the scene indicated the drone hit the primary refining unit, CDU-7, at the Taneco refinery. The unit accounts for around a half of the plant's total annual production capacity. "A drone attack was carried out on one of the enterprises in Nizhnekamsk," Ramil Mullin, the mayor of Nizhnekamsk, said. -snip- The attack was one of several in Tatarstan, a highly industrialised region south-east of...

https://www.youtube.com/live/hxQMgmscyis?si=3IZ8brn5nJsnh6hP

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that he expects to move a package including aid for Ukraine with “some important innovations” when the House returns from recess. In an interview on “Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy,” Johnson stressed the difficult position he’s in, with a historically narrow House majority, but said he was working throughout the current work period to come up with a package and plans to put it on the floor when the House gavels back into session.

The Russian Orthodox Church this week approved a document declaring its country's self-described "special military operation" against Ukraine as a "holy war" being waged to protect Russia's "spiritual space." The declaration was made in a document approved during a gathering of the World Russian People's Council, which brought religious, cultural, and political figures together at the Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, reports Newsweek. "From a spiritual and moral point of view, the special military operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people, are defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia," said the document,...

Russia cannot defeat Ukraine or the West - and will likely lose - if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin. The West’s existing and latent capability dwarfs that of Russia. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of NATO countries, non-NATO European Union states, and our Asian allies is over $63 trillion.[1] The Russian GDP is on the close order of $1.9 trillion.[2] Iran and North Korea add little in terms of materiel support. China is enabling Russia, but it is not mobilized on behalf of Russia and is unlikely to do so.[3] If we lean in and...

The Italian airforce said on Friday it intercepted unidentified aircraft flying over international waters in the Baltic Sea, and two defence sources in Rome identified them as Russian planes. The two interceptions were carried out on Thursday and Friday morning by Italian Eurofighter jets based in the Polish base of Malbork as part of a NATO air policing mission, a statement said. After completing their activity, the Italian jets returned to the Polish base, the airforce added, without giving further details.

RUSSIAN INVESTIGATORS SAY ATTACKERS RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CASH AND CRYPTOCURRENCY FROM UKRAINE

Vladimir Putin has said that Russian forces will destroy any F-16s delivered to Ukraine from its NATO allies "wherever they are," while at the same time insisting that Moscow had no intention of attacking any country in the alliance. During a visit to the 344th Army Aviation Centre where combat pilots are trained, in Torzhok, 160 miles northwest of Moscow, Putin was asked if Russian pilots would be "allowed to hit these targets at NATO airfields." Putin replied: "Of course, if they are used from airfields of third countries, they become a legitimate target for us, no matter where they...

NATO is considering shooting down Russian missiles that stray too close to its borders, according to a report in Polish news outlet RMF24. - Sky News

It would be nice to think that all we have to do is get out and vote to rid ourselves of these warmongers. But they control the elections, and they are in their glory. I do not see how we can avoid this war. They are doing everything in their power to prevent RFK from being on the ballot and to destroy Donald Trump, all so they retain their power with their hand puppet, Joe Biden. Before Biden was Vice President, I was at some dinner many years ago and I was not impressed with him back then. In fact,...

Enormous infernos ripped through the night sky in the occupied port city of Sevastopol. And as dawn broke this morning, Ukrainian forces announced they had hit two large Russian warships- Yamal and Azov. Both damaged vessels are Ropucha-class landing ships, 370ft long, 4,000 ton behemoths designed for D-Day-style amphibious assaults. Ukraine has attacked this type of ship before - sinking sister ships Tsezar Kunikov and Novocherkassk. Kyiv is reported to have used British Storm Shadow missiles in the strike - 600mph long-range weapons which have proved effective against the Russians. Putin's crony in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhaev, was forced to admit...

Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) has stated that the recent terrorist attack in Moscow Oblast is a deliberate provocation by Putin’s regime and had been anticipated by the international community. Source: Andrii Yusov, representative of DIU, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "This is the deliberate provocation by Putin’s special services that the international community warned us about. The Kremlin tyrant started his career like this, and he wants to end it the same way: committing crimes against his citizens."

-snip- Turning to the announcement of a number of Western embassies in Russia about a terrorist threat alert, Putin called them "frankly provocative." "All this resembles outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society," he said. Head of the Central Election Commission Elle Pamfilova said on Monday that the terrorist threat alert was meant to decrease voter turnout in the 2024 presidential election.

In a recent piece titled "Lindsey Graham Faces Backlash Over Ukraine Mobilization Call" from MSN.com Lindsey Graham visited Kyiv, Senator Lindsey Graham made headlines during his visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, by addressing the issue of military conscription for young men. He specifically advocated for the Ukrainian parliament to expedite the passage of a bill that would include more citizens in the draft to combat Russia, pinpointing the exemption of men under 27 from military service as a concern. Graham highlighted the urgency of the situation, suggesting that all individuals, regardless of being 25 or 27, should actively participate in what...

Emmanuel Macron broke the taboo in February. NATO already assists Ukraine in virtually every possible aspect, from supplying weaponry and intelligence on Russian targets and the positions of enemy bombers to training thousands of Ukrainian troops in Europe. But until the French president suggested it, no one had dared to raise the question of Atlantic Alliance soldiers going into action to stop the Kremlin’s invasion. Macron not only opened a debate; his words also served to confirm that there are already military personnel from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil, albeit without taking an active role in combat operations. Polish Foreign...

'elite' hoho unit annihilated...