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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a bipartisan group of senators Thursday that he could bring Russia to the negotiating table next year if the Biden administration speeds up shipments of weapons to Ukraine and greenlights missile strikes deeper into Russia. In a closed-door meeting that lasted about 90 minutes, Zelensky told senators that he needs more F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles with capability to strike more than 100 miles into Russia, promising that Russian President Vladimir Putin would negotiate a peace deal if his own country faces a greater military threat. “He’s saying that within the [military aid] package...

A Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike reportedly struck Vladimir Putin's Satan-2 nuclear missile, prompting an apocalyptic explosion yesterday morning. A secret ammunition silo facility at Toropets in Tver region that housed one of the Russian President's nuke missiles was hit by Ukrainian drone, it was claimed yesterday. It allegedly happened just ten miles from an 'indestructible' 30,000 ton munitions storage site that had been obliterated on Wednesday. A huge explosion was triggered when the 'Satan-2' missile was hit, causing locals to panic over fears of a Doomsday detonation. The claim that the missile was destroyed came from a Russian Telegram channel...

Keir Starmer hit back at Putin's chilling warning NATO countries would be at war with Russia if they allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles. The Russian dictator said allowing Kyiv to use missiles that could strike targets within the Kremlin's territory would change the "nature of the conflict". "It would mean NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia," Putin told a state TV reporter on Thursday. But as Mr Starmer jetted to Washington on Thursday night for meetings with President Joe Biden, he told reporters: "Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end...

The Biden administration has already decided to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike targets deep within Russian territory and any hesitancy is merely political camouflage, a Kremlin spokesman said Thursday. The White House is close to an agreement to provide Ukraine with the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile that could “significantly alter” the ongoing conflict with Russia, according to Reuters. It has a range of about 230 miles, or more than 570 miles if Kyiv receives the extended-range version. The JASSM can be launched from an F-16 Fighting Falcon, which the U.S. and other NATO allies are in...

Sweden will send its 17th aid package to Ukraine with further military support totalling 4.6 billion Swedish crowns ($443 million), Defence Minister Pal Jonson said on Monday. The new package will include ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles already donated by Sweden, as well as purchases that would facilitate a transfer of Gripen fighter jets in the future, though no such transfer has been decided on yet. "We want to have the ability to donate Gripens to Ukraine at a possible later stage," Jonson told a press conference. Jonson said support included additional combat boats, missiles and camouflage gear as well...

On Friday, the Biden White House announced it would write another multi-million dollar check to Ukraine in addition to the $113.4 billion it has already given the country. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the United States would provide Ukraine with a $250 million aid package that includes missiles, armored vehicles, and anti-tank weapons. Austin said the aid package will “surge in more capabilities to meet Ukraine's evolving requirements.” “This announcement demonstrates the United States’ enduring commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense against Russia’s brutal aggression,” the State Department said. “This assistance will be deployed as quickly as possible to bolster...

Turkish sources, citing intelligence and government officials, report that Ukrainian forces are planning a missile strike deep into Russian territory using JASSM missiles. This attack is reportedly being timed to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin's birthday on October 7. Experts from Modern War Research believe that an official announcement regarding the delivery of these missiles to Kyiv will be made just before the strike, indicating that the missiles may have already arrived in Ukraine. This approach mirrors the previous deliveries of Himars, M270 MLRS, and ATACMS missiles.

46 UAVs were shot down over the Kursk region, 34 over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region, 14 over the Belgorod region, eight over the Ryazan region, two over Moscow, seven over the Moscow region, five over the Kaluga region, four over the Lipetsk region, three over the Tula region, two drones each over the Tambov and Smolensk regions, and one each over the Oryol, Tver and Ivanovo regions. As previously reported, one of the drones' targets was the Moscow Oil Refinery. There is a fire at the plant, but its scale is said to be small. The...

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told CNN the Biden administration is still considering his request to lift restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons to strike deeper inside Russian territory and confirmed he’d presented a list of targets in meetings with senior officials in Washington on Friday“We have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect the citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us, so I hope we were heard,” Umerov said in an interview with CNN’s Alex Marquardt on “The Situation Room.”Despite repeated requests from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US is not currently expected to...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region was the first part of Kyiv’s victory plan, which he intends to present to US President Joe Biden in September. While light on details, Zelensky said the four-stage plan began with the cross-border incursion into Kursk, which he said “is already done.” “Second direction is Ukraine’s strategic place in the security infrastructure of the world,” Zelensky continued. “Third direction is the powerful package of forcing Russia to end the war in a diplomatic way, and the fourth direction is economical.” It also raised questions on how it would end...

Sir Keir Starmer has told Ukrainians the UK will back them “today and always”, as Kyiv marks 33 years since it declared independence from the Soviet Union. The Prime Minister described his message to frontline fighters and people who have sought refuge in the UK as “crystal clear”, and the Government confirmed community groups, councils and parishes have planned events to mark the anniversary. Ukraine’s supreme soviet agreed the state should leave the Moscow-based Soviet Union on August 24 1991, a decision which Ukrainian voters backed at a referendum in December the same year. “My message to all Ukrainians, whether...

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy touted a newly developed Ukrainian "drone missile" on Saturday that he said would take the war back to Russia and scornfully derided Russia's Vladimir Putin as a "sick old man from Red Square". As Ukraine marked 33 years of post-Soviet independence, Zelenskiy said the new weapon, Palianytsia, was faster and more powerful than the domestically made drones that Kyiv has so far used to fight back against Russia, striking its oil refineries and military airfields. "Our enemy will ... know what the Ukrainian way for retaliation is. Worthy, symmetrical, long-ranged," he said. Zelenskiy said the new class...

(Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces captured more than 1,250 square km (480 square miles) in a "defensive operation" in Russia's Kursk region and urged allies to allow Western weapons strikes deep inside the country.Two weeks after Ukrainian forces launched a shock incursion into Russia's western region, Zelenskiy said the operation "no one knew about" proved there were no red lines of the Kremlin to be wary of."The naive, illusory concept of so-called red lines regarding Russia, which dominated the assessment of the war by some partners, has crumbled apart in these days somewhere near Sudzha," he said, referring...

On Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said he was “comfortable” at this point with Ukrainian forces using U.S. weapons on Russian soil. According to the Arizona Democrat, Ukraine’s move to attack Russia on its turf could “change the tide” of the conflict. “Let me ask you about Ukraine. I know you are very focused on that war,” host Margaret Brennan said. “Their forces launched this bold incursion into Western Russia, into this Kursk area. Are you comfortable with U.S. weapons being used on Russian soil?”

Secretive peace talks between Ukraine and Russia collapsed before they even started following Kyiv's incursion into the Kursk region last week. The two countries were set to hold indirect talks in Qatar on a deal to halt strikes on energy and power infrastructure, in a first step towards a partial-ceasefire. However, Russian officials were said to be furious at Ukraine’s surprise incursion, according to the Washington Post, which revealed the secret Doha talks. Moscow’s delegation described it as “an escalation" and immediately pulled out of the talks this week. A Qatari diplomat said that Russia “didn’t call off the talks,...

Ukraine has set up a military administrative office in Russia's Kursk region, where its surprise incursion into Russian territory continues, according to its top military commander. Gen Oleksandr Syrsky said the office would "maintain law and order" and "meet the immediate needs" of the population in the area. In a video posted on social media, Gen Syrsky is seen telling a meeting chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the office has been created "on the territories controlled by Ukraine". Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov has said Moscow will send reinforcements to "safeguard" the population in the region.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the head Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported to him the “successful liberation of the city of Sudzha from Russian forces.” The town had a prewar population of around 5,000 people, the Associated Press reported. It holds a measuring station for Russian natural gas that flows through Ukrainian pipelines. “A Ukrainian military commandant’s office is being established there,” Zelenskiy said, adding that “several other settlements have also been liberated. In total, more than eighty.” Ukrainian state TV aired footage on Wednesday of its troops pulling down a Russian flag from an official building in Sudzha.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Ukraine has captured the key town of Sudzha in the Russian Kursk region, providing his forces with an important foothold as troops continue to surge across Russia. Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported the capture of Sudzha during a Thursday briefing, Zelensky said in a video address. Ukraine is setting up a commandant’s office in the town, Zelensky said, while more than 80 settlements in Kursk have now fallen to advancing Ukrainian troops. “I thank every warrior of ours who ensures all this,” Zelensky said. Moscow has not yet commented on Ukraine’s...

KYIV, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Tuesday its biggest cross-border assault of the war to date had taken control of 74 settlements in Russia's region of Kursk and was still advancing, making gains of one to three kilometres in the last 24 hours. Ukraine blindsided Moscow by pouring thousands of troops into the western Russian region of Kursk last week in a surprise operation that has given Ukraine its biggest battlefield gains since 2022 after months on the backfoot.

He called on Western pilots to come and “fight for freedom” in Ukraine until Kiev can train its own airmen. American-made F-16 fighters have started to arrive in Ukraine, but there are currently not enough pilots to fly them.During a press conference in Kiev on Monday, Graham said: “If you’re a retired F-16 pilot and you’re looking to fight for freedom, they will hire you here““They’re going to look throughout NATO nations for willing fighter pilots who retired to come help them, until they can get their pilots trained.”The warmonger then added: “We’re going to get these jets into the...