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Donald Trump risks being a “loser president” if he wins November’s election and imposes a bad peace deal on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, saying it would mean the end of the US as a global “player”. – In an interview with the Guardian in Kyiv, Mr Zelenskiy said he had “no strategy yet” for what to do if Trump returned to the White House, and that the former British prime minister Boris Johnson had approached him on his behalf. If Trump beats Joe Biden, he is widely expected to cut off US military support to Ukraine. Last year Trump...

As Ukraine prepares to mobilize tens of thousands of men to address a critical shortage of soldiers amid intensified Russian attacks, Ukrainian commanders in the field say they are bracing for most of the new troops to arrive with poor training. Ukrainian commanders have long griped about lackluster preparation for recruits at training centers. But with Russia on the offensive, the persistent complaints are a reminder that a newly adopted mobilization law intended to widen the pool of draft-eligible men is just one step in solving the military’s personnel problems. An influx of conscripts under the new law is still...

Battle of attrition in Vovchansk. Russian forces reach Seversky Donets canal in Chasiv Yar. Ocheretye breakthrough operation continues after a short pause. Intensification of Russian armored attacks across Luhansk Front. Ukraine momentarily stabilizes situation in Krasnohorivka.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China on Sunday of helping Russia to disrupt an upcoming Swiss-organized peace conference on the war in Ukraine. Speaking at Asia’s premier security conference, Zelenskyy said that China is pressuring other countries and their leaders not to attend the upcoming talks. He did not say which ones. ... The Swiss had been hoping China would attend the peace conference in mid-June, but Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning signaled on Friday that that was unlikely. China has been calling for a peace conference with equal participation of all sides, including Russia, which has not been...

Ukraine imposed emergency power shutdowns in most of the country on Sunday, a day after Russia unleashed large-scale attacks on energy infrastructure and claimed it made gains in the eastern Donetsk province. The shutdowns were in place in all but three regions of Ukraine following Saturday's drone and missile attack on energy targets that injured at least 19 people. Sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in recent weeks have forced the government to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Without adequate air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs, though, the shortages could still worsen as need spikes in late...

Some of this blog's posts are reposted to Free Republic and FR is conducting its quarterly fundraising. Join me in supporting FR through these links... Welcome to another your host a "Recovering Politician" that's what... The Drama Over Tiananmen Square This Coming Week... An in Israel the much hyped Nikki Haley tour a politician on the take of the "Military Industrial Complex" if ever there was one... And self-righteously moralizing about "Democracy" being "our side" and then talking "Tyranny" in reference to China or Russia belies what our Western society is becoming... "How long till we can order death pills?"...

VA Hospital in Orlando has an LGBTQ+ Pride flag in place of an American flag:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán led thousands of his citizens in a peace rally in Central Budapest on Saturday, demanding an end to the war in Ukraine and to stop the escalation between the West and Russia. The emergency break needs to be pulled to prevent the “European train hurtling toward war”, Prime Minister Orbán warned as he addressed thousands gathered in the Hungarian capital to protest against the war in Ukraine and the refusal of Europe to push for peace talks.

Vladimir Putin is furious after Ukraine's military staged a dramatic fightback and seized back control over most of a town that Russia thought they had captured in Kharkiv. Russia launched a surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv earlier this month and many military sources within the Russian army had boasted that they had captured the pivotal town of Vovchansk. However, Ukraine's Defence Forces have now confirmed that Kyiv has regained control of 70 percent of the town, amid fierce ongoing street battles. Ukraine's Lieutenant Colonel Nazar Voloshyn said that Ukrainian counterattacks, along with effective artillery and drone strikes, were thwarting Russia's efforts...

(AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Saturday at a Singapore security forum, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv while a Russian offensive gains ground. AFP reporters saw Zelensky enter the lobby of the luxury hotel hosting the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is attended by defence ministers from around the world. Zelensky will speak at the security forum on Sunday, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, which organised the three-day event.

Estonia considers itself a front-line state, a Nato member where its border guards stare across the Narva River at the Russian fortress of Ivangorod. This tiny Baltic state, once a part of the Soviet Union, is convinced that once the fighting stops in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin will turn his attention to the Baltics, looking to bring countries like Estonia back under Moscow’s control. To help stave off that possibility, Estonia’s government has poured money and weapons into Ukraine’s war effort, donating more than 1% of its GDP to Kyiv. "If every Nato country did this," says Estonia’s steely Prime...

Russia pummeled Ukraine's energy infrastructure with a large-scale drone and missile attack Saturday, injuring at least 19 people, local officials said. The strikes were part of a series of sustained attacks by Russia against Ukraine's power grid, which has been ongoing since March. Ukraine's largest private energy firm, DTEK said that two of its power plants had been seriously damaged in what it said was the sixth attack on the company's plants in two and a half months.

Russia is expected to significantly increase the size of its military presence in Ukraine, with an additional 200-300 thousand troops set to join their ranks, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in an interview with Reuters. The minister added that the current number of Russian forces stationed in Ukraine and along its borders stands at 500 thousand troops. Umerov emphasized the urgency of mobilizing fresh recruits to facilitate the rotation of military personnel in response to the anticipated surge in Russian troop numbers. "At this stage, we are focused on training our personnel ... pilots, we are focused on...

The Biden administration has greenlit the use of American long-range strike systems by Ukraine to launch attacks deep into Russia. This puts the entire planet in a “shockingly” dangerous situation, says former DoD analyst and US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski. President Biden has knowingly or unwittingly brought the risk of a world-ending nuclear conflict much, much closer after listening to “neoconservative advisors who really don’t have a lot of perspective on the nuclear dangers that they’re walking into” instead of military specialists and okaying Ukraine’s use of NATO weapons to strike the Russian hinterland, Kwiatkowski told Sputnik. “The...

Monaco's Mohamed Camara has been suspended for four matches, the French football league (LFP) said on Thursday, after an LGBTQ+ support logo on the Mali international's shirt was covered up during a Ligue 1 match. The badge on Camara's shirt was covered with white tape in Monaco's last league match of the season on May 19, in which he netted a penalty in their 4-0 home win against Nantes. "After hearing the player Mohamed Camara, and noting his refusal during the meeting to carry out one or more actions to raise awareness of the fight against homophobia, the Commission decided...

Russia has accused Nato and the US of "provoking a new level of tension" after the US and Germany became the latest allies to let Ukraine's military to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Nato countries, especially the US and several European countries, had "entered a new round of escalating tension and they are doing this deliberately", in remarks quoted by the Tass news agency. The UK and France had already signalled they were open to easing restrictions on Ukraine striking military sites on Russian territory, before US President Joe Biden said on...

Ukraine has launched another stunning strike against Putin's army on the peninsula, inflicting crippling damage to the Kremlin's war machine. Vladimir Putin suffered a major setback after Ukraine launched more devastating attacks in the Crimea region. Ukraine has intensified its attacks on the peninsula and its immediate surrounding regions in the last few days. On Thursday, Ukrainian maritime drones destroyed seven Russian ships in a daring and spectacular attack. Kyiv's army bosses have now followed that up with another stunning strike that inflicted crippling damage on Putin's war machine in the region. Overnight, Ukraine fired US-supplied ATACM missiles at the...

If Trump returns to the presidency next January, he would be the only world leader determined to end the Ukraine War, and has said he will use his influence as president to do so within 24 hours. Next month, on June 15 and 16, a high-level peace conference will be held in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on achieving peace in Ukraine. 70 to 90 countries reportedly will be represented. Some heads of state will attend, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. However, there will be some notable absences—Russia and China....

The German government said Friday that Ukraine can use German-supplied weapons against Russian attacks from positions just over their joint border, in a significant policy change that came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Kyiv a green light to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the country’s second-largest city. A German government statement noted that, in recent weeks, Russia has prepared, coordinated and carried out attacks on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, in particular from areas just over the border in Russia. "Together we are convinced that Ukraine has the right under international law to...

US Central Command announcing destruction of eight drones in and around Yemen... In the aftermath of the guilty verdict at his trial in New York, President Donald Trump's fundraising website crashed... Three dead, including a police officer, in a mass shooting incident in Minneapolis... Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, critically wounded in an assassination attempt May 15, moved,,, The message tonight from the Biden Administration...US weapons provided to Ukraine can be used to attack Russia... "This was a disgrace, this was a rigged trial" President Donald Trump Reacts Outside Court Following Verdicts... The US beefing up sanctions on Ugandan public...