Free Republic

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in an exclusive interview with "Special Report" that his relationship with President Donald Trump has grown closer, with more frequent communication and stronger alignment on how to handle the ongoing war with Russia. Asked directly by Baier if his ties with Trump had improved, Zelenskyy said, "I think we have better relations than before. It’s good that we have often [had] phone calls and meetings, and the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was lying to President Trump so many times also made a difference between us." Zelenskyy also said...

Ukraine has started making a new cruise missile said to be capable of carrying a 1,000 kg warhead with a range of 1,800 miles, according to its defense minister. Denys Shmyhal, who was appointed as defense minister in July, said at a public event on Monday that serial production of the missile, dubbed the Flamingo, had begun. The minister declined to discuss the missile further, saying that more details would be disclosed "when the right time comes." But his announcement comes a day after other sources in Ukraine reported on its specifications. Efrem Lukatsky, an Associated Press photographer, published an...

Ukraine expects to receive around 1.8 million artillery shells by the end of the year as part of the Czech ammunition initiative. The statement was made by Ukraine`s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha during a joint press conference in Kyiv with his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavský, Ukrinform correspondent reported on August 12. “Czechia is making practical contributions to our shared security and defense. Thanks to the Czech ammunition initiative launched in 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are to receive about 1.8 million artillery shells by the end of this year,” Sybiha stated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected proposals for a buffer zone between Ukrainian and Russian forces as part of a peace deal, arguing it does not reflect the realities of modern warfare. "Only those who do not understand the technological state of today's war propose a buffer zone," he told reporters on Friday. His comments followed a report suggesting European leaders were considering a 40km (25-mile) buffer zone as part of either a ceasefire or longer-term agreement. The war in Ukraine has evolved into a conflict driven by drone technology, and Zelensky suggested a buffer zone of sorts already existed...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz does not have the ability to manage Europe’s top economy. “The welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed with what we produce in the economy,” Merz said in a recent meeting. At the same time, Merz agreed to begin sending Ukraine 9 billion euros annually in addition to all other aid. Merz tried to claim there would “not be any increase in income tax on medium-sized companies in Germany with this federal government under my leadership.” SPD Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil disagrees, and said that middle and high-income citizens could race an...

Donald Trump has staked much of his political brand on being the consummate dealmaker. He is not a theorist, nor a philosopher-king, nor a bureaucrat buried in details. His appeal rests in his posture as the man who cuts through nonsense, breaks impasses, and brings adversaries to the table. In the past, Trump’s instincts on foreign affairs have proven unconventional but effective: cooling tensions with North Korea, brokering normalization between Israel and Arab states, restraining NATO adventurism, and articulating—against Washington orthodoxy—that endless wars in the Middle East were bleeding America dry. He relishes the image of the peacemaker, a strongman...

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, at Tuesday's briefing, criticized the "left-wing media" and "failed foreign policy establishment" for "actively rooting against the president in his pursuit of peace in Ukraine." KAROLINE LEAVITT: For one thing that has absolutely not changed is the media's negative and downright false coverage of President Trump and his foreign policy accomplishments. From the beginning of this entire process, much of the left-wing media has been actively rooting against the President of the United States in the pursuit of peace. Initially, the media ridiculously claimed that President Trump was somehow beholden to Russia for even...

European leaders may have rushed to Washington ostensibly to throw a protective arm around President Zelensky and head off any repeat of February's Oval Office bust-up. But their real aim is to stop US President Donald Trump threatening long-term European security after his abrupt change of course over how best to end the war in Ukraine. Not only did Trump drop calls for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for talks about long-term peace, he also - diplomats say - made clear he had no intention of imposing further economic sanctions on Russia. In short, the travelling European heads of government...

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are floating the possibility of introducing a bill in the Senate that, if passed, could designate Russia and Belarus as state sponsors of terrorism over the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, a source familiar with the bill tells NBC News. The bill cites media reports and estimates from the Ukrainian government that show that Russia and Belarus have taken or displaced tens of thousands of Ukrainian children since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. "The Russian Federation has kidnapped, deported, or displaced Ukrainian children as young as a few months to 17-year-olds, according to...

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...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tore into President Trump early Saturday after his high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska ended without a deal, accusing the president of “selling out” Ukraine. “Looks like once again Trump is selling out Ukraine and bowing down to dictator Putin,” he wrote on social media platform X. “No Nobel Peace Prize for that.” His critique comes days after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quipped that she would nominate Trump for the coveted prize if he successfully squeezed a ceasefire agreement out of the Russian leader. Trump and Putin met at...

Democrats are big mad that President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to move closer toward an end to the war in Ukraine. Before and after the summit, leftists excoriated Trump for the meeting and even seemed to argue that Putin somehow got the upper hand — even though this was only the first in-person meeting between the two leaders about the war. In essence, some of these people seem to be rooting against Trump successfully ending the bloodshed happening in Ukraine. Media pundit Malcolm Nance, a chronic TDS sufferer, wrote a post on X in which he...

United States President Donald Trump said world leaders aim for a full peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, rather than a temporary ceasefire. He described his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as "very successful" and added that the talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European leaders and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte also went "very well." Trump confirmed that Zelensky will visit the White House on Monday and also said another meeting with Putin could follow if plans proceed. "Potentially, millions of people's lives will be saved," he said.

Aug 14, 2025

Ukraine says it has struck a critical oil-pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region, igniting a large fire at a hub feeding the Druzhba pipeline to Europe. The Unecha facility also links to the Baltic Pipeline System-2, which carries Russian crude to Ust-Luga, the country’s second-largest Baltic oil port.

. . . Yet Zelenskyy’s fatal political error is negotiating for total victory as if it were already won. It isn’t. You don’t demand unconditional surrender when you lack the power to enforce it—and the wider the gap between rhetoric and reality, the sooner Ukraine risks the very outcome it claims to prevent: the loss of its statehood, on Russian terms. That delusion persists in Washington, kept alive by voices from the Biden-Blinken school of foreign policy romanticism—still peddling the fairy tale: one more tranche, one more package, one more spring. In reality, it buys Ukraine’s destruction—its soldiers bled out,...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine would reject any Russian proposal to give up the Donbas region in exchange for a ceasefire, warning it could be used as a springboard for future attacks. Zelensky was speaking ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Trump has said any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and it is believed one of Putin's demands is that Kyiv surrenders the parts of the Donbas it still controls. Meanwhile Russia's troops have continued their summer offensive, making a sudden thrust near the...

"It is impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine," Vladimir Zelensky said OSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Ukraine will not recognize the decision taken at the Russia-US summit in Alaska without its participation, Vladimir Zelensky said. "It is impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no one will recognize that. That’s why this conversation may be important for their [Russia-US] bilateral track, but they cannot decide anything on Ukraine without us. I hope the US president understands that and takes into account," the head of the Kiev regime said at a forum. On August 8, Trump announced that he was...

The intellectually honest political watcher knows that overall Ukraine represents the largest international money laundering operation to shift wealth from taxpayers to the politically connected institutions, since COVID-19. The money is the motive to continue the conflict.With President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin scheduled to meet in Alaska for a summit to negotiate a ceasefire, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz quickly organizes a meeting between EU leaders and the U.K to figure out how the keep the war going.As the industrial capital of the EU, Germany has a lot at stake given the nature of their contracting economy. The EU military...

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.