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Kyiv will not meet Vladimir Putin's request for Ukraine to withdraw troops from its four partially occupied regions, Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian leader said "it's our land," in a briefing to reporters on Monday, according to The Kyiv Independent on the day when the Russian president and U.S. President Donald Trump held a much-touted phone call. Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of humanitarian group Hope for Ukraine, told Newsweek Putin's ceasefire demands, which include Ukrainian forces leaving all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, were "impossible to meet." Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin for comment. Why It Matters In...

The British maritime security firm warns that "should a future Russia-Ukraine peace agreement fail to address EU-UK sanctions on Russian hydrocarbon exports, Russia is likely to reallocate its security resources, previously concentrated on the Black Sea, to the Baltic region"LONDON, May 20. /TASS/. Attempts by European nations to detain allegedly Russia-linked merchant ships in the Baltic Sea are heightening the risk of "non-linear warfare" between NATO and Russia, according to a report by the British maritime security firm Ambrey. The assessment indicates that, in the near term, there will be "heightened maritime security risks, particularly around vessels transporting oil from...

HELSINKI, May 19 (Reuters) - Finland will supply 90 million euros ($101.35 million) of ammunition to Ukraine by using proceeds from Russian financial assets frozen by the European Union after Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Finnish defence ministry said on Monday.The EU has estimated that 210 billion euros of the roughly $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets are held in the 27-nation bloc, mainly in the form of government bonds that Russia's central bank had stored as reserves.HELSINKI, May 19 (Reuters) - Finland will supply 90 million euros ($101.35 million) of ammunition to Ukraine by using proceeds from...

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov held a high-level meeting with senior executives from U.S. defense contractor Raytheon on May 19, focusing on expanding collaboration in air and missile defense systems, particularly the Patriot platform. In a statement released after the talks, Umerov said he had a “productive meeting” with Joseph DeAntona, Raytheon’s Vice President for Land and Air Defense Systems. The conversation, he noted, centered on Ukraine’s urgent need for additional missile systems and interceptors to strengthen the country’s defenses against continued Russian air attacks. “The main topic was strengthening the protection of Ukraine’s skies,” Umerov said. “We discussed the...

SNIPThe picture Zelenskyy presents of Donald Tusk (Poland), Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron (France), Keir Starmer (UK) and Friedrich Merz (Germany), represents his “coalition of the willing.” The group who has pledged to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping coalition, as long as the USA military backstops their presence against Russia.If President Trump does not agree to position U.S. military as part of the coalition, then the “willingness” changes. Hence, Friedrich Merz says “we must maintain good relations with the United States.”SNIPIt’s all about the money! {BACKSTORY}For President Trump and Vladimir Putin to join in strategic interest is to...

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that attempted overnight Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow ahead of the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany showed Kyiv's tendency to commit "acts of terrorism." Russian air defense forces downed 14 Ukrainian drones on Wednesday, the city's mayor said, as Kyiv targeted the Russian capital for the third consecutive day. The drones forced most of the Russian capital's airports to close hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to fly in for a visit that Kyiv has made clear it opposes. In a call with...

Moscow closed all four of its main airports for several hours into Tuesday after state media reported the military had shot down 105 Ukrainian drones overnight. Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said that at least 19 drones were destroyed on their way to the capital as it prepares for Victory Day celebrations this week. Debris fell on a major avenue in the city's south without causing injuries, Sobyanin wrote on Telegram. Governors in other Russian cities, including Penza and Voronezh, said they had also been targeted by Ukrainian drones. It was the second night in a row that Russia...

President Donald Trump on Monday said he held a "productive" call with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on a range of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump shared details of the call in a post on his TRUTH Social platform. "I just had a very good and productive telephone conversation with the President of Turkey, Recep Erdoğan, concerning many subjects, including the War with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more," Trump wrote. The president added that he is looking forward to working with Erdogan to end the "ridiculous, but deadly" Russia-Ukraine war.

Ukrainian forces have reportedly opened up a third vector of attack in Glushkovsky district, Kursk Oblast, this time towards the Novy Put tract. They are taking advantage of bad weather conditions. Fierce battles are reported at these three points on the map. Rain is seriously complicating drone usage.

Russia has reported that it repelled a drone attack on Moscow as the capital city prepares to host a major military parade with foreign leaders in attendance. Russia’s air defence systems intercepted “four drones flying towards Moscow”, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Monday. The attack appears intended to unsettle Moscow’s preparations for events marking the end of the Great Patriotic War, commonly known as World War II elsewhere, on May 9. -snip- The Kremlin has branded Putin’s declaration of a three-day unilateral ceasefire a humanitarian gesture. Military operations will be paused during the truce, according to Russian authorities, as world...

US President Donald Trump said that the United States may one day decide to withdraw from the process of negotiations on the settlement of the Ukraine conflict. "Well, there will be time, when I will say: okay, keep going, keep being stupid, keep fighting ... There will be time when I may say that," Trump said in an interview for the NBC News broadcaster out on Sunday. The US leader noted that sometimes he is close to making such a decision, but then "positive things happen." On Friday, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the US was not ready yet...

US made deal with Israel under Biden, report says, as Russia fires missiles, drones at Ukrainian cities several times a week; Israeli Air Force decommissioned Patriots last year A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be refurbished and sent to Ukraine, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing four current and former US officials. The Biden administration secured the agreement with Israel to move the system, a former White House official told the Times, though the delivery has not previously been reported. The Patriot is an older model, two US officials told the Times. It is expected...

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Ukraine will not adhere to a three-day cease-fire proposed by Russia, saying such a short truce would not help in negotiations for a lasting peace. The Russian counteroffer of a three-day cease-fire covering the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, an important political holiday in Russia, was merely a “theatrical show,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv. Mr. Zelensky said Saturday that Russia’s offer was also intended to “create a soft atmosphere of an exit from isolation” for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and to assuage security worries of...

Powerful explosions are heard in many cities in Crimea, with eyewitnesses reporting attacks and strikes on military airfields in Sevastopol and Novofedorivka, according to the Telegram channels Krymskyi Veter and the partisan movement ATESH. According to eyewitnesses, around midnight Kyiv time, a powerful explosion occurred in the Feodosia area near the Crimean market. Later, public pages reported the launch of at least 15 drones from Cape Chauda. At 00:41, a loud explosion was heard on the northern side of Sevastopol, and at 01:08, there was an explosion near the airport in Simferopol. In Sevastopol, the Russian authorities reported the alleged...

Will Zelensky attack ther Victory Day parade and escalate the war to the maximum? On the one hand, we all know ‘talk is cheap’, so it may be that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is just posturing when he hints that his forces may well attack the May 9th Victory Day Parade in Moscow, Russia – an event that will gather thousands of people, including as many as 20 heads of state. This would amount to an especially damning escalation since Putin declared a 3-day truce from May 8-10 – a proposal that Kiev sneered at, but hasn’t publicly rejected. However,...

This analytical article contains documents, analysis and examples of typical sanctions dodging schemes by Russian suppliers of the Russian military-industrial complex. Here, you will find names of numerous Russian companies and plants involved in sanctions evasion schemes, learn what typical forgeries Russians resort to in invoices and other documents to conceal supply routes and identifying data of suppliers providing access to Western products. This article provides extensive context so that every reader could follow the logic of the investigation and understand how the Russia finds its way around sanctions. This information can come handy to both experts specializing in sanctions...

US president noted that "he's been saying that for three years"NEW YORK, April 28. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky asked US President Donald Trump to supply more weapons to Ukraine at their April 26 meeting in Rome, the US leader said. "He told me that he needs more weapons, but he's been saying that for three years," Trump told reporters at Morristown Airport in New Jersey.

A peace proposal by the Trump administration that includes recognizing Russian authority over Crimea shocked Ukrainian officials, who say they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula, even though they expect to concede the territory to the Kremlin, at least temporarily. Giving up the land that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is also politically and legally impossible, according to experts. It would require a change to the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote, and it could be considered treason. Lawmakers and the public are firmly opposed to the idea. “It doesn’t mean anything,” said Oleksandr Merezkho,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that Ukraine is “ready to purchase” more American-made Patriot missile systems from the United States, noting that it was a “top priority” for Ukraine to secure “air defense systems for Ukraine.” In a video on X, Zelensky said he had “held a Staff meeting” and added that, among the top priorities were Ukraine’s “agreements” with its partners, and Ukraine’s “readiness to produce air defense systems in Ukraine.” Zelensky added that Ukraine would “seek to reach a corresponding agreement” with the U.S. regarding “an agreement on Patriots for Ukraine.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine could not accept US recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea as he visited South Africa, while both he and Donald Trump criticised a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv. Though he did not mention Crimea – the contested Black Sea peninsula occupied by Russia since spring 2014 – by name, Ukraine’s president diplomatically returned to the topic a day after Trump accused him of intransigence on the issue.