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Vladimir Putin 'regrets' triggering a full-scale war costing hundreds of thousands of lives, his closest international ally has claimed. Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko said: 'We haven't talked about it, but I know him well. 'Putin didn't expect it would turn into such a war.' The close Putin crony told interviewer Mario Nawfal on X: 'When he saw a huge number of people dying, Putin instantly agreed to the negotiations to stop the conflict.' This was earlier in the war, in 2022, and, Lukashenko claimed, Putin was ready to negotiate 'on NATO, on demilitarisation, on denazification', as he described it, 'on...

A fire erupted at one of Russia's largest oil refineries in the city of Ufa in Bashkortostan, approximately 900 miles from the Ukrainian border, following a reported drone attack. -snip- Videos circulating on social media showed a huge fire engulf the Bashneft-owned refinery, which is situated about 932 miles east of the Ukrainian border, and processes up to 168,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters. The Bashkortostan Ministry of Emergency Situations said the fire erupted "in the area of the incinerator." "There is no threat to residents of nearby areas. A laboratory is operating on site to monitor the air...

Russia is demanding control of cities in Ukraine that its forces don't currently occupy as part of a deal with President Donald Trump to potentially bring an end to the war, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said. -snip- Trump has suggested that both Russia and Ukraine must make concessions in the war. Kyiv has rejected any idea of ceding territory to Moscow, while Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up its aspirations of joining the NATO military alliance, and cede its Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The ISW think tank, based in Washington D.C., noted...

The Kremlin declined to comment Tuesday after the release of a report documenting the deaths of more than 95,000 Russian soldiers fighting Ukraine. The report was based on open-access data collated by independent Russian news outlet Mediazona in collaboration with the BBC's Russian Service. On the third anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion on Monday, Mediazona published an infographic with images and official reports of deaths of soldiers collated from various sources including social media, news reports and obituaries. Mediazona and the BBC have been updating the list since the offensive began. Each entry includes accessible information on the soldier...

Vladimir Putin has displayed a mystery scar on his forehead while attending an event in Moscow. The cut was prominent on the Russian president's brow as he addressed the Future Technologies Forum. He used his speech to boast about Moscow's military might, reportedly claiming at one point that 'the whole world is talking about' the capabilities of Russia's Oreshnik missile systems. But audience members may have been distracted by the noticeable scab on the dictator's bald head. The mark has been visible in pictures and TV appearances since Wednesday, with little attempt made to conceal it. But there is no...

Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has an approval rating of 57 percent, according to a poll released Wednesday hours after US President Donald Trump said Zelensky's rating was just four percent. Calling for presidential elections in Ukraine, which are banned under martial law, Trump said Tuesday of Zelensky: "He's down at four percent approval rating", US media reported.

Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack on Russia, setting ablaze an oil refinery, Russian media reported on the Telegram messaging app. Videos posted by locals seem to show a large fire at the Ilsky refinery, located in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, east of the Crimean Peninsula. Residents also reported hearing explosions around 1:30 a.m. local time. According to Russia’s SHOT Telegram news channel, the fire was stoked by falling drone wreckage. Russian Governor Veniamin Kondratyev earlier on Monday said that Ukraine’s drone attack on Russia’s Krasnodar region injured one person and damaged at least 12 houses. The local official, writing on...

VLADIMIR Putin's apocalyptic Satan-2 nuclear missile has been branded an "absolute failure" - despite the Russian despot bragging it is "unstoppable". Putin has sacked the boss of Russian space agency Roscosmos after the killer weapon blew up on a launchpad before even taking off during a missile test. Russia has long boasted the 208-ton intercontinental hypersonic missile - capable of carrying nuclear warheads - is “unstoppable” by the West. The 15,880mph missile system is said to be the size of a 14-storey tower block. But Putin is now said to be frustrated over the production failures of the so-called apocalyptic...

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...

On February 9, the players, coaches and owners of either the Philadelphia Eagles or Kansas City Chiefs will win a coveted Super Bowl ring. The rings, which are understood to cost between $30,000 (£24,000) and $50,000 (£40,000), are widely considered to be one of the most iconic and beautiful awards in sport today. Few people are more familiar with the gleaming pieces of jewellery than New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who watched his iconic side win six Super Bowls. Yet, the multi-billionaire only has five rings, as Russian president Vladimir Putin has the other one. Kraft, 83, visited Russia...

A Russian intelligence-gathering vessel caught fire and temporarily lost control off the Syrian coast on Janaury 23, according to Associated Press (AP). The Kildin, a Russian spy ship equipped with surveillance technology, was seen emitting black smoke and flames as it drifted, prompting an urgent maritime radio warning to nearby vessels. The Associated Press obtained audio of the broadcast, as well as video and photographs of the incident. “Warship on your course,” the Russian Captain said. “I am drifting. I’m not under command.” The videos, taken by three NATO military officials, were collected by a nearby NATO vessel. These officials...

A Russian singer accused of donating to the Ukraine army and calling President Vladimir Putin an “idiot” fell to his death from a window this week — just moments after authorities raided his apartment. Vadim Stroykin, 58, plunged to his death from the 10th floor of his St. Petersburg apartment building on Wednesday after cops came to interrogate him about the alleged donations and other claims of extremism, local news outlet Fontanka reported. Authorities said the British-educated musician and radio host was last seen alive when he went to his kitchen to get water during the police search, according to...

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...

U.S. President Donald Trump is proving to be somewhat popular within Russia, leaving the Kremlin to grapple with how to counter Russians' love of a leader who isn't President Vladimir Putin, recent media reports suggest. -snip- Alexander Baunov, the editor-in-chief of Carnegie Politika and a senior fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in an analysis published on January 31 that in Russia, Trump is a new "anti-elitist president" who, "like a beloved Hollywood lone hero, is closer and more understandable to the generation of the Russian elite that lived through the 1990s or grew up watching American movies than...

A terror weapon becomes less terrifying when it doesn’t work. After warning U.S. officials of its intention to launch, Russia lobbed a mysterious new ballistic missile—initially mistaken for a nuclear-capable ICBM—at the city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine on the morning of Nov. 21, damaging buildings and injuring dozens of people. The mystery weapon turned out to be a variant of Russia’s RS-26, a 40-ton, solid-fueled missile with six independent reentry vehicles. Its name, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin announced shortly after the strike, is “Oreshnik.” That’s Russian for “hazelnut tree.” Three months later on Thursday morning, the Russians reportedly launched...

Two Russian colonels are reported to have fallen out of windows in the space of two days, adding to a growing list of high-ranking officials who have died in mysterious circumstances since Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine began. Artur Pryakhin, 56, the head of a regional branch of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in the Republic of Karelia, died after falling from a fifth floor window of an office building at around noon on February 4. Local authorities said he left a suicide note in his office in which he apologized to his wife, asked his loved ones for forgiveness,...

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...

ONE of Mad Vlad's war criminal deputy governors has been blown up by a landmine. Sergey Efremov, 51, has become the highest ranking Russian official to be killed in the conflict. -snip- The 51-year-old reportedly died after his military vehicle was blown up after hitting a mine in the Kursk region of Western Russia. Efremov, and another pro-Putin politician, died after attempting to help wounded Russian soldiers.

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...

Milos Vucevic resigns following mass anti-corruption demonstrations triggered by station roof collapse in which 15 died. “The resignation of the prime minister is too little, too late. This is now a major political crisis. It is growing every day. The tragedy at the train station was the trigger. “It is illustrative of all the problems that Serbia faces – institutions not doing their jobs, the government lying to people. There are issues about state capture and freedom of the media – it’s about all these things.”