28 h. ago Russia seizes hundreds of Ukrainian troops and threatens to treat them 'like terrorists'

Vladimir Putin made a public appearance in military uniform on Wednesday - hours after Donald Trump threatened to " devastate" Russia's economy in a chilling warning

Events

34 h. ago Putin threatens to treat Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk as ‘terrorists’ ahead of US envoy’s Moscow visit – live

Russian president makes threats in first visit since Ukrainian incursion as world waits for Kremlin’s reaction to ceasefire proposalTrump hints at financial repercussions if Russia rejects Ukraine ceasefireFrench European Affairs minister, Benjamin Haddad, said the European Union could go further in its response to US tariffs, though a trade war was in no-one’s interest, Reuters reported.“We have the means to go further, if we want,” Haddad told TF1 TV. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Zelensky is told Ukraine WILL have to give up land for peace ahead of crunch talks

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been told by the US that he will have to give up land seized by Russia as part of peace talks in Saudi Arabia

Politics

5 d. ago ‘We’re here to stop Russia taking the Black Sea’: with the Ukrainian Navy as they battle for supremacy on the waves

Captain Oleksandr and his crew are on constant alert to shoot down Vladimir Putin’s swarming dronesCaptain Oleksandr put his hand on the throttle and nudged it forward. His patrol boat roared into action and zipped through the waves. Behind him was the Ukrainian port of Odesa. In front – beyond a grey expanse of water, and 180km (112 miles) away, was occupied Crimea. “We’re here to stop the Russians from taking the Black Sea,” Oleksandr said, as his boat – travelling at a nippy 30 knots – rolled up and down.In 2014 Ukraine lost three-quarters of its modest naval assets when Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula. Then, in 2022, Russia sank most of what was left. Its own fleet, by contrast, seemed invincible. It included a mighty flagship carrier, the Moskva, two modern frigates, several smaller warships and multiple missile boats and landing vessels, as well as four submarines carrying deadly Kalibr missiles. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Europe’s powerful tool against Russia? Seizing its frozen assets

If European leaders want to truly support Ukraine they must seize the moment by seizing $220bn in assetsIt is now clear that Donald Trump’s administration will betray Ukraine in its fight to resist Russian aggression. Trump himself is either a victim of disinformation or he is a willing participant in an effort to deceive Americans about the causes and consequences of the war.Trump’s lies include claiming that Ukraine is equally to blame for the war; that Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn’t “have the cards” to end the conflict on favourable terms; and that Ukraine could not have defended itself without US help. Yet the whole world knows that Russia launched an unprovoked invasion, and we all remember the initial weeks, when Ukrainians valiantly defended an 1,800-mile frontline against a supposedly superior army, long before deliveries of western artillery, armoured vehicles and air defence systems arrived. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump’s style of petty domination was in full display with Zelenskyy | Moira Donegan

Trump and Vance, I think, never really intended to have a conversation with Zelenskky. Instead, they wanted to look tough on TVThe last time Donald Trump did this, it was in secret, and he got impeached over it. In 2019, Donald Trump, on a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanded that the Ukrainian president produce – or fabricate – evidence of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden, the son of Trump’s eventual opponent in the 2020 election, in exchange for continued US military aide.At the time, Russia had already seized control of the Ukrainian region of Crimea, and was funding violent insurgent groups in the country’s east; it was increasingly clear that a full-scale Russian invasion was coming, as it finally did in 2022. Since the end of second world war, it has been America that checks Russian expansionist ambitions in Europe – America that provided the backstop to the Nato alliance, America that secured the independence of eastern Europe. Trump wanted to condition that longstanding r...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump says Putin would keep his word on a Ukraine peace deal

President claims presence of US workers in Ukraine would deter Russian aggression after talks with Keir StarmerStarmer visits Trump: latest updatesDonald Trump has insisted that Vladimir Putin would “keep his word” on a peace deal for Ukraine, arguing that US workers extracting critical minerals in the country would act as a security backstop to deter Russia from invading again.During highly anticipated talks at the White House with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, the US president said that Putin could be trusted not to breach any agreement, which could aim to return as much of the land as possible to Ukraine that was seized by Russia during the brutal three-year conflict. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Britain’s insistence on total Ukrainian victory was misguided – it’s time for a realistic compromise | Robert Skidelsky

By refusing to back negotiations for the past three years, the UK has become irrelevant to the search for peace – we must change courseOn the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British policy towards the war is in a mess. The continuing official British position, echoed by all the main media, has been “no peace without a Ukraine victory” – meaning, centrally, the expulsion of Russia from all territories seized since 2014. President Trump’s active search for a compromise peace tears up this script.When a long, consistently pursued policy ends in a shambles, it is time to reflect on what was right and what was wrong about it, and what might still be done to reinsert Britain into a process to which it has become largely irrelevant.Robert Skidelsky is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords and author of Keynes: the Return of the Master and co-author of How Much Is Enough? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Europe may need to think hard about threatening Putin with troops for Ukraine

As Moscow says Nato troops in Ukraine are ‘unacceptable’ we look at whether it is even realistic for the UK to help keep the peace

Politics