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BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungary's Viktor Orban said on Monday that Ukraine was not a sovereign country, as he hit back at accusations that Hungarian reconnaissance drones violated its airspace - the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter row between Kyiv and Budapest."Ukraine is not at war with Hungary; it is at war with Russia. It should be concerned with the drones on its eastern border," the Hungarian prime minister said during an interview on a right-wing podcast popular with his supporters."I believe my ministers, but let's say it would have actually flown a few metres there, so what? Ukraine is not...

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces have trapped and are destroying Russian units that advanced near Pokrovsk, after weeks of heavy fighting that shifted the front line northward. He shared this at a briefing with journalists on September 26, according to a UNITED24 Media correspondent. Syrskyi said Moscow’s original spring and summer objectives—creating buffer zones in Kharkiv and Sumy regions, seizing the Pokrovsk agglomeration, reaching the Donetsk border, and advancing in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson—“were not realized thanks to the skillful actions of our warriors, smart decisions by commanders, timely reforms, and effective strikes on the enemy rear.” He...

Maria Zakharova drew attention to reports in several Hungarian media outlets about Vladimir Zelensky's plans to carry out sabotage in Romania and Poland with the aim of blaming RussiaMOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has predicted the imminent outbreak of World War III, if Hungarian media reports about Kiev's plans to stage a false flag operation in Romania and Poland are confirmed. In her Telegram channel, she drew attention to reports in several Hungarian media outlets about Vladimir Zelensky's plans to carry out sabotage in Romania and Poland with the aim of blaming Russia. "His office...

The front line on the battlefield in Ukraine has grown in length to nearly 1,250 kilometers (800 miles), stretching Kyiv’s defenses, while Russian forces employ a new tactic of sending swarms of small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian lines, Ukraine’s top military commander says. The line of contact has grown by roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles) over the past year, and Ukrainian forces are averaging between 160 and 190 combat engagements every day with Russia’s bigger army, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a review of the battlefield situation. At the same time, Russian tactics have switched since the start of...

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended that its citizens immediately leave Belarus and refrain from traveling to the country, the Polish embassy in Minsk reported. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends refraining from any travel to the Republic of Belarus and calls on Polish citizens currently in the Republic of Belarus to immediately leave its territory, using available commercial and private means“, the embassy's press service said.

US President Donald Trump voiced his displeasure with Putin’s actions and pointed out the decline of Russia’s economy, according to his remarks to journalists at the White House, APA reports quoting RBC Ukraine. Trump criticized what Russia is doing and the actions of its president, Vladimir Putin. "They have put it all out on the line. Their economy is going to hell. They're bombing the hell out of everything," he said. The US president also noted that Russian forces are capturing very little territory, if they are capturing any at all. "In fact, they're losing some territory. So, I think...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Wednesday, one day after President Donald Trump called Moscow a "paper tiger" and said Ukraine could win back its seized land. Rubio and Lavrov sat with their delegations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz was also present. The meeting lasted roughly 50 minutes. Lavrov didn't respond to questions as he left, including whether he was concerned about the shift in tone from Trump or whether the U.S. president had turned his back on...

Russia and China asked the United Nations Security Council to vote on Friday on a draft resolution to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran, diplomats said. All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to be reimposed at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday (0000 GMT on Saturday) after Britain, France and Germany triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon. A resolution in the 15-member U.N. Security Council needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by either Britain, France...

United States President Donald Trump expressed on Thursday his disappointment with Russian President Vladimir Putin, regarding the lack of progress toward resolving the war in Ukraine. "With all of the heavy bombardment over the last two weeks, they have gained almost no land. I'm not going to ever call anybody a paper tiger but Russia has spent millions and millions of dollars in bombs, missiles, ammunition and lives," Trump told journalists amid a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Oval Office.

After three and a half years, President Vladimir Putin is having to lean more and more on ordinary Russians to pay for his war in Ukraine. The Russian Finance Ministry on Wednesday said it intends to raise value added tax by two percentage points to 22 percent, part of a three-year plan that aims to plug a rapidly expanding hole in public finances. VAT accounted for more than 15 percent of total government revenue last year. After raising personal income taxes sharply at the start of the year, Putin had pledged there would be no more big changes to the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview published on Thursday that he would be ready to step down after the war with Russia is over. “If we finish the war with the Russians, yes, I am ready not to go [for elections] because it’s not my goal, elections,” Zelensky told the Axios website in a video interview. “I wanted very much, in a very difficult period of time, to be with my country, help my country. My goal is to finish the war.” Zelensky said he would ask Ukraine’s parliament to organise elections if a ceasefire was reached. A...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Ukraine, APA reports. The announcement was made by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on his Facebook page. During their meeting, Rubio confirmed his agreement to travel to Ukraine. It should be noted that since assuming office, Secretary Rubio has not yet visited Ukraine.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed two Russian An-26 transport aircraft in Crimea and an SU-34 fighter jet in the Zaporizhzhia direction, APA reports, citing UNIAN. In addition, a Russian radar station and a coastal radar were also hit.

Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Russia-controlled Crimea, said on Thursday that disruptions in fuel supplies were related to the closure of some oil refineries as a gasoline crisis widened across Russia. Several Russian regions were seeing shortages of certain fuel grades as Ukrainian drone attacks have reduced refinery runs, while high borrowing costs mean private filling stations can't afford to stockpile fuel, traders and retailers said. "Due to the fact that some of the plants are physically not working, we have experienced problems and interruptions with fuel," Aksyonov said on a video posted on his Telegram channel, without saying the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his "productive meeting" with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, after which Trump appeared to jettison his long-held skepticism of Kyiv's battlefield ambitions. Shortly after the meeting, Trump wrote on social media, "After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form." (snip) But on Tuesday, the...

President Trump’s dramatic pronouncement Tuesday that Russia is a “paper tiger” is based on new US intelligence that shows the Kremlin is spiraling toward economic ruin and battlefield defeat as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump’s insistence in the same statement that Ukraine can regain all the land currently occupied by Russia is the president’s latest “strategic move” to try and bring Russia to the negotiating table, sources inside and outside the White House told The Post Wednesday. -snip- “The president is making it very clear that Russia is in a very weak position,” White House press...

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev responded on Wednesday to United States President Donald Trump's comments about the Ukraine conflict by stating that he "has once again fallen into an alternate reality." The US president "issued a series of political incantations on the theme of 'How weak Russia is'" Medvedev wrote on Telegram. "After meeting with the clowns in Kiev and Paris, he published a colorful post. It mentions Kiev's final victory, a return to the former borders, Russia's failed military economy, queues for gasoline, and a 'paper tiger.'" Moreover, Medvedev went on to suggest that Trump "will return....

US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York after blasting world leaders during his speech. Speaking to reporters before the bilateral talks, Trump hailed Zelenskyy as a courageous leader. "He’s a brave man, and he’s putting up one hell of a fight," Trump said. "We have about 30 meetings scheduled today, but this is an important one -- and we have great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It is pretty amazing."

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine could restore its borders from before Russia’s invasion and that he believes NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace, escalating his rhetoric against the Kremlin as its war in Ukraine drags on. Taken together, Trump’s remarks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly about shooting down Russian aircraft and his later post on Truth Social about Ukraine’s borders seemed to reflect a significant shift in his attitude toward Moscow and what the end of the intractable conflict might look like. His comments on Ukraine’s borders...

US President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that his past relationship with Russia President Vladimir Putin failed to influence Russia's war in Ukraine. Speaking at a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during the 80th UN General Assembly, Trump said he once believed his personal connection with the Russian leader could ease tensions but "unfortunately, that relationship didn't mean anything." He criticized Moscow for prolonging the conflict, noting that after more than three years of fighting, "thousands are being killed weekly with no progress." Trump also praised France's role in helping address other regional disputes, saying Macron’s support had been...