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The Kremlin, asked about President Vladimir Putin's political ambitions, said on Tuesday that the campaign for next year's presidential election in Russia had not yet begun and that there could be a varying number of candidates in the contest. -snip- When asked when the 71-year-old Russian leader would officially announce his candidacy for next year's presidential race, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "There is no first candidate yet, there will be a first candidate after they are registered. There may be a varying number of candidates. "Our constitution stipulates who can stand for the post of president. Many people fulfil...

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said over the weekend. "There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position," Lukashenko said. "They're there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying." -snip- "We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come...

Vladimir Putin has lost two more colonels in Ukraine - including one of Russia's youngest to reach such a high rank - as a video showed a Russian battalion being hit with artillery fire while attempting to rescue a casualty. Elsewhere, in another blow to the Kremlin's war efforts, a separate video released this week showed Ukrainian bombs destroying a Russian ammo depo in a huge ball of flames. Images released by Kyiv also appeared to show a destroyed Russian unit. These are the latest examples of Ukraine's forces putting up a fierce resistance against Putin's invading forces. Moscow expected...

ssian President Vladimir Putin's annual "direct line" call-in with Russia's citizens has been delayed and will not now take place in June as expected, a Kremlin spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday. Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters in Moscow that the event will not occur earlier than July this year, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS. The Russian president has held the annual call-in show for all but three years since it began in 2001. It has frequently taken place in June, including last year when Putin fielded Russians' questions on June 30. Peskov was asked if Putin would...

When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Moscow seemed increasingly unwilling to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war. The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian hryvnia. Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are being offered expedited Russian passports. The Kremlin-installed administrations in both regions have talked about plans to become part of Russia. The Moscow-backed leaders of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s...

Footage has been posted on social networks showing the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “fighting” with Russian servicemen. However, the cameras get into the video, the voice of the director is heard and the soldiers react to the commands of the film crew. (Click link for short Video)

Once we have eliminated all the impossible scenarios, the least improbable outcome of the war in Ukraine is a Russian victory. Any conceivable Russian victory now will entail such a loss of blood and treasure that it will have to be judged Pyrrhic at best. But it will be a victory nonetheless — and we in the West had better come to grips with that hard truth. Let’s begin by eliminating the impossible. The first unrealistic endgame is the reduction of Ukraine to a vassal state of the Russian empire. The second impossible scenario is the total defeat of the...

A Russian official on Tuesday claimed that Poland is planning to take Ukrainian territory. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said during a press conference that he believes Poland plans to annex parts of western Ukraine, according to Russian news agency Interfax.He said he believes that "already a number of states are actively working on [Ukraine's] dismemberment," though he did not specify which countries. Nearly every other European country has backed Ukraine amid the invasion, many offering military and humanitarian aid.

"We are a separate 18th Marine Battalion of the 35th Brigade, appealing to the public for help, to influence the top leadership of the brigade for their criminal orders, sending us to attack with the enemy under their shelling. We are suffering heavy losses, over the past four days, according to our doctors, there were 80 people killed and wounded, and according to our data, there are much more killed and wounded, there are also missing and captured. Those who try to tell the truth are taken away in an unknown direction. During these 4 days of the offensive, we...

The Russian Federation is ready to continue negotiations with Ukraine to reach a peace agreement, said Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko. This was reported by the Russian agency Interfax on Tuesday, May 31. Matvienko accused the Ukrainian side of disrupting the negotiations, talking about the "civil" war in Ukraine. "We are open to negotiations. We need diplomatic, peaceful solutions, but this requires the will of the two countries. We are ready for negotiations, signing an agreement that would end the civil war in Ukraine and lead to peace, but we do not see such...