20 h. ago Europe, Ukraine prepare plan to end war, proposing peace board headed by Trump

European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Vladimir Putin’s renewed demands to the US for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. A peace board chaired by US President Donald Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter. Once Russia follows Ukraine in agreeing to a ceasefire and both sides commit to halting territorial advances, the...

Politics

66 h. ago Trump urged Zelensky to cut a deal with Putin or risk facing destruction

US President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in a White House meeting on Friday, warning that President Vladimir Putin threatened to “destroy” Ukraine if it did not comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. During the meeting, Trump insisted Zelensky surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeatedly echoing talking points the Russian president had made in their call a day...

Politics

66 h. ago Trump urged Zelensky to make concessions to Russia in tense meeting: sources

US President Donald Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up swathes of territory to Russia during a tense meeting on Friday that left the Ukrainian delegation disappointed, according to two people briefed on the discussion. Trump also declined to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s use, and mused about giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, comments that the Ukrainian delegation found confusing, added the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss a...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump meets Zelensky, says he hopes Tomahawks won’t be needed to end war

US President Donald Trump appeared cool on Friday on the prospect of sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, suggesting to counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky during a White House meeting that they may not be necessary if he can broker a peace deal. Zelensky came to Washington looking for arms to bolster his country’s forces in Ukraine’s three-year-old conflict with Russia, but Trump frequently highlighted his peace summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a matter of weeks, as Trump...

Politics

7 d. ago Zelensky strips Odesa mayor of Ukrainian citizenship over Russian passport claim

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday revoked the citizenship of Odesa’s mayor on the grounds that he also had a Russian passport, acting to end the tenure of a divisive figure who has run the Black Sea port city for 11 years. Hennadiy Trukhanov, 60, an elected official, said he would take his case to court, denying having a Russian passport and insisting that he remained mayor. Ukrainian officials are prohibited from holding dual citizenship. In his evening address, Zelensky said...

Politics

8 d. ago Russia strikes Ukrainian hospital, days before Zelensky meets Trump

Russian forces launched powerful glide bombs and drones against Ukraine’s second-largest city in overnight attacks, hitting a hospital and wounding seven people, an official said on Tuesday. The strikes came as European military aid for Kyiv dropped sharply and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to ask US President Donald Trump for Tomahawk missiles. The Russian attack on Kharkiv in Ukraine’s northeast hit the city’s main hospital, forcing the evacuation of 50 patients, regional...

Politics

9 d. ago Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid intensify as winter approaches

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight into Sunday, part of an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. This came as Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the United States potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. Kyiv regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation in the region. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said energy...

Events

1 week ago Putin admits Russian missiles downed Azerbaijan jet last year

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijan’s leader that two Russian missiles had detonated beside an Azerbaijan Airlines plane last year after Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace, and promised compensation to those affected. Flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crash-landed on December 25, near Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several targets. At least 38 people were...

Events

1 week ago Central Asia: Russia Reassures, China Builds, The West Scrutinises

Central Asia: Russia Reassures, China Builds, The West Scrutinises  IDN-InDepthNews

Politics

1 week ago YAAF: Mega Arbitration Disputes in Central Asia – Where The West, Russia, China, and the Middle East Meet

YAAF: Mega Arbitration Disputes in Central Asia – Where The West, Russia, China, and the Middle East Meet  Foley Hoag

Politics

3 w. ago Afghanistan’s internet blackout sparks concern, Taliban denial

The Taliban government on Wednesday rejected reports of a nationwide internet ban in Afghanistan, saying old fibre optic cables are worn out and are being replaced. The announcement was the Taliban’s first public statement on a communications blackout that has disrupted banking, commerce and aviation. Several provinces last month confirmed an internet shutdown because of a decree from the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada to combat immorality. “There is nothing like the rumours being spread...

Politics

3 w. ago Russia pummels Ukraine with ‘massive’ missile and drone strikes

Ukraine said on Sunday that Russia pounded the country with “hundreds” of drones and missiles overnight, killing at least four people in the capital alone, as neighbouring Poland scrambled jets to secure its airspace. The attacks came after Russia warned Nato against taking sterner action in response to alleged incursions into airspace covered by the military alliance. The barrage also followed the revelation by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv had received a US-made Patriot air...

Events

3 w. ago Russia tells West any aggression will be met with ‘decisive response’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the West on Saturday that any aggression against Moscow would face a “decisive response”, warning against attempts to down aircraft in Russian airspace and accusing Germany of militaristic rhetoric. As Russia’s war rages in Ukraine, tensions have mounted along Nato’s eastern flank in recent weeks as Estonia said Moscow sent three fighter aircraft into its airspace and Nato warplanes shot down Russian drones over Poland. “Any aggression against my...

Politics

3 w. ago US, Russia spar over Ukraine war amid calls for ‘killing to stop’

US Vice-President J.D. Vance warned on Wednesday that Donald Trump was “growing incredibly impatient” with Moscow as Washington’s stance on Russia hardens after diplomatic efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine stalled. Trump performed a stunning about-turn at the United Nations on Tuesday, suggesting that Ukraine could not only retake all of the territory it lost to Russia militarily, but also take even more. Trump “doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war. If the...

Events

4 w. ago Russia dismisses Trump’s ‘paper tiger’ insult, vows continued Ukraine offensive

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it had no choice but to continue its military offensive on Ukraine, as Moscow rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that Russia was a “paper tiger”. The comments come a day after Trump said Ukraine could win back all of its territory from Russia, which he characterised as a “paper tiger” with a failing economy – a major pivot in his stance on the three-and-a-half-year conflict. “We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and...

Politics

4 w. ago Trump says Ukraine can win back all land lost to ‘paper tiger’ Russia

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Ukraine can win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the US leader’s call on Kyiv to make concessions to end the war. Trump offered his position in a social media posting soon after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly gathering of world leaders. Trump in part wrote: “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all...

Politics

4 w. ago Lured by US$2,000 pay, Cubans dying for Russia in Ukraine: official

More than a thousand Cubans have signed contracts to fight for Russia against Ukraine, and 39 have been confirmed dead, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence said in a press briefing convened by Cuban-American Republican lawmakers from South Florida. Citing intelligence sources, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, said the number of Cubans hired by the Russian military to fight in its war against Ukraine could be as...

Politics

4 w. ago US says Russia’s nuclear arms treaty extension offer sounds ‘pretty good’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set in the 2010 New START accord after it expires in February if the US agreed to do the same. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin’s proposal sounded “pretty good”, but she added that US President Donald Trump would address the offer himself. The agreement is the last US-Russia strategic nuclear arms control accord. It allowed for only one five-year...

Events