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he United States twice scrambled fighter jets after it detected a Russian intelligence and surveillance plane near Alaska on both Wednesday and Thursday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said. On Wednesday, two F-16s and one KC-135 tanker were launched to identify and monitor a Russian IL-20 COOT plane flying in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The next day, an E-3, two F-16s and one KC-135 tanker were sent to intercept the same type of aircraft.

A fire has started following a drone strike at an industrial site in Russia's southern Novoshakhtinsk city, home to an oil refinery, authorities said on Thursday, as Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure. “A fire broke out at one of the industrial enterprises in Novoshakhtinsk. Preliminarily, no one was hurt. Emergency services are working at the scene,” said Yury Slyusar, the acting governor of the Rostov region, without specifying the target of the attack. Novoshakhtinsk refinery, which sells fuel mainly for export, has an annual capacity of 5 million metric tons of oil, or around 100,000 barrels per...

United States President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to explain that Kiev does not stand a good chance of winning the war against Russia if it is only permitted to defend its territory. "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia. Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND defend,"...

As External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar prepares for crucial talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, India finds itself at the centre of a diplomatic storm. President Trump has unleashed his most aggressive economic assault on India in recent memory, wielding tariffs and sanctions as weapons to force New Delhi away from its Russian partnerships. The pressure campaign began in August 2025 with sweeping 25% tariffs on Indian exports, later doubled to 50% specifically targeting Russian oil imports. For a nation whose economic planners depend heavily on US markets, this represents a devastating blow. Nearly 70% of India's...

Russian oil refining capacity has fallen by more than 13 percent in August following a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on key facilities, leaving several major plants offline. According to The Moscow Times on August 19, drone attacks forced at least four large refineries to halt operations in the past three weeks. On August 2, Rosneft’s Novokuibyshevsk refinery, with an annual capacity of 8.3 million tons, was shut down. The Saratov refinery, capable of processing 5.8 million tons per year, suspended crude intake on August 11. Four days later, Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery—the largest in southern Russia with a capacity of...

More than a million Russians have been killed or seriously wounded on the battlefields of Ukraine. But there is one man who owes his life to the continuing slaughter. For Vladimir Putin, an outbreak of peace means certain death – by assassination, overthrow and execution, or in an international prison cell as a war criminal. The Russian president's only credible hope of survival in the gangster state he has himself created is to prolong the 'special military operation' in Ukraine or to win in such outrageously successful terms that he can turn his attention to other former client states, other...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday accused India of profiteering from cheap Russian oil imports during the war in Ukraine, describing the practice as "arbitrage" and condemning it as unacceptable. "They are just profiteering. They are reselling," Bessent told CNBC's "Squawk Box" in an interview. "This is what I would call the Indian arbitrage — buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it as product." "They've made $16 billion in excess profits — some of the richest families in India," Bessent said.

Russia’s production of its most advanced tank, the T-90M “Breakthrough,” has fallen off dramatically in 2025, casting serious doubt on claims of a manufacturing surge. After upgrading its existing fleet of older T-90As, the main tank factory, UralVagonZavod, has struggled to produce new builds. This production crisis is compounded by reports of poor quality, including bad welds, and deep-seated company issues like lawsuits for unpaid bills, low wages, and corruption.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that both the United States and Russia reaffirmed their "commitment to the success" of the upcoming Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following a telephone conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the ministry issued a statement, saying that the officials also talked about "certain aspects of preparations for the upcoming meeting" between the leaders, set to take place in Alaska on August 15.

Russia is preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, ahead of talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday. “[Putin] is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address. He added, without providing specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil. “There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a postwar situation.”

President Trump on Monday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the leader’s resistance to cede territory to Russia, saying he disagrees “very, very severely” with Zelensky. “I get along with Zelensky, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely disagree. This is a war that should have never happened,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to Russia’s more than three-year war in Ukraine. In an attempt to broker an end to the conflict, Trump announced Friday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. Trump has said the meeting...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of attempting to mislead Washington, a few days before a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska."We understand Russia's intention to try to deceive America – we will not allow this," Zelensky said in his evening video address on Sunday.The two presidents are set to meet Friday in Alaska to discuss a possible solution to the Ukraine war after more than three years of conflict. Zelensky was not invited.

Washington is “done with the funding” of Ukraine’s war against Russia, JD Vance, the US vice-president, has said, as Europe scrambles to build a united defence before in-person negotiations between Presidents Trump and Putin.Speaking in an interview after an emergency summit with European and Ukrainian officials, co-hosted by David Lammy at Chevening, the foreign secretary’s mansion in Kent, Vance said Americans were fed up with paying towards the cost of the war.“What we said to the Europeans is simply, first of all, this is in your neck of the woods. This is in your back door,” he told Fox News....

United States Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that the US is working on setting up a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he told Fox News that it would not be "productive" to schedule the meeting before Putin meets with US President Donald Trump on August 15. Vance said he spoke to the Ukrainian government earlier today but that Trump will have to "force President Putin and President Zelensky to sit down, to figure out their differences."

A newly built Russian Navy tugboat, Kapitan Ushakov (Project 23470), sank on August 9 near the pier of the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg during final outfitting works, according to Russian media outlet Fontanka. The incident occurred in the evening of August 8 when the vessel developed a list to starboard. Emergency services and shipyard personnel attempted to stabilize the tug throughout the night but were unable to prevent it from capsizing. By morning, the vessel had settled on the bottom alongside the pier. The Baltic Shipyard’s press office stated that the pier was leased by the Yaroslavl Shipbuilding Plant,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin presented the Trump administration this week with a sweeping proposal for a cease-fire in Ukraine, demanding major territorial concessions by Kyiv—and a push for global recognition of its claims—in exchange for a halt to the fighting, according to European and Ukrainian officials. European officials expressed serious reservations about the proposal, which would require Ukraine hand over Eastern Ukraine, a region known as the Donbas, without Russia committing to much other than to stop fighting. The offer, which Putin conveyed Wednesday to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, set off a diplomatic scramble to get further...

Public sours on Washington, loses hope for quick NATO accession LONDON — Most Ukrainians now favor ending the war with Russia through negotiations, as support for fighting until victory has dropped sharply since the early days of the conflict. Although their hopes for joining NATO and the European Union have faded and approval of U.S. leadership has plummeted, Ukrainians still see the EU, U.K. and U.S. as key to ending the war. Yet, most doubt that will happen anytime soon.More than three years into the war, Ukrainians’ support for continuing to fight until victory has hit a new low. In...

The Kremlin confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was expected to meet with President Trump in the coming days, saying that the meeting was being planned for a location that would be named later. The Russian statement on Thursday came hours after Trump said there was a “good chance” he would meet with Putin. The idea was raised by Russia during a meeting between special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian leader on Wednesday. Witkoff relayed the idea to Trump. During the meeting with Witkoff, Putin provided “concrete examples” of Russia’s conditions for agreeing to peace, according to Secretary of...

The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday. "For the first time perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war," Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business Network's Kudlow, adding that the key elements of any agreement would involve territory. He added that he doesn't know if...

A bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could happen as soon as next week, according to a White House official. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Moscow on Wednesday and relayed to President Trump that Putin would like to meet with him, the official said. In response, Trump indicated he is open to that if Putin also meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official added. Witkoff met with Putin for several hours on Wednesday ahead of the Friday deadline imposed by Trump for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or...