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The Russian military on Monday claimed it was able to make advances against Ukrainian forces in the Kherson and Kursk regions. Ukraine disputed these claims and blasted Russia for once again launching missiles at civilian targets, while the Russians accused Ukraine of hitting populated areas with their own artillery shells. Russian officials told the state-run Tass news agency on Monday that Russian artillery “wiped out two Ukrainian artillery squads in the Kherson region,” killing seven Ukrainian troops. The Russians claim to have destroyed a Ukrainian self-propelled artillery gun and a 120mm mortar with its ammunition.

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, will never again be part of Ukraine, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday in remarks detailing his objection to Zagreb providing military aid to Kyiv.In December, Croatian lawmakers rejected a proposal that the country join a European Union mission in support of the Ukrainian military, reflecting deep divisions between Milanovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.A vocal critic of Western policy in Ukraine, Milanovic has said he does not want his country, the EU's newest member state, to face what he has called potentially disastrous consequences over...

President Donald Trump confidently assured Americans this week that if he were president, he would be able to negotiate an end to the intense war between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours – and he’s got the track record to prove that he could do it.As the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump was the only president in decades who did not push American troops into unneeded and endless foreign wars. Unfortunately, with the Biden administration at the helm, the U.S. has forked over almost $100 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine and counting.To make matters worse, Joe...

American and NATO efforts to assist Ukraine in its conflict with Russia have escalated alarmingly since Putin launched his invasion almost one year ago. We began by doing virtually nothing to help Ukraine, except rhetorically and by way of offering Ukrainian leaders a one-way flight into exile. Since then we have imposed history-making economic and financial sanctions against Russia, and we have progressively taken on the responsibilities of funding, supplying, training, and providing intelligence for the Ukrainian security forces. It is an open question whether the average Ukrainian soldier now serves under Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Joe Biden. ...[snip]... What effect,...

The war in Ukraine is poised to become even more violent this year with a major Russian offensive expected and more advanced Western-made weapons pouring in to bolster Ukrainian forces. Along these lines, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg recently warned that the war has entered a "decisive phase." This new stage of the war could bring the fight to a territory vital to Russia's military capabilities in Ukraine and cherished by Russian President Vladimir Putin: Crimea. The Black Sea peninsula, which was invaded by Russian forces and illegally annexed by Putin in 2014, served as a launchpad for Russia's invasion last...

But Hodges is among military experts who believe that reclaiming Crimea is required for Ukraine's long-term survival. He told Britain's Channel 4 News last Wednesday that Crimea is the "decisive terrain" and that it should be isolated "with long range precision weapons." In his view, these would include F-16 jets and ATACMs (Army Tactical Missile Systems) and armed drones, which can "reach beyond the current HIMARS being used that could isolate Crimea" and "make Crimea untenable." The fate of Crimea as a deciding factor in the war in Ukraine continues to be debated amid speculation over whether it would be...

Until it decided to confront Moscow with an existential military threat in Ukraine, Washington confined the use of American military power to conflicts that Americans could afford to lose, wars with weak opponents in the developing world from Saigon to Baghdad that did not present an existential threat to U.S. forces or American territory. This time—a proxy war with Russia—is different. Contrary to early Beltway hopes and expectations, Russia neither collapsed internally nor capitulated to the collective West’s demands for regime change in Moscow. Washington underestimated Russia’s societal cohesion, its latent military potential, and its relative immunity to Western economic...

In the battle to keep warm, Ukrainian infantryman Kyrylo Molchanov has turned to “trench candles”—empty food cans packed with cardboard—to heat his front-line dugout. With Russia and Ukraine fighting through the winter, keeping Ukrainian soldiers warm could become a competitive advantage for Kyiv. For armies, winter weather affects everything from maneuverability to battery power. But the cold and wet can have a crushing effect on soldiers’ morale and ability to fight, while creating potential medical problems. The U.S. and its allies have sent hundreds of thousands of pieces of winter clothing. Ukraine has supplemented those supplies from elsewhere, and the...

Russia threatened to retaliate against the U.S. and other Western nations if they provide more powerful weapons to Ukraine, warning on Sunday that stepped-up military aid from allies would trigger a “global catastrophe.” ...

MPs have proposed law to give National Guard greater powers over mobilisation Comes as intelligence claims Russia has suffered 188,000 casualties in Ukraine Western allies pledged billions of dollars worth of weapons for Kyiv last week Russia has quietly dropped a rule exempting fathers of three of more children from mobilisation - amid fears Putin will send another 500,000 conscripts to Ukraine. MPs are understood to have proposed a law that will give the country's National Guard greater powers to impose military draft orders. A second proposal includes allowing property to be confiscated from individuals who flee abroad to avoid...

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Medvedev has repeatedly raised the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, but his admission now of the possibility of Russia's defeat indicates the level of Moscow's concern over increased Western weapons deliveries to...

The U.S. military has launched an expanded, more sophisticated training program of Ukrainian forces that is focused on large-scale combat and meant to bolster Ukraine’s ability to take back territory from Russian forces, the Pentagon’s top general said Sunday. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on a flight from Washington to Europe that the training began Sunday at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany and will continue for five or six weeks. About 500 soldiers will go through the initial version of training, focused on what the military calls combined-arms warfare, in which tanks,...

ussia and Belarus began joint military exercises on Monday, sparking fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a fresh ground offensive in Ukraine. Russia-Belarus begin joint military exercises, sparking fear in Kyiv of new offensive Russia and Belarus began joint military exercises on Monday, which have triggered fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow ... Reuters 2h

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the military operation in Ukraine had gained positive momentum and that he hoped his soldiers would deliver more wins after Russia claimed control of the eastern Ukrainian salt-mining town of Soledar. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia said on Friday that its forces had taken control of Soledar, a rare success for Moscow after months of battlefield reverses. "The dynamic is positive," Putin...

Russian missile attacks hit critical infrastructure in Kyiv and the eastern city of Kharkiv on Saturday morning, officials said, and the governor of another region warned that a massive missile strike could follow in the coming hours. Reuters journalists heard a series of blasts in Kyiv before the air raid siren even sounded, which is highly unusual. Officials told residents to stay in shelters. “Explosions in Dniprovskiy district. All agencies heading to the site. Stay in your shelters!” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

(Reuters) -A Russian foreign ministry official said on Friday that Belarus may enter the conflict in Ukraine if Kyiv decides to "invade" either country. Russia used Belarus as a springboard to invade Ukraine in February 2022, and since October has deployed troops in Belarus for joint military drills. Both countries have since agreed to intensify their military co-operation, raising fears Moscow could use its close ally to launch a new offensive on Ukraine from the north. In an interview with state media, foreign ministry official Aleksey Polishchuk said that Russia's joint drills with Belarus were designed to prevent escalation, but...

A recorded meeting shows Russian President Vladimir Putin losing his temper when arguing with his deputy prime minister. In Putin's first video call meeting of the year with government ministers, he sparred with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov before humiliating him by asking why he was "fooling around" instead of securing new contracts for plane construction, a video released by RIA Novosti shows. When Manturov attempted to defend himself, Putin adopted a mocking tone before giving him one month as a deadline. The incident started with a disagreement over whether or not new contracts...

... "A Leopard 2 tank company will be handed over as part of the coalition. We want this to be an international coalition and we have decided to include in it a package of a Leopard 2 company, which - I hope - along with other tank companies will soon sail to Ukraine," Duda announced. "One country cannot provide us with enough tanks, because we are facing thousands of tanks of the Russian Federation," announced Volodymyr Zelensky. Warsaw has 249 Leopard tanks.

Russia and Ukraine have publicly agreed on a fundamental and important issue. The question is who Russia is fighting in Ukraine. During an interview with a Ukrainian TV station the Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister of Ukraine, answered that the Ukraine has "already become a de facto member of the NATO alliance." The interview, given four days ago, is available on Youtube. English language subtitles can be generated by autotranslate. The sentence pictured above comes at about 1:25 minutes in. Sputnik, which seems to be the only international outlet that has picked up on this, has more (from ~11:05 min):...

RUSSIA claimed it killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a single massive rocket strike in revenge for a deadly attack on Putin's forces. Moscow said it had blasted two buildings temporarily housing 1,300 Ukrainian troops in the country's eastern region Donetsk on Sunday.Russia's defence ministry claimed more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the city of Kramatorsk in what it branded a "retaliatory strike". But Ukraine has dismissed Moscow's claim. Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, told the BBC: "This is another piece of Russian propaganda." Kramatorsk's mayor earlier said there had been no casualties. Russia's defence...