Free Republic

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine could restore its borders from before Russia’s invasion and that he believes NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace, escalating his rhetoric against the Kremlin as its war in Ukraine drags on. Taken together, Trump’s remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly about shooting down Russian aircraft and his later post on Truth Social about Ukraine’s borders seemed to reflect a significant shift in his attitude toward Moscow and what the end of the intractable conflict might look like. His comments on Ukraine’s borders...

0:12 Mr. President, excellencies, 0:17 this Emergency Security Council meeting 0:19 has been called because a mere mere week 0:23 after Russia sent drones into Poland, 0:27 three Russian MiG31 fighter jets with 0:30 their transponders off, entered Estonian 0:33 airspace without authorization and 0:36 lingered for 12 minutes. On the same 0:39 day, two Russian fighter jets violated 0:42 the security zone over the Polish 0:44 drilling platform in our economic zone 0:47 in the Baltic Sea. 0:49 If these were accidents, why not 0:52 immediately acknowledge them and 0:54 apologize? 0:56 We have given Russia a pass in...

France has reportedly deployed Rafale fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons to Poland, a move interpreted as a direct signal to Russia as tensions continue to rise on Europe’s eastern flank.

BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has called on the EU’s remaining buyers of Russian fossil fuels to drop their campaign against the bloc’s efforts to end dependency on Moscow and buy from America instead. Speaking on Friday at an event in Brussels, where he has held meetings this week with officials on how to increase imports of American liquefied natural gas and cut off the flow of funds for Russia’s war on Ukraine, Wright said it would be preferable for Europe to get its supplies from “its friends.” Asked by POLITICO whether countries like Hungary and Slovakia,...

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense the "Department of War," a White House official told Reuters Thursday. The order would authorize Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon and subordinate officials to use "secondary titles" such as "Secretary of War," "Department of War" and "Deputy Secretary of War" in official correspondence, public communications and ceremonial contexts, according to a White House fact sheet.

Victims of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his incarcerated accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell said in a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill that they are putting together a list of the pair’s rich and powerful “clients” allegedly linked to their sex trafficking scheme. *** Now, together, as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know who were regularly in the Epstein world. And it will be done by survivors and for survivors — no one else is involved,” she added. *** All 212 Democrats are expected to back the petition, [ to release the files]along with Massie and GOP...

US President Donald Trump has accused Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of conspiring against the US with the leaders of Russia and North Korea. Trump's comments came as China hosted world leaders at its largest-ever Victory Day parade in Beijing on Wednesday - a showcase of China's military might. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: "Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un as you conspire against the United States of America."

March 14 (Reuters) - An online voting system that was criticised by some defeated candidates at parliamentary elections last year will be rolled out for use across Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed electronic voting procedures into law on Monday. A coalition of defeated parliamentary candidates in Moscow claimed they were cheated of victory in a parliamentary election last September by the system and sought to try to overturn the results via lawsuits and public pressure.

In one of the largest overnight strikes since the war began, Russia unleashed some 614 drones, ballistic and cruise missiles across Ukraine, killing one, injuring dozens and destroying an American-owned electronics company less than an hour from two NATO borders, officials confirmed Thursday morning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said the strike on the private U.S. company, which involved "several" cruise missiles, was "very telling" following President Donald Trump’s attempts to force Moscow to end its invasion.

Witkoff noted that these concessions were partly achieved because the U.S. side tested Russia’s willingness to adopt a more flexible stance. Trump and his team focused on securing a long-term peace agreement rather than a temporary ceasefire during the Anchorage meeting, he added. “We stayed there for quite some time because we actually made progress on how we might get to a peace deal,” Witkoff said. According to him, Trump began to sense that many preconditions for a comprehensive deal were already in place, prompting efforts to negotiate a full peace agreement.

President Trump on Monday did not rule out sending U.S. troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force if a potential peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow can be reached. “We’ll let you know that, maybe later today,” Mr. Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr. Trump’s refusal to rule out the idea of U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine is a potential major shift in his policy towards Ukraine as the war-torn nation considers security guarantees to be essential for any peace agreement. Mr. Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin...

The traditionally Russian-speaking area is at the heart of what the Russian president calls the “root causes” of the war, and taking it over is near the top of his list of territorial and political demands.The proposal to end the war in Ukraine that emerged from the summit in Alaska between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia centers on persuading Kyiv to give up the Donbas, the industrial region in the east.The traditionally Russian-speaking area has been at the heart of what Mr. Putin calls the “root causes” of the war, and taking it over is near...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia's refusal to agree to a ceasefire is complicating efforts to end the war. "We see that Russia rebuffs numerous calls for a ceasefire and has not yet determined when it will stop the killing. This complicates the situation," he said in a statement on 'X'. On Monday, the Ukrainian leader travel to Washington DC, where US President Donald Trump has said he will urge Zelensky to agree to a peace deal. Trump has said he wants to bypass a ceasefire in Ukraine to move directly to a permanent peace agreement after his...

Watch our live coverage of President Trump's historic meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage Alaska, with RAV White House correspondent, Brian Glenn.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia has started production of its newest hypersonic missiles and reaffirmed its plans to deploy them to ally Belarus later this year. Sitting alongside Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Valaam Island near St. Petersburg, Putin said the military already has selected deployment sites in Belarus for the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile.… Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying its multiple warheads that plunge to a target at speeds up to Mach 10 are immune to being intercepted and are so powerful that the use of several of them in one...

Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country needed security guarantees from Nato and more weapons to defend itself before any talks with Russia.Ukraine’s president made the comments after meeting Kaja Kallas, the EU’s new head of diplomacy, and Antonio Costa, freshly appointed president of the European Council, who were visiting Kyiv as a show of support on their first day in office.“An invitation for Ukraine to join Nato is a necessary thing for our survival,” Mr Zelensky said at a press conference with Mr Costa.It comes after Mr Zelenksy appeared to shift his position dramatically on Friday by accepting that Ukraine...