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Donald Trump threatened to stop supplying weapons for Ukraine in order to pressure European allies to join a “coalition of the willing” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to people briefed on the discussions. The strait has been in effect closed by Iran after the US and Israel attacked the Islamic republic in late February, choking a route through which a fifth of the world’s oil typically passes.

Four years after the liberation of Bucha, the town remains a central reference point for understanding the nature of the war in Ukraine and the limits of current diplomatic efforts. The events that followed the withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2022, when hundreds of civilians were found dead across the Kyiv suburb and the wider region, continue to shape how Ukraine defines both security and peace. Bucha has become more than a historical episode. It functions as a political and moral benchmark in discussions about any future settlement. Ukrainian authorities report over 400 civilian deaths in the town itself...

<p>So now, it seems, China will commit troops to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo. While not a grand scale — just 175 engineers and 43 medics will be deployed — the contribution marks China's biggest overseas operation since the U.N. effort in Cambodia a decade ago.</p>

U.S.-mediated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have not reached a dead end, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 30 in response to a question from the Kyiv Independent, arguing that negotiations are merely postponed. The comments come as diplomacy appears stalled, with the U.S. now focused on the war in Iran and no new Kyiv-Moscow-Washington talks scheduled. Despite the pause, Zelensky sought to project momentum, even as fundamental disagreements — particularly over territory — remain unresolved. "The trilateral meeting must take place; it is undoubtedly being postponed because the U.S. is currently focused on Iran," Zelensky said about a...

I don't think many people saw this one coming, but it makes sense in a perverse way. Events in the Middle East have conspired to create a situation in which Ukraine has become an indispensable ally and munitions supplier to Gulf Arab states. Nobody in the world has as much experience fighting Iranian drones as does Ukraine, and they have become extraordinarily proficient at destroying them before they do any damage, and at a price that cannot be beat. The Gulf states, having blown through an awful lot of their anti-air magazines, are having to quickly learn how to defend...

In an interview with NBC News’ Raf Sanchez, President Zelenskyy says that he hopes President Trump cares about the future of Ukraine, but “they care about the United States more.”

A newly reported operation suggests Kyiv may have found another low-cost way to disrupt Russian forces away from the front line: heated insoles allegedly rigged with small explosive charges and sent through volunteer aid channels. According to Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi, operatives from Ukraine’s special services allegedly inserted explosive-filled heated insoles into shipments destined for Russian military units. The items were reportedly moved with the help of Russian volunteers and charitable foundations, allowing them to pass as ordinary humanitarian aid. That is what makes this sort of sabotage effective, Treston Wheat, chief geopolitical officer at Insight Forward, told me: it exploits...

The U.S. war on Iran set up Russia’s economy for a major rescue after oil prices soared after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But if President Vladimir Putin was expecting a huge windfall, that view may literally be going up in smoke. With one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies cut off, Russian oil suddenly became much more valuable. After trading at a steep discount to Brent crude, Urals oil nearly reached parity with the global benchmark. The U.S. also temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian crude, despite warnings that the move would provide a vital influx of revenue to...

When Vladimir Putin has been asked to justify his war for control over Ukraine, his answer is typically that Ukraine and Russia have always been one country. And there is some truth to that. The Russian state traces its roots back to something called the Kievan Rus in the 9th century, with its capital at Kyiv. In the period prior to the 20th century, there were times when parts of today’s Ukraine were controlled by other states (like Poland or Lithuania), but never a time when Ukraine was a fully independent country separate from Russia. And yet somehow a tremendous...

Support Free Republic join me in supporting FR as the deadline approaches... "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves... Iran says it attacked an anti-drone depot in the United Arab Emirates operated by Ukrainians defending an American base... Your host self-identifying as a great hypocrite with a song about hypocrisy penned... A clue about what Epstein was up to with all his international contacts in the story of French diplomat Fabrice Aidan now being investigated by French authorities......

General or partial assessments of the number of victims in the war in Ukraine reveal the high human cost of an armed conflict unprecedented in Europe in the last eight decades. With estimates of nearly two million military casualties, it is reminiscent of the worst conflicts experienced in the 20th century on the Old Continent. The most conservative figures — around half a million deaths on the Ukrainian side — are five times higher than those of the Balkan War (1992-1995), which totaled 100,000, of whom 13,500 were civilians. The Ukrainian Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances has just...

Ukraine signed a defense cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia on Friday, as Gulf countries look to Kyiv for assistance on defending against drone attacks from Iran. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement with senior Saudi officials during his two-day visit to Riyadh. The accord "lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine’s international role as a security donor," Zelenskyy announced Friday morning. "We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives. Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same...

Qatar and Ukraine have signed a defence agreement seeking joint expertise on countering threats from missiles and drones, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Defence, as Iran continues attacking its Gulf neighbours. The agreement was made on Saturday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Doha, following his stop in the UAE earlier in the day. Earlier on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates had also agreed to cooperate on defence, a day after signing a deal with Saudi Arabia during his visit to the kingdom on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 27 that President Volodymyr Zelensky's claims about Ukraine withdrawing from the Donbas region in exchange for security guarantees are untrue. "That's a lie. And I saw him say that, and it's unfortunate he would say that, because he knows that's not true and that's not what he was told," Rubio told reporters. "What he was told is the obvious: Security guarantees are not going to kick in until there's an end to the war, because otherwise you're in — you're getting yourself involved in the war." In an interview with Reuters...

A bipartisan pair of US senators is set to unveil the “Block Putin” act this week targeting Hungarian officials with sanctions over Budapest’s veto of a key EU aid package for Kyiv and its continued purchases of Russian energy. In March, Budapest vetoed a previously agreed €90 billion ($104 billion) vital aid package for Kyiv, citing a long-running dispute with Ukraine over Russian oil transit. If passed, the US bill would impose financial sanctions and visa bans on Hungarian officials involved in Russian oil purchases, though it does not name pro-Kremlin Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, leaving it to the Trump...

Newly-unclassified documents show that in 2022 Ukrainian officials discussed diverting hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars -- earmarked for clean energy -- back to Biden's ill-fated 2024 campaign. There is no evidence the intercepted allegations were investigated during the Biden administration. intelligence intercepted Ukrainian government communications discussing a plot to route hundreds of millions of American tax dollars earmarked for clean energy in the war-torn country and move them to the United States to enrich then-President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to a declassified intelligence report summarizing the intercepts that was obtained by...

A Christian politician in Finland has been convicted of a crime for publishing her views on marriage and sexual ethics 22 years ago. The country's Supreme Court found parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen guilty of "hate speech" for publishing her biblical beliefs. In a 3–2 decision, the court upheld a criminal conviction against Räsänen and a Lutheran bishop for "making and keeping available to the public a text that insults a group." The high court did acquit her on a separate charge of tweeting a Bible verse, but it found her guilty of "insult" for the two-decade-old pamphlet. In a statement, Räsänen...

"Zelensky billions of dollars through Hungary to the West, Ukrainian funds were used for the Democrats Campaign." VIDEO.

Even while faced with a Russian invasion of their nation, some elements in the Ukrainian government were plotting to help the Biden re-election campaign — with U.S. taxpayer money. That was the gist of an explosive article Thursday from the Washington-based website Just the News, citing a declassified intelligence report. And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly on the case. The Just the News report was authored by website founder John Solomon, a veteran, highly respected D.C. journalist, and Just the News chief investigative correspondent Jeff Dunleavy. It claimed that U.S. intelligence intercepts had revealed that personnel in...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday amid a wider effort to lend Ukraine’s drone defense expertise to the U.S. and Gulf States. Zelensky had offered his country’s expertise in defense against kamikaze drone attacks, cultivated in its grinding war against Russia, just days after the war began. These promised personnel arrived in the Middle East recently, with Zelensky saying last week that 201 personnel had been deployed, and another 34 were on their way. Drones were at the top of the agenda of Zelensky’s visit. In a post on X, he stated that...