Russian President Vladimir Putin

Former British spy Christopher Steele said Mr Putin is trying to avoid showing weakness in the Kremlin.

A report in Express said on Wednesday that Mr Putin recently underwent a surgery to remove fluid from his abdomen. But it's certainly having a very serious impact on the governance of Russia at the moment," Mr Steele further said. "Meetings of the security council that are shown to supposedly last for a whole hour are actually broken up into several sections...

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a concert marking the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2022. Washington (CNN) US ...

Even as unprecedented Western sanctions are expected to shrink Russia's GDP by at least 10% over the next year, both outside experts and officials familiar with US and western intelligence believe Putin and his war are broadly popular -- and are likely to remain so, in large part because of how effectively Putin has controlled the media narrative. There have been some signs of percolating discontent inside Russia at different points since the beginning of the conflict, and there appears to be a growing awareness at least in Russia's urban centers and among younger Russians that the conflict isn't going very well. Despite the grim outlook, the Biden administration has in place a number of policy measures designed at least in part to turn Russians against the war. They have a very particular perspective that they're being fed by the government during this period." The US "has very little accurate insight post-invasion," said one source briefed on US intelligence. Russian public opinion over the war remains high despite the heavy losses Russian forces have suffered, according to outside analysts and sources familiar with US intelligence. "Wide range of opinions," said one of the sources briefed on US intelligence. But sources say it has become increasingly difficult to measure public opinion from the outside. Widespread protests in the early days of the war were met with mass arrests. One source familiar with Western intelligence said that Putin often makes decisions on minutiae like the location of attack lines and day-to-day operational goals. designed in part to make the war unpopular inside Russia by inflicting broad economic pain. "So it's a bit hard to imagine that popular opinion sways him all that much."

The leader claimed that there had been a surge in foreign attacks against Russia since the beginning of his "special operation" in Ukraine.

According to the alert, "evolving intelligence" suggests hackers within the Russian government are seeking to engage in "malicious cyber activity" in response to the "unprecedented economic sanctions" imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. According to the alert, "evolving intelligence" suggests hackers within the Russian government are seeking to engage in "malicious cyber activity" in response to the "unprecedented economic sanctions" imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. And in April, it emerged that Russian hackers were plotting cyber attacks on the NHS, nuclear power plants and Whitehall ministries, the world's top intelligence alliance warned in April.

Vladimir Putin is “increasingly ill” and is “constantly accompanied” by a team of doctors, former British spy Christopher Steele has claimed.

Pro-Moscow separatists have fought Ukrainian forces for eight years in the region and held a considerable swath of it before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. Meanwhile, a young Russian soldier, accused of killing a Ukrainian civilian, awaited his fate in Ukraine’s first war crimes trial. Battered by their months-long siege of the vital port city of Mariupol, Russian troops need time to regroup, Britain’s Defence Ministry said in an assessment — but they may not get it. But the effort to take more territory there has been slow-going. Russia will also cut off natural gas to Finland on Saturday, the Finnish state-owned energy company said. But the British assessment indicated Russian commanders are under pressure to quickly send them elsewhere in the Donbas. Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old soldier in a Russian tank unit, has pleaded guilty, but the prosecution still presented its evidence, in line with Ukrainian law. Borrell said it’s up to Ukraine to decide the terms of any negotiations. "The civilians have been evacuated. Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that their troops repelled a Russian attack in the east, as Moscow struggled to gain ground in the region that is now the focus of the war even while intensifying its campaign there. Earlier in the week, hundreds of soldiers were evacuated from the steelworks and taken to the Russian-backed town of Novoazovsk. He said that he hopes that “when the time comes for negotiations to take place, Ukraine will be able to negotiate from a position of strength.”

One of the Russian prez's daughters is believed to have a child with former ballet dancer who has a familiar last name while the other daughter has started ...

One of the comments criticizes the use of the word “annexation” and in another she says the West has “always done everything possible to ensure that Russia failed as a state.” She wrote, “If suddenly, like almost happened in the 90s, Russia becomes a full-fledged raw-material appendage of the United States and EU, I’ll be interested to see whom you blame for the fact that we’re not living in a prosperous economy.” Meanwhile, Putin’s eldest daughter Maria Vorontsova—a pediatric endocrinologist—has been outed as the pro-Putin “Maria V.” Russian independent media outlet Republic editor Dmitry Kolezev published screenshots of her rants on Telegram where she attacked critics and left comments on a Moscow State University alumni website quoting her father on topics like Ukraine, the West, George Soros, and gay rights, according to the Times of London. His supposed youngest daughter, Katerina Tikhonova—a dancer—has flown to Munich, Germany, more than 50 times in recent years, according to a report by Russian media outlet iStores and Germany’s Der Spiegel, which surely places her near the top of his list of “pro-West Russians” who he has dissed, saying “their mentality is there, not here, with our people.”

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin appeared dazed as he spluttered and retched in meeting amid chemotherapy rumours.Putin's health rumours have further.

The smallest are shown on Red Square parades. The supply problems might be somewhat manageable a year earlier," Markus Krebber told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. President Vladimir Putin has today said that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased and that Moscow would need to bolster its cyber defences by cutting the risk of using foreign software and hardware. She added: "We hope they were of some small comfort to the Ukrainian children we met, and that they can now start to rebuild their lives away from the horrors of war". According to a translation by AP, he said: "The top military leadership ordered the preservation of the life and health of the garrison soldiers and the cessation of the city's defences. "As for the fallen heroes, the process continues, but I hope that their families and the whole of Ukraine will be able to bury their soldiers with honour in the near future." The commander of Ukraine's Azov regiment has said military leaders had ordered the "preservation of life" and the "health of the garrison soldiers" amid fighting in the besieged city. "The decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the UK this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP ranking system. RUSSIA'S terrifying Satan-2 nuke can demolish "half of the US coast", an ally of Vladimir Putin has bragged to kids in a chilling warning to the West. In a statement, the ATP, in charge of the men's game, said: "The ability for players of any nationality to enter tournaments based on merit, and without discrimination, is fundamental to our Tour. "By the end of the year, 12 military units and divisions will be established in the Western Military District," Shoigu said at a meeting in televised remarks. She added: "We hope they were of some small comfort to the Ukrainian children we met, and that they can now start to rebuild their lives away from the horrors of war".

Gerhard Schroeder (left) hugs Russian President Vladimir Putin at the opening of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow in June 2018. Former German Chancellor ...

WATCH: The widow of a Ukrainian civilian killed by the first Russian soldier on trial for war crimes in Ukraine said he could have "missed" her husband instead of carrying out orders. Biden said he was proud to welcome Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on May 19 to mark the "momentous" applications of the formerly neutral countries. The trial is being held at the Solomyanka district court in Kyiv and is open to the public. "The sale and purchase agreement provides for employees to be retained for at least two years, on equivalent terms. The Russian soldier accused of killing him pleaded guilty in a Kyiv court on May 18. RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. The protesters in GBAO have insisted their actions are peaceful and that they have a right to peacefully demonstrate. The AELTC said it was a "deep disappointment" that the ATP and WTA stripped the tournament of ranking points. RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. "For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. "We're going to put together the resources that they need."

VATICAN CITY — In the nearly three months since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis has spoken repeatedly about the suffering of ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. But how can you not try and do whatever you can to stop the atrocities?” Allen wrote that Francis has been able to open doors with the Orthodox world, and in the long view of the church, few things matter more to popes than the “quest for Christian unity.” Francis has so far sent several deputies to Ukraine, including most recently Gallagher. But the pope has made clear that his own preference is to go to Moscow first. And in contrast to World War II, when Jewish communities accused the church of turning a blind eye, Francis is highlighting the suffering that is happening. The fight: A slowly regenerating Russian army is making incremental gains in eastern Ukraine against valiant but underequipped Ukrainian forces. “I fear, however, that Putin cannot, or does not want to agree to our meeting at the moment. For Francis, 85, the war has become a second epochal event, after the pandemic, that has come to define the agenda of his pontificate. Francis met with Kirill in Havana in 2016, a move aimed at repairing centuries of divisions since the split of Eastern Orthodoxy from Western Christianity. The pope’s most criticized effort amid the war was aimed at symbolic peacemaking — having a Ukrainian and a Russian woman carry a cross together on Good Friday. Originally, the women were supposed to recite a short passage, saying: “Why have you forsaken us? Francis has said it’s not the role of a pontiff to call out a head of state. “Ukraine has the right to defend itself,” Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s de facto foreign minister, said in a recent TV interview.

Mariupol, city of resistance, falls … underground life of the last child in the village … Putin micromanaging conflict, sources in west believe.

All 30 alliance members of Nato have to approve the acceptance of a new ally. The deputy commander of the Azov regiment, Capt Svyatoslav Palamar, released a video on Thursday evening in which he said he had not surrendered and remained in the steelworks. “I look at my government totally different since the war started,” said Tatyana Efremenko, 39, whose son Nikita Efremenko was a conscript on the Moskva missile cruiser when it was sunk in a Ukrainian missile strike a month ago. Prof Sir Lawrence Freedman from King’s College London said he judged the claim about Putin’s level of involvement to be plausible: “Putin has chased the military operation, first by giving very little notice he would launch an attack and then pushing hard for quick wins. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the combatants would be treated in line with international norms for prisoners of war, though several senior Russian politicians demanded they be put on trial and one even called for their execution. “And it’s that situation we need to escape.” But the world outside has been out of bounds to him for months. The Nordic political class initially appeared sceptical about Erdoğan’s seriousness. They should be setting the political strategy rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day activity”. But that assessment is changing. This week, Pjotr Sauer reported claims by Moscow that more than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal steelworks “surrendered” and had been taken to Russian-held territory. Russia said more than 900 of the soldiers had been sent to a former prison colony.

Vladimir Putin's eldest daughter, Maria Vorontsova, has defended her father's war in Ukraine, saying the West had “always done everything possible to ...

We are not like the Germans in the 1930s, rather like the ones whom they banished." Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin’s war on Ukraine. Vorontsova strongly criticises Western attitudes about Russia and her father.

Moscow is moving toward dropping age limits for military service, stepping up its recruitment drive as it tries to score victories in Ukraine's east after a ...

Mr. Mendoza-Wilson said that Mr. Akhmetov had signed the contract to build the yacht in 2018. Finland has a sophisticated military that runs complex operations to track Russian activity in the seas of Northern Europe and spends heavily on modern equipment. It is unclear how Mr. Akhmetov could sell a vessel that is still under construction or back out of the contract that he signed. Before the visit by Mr. Niinisto and Ms. Andersson, Mr. Biden also issued a statement offering an informal security guarantee to the two nations while they wait for formal membership in the alliance. António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said he was negotiating for a “package deal” under which Ukraine would export food via the Black Sea and Russia could sell fertilizer and food products to the global market. On Thursday, Mr. Blinken led a Security Council meeting on food insecurity and conflict, with the impact of the war in Ukraine dominating the debate. The Ukrainian military said in its regularly published morning assessment of the war on Friday that its forces had repelled a Russian attempt to storm defensive positions near Sievierodonetsk. Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Mélanie Joly, said in an interview that her country would offer logistical support to Ukraine, such as sending cargo ships, experts and food inspectors to facilitate the transport of grain. Finance ministers discussed ways to keep pressure on Russia while minimizing the damage to their economies as they debated the merits of a European embargo on Russian oil and whether seized Russian assets could be used to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction. The company, Gasum, called the move from Gazprom “highly regrettable,” saying in a statement that it would supply customers through other sources and that it did not expect disruptions. Mr. Schröder is a personal friend of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and has been criticized for maintaining the relationship even as Russia wages its brutal war. Russia said on Friday that it was suspending the supply because Finland had failed to comply with its demand to make payments in rubles.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign "state structures" had increased several times over and that ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com "The data includes information about orders and does not affect bank details. It did not name the companies. "A number of Western suppliers have unilaterally stopped technical support of their equipment in Russia." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

As Friday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day: Russia said it completed its takeover of the Ukrainian port city ...

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We must reject the advice of those who would gladly sacrifice Ukraine's vital interests to their anxiety about Putin losing face.

We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. A Russian empire is sustainable only through an autocracy like Putin’s that is both wholly criminalized and consumed by the ideology of Russia as being under permanent threat from NATO. Putin or his successors could spin that outcome as a victory and use it to provide a basis for renewed campaigns against Ukraine and Europe. After all, he has sought for over 20 years to subvert and now destroy any idea of Ukrainian statehood. Therefore, we must reject the advice of those who would gladly sacrifice Ukraine’s vital interests to their anxiety about Putin losing face. That outcome not only undermines Ukraine’s confidence in the West; it also validates Putin’s strategy that the West lacks the nerve to defend its interests and values in the face of his nuclear threats. Alternatively, they argue that we must negotiate the future of European security with Russia.

Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with the security council, said the 'sanctions attack' against Russia failed. He claimed that Moscow was ready for the ...

“On the whole, we were ready for this attack, and this is the result of the systematic work that has been carried out in recent years," Putin reportedly said in the meeting. Joly also announced the sanctioning of 14 more individuals including Russian oligarchs who have ties to the Russian Federation. "Already today we can say that cyber aggression against us, as well as in general the sanctions attack on Russia, have failed,” Putin was quoted by state-owned news agency, TASS.

MARK GALEOTTI Some years ago, I lived on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, one of the roads into central Moscow and the favoured route of President Vladimir Putin's ...

In a case of total failure, he could escalate the conflict, but in that instance I would hope other forces would prevail. However badly things go, I can’t see him coming to Hitler’s end, at his own hand — he is too much the pragmatist and there is still some rationality there. He was adamant the Ukrainians weren’t going to resist, that his ‘special operations’ would be over in a couple of days. In Putin’s Russia, you’re a patriot or you’re a traitor — and now is the time to decide. It is a skill he appears to have lost. And the change in him goes far beyond the physical. He has insisted that he ‘commanded an artillery battery’ but the truth is he commanded nothing. Right up to the end, in his bunker below the streets of Berlin, he was micro-managing his troops. He was sure Hitler would not attempt an invasion of the Soviet Union following the non-aggression pact between the two countries. We know that Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff, is working closely with Putin but seemingly more as an aide than as an adviser. The pandemic facilitated this — but he shows no sign of wanting to change the status quo. It is impossible not to be reminded of Adolf Hitler’s last days, when a war he started was also going against him.

Ukraine war: Despite all the damage and the lives lost, Russian president Vladimir Putin has not yet indicated if the war will end anytime soon.

Kirby's successor behind the podium at the Pentagon hasn't been determined, according to a Defense Department official. Trump paid the fine on Thursday but must still submit additional paperwork in order to have the contempt order lifted, the office of Attorney General Letitia James said Friday. A message seeking comment was left Friday with Trump's lawyer. Unlike Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who was replaced by her deputy, Karine Jean-Pierreon - Jean-Pierre doesn't have a foreign policy background as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate headlines and press briefings. While the WHO held an emergency meeting on Friday, a top health official has sounded a warning that cases could “accelerate”. “As we enter the summer season... The division of the Korean peninsula after World War II has led to two radically different nations. In overnight developments, Russia claimed that it had fully seized Mariupol, the strategic port city, which has been a sufferer and a witness to relentless fighting since March. In the midst of a continuing assault, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has sought compensation from Moscow for all the damage. with mass gatherings, festivals and parties, I am concerned that transmission could accelerate,” WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge has been quoted as saying by news agency AFP. Here are ten points on monkeypox alarm: 1. The Ukraine war will complete its third month in three days from now and an updated map amid the Russia offensive - shared by the United Kingdom’s ministry of defence - shows that the eastern part of the country have been largely besieged. The Kremlin must end its barbaric war, and let Ukrainian farmers help feed the world again,” the UK government has said. The bill was cleared by the US Congress on Thursday. "We do not know how many people died, because it is simply impossible to go through and look at every apartment,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said on his Telegram channel, Reuters reported. The numbers have not been confirmed by Kyiv.

Get the latest updates here. Fighting. Russia's defence ministry said the last group of Ukrainian forces holed up in Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks had ...

Ukraine did not comment on the figures. - The Institute for the Study of War says Russian forces appear to be “digging in” around Kharkiv and along the southern axis in preparation for Ukrainian counteroffensives and a protracted war. - Russia’s defence ministry said the last group of Ukrainian forces holed up in Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks had surrendered, marking an end to a weeks-long attack that left the city in ruins.

Russia has declared victory in its months-long operation to capture the strategic port of Mariupol after Ukraine ordered the last of its troops holed up in ...

"There are things that can only be reached at the negotiating table," he said. "We're tired. "Attempts to attack Donbas continue. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said all prisoners of war should "be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the law of war". Mr Shishimarin told the court he was "truly sorry" but his lawyer said in closing arguments that the young soldier was "not guilty" of premeditated murder and war crimes. The war in Ukraine can only be resolved through "diplomacy", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said amid a deadlock in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

The complete takeover of Mariupol gives Putin a badly needed victory in the war he began on February 24 — a conflict that was supposed to have been a ...

They said the fighters had tied down Moscow’s forces and hindered their bid to seize the east. A maternity hospital was hit with a lethal Russian airstrike on March 9, producing searing images of pregnant women being evacuated from the place. Every inch of this path is deadly.” Luhansk is part of the Donbas. The steelworks, which sprawled across 11 square kilometers, had been the site of fierce fighting for weeks. An estimated 100,000 people remained out a prewar population of 450,000, many trapped without food, water, heat or electricity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seen during the Summit of Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) at the Grand Kremlin Palace, May,16,2022, in Moscow, ...

There’s a Russian channel on Telegram—where so much of the digital battle for truth is going on—called “War on Fakes” which says it is debunking “the information war against Russia.” The republican freedom fighters won the information war in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, but Franco won the real war. For the global audience, the U.S. and the European Union have made something of a tactical error in portraying the war as the West versus Russia, or even as Democracy versus Autocracy. This meme is effective in America and Europe, but plays less well among developing and non-aligned nations. This wasn’t much reported on in the West, but it was headline news in Russia and China. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev posted the following on his Telegram channel: “The most democratic president of Modern Ukraine has taken another step towards the Western idea of democracy… The Chinese internet—used by one out of five of the world’s internet users—is pro-Russian. In the unfree internet of Turkey and India and the rest, they get much of their information about the war from Russian state media. The Russians were pioneers in what is called hybrid warfare—the mixture of information war and kinetic war—but the Russian military machine seemed to have no meme battle plan or even how the war would be seen on social media. In the early days of the war, they put out a call for volunteers on the messaging app Telegram—which has been the main digital battlefield of the war. According to the counter-extremism firm Miburo, 85% of Russians get the majority of their information from Russian state media. That is due to the balkanization of the internet, which Russia is in part responsible for. That was two years before the 2016 election and long before the Mueller report detailed Russia’s efforts to interfere in that election. The Ukrainians were nimble and modern and authentic and had a powerful story to tell. Part of the reason for this is that two-thirds of the world doesn’t see the war that we see.

The United Kingdom's former prime minister Tony Blair says Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine is an 'act of madness.'

“Now, I think in the first couple of weeks of this conflict, we might have been able to bring [the war] to an end on a relatively straightforward basis. The problem now is Ukrainians will not agree to give up any of their territory or even push him back to where he was prior to the 24th of February.” I mean ever to think that Ukraine or Ukrainians were going to accept being brought under the heel of a Putin dictatorship.”

Vladimir Putin's “time is running out” claims an expert, amid speculation the Russian president's health is failing as fast as his war in Ukraine.

I am not a doctor, but I have been watching Putin closely for 25 years and there is something very wrong. He said at the time: “Mr Putin is in a very bad psychological and physical condition and he is very sick." Earlier this month Ukrainian Major General Kyrylo Budanov waded into the debate to claim Putin is in a “very bad condition” with cancer and other illnesses ravishing his body.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is deliberately targeting farms and supply chains in Ukraine in ...

After war broke out in February, experts predicted that it would send global food prices soaring. Former US Presidential candidate John McCain once quipped that “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country” and the country is a huge exporter of fossil fuels to European countries. “He’s hitting farm yards and silos and all of those things and that, in my view, is a deliberate effort to reduce the supply of vital grain for the global market, hitting the most vulnerable and therefore causing disruption and social unrest.”

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin appeared dazed as he spluttered and retched in meeting amid chemotherapy rumours.Putin's health rumours have further.

"There are things that can only be reached at the negotiating table," he said." "The end will be through diplomacy," he told a Ukrainian television channel. Our people are dying," the mayor of the southern Ukrainian port city told AFP. "It is hard for me to speak of any kind of future friendship or relationship. That's what we are working on at the moment," Truss said. "By the end of the year, 12 military units and divisions will be established in the Western Military District," Shoigu said at a meeting in televised remarks. Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun's Ukraine Fund. Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine Fund. "Attempts to attack Donbas continue. "The decision by Wimbledon to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing in the UK this summer undermines this principle and the integrity of the ATP ranking system. The verdict is due Monday. Many of you want to help the five million caught in the chaos — and now you can, by donating to The Sun’s Ukraine Fund.

Director Oliver Stone was granted unprecedented access to the Russian President for a series of interviews between 2015 and 2017 and that he believes he had ...

Hours earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the last defenders at the steelworks had been told by Ukraine's military that they could get out and save their lives. 'The territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant... [This] changes the dynamic again.' Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has had cancer. Pictured: Stone speaks with President Vladimir Putin in June, 2019 The aftermath of a Russian airstrike on a 'Palace of Culture' in the southeastern Kharkiv region The last remaining Ukrainian-held territories in the Donbas region have become central to Putin's war plans as he looks to take full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. The last remaining Ukrainian-held territories in the Donbas region have become central to Putin's war plans as he looks to take full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Putin has launched a major new offensive in the east of Ukraine as he hopes to build on his 'victory' in the strategic port city of Mariupol, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urges for a diplomatic end to the invasion. It comes as Putin has launched a major new offensive in the east of Ukraine as he hopes to build on his 'victory' in the strategic port city of Mariupol, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urges for a diplomatic end to the invasion. The last remaining Ukrainian-held territories in the Donbas region have become central to Putin's war plans as he looks to take full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Stone said in a new podcast that Putin had suffered from cancer, and that he believed he had overcome it - something which has not been confirmed to the Russian people.

The impact of Russia's declared victory on the broader war in Ukraine remained unclear. Many Russian troops already had been redeployed from Mariupol to ...

“The Russians are trying to clean it (the city) up to hide their crimes,″ the newspaper quoted Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov as saying. A “very large” number of the pilots died on their daring missions, he said. Every destroyed enterprise.” “Of course, the Russian state will not even recognize that it is an aggressor,” he said in an address late Friday. “But its recognition is not required.” Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, who signed off Saturday on a fresh, $40 billion infusion of aid for the war-ravaged nation. The seaside steelworks, occupying some 11 square kilometers (4 square miles), had been a battleground for weeks. Many Russian troops already had been redeployed from Mariupol to elsewhere in the conflict, which began when Russia invaded its neighbor on February 24. Many, trapped by Russia’s siege, were left without food, water and electricity. After failing to capture Kyiv, Russia focused its offensive on the country’s eastern industrial heartland. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanded anew that Russia pay “in one way or another for everything it has destroyed in Ukraine. Every burned house. There was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side. Love you. It described their extraction as an evacuation, not a mass surrender. I believe that justice must be restored.

The "informed elite" within Russian security forces "understand that the war is lost," said Bellingcat's lead Russia investigator Christo Grozev.

There are those in Putin's inner circle who may pressure him to use nuclear or chemical weapons, Grozev continued, but others will say "enough is enough." Grozev said that security officials with the FSB, who know how many Russian soldiers have died, think Putin is losing his grip on power. To have a chance of winning the war, Grozev said, the Russian president would need full mobilization but this would cause problems for him at home.

Russia advances in Ukraine's Donbas as Mariupol steelworks siege ends.

Kyiv got another huge boost on Saturday when US president Joe Biden signed a bill to provide nearly $40 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to the country. Almost one-third of Ukraine’s people have fled their homes, including more than 6 million who have left the country. “For them, all these victories – the occupation of Crimea or Donbas – is very temporary. Earlier, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s military had told the last defenders at the steelworks they could get out and save their lives. At least seven people were killed in the Donetsk region, the forces said. They said that as of 9pm local time there was still fighting in four unspecified locations.

After the deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers and an avalanche of failures since the invasion of Ukraine began, President Vladimir Putin has narrowed ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. The mistake cost the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade dearly, according to an analysis from the Institute of the Study of War, with an estimated 485 casualties and the loss of 80 pieces of equipment. The fight: A slowly regenerating Russian army is making incremental gains in eastern Ukraine against valiant but underequipped Ukrainian forces. “You just get this feeling like they’ve abandoned everything they’ve tried to learn over the last 10 years and reverted to an older style that they’re more comfortable with,” Boston said. The latest: Severodonetsk, the easternmost city under Ukraine’s control, is set to be the war’s next major battlefield, with local officials reporting intense Russian shelling in recent days. Still, the trajectory of the conflict perplexes him. A grave mistake, Lee said, was the failure of Russian commanders to send smaller numbers of troops across the river. President Biden on Saturday signed a $40 billion package of new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Among them, according to the British Ministry of Defense, are Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, who presided over the 1st Guards Tank Army’s failed effort to capture the northeastern city of Kharkiv, and Vice Adm. Igor Osipov, who was in charge of Russia’s Black Sea fleet when Ukrainian forces sank its flagship, the Moskva. The humiliating blow to Russia’s navy was carried out using the Neptune anti-ship missiles that Ukraine makes. Scott Boston, a former U.S. Army officer who studies the Ukraine war for Rand Corp., said it appears there are massive morale problems within the Russian military, undermining Moscow’s goals. As the war grinds on and Russia’s battlefield gains remain “uneven” and “incremental,” according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment, several of its high-ranking commanders have been sacked. A Pentagon spokesperson told The Washington Post that the United States had no comment on Russia’s claim.

President Vladimir Putin's grip on power is fading, and he has to take regular breaks for medical treatment, according to former British spy Christopher Steele.

Nonetheless, "we don't know the exact details of what his ailment is," Steele said. Putin is unlikely to withdraw from Ukraine "because of the sort of political corner he's painted himself into," Steele said. They led to speculation that the president may have dementia, Parkinson's disease, or a type of cancer. Steele is the author of the Trump-Russia dossier that included obscene allegations about the former US president, including the rumored "pee tape." But in his interview with LBC, Steele gave credence to the Parkinson's rumor, saying Putin is "probably" ill with the disease. "Our understanding is that there's increasing disarray in the Kremlin and chaos," Steele said in an interview with British talk radio station LBC on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to a question from American film director Oliver Stone during an interview at the Kremlin June 19, ...

he goes out and receives some kind of medical treatment between those sections. "In the military's terms the structures of command and so on are not functioning as they should," he claimed. He claimed there's "increasing disarray in the Kremlin and chaos" amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as a result of the leader's illness. In a new podcast, Stone - who has not met Putin for three years - claimed that the Russian leader had suffered from cancer, and that he believed he had overcome it. The bombshell claim comes amid growing speculation that the Russian leader is suffering from cancer, after a former British spy exclusively told LBC's Eddie Mair that Putin is "constantly" being followed by doctors. Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has revealed that Vladimir Putin has suffered from cancer, amid speculation that the Kremlin leader is battling the disease.

The US and its NATO allies should prepare a "devastating" response to potential Russian nuclear action, Sen. Mitt Romney said on Saturday.

“You are either with us, or you are with Russia — you cannot be with both,” Romney wrote. “Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon would unarguably be a redefining, reorienting geopolitical event,” Romney, 75, wrote. The call to action comes on the heels of threats from the Kremlin and warnings from Russian diplomats that the country’s Ukraine invasion could lead to a nuclear strike, the Utah Republican wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times.

Moscow considers prisoner swap for Putin ally; Russia bans 963 Americans including president Biden from entering the country.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan, who has objected to Sweden and Finland joining Nato, held phone calls with the leaders of the two countries on Saturday and discussed his concerns about terrorist organisations. The last discussions between the two sides took place on 22 April, according to Russian news agencies. He said making concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin almost certainly will not be in power three years from now.

But there were two big differences that had nothing to do with national character, whatever that is. Moreover, Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics for more than two-thirds of that time. There have been occasions, most recently during the civil war of 1917-22, when Russia temporarily was carved up into rival jurisdictions, but these interludes have never lasted long. He may even save everybody the trouble by dying before he can be removed. Russian President Vladimir Putin almost certainly will not be in power three years from now. Article content

Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or concessions to Moscow while Russia intensified an offensive in the eastern Donbas region and stopped providing gas to ...

Moscow says Western sanctions, along with arms deliveries for Kyiv, amount to a "proxy war" by the United States and its allies. With only 10 available for a unit that already suffered heavy losses in the failed attempt on Kyiv, however, the ministry said they were "unlikely to have a significant impact." At least seven people had been killed in the Donetsk region, they said. Mr Zelensky said he stressed the importance of more sanctions on Russia and unblocking Ukrainian ports in a call with Mr Draghi on Saturday. His adviser Mykhailo Podolyak ruled out agreeing to a ceasefire and said Kyiv would not accept any deal with Moscow that involved ceding territory. Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler Gasum, the Finnish government and individual gas-consuming companies in Finland have said they were prepared for a shutdown of Russian flows.

With Russia claiming to have taken prisoner nearly 2500 Ukrainian fighters from the besieged Mariupol steel plant, concerns grew about their fate.

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