US aid won’t be enough to stop Russian forces, Dmitry Kuleba has said

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has praised the US Senate’s decision to approve a $61 billion funding package, but warned that it won’t be enough to make a difference on the battlefield.

After months of wrangling, Republicans caved in to the ruling Democrats and backed the White House aid proposal in a 79-18 vote on Tuesday night.

“Hallelujah,” Kuleba told The Guardian in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

“No single package can stop the Russians," he added. "What will stop the Russians is a united front of all of Ukraine and all of its partners.”

Kuleba's stance tallies with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also stated that the weapons and ammunition the US and its allies give to Kiev won’t change the “dynamics on the front line,” where Russian forces have made significant advances in recent weeks. The only thing the new US aid will do is get more Ukrainians killed, Peskov said.

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Kuleba urged the West to ramp up military production, because Ukraine is running out of air defenses and Russia had a ten-to-one advantage in artillery shells.

“When I see what Russia achieved in building up its defense industrial base in two years of the war and what the West has achieved, I think something is wrong on the part of the West,” Kuleba said. “The West has to realize the era of peace in Europe is over.”

The Ukrainian foreign minister urged Kiev’s allies to switch from “expressing condolences and sympathy to Ukrainians and promising to help with recovery, to preventing loss of life and destruction of the country” by giving it more weapons and ammunition.

While Kuleba put a brave face on Kiev’s situation, Ukrainian soldiers who spoke to the Financial Times over the weekend seemed more pessimistic. US aid might help slow down the Russians but it won’t stop them, several officers told the outlet. No amount of Western weapons and ammunition can solve Kiev’s lack of manpower, they added.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued that the US was using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder,” and hoping to keep Kiev on life support until after the November presidential election. In the end, she said, the US will end up facing a “loud and humiliating fiasco on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan.”

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A once “prosperous” country has been ruined by its leaders and “oligarchs,” the Belarusian president has claimed

Ukraine has devolved into a Western-style oligarchy where all of its leaders are only interested in “plundering” the country and getting rich, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed.

The president made the remarks on Wednesday during an address to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, a gathering of high-profile officials and public figures. Lukashenko fired a broadside at the neighboring country, accusing its presidents and “oligarchs” of stealing Ukraine’s riches.

The process began immediately after Ukraine became an independent state following the collapse of the Soviet Union and has worsened over time, Lukashenko argued.

“Just think – a prosperous country. The land is fertile, half of the periodic table in its soil, two seas, mines, industrial giants. The people are creative, hard-working. Live, be happy and grow rich. And they grew rich, but only very few, in the very ‘best’ traditions of Western European democracies,” the Belarusian leader said.

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Every Ukrainian president, from “the first to the last one,” has been “plundering and stealing,” Lukashenko asserted, claiming that this inevitably led to political infighting and enduring unrest.

“The oligarchs and those in power have gathered all the resources under their control. The oligarchs, having received the wealth created by the people, wanted power. They went into politics and began to drag bandits and people into their squabbles. The Maidans have begun,” Lukashenko stated.

Ukrainian leaders, however, have consistently blamed the internal turmoil they created on foreign powers, primarily Russia and to a lesser extent Belarus, Lukashenko alleged.

“They created the necessary image of the enemy, ‘the culprit behind the hardships and poverty of the people’ – Russia, as well as us, Belarusians. We, you see, are now somehow to blame,” the leader said.

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Remark from Dmitry Peskov comes after US Congress greenlit $61-billion aid package for Ukraine following months of bickering

The $61-billion defense package recently approved by the US Congress will not change the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine’s favor, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Earlier this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Moscow’s forces had seized an initiative in the Ukraine conflict.

On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed the package valued at $95 billion, the lion’s share of which will go toward shoring up Ukraine. The Senate gave its thumbs-up to the legislation on Tuesday, with President Joe Biden expected to sign off on it on Wednesday. Several media outlets have reported that first batches of aid could be dispatched to Kiev within days.

Initially presented last fall, the package wallowed in limbo for months as Republican lawmakers blocked it in a drawn-out bid to squeeze concessions out of the Biden administration on US border-control policies.

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Speaking to Russian media on Wednesday, Peskov stated that the “situation on the battlefield is too eloquent and unequivocal, but we never tire of repeating that all these new batches of weapons, which are likely ready by now, won’t change the dynamics on the front line.”

The Kremlin spokesperson also pointed out that Western media’s and officials’ narratives have “mutated” a lot over the past year. He explained that, while the general consensus in the West a year ago was that Russia’s defeat was imminent, this later gave way to warnings that the Ukrainian government could fall, and eventually that more weapons deliveries could prevent this outcome.

Peskov emphasized that the US government has effectively been funneling billions of dollars into its own military industrial complex all along.

Speaking at a meeting with top Russian commanders on Monday, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that Moscow’s forces had been making advances and have liberated several towns in Donbass in recent days.

He estimated Kiev’s losses at half-a-million troops since the start of the conflict.

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The West is not benefitting from confrontation with Moscow and must learn to live in a new global order, the president of Belarus has said

The Ukraine conflict is among the major events that will determine the future of the world, and the West is emerging weaker from it, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed on Wednesday.

The leader of Belarus, a close Russian ally, addressed the situation in Ukraine during a keynote speech to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, a gathering of officials and public figures.

He contrasted Kiev’s policies with those of Minsk, arguing that unlike its southern neighbor, his nation has preserved its independence under Western pressure.

“Everyone understands that today’s Ukraine is a military range, where the future of the world order is partially decided. The largest nuclear powers indirectly, and now even directly, are waging a war on its territory,” Lukashenko stated.

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“Meanwhile its authorities have sunk to the level of striking a bargain with the West to exchange weapons for the lives of Ukrainians. Watching this is painful,” he added.

Kiev has miscalculated, Lukashenko argued, because “whoever is willing to serve a master for scraps will sooner or later lose.” Ukraine is risking its statehood after betraying its past and traditions, he also warned.

The Belarusian leader described the entire conflict as the latest clash “between the West and the East,” and suggested that neither side has become stronger.

The outcome of the confrontation “will not save the existing order,” Lukashenko further predicted. He urged the US and its allies to accept that their future role will be restricted as one of several centers of power that determine world affairs.

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The agreement was reached during Qatar-mediated talks, Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova has said

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to exchange children who have been separated from their families amid the hostilities between the two nations, a senior official involved in the negotiations announced on Wednesday.

The talks were held with Qatar’s mediation, Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova told the media. Under the deal, Moscow will take in 19 children and send 29 home to Ukraine, she said.

Speaking to journalists in Doha, the official said the Qatari government was overseeing the lists of children slated for the planned swap. The talks were held in the capital of the Arab nation and amounted to the first in-person negotiation of this kind between Moscow and Kiev, according to Lvova-Belova.

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Last year the Russian official was loudly accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of forcing the deportation and transfer of minors in the context of the Ukraine conflict. President Vladimir Putin was named as the second suspect in the case.

Moscow dismissed the ICC allegations, saying they were politically motivated and misrepresented Moscow’s actions. In reality, Russian authorities had evacuated civilians to protect them from violence, officials claimed.

The reported breakthrough came a week after Kiev bragged about discovering over 160 children “kidnapped by Russia” living safely in Germany. Most had entered the country with their parents or legal guardians, Berlin said.

Lvova-Belova argued that the news called into question Kiev’s “systemic myth” regarding the whereabouts of the young children. Many of those flagged by Ukraine as supposed Russian victims turn out to be with their families, she noted.

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Becoming a member of the group will boost transport and food security, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia says

Sri Lanka intends to formally seek membership of the BRICS group of nations, the South Asian country’s ambassador to Russia announced on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, Janitha Abeywickrema Liyanage confirmed that “Sri Lanka is planning to join BRICS+” and expressed hope that accession would provide “an opportunity to ensure both transport and food security.”

The BRICS group of non-Western economies – which previously comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – has recently seen a major wave of expansion. Earlier this year, four nations – Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the UAE – became members, and more are expected in the future.

Colombia, Venezuela, Thailand, Cuba, Senegal, Nigeria, Bahrain, Belarus and Pakistan are among the countries recently expressing an intention to become part of BRICS.

The Sri Lankan ambassador also announced that a project under which tourists from Russia can receive visas free of charge to visit Sri Lanka could be extended beyond April 30. Initially, their validity was set to expire on March 31, but was prolonged for a month.

“The issue is now being considered, perhaps there will be a further extension,” Liyanage said, noting that last winter several new direct flight routes were established between Russia and Sri Lanka, boosting tourism to the island nation.

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Liyanage also announced that Sri Lanka plans to open three new Russian language centers, in cooperation with Russian universities. She explained that such centers are already functioning, and that 138 people have graduated from Russian language courses.

According to the ambassador, there are currently about a thousand Sri Lankan students studying at Russian universities and looking for employment. She explained that the Sri Lankan hospitality sector is actively developing, and that the importance of learning Russian has grown due to the influx of Russian travelers – who represent the “largest tourist flow” to the island.

She noted that the Russian language is popular in Sri Lanka because “relations between the countries go back many years and they have always been warm and friendly.”

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Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov has been under suspicion for years, according to media reports

The arrest of a senior Russian military official this week was the result of a lengthy corruption investigation, according to multiple media reports. Court proceedings on Wednesday revealed a second suspect in the same case.

Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was taken into custody in a surprise move on Tuesday evening. Hours earlier, he had participated in a top-level meeting which was chaired by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

Ivanov is suspected of large-scale bribe-taking, the Investigative Committee said, defined in the penal code as accepting corrupt payments amounting to over 1 million rubles (over $10,500).

A TASS law enforcement source said investigators had been pursuing Ivanov for a long time, “not since yesterday or a month ago.” The news website lenta.ru reported that the probe had taken at least five years, according to its source.

Initial reports claimed that several suspected accomplices had been arrested alongside the deputy minister. One of them, identified as Sergey Borodin, was brought before a court in Moscow on Wednesday, where a judge ordered his pre-trial detention.

A military service member of the same name was mentioned in the Russian press two years ago. At that time, Colonel Sergey Borodin took a plea deal in a criminal case involving the embezzlement of large plots of land owned by the military.

The former deputy head of a directorate responsible for housing troops agreed to testify against other individuals involved in the criminal conspiracy, reports said. The corrupt operation allegedly continued for over a decade and resulted in losses of at least 900 million rubles ($9.2 million).

READ MORE: Russian deputy defense minister arrested over suspected bribery

Ivanov, whose pre-trial detention was ordered by the same court on Wednesday, had been in charge of the Defense Ministry’s civil engineering programs since 2013. Shoigu appointed him as his deputy in 2016.

Ivanov also served as Shoigu’s deputy when the defense minister briefly served as the governor of Moscow Region in 2012.

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The attacks targeted fuel infrastructure in Smolensk Region, the local governor has said

Ukrainian drones have targeted energy infrastructure in Russia’s Smolensk Region, local Governor Vasily Anokhin said on Wednesday morning.

“Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian UAVs,” Anokhin wrote on Telegram at around 5am local time, adding that Russian air defenses were responding to the situation.

The drone attack targeted “civilian fuel and energy facilities” and resulted in several fires in the Smolensky and Yartsevsky districts, according to the official. Firefighters are tackling the blaze, Anokhin added, urging the residents to remain calm.

Smolensk Region is around 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow and borders Belarus. The distance from the city of Smolensk to the border with Ukraine is 400km.

Ukraine attempted to bomb another undisclosed oil facility in Smolensk last week. The drones were downed, but debris fell onto a storage unit of oil and lubricants, resulting in a small fire, according to Anokhin.

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On Saturday, Russian air defenses intercepted several Ukrainian drone raids across the western part of the country, destroying some 50 UAVs over the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, and also deeper into Russia – in Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga, and Moscow Regions.

Since January, Ukraine has launched a series of long-range attacks on Russian energy facilities, including oil depots and refineries, using kamikaze drones. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has suggested the strikes are meant to impress Kiev’s Western backers to compensate for a lack of progress on the frontline.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that US Vice President Kamala Harris met privately with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, telling him to refrain from targeting Russian oil refineries. President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly believes that such attacks could raise global energy prices and provoke a massive Russian retaliation.

According to the media outlet, the Ukrainian head of state “brushed off the recommendation.” Despite the US becoming more and more insistent over the following weeks, Kiev doubled down on its strategy.

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The military has brought in Bradley, Marder and M113 vehicles formerly in Ukrainian service

Some of the equipment provided to Ukraine by the US and its allies has been spotted in the Russian capital, in the vicinity of Victory Park, home to museums of the victories in 1812 and 1945.

A video shared by the Russian military’s Zvezda TV channel on Tuesday showed two US-made M113 armored personnel carriers and a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), as well as the German-made Marder IFV, on transport trailers.

A Ukrainian-made ‘Azovets’ armored vehicle was also spotted on its way to the complex.

Hundreds of obsolete M113s, first deployed in the 1960s, have been sent to Ukraine by the US and its allies over the past two years. It was not clear where the one to be displayed may have been taken.

Washington followed up the deliveries with the Bradley IFV, which first saw service in the 1980s. Many of them were destroyed in the first days of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye offensive, last June. One was famously captured while still running by an “Anime squad” of Russian volunteers.

A German-made Marder was captured in near-pristine condition in late March near the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdeevka in Donbass. After running some tests, the Russian military concluded it was too heavy, underpowered, and overall ill-suited to the Ukraine battlefield.

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The final trophy appeared to be the ‘Azovets’, a Ukrainian-designed heavy fighting vehicle that mysteriously vanished from its factory in 2016. It was eventually found buried at a base of the neo-Nazi “Azov” battalion, near Mariupol.

Muscovites have speculated that the trophies will either be put on display, or be shown off during the Victory Day parade on May 9, the annual celebration of the triumph over Nazi Germany.

A captured Ukrainian Leopard 2A6 – donated either by Germany or another NATO member – was towed from the frontline over the weekend. It will presumably end up at the Kubinka tank museum located at Patriot Park outside Moscow.

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The conflict has become a “laboratory” for the US military, a senior American general told the newspaper

The US military is reportedly using the Ukraine conflict to test a new artificial intelligence technology that helps detect targets on the battlefield using drone footage, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Dubbed Project Maven, research into the technology was initially picked up as a government contract by Google six years ago, according to the outlet. However, after pushback from engineers and employees, who did not want to take part in building an AI tool for military use, the tech giant stepped away from the project, which was picked up by other contractors.

Now, the technology is being tested on the front line in Ukraine, the NYT claims, as Western and Ukrainian officers, along with some of Silicon Valley’s top military contractors, are “exploring new ways of finding and exploiting Russian vulnerabilities.”

So far, the results of the testing have reportedly been “mixed.” While Project Maven allows commanders to identify the movements of Russian forces and use AI algorithms to predict their next steps, it has apparently been “difficult” to bring “21st-century data into 19th-century trenches.”

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One of the main barriers, the Times said, is that due to restrictions imposed by US President Joe Biden, the US military can only provide Ukrainians with a “picture of the battlefield” without giving precise targeting details.

It is also unclear if the new technology would even be able to change the course of the conflict, given Russia’s ability to quickly adapt to technologies being used by the Ukrainian side.

“When new technology meets the brutality of old-fashioned trench warfare, the results are rarely what Pentagon planners expected,” the outlet said.

Nevertheless, the Ukraine conflict remains “a bonanza for the US military” in the minds of American officials, and a testing ground for rapidly evolving technologies.

“At the end of the day this became our laboratory,” Lt. Gen. Christopher T. Donahue, who commands the US Army’s 18th Airborne Division, told the NYT.

Russia, meanwhile, has repeatedly decried increasing US involvement in the conflict. Moscow describes it as a proxy war being waged by Washington and its partners, using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” to further Western interests.

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President Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu have been briefed on the detention

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov has been arrested on suspicion of bribery, the country’s Investigative Committee announced on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu have been briefed on the arrest, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ivanov took part in an extended ministerial meeting led by Shoigu that included numerous senior Russian officials and top military commanders.

While the Committee effectively provided no details about the affair, it said that Ivanov is suspected of taking bribes on a large scale. According to the relevant clause in the Russian penal code cited by the Committee, such bribes involve sums of at least 1 million rubles (over $10,500). If found guilty, Ivanov could face up to 15 years behind bars.

Ivanov has been long involved in the country’s energy and construction sectors and has worked at several high-profile state-owned companies. He led the military construction contractor Oboronstroy, a company whose primary purpose is building residential homes for servicemen, between 2013 and 2016. He was then appointed to his current post where he oversees military construction within the ministry.

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The army is set to receive its first S-500 advanced anti-aircraft systems this year, the defense minister has said

Russia will further reinforce its air defenses by deploying upgraded systems later this year, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has announced.

The minister made the remarks on Monday as he spoke during a meeting with top Russian commanders. Boosting anti-aircraft and anti-missile capabilities is a priority for Moscow, Shoigu stated.

Deliveries of short-range anti-aircraft Pantsir systems, which boast both missiles and autocannons, will be “expanded nearly twofold” this year, the minister said. He noted that the system has performed exceptionally well in the conflict with Ukraine.

Russian troops will also receive the first advanced S-500 systems, both anti-aircraft and dedicated strategic anti-missile versions, Shoigu revealed. While little is known about the new air defense system, the S-500 is reportedly able to intercept hypersonic missiles and also strike targets in the low Earth orbit, depending on the munition used.

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Apart from that, the military is set to several other new systems with various ranges, including the S-400, S-300V4, Buk-M3 and Tor-M2U. The army will also get new-generation radar systems, the minister noted without specifying any exact models.

“The effort to improve air and missile defense will provide high-quality cover for the most important objects of the command and control system, strategic nuclear forces and troop groupings,” Shoigu said.

The Russian military has faced a vast number of aerial threats during the Ukraine conflict, Shoigu noted, revealing that the country’s anti-aircraft forces have brought down more than 30,000 targets during the conflict. Drones account for the vast majority, with more than 22,000 units destroyed, the minister added.

The anti-aircraft defenses have also intercepted more than 6,000 munitions launched by various Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers, including over 3,500 projectiles fired by the US-made HIMARS launchers, Shoigu stated.

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Employers have still reported significant personnel shortages despite inflated wages

Russians have seen a noticeable increase in salaries due to the outflow of migrants prompted by stricter government policies, labor experts reported on Monday. The trend, however, has also led to personnel shortages on the job market.

Speaking at a press conference organized by the National News Service (NSN) dedicated to the future of the Russian labor market, analysts described the country as experiencing a “wage revolution.”

Specialists who received a monthly salary of 70,000-80,000 rubles ($750-850) just one year ago are now earning 150,000-300,000 rubles ($1,600-3,200), as well as receiving bonus payments, they added.

Under IMF purchasing power parity comparisons, these salaries have close to three times the spending power of equivalents in the US. This is because the international financial institution believes the real value of a Russian ruble is 33 to the dollar but the currency is currently trading at 93 against the greenback.

At the same time, labor market analysts have reported that vacancies have increased by 44% over the past year, while the number of applications has grown by just 11%.

Business owners have reportedly admitted to hiring “almost anyone who agrees to work” due to less competition in the job market. The panelists claimed that some businesses are now even bringing back retired former employees.

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State Duma member Garry Muradyan explained that migrant employment quotas are decreasing and that the government is “tightening the screws.” The resulting personnel shortage has caused companies to “fight for talented employees and inflate salaries,” Muradyan said. He pointed to an example where one business in the city of Samara was offering 400,000 rubles ($4,280) for a metal working position which typically pays 130,000 ($1,400).

Inflated salaries have had an adverse effect, according to Muradyan. Graduates of prestigious universities are reportedly taking up less specialized jobs such as delivery drivers, where they can earn over 200,000 rubles ($2,100), compared to an engineer’s salary of 110,000 -130,000 rubles ($1,170-1,400).

“Such a difference in payment is scary. It is clear that we need to develop services, but it is equally important to raise the salaries of qualified specialists,” said Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma Committee on Labor.

The experts predicted it is likely that significant personnel shortages will soon extend to the healthcare and education systems. It is currently unclear how to reshape the economy to these new conditions, they added, especially as Russian workers will be unlikely to agree to lower salaries once migrants eventually return to the job market.

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Latvia has approved the removal of Russian from the school curriculum

The Latvian government has set a timeline for the eradication of Russian, the second-most spoken language in the country, from its national schools curriculum. A 2017 migration survey found that up to 36% of the Latvian population was Russian speaking while 25% of the population was ethnic Russian.

Starting from September 1, 2025, Latvian schoolchildren will not be able to study Russian as a second foreign language, the country’s cabinet ruled on Tuesday. The new regulations envisage a gradual phasing-out of the language by the end of the decade, with only EU languages remaining as options, plus those of Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein.

Moscow has long accused Riga of discriminating against the group, citing among other things the practice of issuing ‘non-citizen’ passports to Russians who were born in Latvia during Soviet times. This status strips them of voting rights and restricts career opportunities for certain jobs.

Last September, Latvia’s parliament ruled that Russian will be off-limits for public broadcasters starting from 2026. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced the ban at the time as “yet another manifestation of aggressive chauvinistic nationalism” and part of the government’s ongoing “war on the Russian language.”

Under the new rules, which were approved unanimously by Latvian ministers on Tuesday, schoolchildren will still be able to choose Russian as their second foreign language in the next academic year.

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At present, English is offered as the first foreign language in all schools, with a second introduced upon completion of primary school. According to Delfi media outlet, citing Education Ministry data, Russian is currently taught as a second foreign language in nearly half of all Latvian schools.

Other options are often unavailable simply because there are not enough qualified teachers, the media outlet reported. The Latvian authorities apparently hope that the transition period will allow them to find the necessary personnel.

Delfi noted that the plan garnered an “unusually” high number of objections during public discussions. However, Latvian lawmakers reportedly ignored the more than 300 negative comments, many of which allegedly argued that children should have the right to learn their native language.

Last month, the head of Latvia’s Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, Maira Roze, announced that the country will begin expelling Russians with permanent resident status who have either failed to apply for a new residence permit or failed to pass a compulsory language exam.

Moscow slammed Riga over what it called “openly criminal” treatment of people and an “evil act.”

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Russian lawmakers are ready to introduce a bill on retaliatory measures, the country’s top senator says

Moscow has drafted a package of retaliatory measures in the event that Western countries seize Russian sovereign assets that have been frozen over the Ukraine conflict, senior senator Valentina Matvienko warned on Tuesday.

In an interview with Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselyov, the chairwoman of the Federation Council said that the EU’s potential move to confiscate Russian assets would be “unprecedented,” adding that it “would destroy the global economy.”

“Of course, it would be absolutely illegal, and everyone in Europe understands that they can’t do that,” the official stated.

Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the West has frozen around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets, most of which are being held in the EU. Moscow has repeatedly denounced the seizure as “theft.”

Officials in several Western nations, notably the US and the UK, have insisted on the outright confiscation of Russian assets despite widespread concerns that this would have no legal basis. In contrast, the EU has been reluctant to do so, reportedly fearing Russian retaliation.

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Matvienko stressed that Russia has “a prepared response” to a potential confiscation. “We have a bill that we are ready to consider immediately in response. And the Europeans will lose more than we will. Of course, they are afraid of this, especially given that their economy is collapsing.”

The senator argued that Washington has crushed the EU, both politically and economically. “In the defense and security area, it used to be a vassal… but now it has been simply squashed by the Americans. They now want to strangle it even more… to make it even less competitive,” she stated.

With this in mind, Matvienko suggested that the European business community should vehemently protest against the potential seizures, as they would be the primary target of Moscow’s retaliatory measures.

While the EU has been dragging its feet on confiscating Russian assets, it has been working on a plan to seize the profits generated by those funds in order to procure weapons for Ukraine and boost its defense production capabilities.

According to Politico, however, some members of the bloc have voiced serious misgivings about the initiative. Hungary and Slovakia have opposed the idea of sending weapons to Ukraine, while Malta and Luxembourg are reportedly unhappy that they were not consulted about the plan.

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Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has declared that Ukrainian embassy staff will not serve fighting-aged men living abroad

Ukrainian consular offices will not serve fighting-age men living abroad who are unwilling to risk their lives for their country’s survival, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Tuesday.

Kiev’s diplomatic missions in several Western nations stopped processing such service requests on Tuesday, according to multiple Ukrainian media reports. Documents that have been finalized for fighting-age Ukrainian men are being withheld, reports claim.

Kuleba confirmed in a social media post on Tuesday that he had ordered the policy change and that it is meant to encourage men to come back to Ukraine for possible call up for military service.

”How it looks like now: a man of conscription age went abroad, showed his state that he does not care about its survival, and then comes and wants to receive services from this state. It does not work this way. Our country is at war,” he wrote.

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The order to deny consular services to all men aged 18 to 60 was first revealed by Ukrainian media on Monday. Kuleba has since described his decision as “fair” and in line with the controversial military mobilization reforms, which President Vladimir Zelensky signed into law this month. The changes include various punishments for avoiding the draft.

According to EU officials, an estimated 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age are living in the bloc. Kiev has identified that pool as a significant untapped source of manpower for the armed forces.

When they come into force next month Zelensky's reforms will lower the draft age from 27 to 25, tighten exemptions and oblige potential conscripts to update their personal data with the Defense Ministry.

All men aged 18 to 60, regardless of eligibility, will be required to carry papers confirming their registration with a conscription office.

Asked in early April how many troops Kiev intended to mobilize, Zelensky dodged the question and claimed that Moscow had plans to enroll 300,000 additional servicemen. Russian officials denied his claim, pointing out that its military attracts enough volunteers to meet personnel goals.

READ MORE: Ukraine freezes all consular services for military-aged men abroad

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday that Ukrainian military losses since February 2022, when the hostilities began, were approaching 500,000.

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The FSB has detained a man it accuses of carrying an improvised explosive device in the city of Bryansk

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled a terrorist plot in the western region of Bryansk which borders Ukraine, the agency reported on Tuesday.

FSB officers detained a Russian citizen in the city of Bryansk who allegedly “professed Ukrainian nationalist ideology” and was planning to carry out an attack on orders from “representatives of a terrorist organization banned in our country,” the agency said. The detainee was reportedly carrying an improvised explosive device.

The FSB has made footage of the man’s arrest and interrogation public.

“I was tasked with uncovering a cache of explosives and preparing a terrorist attack in one of the public places,” the suspect said in the video, which also shows him digging up the supposed cache from under a tree in a residential neighborhood of Bryansk.

A criminal investigation was launched into the case on charges of “promoting terrorist activities and participation in a terrorist community.” The suspect faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Earlier this month, the FSB said it thwarted another attempted terrorist attack targeting a synagogue in Moscow. The suspect was killed during a standoff with security operatives. The FSB did not disclose his identity, but said he was a citizen of a Central Asian country who had a criminal record back home and became radicalized while serving a prison sentence.

READ MORE: Synagogue attack thwarted in Moscow – FSB (VIDEO)

The news comes just three weeks after a major terrorist attack in Moscow Region. Four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22, shooting indiscriminately before setting the building on fire. The attack left over 140 people dead and more than 500 injured. ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), claimed responsibility for the massacre, but Russian officials later suggested that the Ukrainian security services may have been involved in preparing the assault, possibly using the Islamists as proxies. An investigation into the attack is ongoing.

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Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Laanemets had previously also suggested labeling the Russian Orthodox Church a terrorist organization

Orthodox Christian monasteries in Estonia could be forced to shut down if they do not sever their ties with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the EU state’s interior minister, Lauri Laanemets, has warned. Speaking to the news outlet ERR on Tuesday, he claimed that such links pose a security risk to the country.

The minister visited the Pukhtitsa monastery on Tuesday to explain to its leadership the government’s position that all churches, parishes, and monasteries that are subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchy, “and essentially to the Kremlin regime and related security issues” must “take steps to stop this subordination.”

He insisted that Tallinn will do “everything possible to ensure that there is no escalation in this matter,” but stressed that from “a security logic point of view” it is impossible to allow Estonian religious organizations to obey Russian Patriarch Kirill, who Laanemets claims has “declared that the Estonian state should not exist.”

At the same time, Laanements claimed that the state is “not going to prescribe to churches and parishes what their future should be, it is important that they make these decisions themselves.”

However, he warned that if no decisions are made, those who are “directly subordinate to Patriarch Kirill, that is, Moscow, may face a problem” and be legally forced by the state to cease all activities.

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For now, the Pukhtitsa monastery will be allowed to continue its activities as usual, Laanemets said, as its leadership looks for legally and canonically acceptable solutions that would sever its ties with the Moscow Patriarchy.

Earlier this month, the minister had also revealed that he is preparing a proposition to the Estonian parliament to officially label the ROC a terrorist organization with the goal of banning all of its activities in the country.

The Estonian Orthodox Church (EOC), however, has stated that it does not intend to unilaterally cut its canonical ties with the Moscow Patriarchy, explaining that the ROC “has not accepted anything at the church level” that would force such a move.

Estonia’s push to ban the ROC comes after a statement released by the World Russian People’s Council – a public organization headed by Patriarch Kirill – in which it is claimed that Russia should become a global “protector” against evil and challenge attempts to establish “universal hegemony in the world” and also restore the unity of the Russian people who are scattered throughout the world.

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Semyon Yeryomin was fatally injured while filming in Zaporozhye Region

Russian journalist Semyon Yeryomin, who was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack last week, has been posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, one of the country’s top honors. The award for the late Izvestia war correspondent was announced in a presidential decree published on Monday.

Yeryomin died in a Ukrainian kamikaze drone attack in Zaporozhye Region, the outlet announced on Friday. His crew had been filming Russian troop positions near the village of Priyutnoye, and had also recently reported on attempts to divert Ukrainian UAV strikes.

The crew’s vehicle was attacked by a drone while returning from a filming location, eyewitnesses told Izvestia. Yeryomin later died of his injuries.

He had been reporting in the combat zone since the Ukraine conflict began in February 2022, and had already been awarded the Medal For Merit to the Fatherland II Degree for his work covering the fighting.

READ MORE: Kiev deliberately targeting journalists – Kremlin

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered his condolences on Saturday and accused Ukrainian forces of deliberately targeting members of the Russian press at the front lines. The tragedy highlights the dangers journalists face in combat zones, Peskov added.

Several Russian journalists have lost their lives since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine more than two years ago.

In November 2023, Boris Maksudov, who worked for Russia 24 TV, died from shrapnel wounds he suffered during a Ukrainian drone attack in Zaporozhye Region. RIA Novosti’s Rostislav Zhuravlev, Tavria TV’s Oleg Klokov, and RuBaltic’s Aleksey Ilyashevich have also all been killed during the hostilities.

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Moscow’s forces have liberated several more settlements in Donbass, Sergey Shoigu has said

Russian troops are firmly in control of the battlefield situation and are steadily pushing back Ukrainian forces, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said.

Speaking at a meeting with top Russian commanders on Monday, the minister announced that Moscow had liberated the villages of Pervomayskoe and Novomikhailovka, west and southwest of the Russian city of Donetsk, as well as the settlement of Bogdanovka not far from Artyomovsk, known in Ukraine as Bakhmut. The latter strategic city was captured by Russia last year after months of bitter fighting.

He added that the control zone was also being expanded in Berdychi and Georgievka, north and west of Donetsk.

”Our high combat potential allows us to constantly strike the enemy and prevent him from holding the defense line,” Shoigu noted, estimating Kiev’s losses at half-a-million troops since the start of the conflict.

He also recalled that last year’s much-touted Ukrainian counteroffensive, prepared with the help of NATO instructors, had been a failure. “Our servicemen have dispelled the myth of the superiority of Western weapons,” he said.

The Russian minister also hailed the national defense industry, saying it had ramped up output repeatedly. This “has significantly increased the combat capabilities of our armed forces. This is evidenced by the situation in the special military operation zone,” Shoigu said.

Amid current tensions with the US and its allies, the minister vowed to further boost military production while promising to “increase the intensity of attacks on logistics centers and facilities where Western weapons are stored.”

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Russia regularly conducts high-precision long-range strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure, logistics hubs, and defense industrial facilities. It has repeatedly said that it does not attack civilian targets.

In February, Russian forces liberated the strategic Donbass town of Avdeevka, and later captured several nearby settlements. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have largely attributed the retreat to a lack of ammunition and delays in Western assistance. Against this backdrop, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged last month that Kiev was not ready to repel a major Russian offensive.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, has predicted that Kiev will face “a rather difficult situation” in mid-May and early June.

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Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has shared the latest estimates of Kiev’s battlefield casualties

Ukrainian military losses since February 2022 have reached almost 500,000, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed on Tuesday.

Russian forces have the initiative on the front line and are pushing back their opponents, Shoigu told a ministerial meeting. The pressure prevents Kiev’s troops from holding on to their defensive positions, he added.

The defense minister also addressed America’s expected allocation of over $60 billion in military assistance for Kiev. He noted that the move is intended to “prevent the collapse” of Ukrainian forces, but predicted that the money will not significantly impact the situation on the battlefield, since “most of the funding will go to US military production.”

“The American authorities cynically state that Ukrainians will be dying in the fight with Russia for their interests,” Shoigu stated. Officials in both Washington and Kiev have argued that paying Ukraine to fight Russia is preferable to the US having to fight Russia directly.

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Shoigu hailed Russia’s defense production capacity and flexibility in adapting its military tactics to the combat situation. He said the Defense Ministry will continue long-range attacks on logistics hubs and depots used for supplying Western weapons to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed into law a radical reform of the mobilization system, meant to boost conscription numbers, which introduces harsh punishments for draft avoidance.

Zelensky said he considers a proposed mobilization target of 500,000, tabled by Ukraine’s former top general, Valery Zaluzhny, who he dismissed in February, as excessive.

The multi-billion-dollar US aid package was requested by the White House months ago but was only passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday, after Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to it.

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The man allegedly carried out surveillance at the home of the target, former SBU colonel Vasily Prozorov

A third suspect has been detained in connection with the attempted assassination of former Ukrainian colonel Vasily Prozorov, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Tuesday.

A car owned by Prozorov, who previously served in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Kiev’s successor to the Soviet KGB, was blown up in Moscow on April 12. Prozorov and his driver sustained injuries but both survived the blast.

The third suspect in the case, a Ukrainian national born in 1995, was detained in the city of Lugansk in Donbass. He had allegedly acted on orders from an SBU agent, Ukrainian-born Yaroslava Khrestina, currently living in Warsaw, whom he met in 2021. The suspect is accused of carrying out surveillance over Prozorov’s residence in Moscow in mid-2023, in order to determine where her parked his car. In early April this year, he allegedly transferred 10,000 rubles ($110) to a “courier” who delivered components of the explosive device later used in the assassination attempt.

“The suspect confessed to his actions and is cooperating with the investigation,” the FSB said in a statement accompanying footage of the man’s detention and questioning.

The FSB earlier detained two other suspects in connection with the plot against Prozorov. The first is a Russian national, Vladimir Golovchenko, who allegedly assembled the bomb used in the assassination attempt and planted it under Prozorov’s car. The second has been named as Ivan Paskar, the alleged “courier” who received the parcel containing components of the explosive device in Lithuania and delivered it to the Russian capital. Both have been placed under arrest.

Prozorov worked for the SBU from 1999 to 2018. However, he was placed on the agency’s blacklist in 2019, after confessing that he had been providing intelligence to Russia about Kiev’s security services during the fighting between Ukraine and Donbass separatists. The region broke away from Kiev in 2014 and overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in 2022. The SBU branded Prozorov a “traitor,” warning that he could end up “just like Judas.”

READ MORE: Second suspect detained over attempt to assassinate Ukrainian defector – FSB

The FSB alleges that the assassination attempt against Prozorov was organized on direct orders from the head of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk. He has previously acknowledged that his agency is believed to be behind assassination plots in Russia, but has refused to claim direct responsibility. He has, however, shared the details of several such attempts, implying the SBU’s involvement.

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The “gang” in Kiev is ‘erasing’ the country’s people, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman claims

Kiev’s policies will result in the extermination of Ukrainians on behalf of its Western puppet masters, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry intends to deny all consular services abroad to male citizens aged 18 to 60, except for preparing documents to return to Ukraine, local media reported on Monday, citing the ministry’s internal correspondence.

The policy is presumably meant to force men of fighting age to leave foreign nations and be conscripted into military service under a new mobilization law signed by President Vladimir Zelensky this month.

The people are being “erased by Western elites and their executors in Ukraine – Zelensky and his pseudo-Ukrainian gang,” Zakharova said on Tuesday, reacting to the news. She claimed that while Ukrainian governments that have been in power since the 2014 US-backed armed coup in Kiev posed as nationalist, their policies came “from people who historically had nothing to do with the country.”

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“After most of Ukraine was pillaged and looted, its history rewritten, and monuments destroyed, they moved on to the physical elimination of its indigenous population,” she said.

”Everything just like with the aboriginal population of North America, who were killed in the tens of thousands by the ‘civilized’ folk. They bought Manhattan Island for beads, and Ukrainians don’t even get those, only an American noose around the neck,” Zakharova added.

Moscow perceives its conflict with Kiev as a proxy war which Washington initiated and is willing to conduct “to the last Ukrainian.” Senior Western officials, including US Senator Lindsey Graham and former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have praised the Ukrainians’ willingness to fight and die for Western interests.

READ MORE: West gets ‘fantastic value’ out of Ukraine – Boris Johnson

”There could be no more effective way of investing in Western security than investing in Ukraine, because those guys without a single pair of American boots on the ground are fighting for the West,” Johnson said earlier this month, as he bragged to students at Georgetown University in the US about his record of arming Kiev.

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Moscow appears unconcerned with the $61 billion aid bill

Washington’s $61 billion pledge to Kiev will make little difference on the battlefield, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The US House of Representatives approved a $95 billion foreign aid package, almost two thirds of which would be spent on Ukraine-related programs. The Kremlin, however, doesn’t appear the slightest bit alarmed.

“Fundamentally, this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Pointing to the steady Russian advances along the front, Peskov said the dynamics of the conflict are now “absolutely clear to everyone,” and that the money and weapons the US will allocate to Ukraine “will not lead to a change in this dynamic.”

“They will lead to new casualties among Ukrainians, more Ukrainians will die, Ukraine will suffer major losses,” the presidential spokesman said.

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Moreover, he noted, the bulk of the aid money is supposed to stay in the US, one way or another. The White House itself argued this to Congress as one of the selling points, saying that the package was a stimulus for the US military-industrial complex and manufacturing base.

“In principle, nothing has changed,” Peskov said, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin fully expected the US lawmakers to vote the way they did.

Reacting to the vote on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US was using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” and hoping to keep Kiev on life support until after the November presidential election. In the end, she said, the US will end up facing a “loud and humiliating fiasco on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan.”

The newest batch of US aid might help slow down the Russians but won’t stop them, several Ukrainian officers have told Financial Times. No amount of weapons and ammunition from the West can solve Kiev’s biggest problem: the lack of manpower, the outlet noted.

Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, also predicted “a rather difficult situation” on the battlefield for the Kiev government in the coming months.

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Azerbaijan is looking forward to further strengthening ties with Russia, President Ilham Aliyev has said

Russia is playing a “pivotal” role in ensuring security in the Caucasus region during, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has claimed. He made the remarks during meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.

His visit to the Russian capital coincided with a major development in the Southern Caucasus region. Last week, Moscow announced the withdrawal of its peacekeeping force from the Azerbaijani region of Karabakh. Aliyev told Putin that Baku was “happy with the progress in [the] resolution” of outstanding security issues in the region.

“Russia plays a pivotal role in ensuring regional security in the Caucasus and beyond. A lot depends on the actions and cooperation between our countries. We are committed to bolstering trust, cooperation, mutual understanding, and resolving issues in a spirit of collaboration and shared interests,” he stated.

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The now defunct region ofg Nagorno Karabakh, previously populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, remained outside Baku’s control for decades after breaking away from the country shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The breakaway region, backed by neighboring Armenia, had been a constant source of military tensions between Yerevan and Baku and saw repeated flare-ups over the years. The latest major escalation in 2020 resulted in a major defeat for the unrecognized republic. Russian peacekeepers were deployed to the region with a mandate to monitor the situation and document ceasefire violations.

Moscow's withdrawal of its peacekeeping forces from the region signals the final step in the reintegration of the region into Azerbaijan.

Aliyev’s visit also marked the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), a major Soviet-era railway that stretches across Eastern Siberia into the Far East. Aliyev’s late father and former president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, was one of the key figures who oversaw construction of the line. Following the talks, Putin and his Azrbaijani counterpart met with former builders and workers at the BAM.

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The president has extended his best wishes for the Passover holiday

President Vladimir Putin has given his best wishes to Russia’s Jews for the Passover holiday, underscoring the community’s importance in fostering “interethnic and interreligious” dialogue. The president’s letter was published on the Kremlin website on Monday.

Passover is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the liberation and exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. This year, Passover begins at sundown on April 22 and ends on April 30.

“This ancient holiday, particularly revered by followers of Judaism, serves as a reminder of significant milestones in the history of the Jewish people – liberation from centuries of slavery and the long-awaited attainment of freedom. It symbolizes the triumph of the ideals of goodness and justice,” the message reads.

The president further said that the Jewish community in Russia plays an “important role in fostering interethnic and interreligious dialogue, actively engages in nurturing the younger generation, educational activities, philanthropy, and charity, and prioritizes the preservation of sacred spiritual, moral and family values.”

“Such remarkable and essential work is worthy of the deepest recognition,” Putin underlined.

READ MORE: Being Jewish ‘is fashionable’ in Russia – community leader

According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, the largest Jewish non-profit in the world, there were 150,000 Jews living in Russia in 2021. At the time, the country ranked seventh in the world in terms of the size of its Jewish community.

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Those eligible to serve will now have to return home to procure documents or update their passports

Ukrainian consulates are set to “temporarily suspend” all services to men between the ages of 18 and 60, who will only be able to procure documents by returning home, Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs has confirmed.

The measure is set to be enacted on Tuesday and remain in place until the foreign ministry receives guidelines on the controversial mobilization law that was signed by President Vladimir Zelensky last week.

The new legislation, which had been deliberated for weeks by the country’s parliament before being adopted, is set to take effect in May.

A letter reportedly signed by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga and addressed to the heads of all Ukrainian foreign missions referred to two clauses providing a basis for additional restrictions on travel to and from the country, as well as limiting the movements of military-eligible individuals who lack exemptions.

READ MORE: Zelensky explains why young people ‘make better fighters’

Top Ukrainian officials have repeatedly expressed a desire to somehow bring military-age refugees back to the country. Multiple EU nations, such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, which have been among the prime destinations for Ukrainians fleeing the hostilities, have explicitly rejected the idea of rounding up and sending Ukrainian refugees back home.

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They are in better shape and more tech-savvy, the Ukrainian president has said

Younger men make better soldiers because they are physically fit and can handle new technologies more easily, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said.

Speaking with French YouTuber Hugo Travers over the weekend, Zelensky explained why he recently signed the law lowering the age of mobilization from 27 to 25. One of the reasons he gave was that the youth is more technologically apt.

“It is a modern type of war,” he said, pointing to the drones that have figured very prominently on the battlefield. “The new generation masters new technologies much more rapidly.”

Another reason he cited was that younger men could handle the physical demands of combat more easily than older conscripts. As of February, the average age of the Ukrainian soldier on the frontline was 43, reflecting Kiev’s mobilization of mainly older men. Ukraine has since begun to draft women and crack down on draft-dodgers, in an attempt to replenish depleted combat brigades.

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“With all due respect to our fighters, there’s a difference between a 25-year-old soldier and a 50-year-old one,” he told Travers. “There are specific criteria regarding the age and physical condition of fighters, so that they can be trained and sent to the front.”

The military requested changes to the mobilization law due to the “specific needs” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Zelensky explained. He said one of the needs identified by the military was to train new troops so they could “replace those who have been fighting for two years.”

However, the recent mobilization law approved by the parliament did not include a provision on demobilization, resulting in widespread complaints from the troops.

In addition to lowering the conscription age to 25, the new rules force all Ukrainian men aged 18-60, including those residing outside the country, to register for conscription. Summonses for mobilization, previously handed out in person, have become automated and the punishments for defying them more severe.

Kiev has not made public how many troops it intends to raise through the new measures, as the “unpopular” mobilization of hundreds of thousands “risks stoking panic,” according to the Washington Post. In December, Zelensky mentioned the number 500,000, but has since backtracked from that figure.

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Users of the social media platform must be forced to register, according to Kirill Budanov

Telegram poses a “huge problem” for Ukraine and must be legally forced to do away with anonymous channels, Kiev’s top spy Kirill Budanov said in an interview with British state broadcaster BBC published on Monday.

The intelligence chief believes that the Russian-made platform, which was ranked the most popular messaging app in Ukraine in 2023 according to SimilarWeb, has now effectively acquired that status of media and insisted that it is “abnormal” that the owners of channels are allowed to conceal their identities.

“We should streamline it all – put things in order, at least legally force everyone to register so that it is clear who belongs to which media,” Budanov said, suggesting that people should bear responsibility for the opinions they express.

Asked if simply blocking certain Telegram channels would fix the problem, Budanov claimed that such a move would only be a temporary solution, and insisted that only forcing channel owners to register would prove effective.

At the same time, the spy chief emphasized that his proposal would not be tantamount to placing pressure on the media, arguing that such a thing is not allowed in a “democratic society.”

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Last month, Budanov also described Telegram as a national security threat to Ukraine. He insisted that he was against suppressing freedom of speech, but argued that the ability of any user to create a channel on the platform and “write whatever they want” had nothing to do with “freedom of the media.”

In response to Budanov’s statements in March, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that Telegram creator and owner Pavel Durov should “urgently take measures to strengthen the security of the company’s headquarters and its employees in connection with a possible attack by Islamic State (formerly ISIS) terrorists.” She was apparently referring to Moscow’s accusation that Kiev worked together with the extremist Islamist organization to organize last month’s attack on Crocus City Hall near Moscow, which cost the lives of over 140 people.

Meanwhile, Durov has insisted that he remains committed to defending the privacy of Telegram users. In an interview with Tucker Carlson last week, he reiterated that Telegram strives to allow everyone on the platform to freely express their opinions without censorship.

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Kirill Budanov has predicted “a rather difficult situation” for Kiev in mid-May and early June

Ukraine will face serious difficulties both on the front line and internally in late spring and early summer, the head of the country’s military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, has predicted. The comments come amid reports that both officials in Kiev and Ukraine’s Western backers fear that Russia could breach the country’s defenses.

In an interview with the BBC’s Ukrainian service on Monday, Budanov said, “a rather difficult situation awaits us in the near future,” adding that “Armageddon will not happen… but there will be problems.”

When asked to elaborate, he explained that he expects challenges both on the battlefield and within the internal political landscape in mid-May and early June. The intel chief also suggested that Russia “would use an integrated approach” to achieve its goals, without giving any details.

Western media outlets and officials say Russia could soon mount a major offensive, taking advantage of its superior firepower and delays in Western assistance to Kiev, which has led to shortages of ammunition.

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These fears were echoed in late March by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who said that while Kiev’s troops had managed to stabilize the situation on the front earlier this year, they are not prepared to repel a major Russian offensive in the coming months. He added that Kiev expects Moscow to go on the offensive at the end of May or in June, and implored Ukraine’s Western backers to send more military aid.

In February, Russian troops drove the Ukrainian army out of the strategic Donbass city of Avdeevka, while gradually capturing nearby settlements in the following weeks. Zelensky also suggested that Ukrainian forces would have to retreat further to reduce the length of the front line.

Amid calls for more aid, the US House of Representatives approved a $61 billion package for Ukraine over the weekend after months of congressional wrangling. While it still needs to be approved by the Senate and signed by US President Joe Biden, it will take the Pentagon less than a week to deliver the arms to Ukraine, according to the Washington Post.

However, the Financial Times, citing Ukrainian officials and analysts, reported that while the new aid package will bolster Kiev’s military capabilities, it will likely only slow down Russia’s advance.

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Andy Stone has been charged with ‘justifying terrorism’ in a post defending the company’s decision to relax rules on hate speech

Meta spokesman Andy Stone has been sentenced by a Russian court to six years in a medium-security prison for ‘justifying terrorism’, RIA Novosti reported on Monday, citing court documents.

He had been charged under Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code in relation to “public calls for terrorism, its justification or propaganda, committed using the media, including the internet.” Stone’s was tried in absentia.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, was branded an extremist organization in Russia shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Its social media platforms were blocked in the country for allowing hate speech against Russian nationals and the military.

A month later, Reuters reported that a review of Meta’s internal emails had shown that the company had deliberately eased hate-speech rules in some countries to allow users vent anger against Russia in the context of the country’s military operation.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the publication, Stone commented on the report and explained Meta’s position.

“As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech,” he wrote, adding that this included death threats against Russians.

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The post attracted the attention of the Russian authorities, who launched an investigation. In November, the spokesman was placed on a wanted list in Russia. Last month, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) added Stone to its list of persons and organizations deemed to be involved in extremist activities or terrorism.

During Monday’s hearing, the prosecutor had initially demanded a maximum seven-year sentence for Stone, to be served at a high-security prison. The defense, however, sought for Stone to be acquitted because he had not intentionally justified terrorism in his post, but merely expressed his view on the new rules for moderating publications on Meta’s platforms.

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The structure reportedly housed a communication antenna used by the country’s anti-aircraft defenses

The Russian military conducted a high-precision strike on a large TV tower located in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov on Monday, multiple videos circulating online show.

The installation was used by Kiev’s military to house various equipment, including an air defense communication antenna, RIA Novosti reported, citing pro-Russian locals. The tower was once the tallest building in the city, measuring just over 240 meters.

The structure sustained a direct hit by an unknown high-precision projectile, which took roughly a third of it off completely, footage shows.

The top part of the tower collapsed after the strike. It was not immediately clear whether it caused any damage on the ground, given that the tower is located in a remote wooded area in the north of the Ukrainian city.

The fallen part of the tower landed in the woods surrounding the Kharkov TV center, videos shared online in the aftermath of the strike indicate. The massive structure apparently remained in one piece after falling more than 100 meters, crushing trees in the area.

Russia has increased missile strikes across Ukraine this month in retaliation for drone attacks on its oil infrastructure. The main targets included Ukrainian power stations and communication towers.

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The country’s president has said that Warsaw is ready to host US atomic weapons on its territory

Russia will take all appropriate measures to protect itself if the US proceeds with the deployment of nuclear weapons in Poland, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Polish President Andrzej Duda told the local daily Fakt that he had discussed the issue of hosting American nukes on the country’s soil. “I must admit that when asked about it, I declared our readiness,” he said, blaming what he called Moscow’s militarization of its western exclave of Kaliningrad.

Duda also explained that as a NATO member, Poland has certain obligations, and “in this respect, we simply implement a common policy.”

The potential move would place NATO’s nuclear arsenal on the border of Belarus, Moscow’s key ally, as well as Kaliningrad. As things currently stand, the US has nuclear weapons stationed in five fellow NATO members: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye.

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Responding to Duda’s statement, Peskov noted that if the US does indeed place the weapons in Poland, the Russian military would analyze the new reality of having them closer to its territory.

“In any case, they [the military] would take all necessary countermeasures to ensure our security,” he added, without going into specifics.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Duda’s remarks a “provocation,” which she said was not particularly surprising. “The Polish authorities have long made no secret of their ambitions to ‘snuggle up’ to the US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe,” she told RIA Novosti. She said further that Warsaw wanted those assets to play a certain role in its “deeply hostile policy towards Russia.”

“It is not difficult to assume that if American nuclear weapons appear on Polish territory, the relevant facilities will immediately be listed as legitimate targets in case of a direct military conflict with NATO,” Zakharova warned.

Duda’s statement comes after Russia placed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus last year, with Russian President Vladimir Putin explaining the move as a response to Britain’s decision to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium ammunition. He also mentioned that the US had kept nukes in Europe for decades.

Russia has repeatedly said it has never threatened to use its nuclear arsenal, and that a nuclear war must never be fought. Last month, however, Putin signaled that Moscow was ready for such a scenario “from the military and technical point of view.”

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The Chinese leader is set to attend the BRICS summit in the city of Kazan, according to the foreign minister

Russia expects Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the BRICS summit in Russia later this year, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

The group, which now includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, will meet in the Russian city of Kazan in October.

“The main event of this year in bilateral relations will be the state visit of [Russian] President Vladimir Putin to the People’s Republic of China, and in October we are expecting the head of the People’s Republic of China [Xi Jinping] to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan,” Lavrov said at a meeting with the heads of Russian regions.

Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed plans for a bilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia and China, adding, however, that it was too early to elaborate on specific dates.

READ MORE: Colombia wants to join BRICS

Russia, which currently chairs BRICS, said this year’s summit will focus on promoting partnership in politics and security, economics and finance, as well as cultural and humanitarian ties.

An increasing number of nations have expressed interest in joining the group of non-Western economies over the past two years, and some have already formally submitted applications, including Venezuela, Thailand, Senegal, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Bahrain, and Pakistan.

Twenty-five countries are expected to apply for membership during the group’s summit in Kazan, the South African ambassador to Russia, Mzuvukile Jeff Maqetuka, told TASS news agency in February.

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The three Western nuclear powers are among the chief sponsors of the Kiev regime and main organizers of provocations against Russia, the foreign minister has said

The US-led collective West could cause a potentially catastrophic war between global nuclear powers due to its openly hostile stance toward Russia and efforts to undermine existing arms control agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

Addressing the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference organized by the Centre for Energy and Security Studies, Lavrov noted that the globe is in a state of crisis with regard to mechanisms for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation and that this jeopardizes international security. He placed the blame for this on Washington, which, according to the diplomat, has been “cynically combining the deliberate destruction of balanced and equal [arms control] agreements” with “blatantly dishonest schemes” that are advantageous solely to the US.

Lavrov explained that the US and allies were responsible for blocking the recent review cycles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which, Lavrov says Washington long used to pressure its foes. He also noted the potential danger posed by the three-way AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, which is becoming “increasingly similar to a military bloc,” as well as NATO, which has been boosting its military spending.

According to the senior official, the West’s support for Ukraine is also fraught with danger, especially as the three major Western nuclear powers, the US, UK and France, are among the main sponsors of the “criminal Kiev regime” and the “main organizers” of provocations against Russia.

The US and their NATO client states are still dreaming of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on Russia and are ready to carry on with their policy of deterring our country ‘to the last Ukrainian…’ The West is balancing on the dangerous edge of a direct military confrontation between nuclear powers, which could have catastrophic consequences.

The US and Russia hold nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads, according to the US-based Arms Control Association. Last year, Russia suspended its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as ‘New START’, the last remaining nuclear agreement between the US and Russia that caps arsenals. Russia cited US involvement in the Ukraine conflict as the primary cause for the suspension. Washington has since appealed to Moscow to renew dialogue on the treaty, but the latter has said that doing so is impossible as long as the US continues to support Kiev.

READ MORE: Kremlin clarifies stance on use of nuclear weapons

In his address, Lavrov reiterated this stance, saying that he saw “no basis whatsoever” for an arms control dialogue with the US “in the face of a total hybrid war being waged against our country.”

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The US will shoot itself in the foot if a House-approved bill is implemented, Moscow has warned

The US will hurt its own economy, as well as the global financial system, if it follows through on its threat to expropriate frozen Russian assets and give them to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Washington has long advocated for seizing Russian funds held in Western jurisdictions. The money would then be handed over to Kiev for its war effort against Russia. A new push came on Saturday, after the US House approved a bill authorizing the confiscation of Russian money. If the White House follows through, it will set “a dangerous precedent,” Peskov said.

”This would be nothing short of a breakdown of all foundations of the [global] economic system,” he told journalists, reiterating Moscow’s position. “In no way could that be considered a lawful action.”

The US will face retaliation by Russia as well as legal challenges, Peskov said, which “will cause serious damage to the economic interests of the US,” since “many nations and many investors would certainly think ten times before putting their money into the American economy or parking assets there.”

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Some senior Western officials share Moscow’s view on the risks of the proposal, the spokesman added, citing remarks by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who warned earlier this month that giving Russian assets to Kiev would amount to “a violation of the legal international order.”

The US and its allies have frozen around $300 billion worth of Russian assets. Western officials have argued that Moscow would have to willingly compensate Kiev for damage caused during its military operation before the money could be released. But EU nations, which are holding the lion’s share of the frozen funds, are concerned that just spending the money on Ukraine’s needs as suggested by Washington would destabilize the euro, according to media reports.

The bill which US lawmakers approved last weekend authorized the US president to confiscate Russian funds held in American banks and hand them over to Kiev. US Senator Rand Paul, who is skeptical of the proposal, warned earlier this year that the move would be “an act of economic war.”

READ MORE: ECB fires back at plans to seize Russian assets

Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as part of a larger US-led proxy war aimed at containing Russia. The bill is part of a set of legislative initiatives, which includes $60 billion in aid for Kiev.

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Officials reportedly think the cash “is unlikely to dramatically alter Kiev’s situation on the front line”

A new US aid package will harden Ukraine’s resistance but will not be enough to stem the tide in the conflict with Russia, officials in Kiev and military analysts have reportedly told the Financial Times.

The US House of Representatives approved a $61 billion security package for Kiev on Saturday, following months of congressional squabbling over Republican demands for the White House to boost security on the Mexican border. The bill still needs to be approved by the Democratic-majority Senate and signed by US President Joe Biden.

Although the new package has prompted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to claim that his country could still defeat Russia, many officials in Kiev are less enthusiastic, arguing it “is unlikely to dramatically alter Kiev’s situation on the frontline,” according to the FT.

Several Ukrainian frontline troops told the newspaper that they are barely holding on under relentless Russian attacks, while suffering from acute ammunition shortages. Some soldiers said they hoped an influx of US-made equipment would improve their situation, although one senior Ukrainian official told the FT that it “will help to slow down the Russian advance, but not stop it.”

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Another Ukrainian source echoed that assessment, noting that while the assistance would reduce the ammo deficit, it “does not contain a silver bullet.”

One Ukrainian military analyst remarked that the $61 billion assistance could be the last of its kind this year, adding that “there is a fairly high probability that all subsequent aid packages for Ukraine will be much smaller in size.”

An ammunition deficit is not the only problem facing Ukraine. Rob Lee, a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, pointed out that manpower is another major challenge for Kiev. The issue of recruiting more troops to the front line “may be the key to how the war unfolds in 2025,” he assessed.

In February, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated Ukraine’s losses since the start of the conflict at more than 444,000 troops. Earlier this month, he said Kiev had lost more than 80,000 soldiers this year alone.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian authorities have embarked on a flurry of legislative activity to replenish battlefield losses. Zelensky has signed two bills in April, one of which lowers the age of conscription for men from 27 to 25, while the other significantly tightens mobilization rules.

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Patriarch Kirill has dismissed restrictions imposed on him by some EU member states

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, has said he will not be intimidated by travel bans imposed by several EU nations. The restrictions are part of wider Western sanctions on Russia in response to its military operation in Ukraine.

“They’ve made the Patriarch persona non grata in Europe. Why? It’s because the Patriarch is spiritually leading the nation, leading the church that has taken a different civilizational path of development,” Kirill said during a service in Moscow.

“Perhaps, they have barred the Patriarch from traveling abroad because we represent a strong alternative [to the West]. As if they can threaten me with that.”

Several countries, including Britain, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, have blacklisted Kirill since the fighting between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February 2022. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky cited “his frequent public remarks supporting the war in Ukraine, justifying atrocities committed by Russian troops there” as reasons for the travel ban.

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The EU stopped short of imposing bloc-wide restrictions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church after Hungary blocked the move, calling it a “hostage policy” and citing religious freedom.

Kirill has repeatedly spoken in support of the Russian army, saying Russian soldiers in Ukraine are fighting “for our national values.” He argued that foreign powers target Russia because it is a “country of believers,” with the majority of people being devout Christians, as opposed to the West where people “are losing faith.”

Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the church’s press service, called the travel bans “counterproductive.” He stated that “no sanctions can force the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to change or abandon his opinion.”

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A new batch of US aid will provide a boost, but only if delivered soon, the president has said

Ukraine has a chance of victory in the conflict with Russia now that the US House of Representatives has approved more weapons for Kiev, President Vladimir Zelensky claimed in an interview with NBC on Sunday.

The remarks came a day after a new aid bill, which authorizes an additional $61 billion in support for Ukraine, was passed by American lawmakers. The emergency spending had been stalled in Congress since last fall over concerns from Republicans that Washington lacked a strategy either for victory or a peace settlement.

“I think this support will really strengthen the armed forces, I pray, and we will have a chance at victory if Ukraine really gets the weapons systems, which we need so much,” Zelensky said. He urged the US to wrap up final adoption of the legislation as soon as possible in order to start sending more weapons.

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The bill has yet to be passed by the US Senate, which is scheduled to vote on it on April 23. After that, it proceeds to President Joe Biden, who has said he will sign it.

“We want to help get things as fast as possible so that we get some tangible assistance for the soldiers on the front line as soon as possible – not in another six months,” the Ukrainian leader said. He specifically requested more air defense systems and longer-range missiles, arguing that the Ukrainian army is suffering losses due to the lack of both.

“We need long-range weapons to not lose people on the front line because we have, we have casualties because we cannot reach that far,” he said, adding that another delay would mean more casualties. “If we get it in half a year… we’ve had the process stalled for half a year and we’ve had losses in several directions. Losses in men, in equipment.”

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Zelensky admitted that victory is far from guaranteed. “Now we have the chance to stabilize the situation,” he stated. “There are so many variables, so many factors.” He continued to rule out talks with Moscow, claiming that neither President Vladimir Putin nor any high-ranking Russian officials can be trusted.

The aid package authorized by the House is not solely intended for new weapons shipments. According to Politico, the biggest chunk of the money ($23 billion) will go to replenishing US stocks already used to provide arms to Ukraine.

Only about $14 billion would go to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which the Pentagon uses to buy new weapons systems for Kiev from US defense contractors, according to The Guardian. Another $10 billion in aid was designated as a repayable loan to appease some Republicans, the newspaper said.

Moscow responded by reiterating that Washington is causing Ukraine to “fight to the last Ukrainian” with its weapon shipments. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova predicted that the US will eventually face a “loud and humiliating fiasco on par with Vietnam or Afghanistan.”

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A similar program has already been introduced for male students at universities

Ukrainian high school and vocational school students could soon be required to undergo basic military training, according to a new bill backed by the Parliamentary Committee on Youth and Sports.

Details of the new proposal were reported by the local Judicial Newspaper on Sunday. According to the report, the Committee supported the measure, arguing that it would “contribute to the improvement of initial military training and military-patriotic education of Ukrainian youth.”

Military training is expected to be added to the curriculum at general secondary schools, vocational and pre-university schools and institutions of higher education. The new subject would be called ‘Defense of Ukraine’ and would be developed by the Ministry of Education and Culture in cooperation with the Defense Ministry.

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Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a new bill tightening mobilization rules under which all Ukrainians – even those living abroad – are required to provide updated data about themselves to the military authorities within 60 days of the legislation taking effect. Also, all men between the ages of 18 to 60 are required to carry their military ID on them at all times.

Women will also be able to attend the new classes, but on a voluntary basis. However, earlier this month, Kiev’s chief military adviser for gender issues, Oksana Grigorieva, urged Ukrainian women to be ready for conscription.

Zelensky signed another controversial mobilization law this month that lowers the age of conscription for men from 27 to 25.

The flurry of legislative activity comes as Kiev is struggling to replenish its losses in the conflict with Russia. In late February, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that Ukrainian forces had suffered more than 444,000 losses since the hostilities broke out in February 2022. Earlier this month, he said Kiev had lost more than 80,000 service members this year alone.

Ukrainian officials have suggested that they would need to call up an additional 500,000 soldiers to fill out the ranks, although it was later claimed that this figure had been reduced.

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Inmates could be used for manual labor such as building defense fortifications, Justice Minister Denis Malyuska says

Ukraine could create special units for convicts who are willing to join the military, Justice Minister Denis Malyuska has said. The minister previously suggested that those who had been sentenced for murder could make for more effective soldiers than ordinary mobilized citizens.

His comments came after the Ukrainian parliament earlier this month passed in the first reading a bill allowing certain categories of convicts to be drafted into the military in exchange for a pardon. However, those who have committed crimes against national security, or of murdering two or more people, or rape and pedophilia, are not eligible.

Speaking on national TV on Saturday, Malyuska explained that the bill envisages not only “contract form of service, but also the creation of separate units where those who have been released from prison would serve.”

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According to the minister, one of Kiev’s main goals is to create a level playing field for all so that those released from prison do not end up shirking their military service somewhere far from the front.

Malyuska also noted that convicts could perform tasks not related to actual combat. “The modern army is not only about shooting a gun. There is a lot of physical work that does not require the use of weapons 24/7. I think that such units can build infrastructure, field and defense works.”

He also previously argued that those convicts “who know how to kill would be more effective as soldiers” and suggested that, for example, they would be more reliable than robbers if given a gun. He also emphasized that convicts would be used either on the front or somewhere close to it.

Malyuska also admitted at the time that drafting criminals would also help alleviate pressure on the country’s crowded prisons.

Ukraine’s campaign to call up convicts to service comes as part of its push to replenish battlefield losses. In late February, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that Ukraine’s forces had suffered more than 444,000 losses since the conflict began in February 2022. Earlier this month, he said Kiev had lost more than 80,000 service members this year alone.

Earlier this month, Zelensky also signed two laws, one that lowers the age of conscription for men from 27 to 25 and one that significantly tightens mobilization rules.

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Washington’s hybrid war against Russia will turn into a humiliating fiasco, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said

The approval of a large aid package for Ukraine by the US House of Representatives is the same as funding terrorism, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

In a post on her Telegram channel on Saturday, Zakharova said that the potential allocation of further military assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan would only aggravate the crisis in the world.

“Military aid to the Kiev regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activities, funds sent to Taiwan is interference in the internal affairs of China, while aid sent to Israel is a straight way to unprecedented escalation of a conflict in the region,” she said.

On Saturday, the lower house of the US Congress passed a $95 billion package that includes almost $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, including funds for the purchase of weapons and military equipment. Most of the rest is allocated to Israel and Taiwan. The Senate is poised to vote on the bill on April 23 with final passage expected by the end of the week.

Washington is driving deeper into a hybrid war with Russia, Zakharova said in a separate statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, adding that the US would end up facing a “loud and humiliating fiasco on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan.”

READ MORE: Kiev deliberately targeting journalists – Kremlin

The spokeswoman said “the US is ready to pump Ukraine with weapons so that Kiev could fight to the last Ukrainian, and continue to terrorist acts against civil objects on Russian sovereign territory and civilians, as well as sabotage attacks and killings of journalists.”

Zakharova stated that ordinary Ukrainians were being “forcibly driven to slaughter as cannon fodder” with Washington no longer betting on a Ukrainian victory against Russia, but hoping to keep Kiev afloat until the US presidential election in November.

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German media previously reported that Moscow’s troops had captured one of the tanks near Avdeevka

The Russian military has seized a German-produced Ukrainian Leopard tank and plans to display it at a trophy exhibition outside Moscow, according to a new video circulating on social media.

A clip shared by the Solovyov Live Telegram channel on Sunday appears to show the evacuation of the tank from the combat area by Russian troops. The video, filmed in the rural area in an undisclosed location, appears to show it being towed down the road by another Russian heavy vehicle. The German-made armor appears relatively undamaged from the outside, but it is missing tracks from both sides.

The Telegram channel's editors explained that Russian troops had to devise a means of evacuating the tank from the battlefield, noting that they had to blow off the tracks with explosives to get it moving.

According to the outlet, the Leopard will be showcased at a Park Patriot outside of Moscow. Other Telegram channels suggested that the vehicle would be on display as early as this summer.

The new video came after Solovyov Live shared a picture in March of a Russian soldier standing in front of a disabled Ukrainian Leopard tank. A few days later, German tabloid Bild reported that Moscow’s troops had indeed seized a Leopard 2A6, adding that the image was taken not far from the Donbass town of Avdeevka liberated by Russian forces in late February.

Germany has provided Ukraine with a total of 18 Leopard 2 A6 tanks. Other countries, including Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark have also committed to provide Kiev with dozens of Leopard 2s of various modifications, amounting to just under 100 vehicles. Ukraine’s Western backers have also promised to send dozens of less advanced Leopard 1 tanks. Both types were actively used by Ukraine during its botched counteroffensive last year.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported the destruction of Leopards on numerous occasions on the battlefield. In late January, Foreign Affairs magazine reported that Ukraine had lost more than a quarter of its Leopard 2s, adding that “others cannot be used due to repair and maintenance issues.”

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Russian war correspondent Semyon Yeryomin was killed by a Ukrainian drone attack on Friday

Ukrainian forces deliberately target members of the Russian press who are reporting from the conflict front lines, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia on Saturday.

He offered his condolences for the death of Semyon Yeryomin – a war correspondent for the newspaper who was recently killed while covering the conflict. The tragedy highlights the dangers journalists face in combat zones, Peskov said.

“As for the Armed Forces of Ukraine deliberately targeting Russian journalists – yes, that is the case,” he stated.

Yeryomin was filming a story about anti-drone warfare in Zaporozhye Region on Friday when a Ukrainian UAV dropped an explosive device on his crew. The explosion wounded Yeryomin, who later succumbed to his injuries, the newspaper said.

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According to Izvestia, as part of his job as a correspondent, Yeryomin had reported on the crimes committed by the Ukrainian army against civilians.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the attack, describing it as “an act of revenge for the honest performance of journalistic duty.” The “deliberate and cold-blooded murder” showcases the “ugly terrorist nature” of the authorities in Kiev, she stated.

Several Russian journalists have lost their lives since Moscow launched its military operation in the neighboring state more than two years ago.

In November 2023, Boris Maksudov, who worked for Russia 24 TV, died from shrapnel wounds he suffered during a Ukrainian drone attack in Zaporozhye Region. Other slain media employees include RIA Novosti’s Rostislav Zhuravlev, Tavria TV’s Oleg Klokov, and RuBaltic’s Aleksey Ilyashevich.

READ MORE: Ukraine strikes hospital in Donbass, injuring eight – authorities

Russia has also accused Kiev of conducting targeted assassinations of media figures far away from the front lines, including journalist Darya Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Although Ukraine refused to explicitly acknowledge its involvement, officials in Kiev openly celebrated their deaths.

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Ukraine’s leader has thanked US legislators for approving much-needed assistance for the conflict with Russia

The decision by the US House of Representatives to allocate tens of billions of dollars to Kiev will bring Ukraine closer to a “just end” in its conflict with Russia, President Vladimir Zelensky wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Zelensky expressed delight with the new war chest and thanked Speaker Mike Johnson for his support.

The nearly $61 billion package approved on Saturday contains funding for the purchase of weapons and military equipment, as well direct financial assistance to Ukraine. Passed after months of delays and political wrangling, the bill next moves to the Senate, which already indicated in February that it will approve it.

“I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties, and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” Zelensky wrote, suggesting that the aid will “keep the war from expanding,” and “save thousands and thousands of lives.”

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“Just peace and security can only be attained through strength,” he wrote. Zelensky added that Ukraine “will undoubtedly use American assistance to strengthen both of our nations and bring a just end to this war closer.”

Republican lawmakers had previously refused to back the bill, tying their approval to demands for better protection of the border with Mexico and a crackdown on illegal immigration.

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Kiev was forced to deal with increasing ammunition shortages after aid from the US – Ukraine’s biggest sponsor – began to dry up. Biden blamed Ukraine’s recent setbacks on the battlefield, including the loss of the strategic city of Avdeevka, on “congressional inaction.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Saturday’s vote “predictable,” adding that it will “further enrich the US and further ruin Ukraine,” and “cause more Ukrainians to die because of the Kiev regime.”

Moscow has warned that deliveries of Western armaments to Ukraine will not alter the outcome of the conflict.

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A new batch of military aid will not save Ukraine from defeat, Dmitry Medvedev has said

The decision by the US House of Representatives to pass a military aid bill for Ukraine will not stop the Russian Army's advance to recover territory Kiev claims as its own, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

The US House approved a $61 billion package for Ukraine after months of delays and political wrangling. Kiev's forces have been suffering setbacks on the battlefield it claims is due to ammunition shortages.

Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, argued that “the vote of gleeful American bastards” will only prolong the fighting and “increase the number of victims of this war.”

“Obviously, we will win, regardless of the bloody dollars shoved down the throat of the insatiable [American] defense industry. The strength and the truth are on our side,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram, calling the US “a despicable empire of evil of the 21th century.”

READ MORE: US House approves Ukraine aid bill

House Republicans had refused back the Ukraine aid bill, while hoping to pressure the White House to crack down on the influx of illegal migration across the border with Mexico. Some legislators also accused President Joe Biden of lacking a clear strategy for ending the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

Zelensky had warned that Ukraine would lose if Congress fails to approve additional aid. Following criticism from Kiev and America’s allies in Europe, House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to put the bill to a vote this week, stating that Russia is part of a new “axis of evil.”

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RT meets a Russian nationalist who supports the military operation against Ukraine despite his dislike of the country’s authorities

Two years ago, Savva Fedoseev – a member of the nationalist opposition movement Society.Future – was an independent candidate for the Legislative Assembly election in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city. He collected over 5,000 signatures in support of his nomination but did not succeed in officially competing on the ballot. In his campaign, Fedoseev was critical of the city authorities and even after the vote, continued to engage in opposition activities.

However, following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, he paused his political activities and is now collecting supplies for Russian soldiers. Fedoseev has already raised over 20 million rubles ($213,000) through his Telegram channel. This money was spend on purchasing military gear, technical equipment, and medical supplies for servicemen on the front line. RT spoke with Fedoseev about his work and the relationship between Russian nationalists and the authorities since the start of the Ukraine conflict.

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Everything is for the benefit of the front

RT: How did you get involved in humanitarian work?

Fedoseev: I first started collecting aid for Donbass [residents] while I was still in school in 2014. I intuitively felt that something bad had happened to Russian people [in Donbass]– and we don’t abandon our own, right?

I came to the guys who organized the Partisan course, which is a basic military training course, and asked how I could help. I would just sit [where they collected humanitarian aid] for a few hours, write down who brought what items, and carry boxes. I also participated in rallies in support of the Russian Spring [as the popular uprising in what was then eastern Ukraine was called].

Then, in March 2022, a friend contacted me and said that he was going to the front as a volunteer. He asked if I could help with the purchase of military equipment. On my Telegram channel, I raised about 20,000 rubles ($2,130) for his needs, specifically for military medical supplies. At the time, demand for them wasn’t huge and they didn’t cost a lot, so with this money you could buy a lot of medical supplies.

Over the next few months, several other friends went to the front and I raised money for them the same way. At that time, I did not know how successful these fundraising attempts would be, I had never raised money through my Telegram channel before. But it worked. More and more people started writing to me.

RT: Why did you decide to continue raising money through your personal Telegram channel instead of joining a major humanitarian aid organization? Wouldn’t that be more effective?

Fedoseev: There were many reasons for this. First of all, it was easier for me to raise money through my channel. Why would I search for some kind of organization just to buy two first-aid kits for a friend who went to volunteer at the front? I could collect a small amount of money in just an hour by sharing information through Telegram chats. This was much more efficient.

Now that I have to raise more money and buy more complex equipment, I have another reason to collect money this way. Some things I have to buy directly from people and pay with cash. No charitable foundation will carry out such a transaction. For example, I once bought a chronograph for snipers, which they needed for their rifles. I had to literally get it from smugglers who brought it from Finland. How could you ever get that through some charitable organization?

This method is fast. During one of my trips to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), we arrived literally a week before the start of the Avdeevka offensive and delivered about 200 first aid kits specifically to those units that would be taking part in the offensive.

RT: How has your humanitarian work changed since the beginning of the conflict?

Fedoseev: Things changed a lot since the [partial] mobilization [in the fall of 2022]. Before that, servicemen mainly asked for technical equipment like quadcopters. Sometimes they needed cars for the front, or requested bulletproof vests and helmets. But when the mobilization started, the troops needed everything – from nails to chainsaws and wet wipes.

With the start of mobilization, many people who were not ideologically motivated and previously did not pay much attention to the Donbass conflict, suddenly got involved [in humanitarian work]. The relatives of mobilized soldiers created online chats where they also collected aid.

Nationalists and the state

RT: Why have Russian nationalists who were opposed to the government come to support it now?

Fedoseev: You know, during WWI, French monarchist Charles Maurras was visited by his associates, who were also against the Third Republic. When the situation at the front was particularly difficult, they proposed to organize a coup and establish a monarchy with the help of the Germans. But Maurras replied that as long as France was at war, he would never engage in opposition activities. My logic is the same.

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Moreover, I am convinced that the Russian nationalists respect the Russian state. They understand that the Russian nation cannot exist without the Russian state. This is clearly demonstrated by the example of White Russian émigrés – millions of Russians had left the country [following the Russian Revolution] and even though they had an army, various institutions, and political structures, they could not survive as a political force.

Russian nationalists understand that the collapse of state institutions – as was the case in 1917 and 1991 – is catastrophic for the Russian nation. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought Russian people poverty, and a genocide started on the outskirts of the former Soviet Union.

The collapse of Russia in any shape or form is a terrible and irreparable blow to the Russian nation and I have no intention of finding out whether Russia will survive a “new 1991”. I don’t want to become someone who destroys the nation for the sake of one’s own political ambitions. First of all, the external conflict must end.

Moreover, Russian nationalists support evolutionary mechanisms of change in Russia. The conflict in Ukraine allows us to create parallel institutions. Humanitarian work not only saves the lives of soldiers right now, but also allows us to build a network of people for the future. We are talking about a civil society which is united by a common ideology and is very loyal. Such people will be able to carry out the most difficult tasks in the most difficult conditions.

This society currently stands together with the army. Sure, we still have complaints against the government. It would be strange if we didn’t, considering that we are the ones who have to supply the army with many things. We see that the government has made many mistakes, from the planning of the military operation to the lack of preparatory work – people were not told why these hostilities started.

Russian nationalists have been an opposition group, and remain in the opposition. They have not dropped their complaints against the Russian Federation. When the war ends, Russian nationalists will legitimately continue their fight in a normal political environment.

RT: Your position has not changed, despite the arrest of Igor Strelkov [a former Donbass militia leader] – one of the most prominent right-wing critics of the government. Why is this so?

Fedoseev: It’s not just Strelkov, there were other cases as well. The resources of the Russian Imperial Movement were blocked. This movement has a paramilitary wing – the Imperial Legion – which now fights in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces. Also, there were the cases of Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov and Yuri Evich. Actually, there was a whole series of events.

As for our position... Do you suppose that we didn’t understand that people who criticized the government during the military operation could be arrested? Of course we were ready for this. The actions undertaken by the authorities to maintain control are completely understandable. But the war must end with Russia’s victory, and we are ready to continue our work to ensure this victory. If I just sit here and take up the defense of Strelkov, this will not bring victory any closer and will not save the lives of Russian soldiers.

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Splits in the right-wing movement

RT: In 2014, many Russian rightists sided with Ukraine. Did the movement experience a similar division in 2022?

Fedoseev: It’s definitely true that in 2014, the Russian nationalist movement ceased to exist in its previous form. As philosopher Konstantin Krylov said, it was completely cleansed of representatives of subculture, outspoken Nazis and anti-Semites – the people who claimed that they were the true Russians and called the rest of the country’s population “Russian citizens,” a phrase that they used contemptuously. These people did not identify themselves with the Russian people, and despised anyone who disagreed with them.

In 2022, a major division didn’t happen. Yes, some people held pacifist views, and some left the country. But those were isolated cases, and there were no opinion leaders among them. They were mostly ordinary activists or people who sympathized with global right-wing conservative ideology.

Take the Russian Volunteer Corps, for example – none of its leaders left in 2022, they all remained in Ukraine. For some reason they weren’t given passports, though. None of the major leaders of the Russian nationalist movement have emigrated.

Moreover, with the start of the military operation, whole units were formed that consisted of nationalists. These include the Española Battalion, which is mostly made up of right-wing football fans, the St. Petersburg-based Imperial Legion which includes Christian Orthodox fundamentalists and monarchists, and Alexei Milchakov’s Rusich Group. Many people at the front wear insignia with the imperial flag and Christ the Savior Acheiropoieta. If you talk to them, you’ll see that about 90% are motivated by ideological principles.

Is an alliance between liberals and rightists possible?

RT: Speaking of the Russian opposition more broadly – before the Ukraine conflict, it seemed that the nationalists and liberals had managed to come to an agreement within the political movement Society.Future, and you too were supported by other opposition candidates in the elections.

Fedoseev: Yes, this is indeed true. This is the second time that something like this happened in modern Russian history. The first attempt to unite nationalists and liberals happened during the protests of 2011. At that time, online publications such as Sputnik and Pogrom appeared – its editor-in-chief, Egor Prosvirnin, called himself a “liberal nationalist.” But this strategic alliance failed for many reasons.

The second attempt at unification occurred after Roman Yuneman’s Moscow City Duma election campaign in 2019. At that time, many liberals, who used to call Yuneman a “Nazi” and “fascist,” nevertheless formed tactical alliances with him.

Russian nationalism experienced a major renaissance at that time, it became a part of mass youth culture, many communities appeared that published right-wing political memes, new projects and communities sprang up. They brought Russian nationalism back into the public view.

By the end of 2021, Russian nationalists became an important part of the opposition movement. The nationalist movement Society.Future attracted activists from the liberal opposition who turned out to be Russian nationalists, but just could not find like-minded people before. Russian nationalists also became more experienced in organizing election campaigns.

At the time, it seemed that many liberals were not that different from Russian nationalists, that we did not have fundamental contradictions. After all, both sides called for judicial independence, freedom of speech, and fair elections. And the liberals thought that we were just like them, that our goal was to stand up to the authorities, and that we just wore Russian peasant shirts and talked about some Russian stuff.

But in 2022, it turned out that we do have fundamental differences, which come down to the fact that some people love Russia and the Russian people, while others do not. They do not understand the Russian people and have nothing in common with them.

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Moscow will take measures that serve its interests, Dmitry Peskov has said

Russia will not leave any US decision to hand over its frozen assets to Ukraine unanswered, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Saturday. He made the comment after the US Congress greenlighted what the Kremlin had described as “theft” of Russia's sovereign assets.

“America will have to pay for this, if it is indeed so,” the Peskov said. Moscow sets no time limit for responding to Washington’s steps, he stated, adding that Russia will tailor its response to “serve our interests in the best possible way.”

The US would hurt itself if it proceeds with such a plan, the Kremlin spokesman warned. Confiscating Russian assets undermines the principle of “inviolability of private… and state property,” he said. Such a move would prompt many investors to withdraw their money from the US and cause “irreparable damage to the US image,” Peskov believes.

Peskov did not elaborate on what specific measures Moscow could take in response to the seizure of its assets.

READ MORE: US House approves gifting seized Russian assets to Ukraine

Earlier on Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, which essentially opened the way for the US government to liquidate frozen Russian assets and transfer the funds obtained to Ukraine.

The bill was adopted as part of a legislative package that also included authorizing $61 billion in additional spending on aid to Kiev. The emergency spending bill had been stalled in Congress since last fall as lawmakers were concerned that Washington lacked a strategy for victory or a peace settlement in the Ukraine conflict.

The EU and other G7 nations have blocked an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Of that amount, €196.6 billion ($211 billion) is being held by the Belgium-based clearinghouse Euroclear. Since last year, those funds accumulated nearly €4.4 billion in interest.

The US, which holds only $6 billion out of the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets, had long been pushing its allies to seize the money outright. However, this approach has faced opposition from the European Central Bank (ECB) and criticism from the IMF and caused a rift among the G7 and EU political leadership.

Earlier in April, ECB President Christine Lagarde warned that seizing the assets would essentially amount to “a violation of the legal international order.”

Russia has repeatedly said that any actions taken against its assets would amount to “theft.” The Russian agency RIA Novosti also estimated in January that Moscow could respond to such an action by seizing assets belonging to the EU, G7, Australia, and Switzerland, all of which have investments in the Russian economy. The total volume of such holdings amounted to $288 billion at the end of 2022, according to RIA.

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The move has been described by critics as an act of “economic war” against Moscow

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill authorizing the government to liquidate seized Russian assets and transfer the proceeds to Ukraine. It also includes measures forcing the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owners and authorizing stricter sanctions on Russia, China, and Iran.

The bill was passed by 360 votes to 58 on Saturday. Known as the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act, it rolled together a number of previously disparate bills, most notably the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act (REPO), which allows the administration of US President Joe Biden to confiscate billions of dollars’ worth of Russian assets held by American banks and transfer them to Ukraine.

The US and EU have blocked an estimated $300 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The vast majority of these assets are held in Europe, but American banks are sitting on around $6 billion, according to multiple reports in US media outlets.

At present, the US has no legal mechanism to seize these assets, and has moved relatively paltry sums of seized Russian money to Estonia for use in Ukraine.

While the bill passed with bipartisan support, it was strongly condemned by fiscal conservatives and anti-war Republicans. US Senator Rand Paul warned earlier this year that “confiscating Russia’s sovereign assets is an act of economic war” that would undermine global confidence in the US.

The International Monetary Fund issued a similar warning on Friday, while the Kremlin has declared that any actions taken against its assets would amount to flagrant “theft.”

The Peace Through Strength Act also included a measure that would ban TikTok if the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell off its US operations.

The FBI and Federal Communications Commission have long maintained that TikTok passes user data to the Chinese government. The company has denied the allegations.

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Beijing has argued that forcing a sale “runs contrary to the principles of fair competition and international economic and trade rules.”

The bill also authorizes additional economic sanctions on Russia, China, and Iran.

In a series of separate votes on Saturday, the House approved massive military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, which along with the Peace Through Strength Act will now be combined into a single bill and sent to the Senate for approval. Totaling $95 billion, the legislation will provide $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, $26 billion to Israel, and $8 billion to Taiwan and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

House Speaker Mike Johnson relied on support from Democrats to bring the bills to the House floor, but the decision may cost him his job. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), an ardent opponent of funding for Ukraine, has filed a motion to remove Johnson from the speakership. Posting on X (formerly Twitter) after Saturday’s vote, Greene called the aid “despicable,” and said that the US “should be demanding peace, not funding the military industrial complex’s blood money wars fueled by dead bodies in Ukraine.”

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The president has introduced restrictions barring soldiers from accessing internet betting sites

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky introduced a set of restrictions on internet casinos on Saturday in a bid to curb what has been described as a gambling epidemic within the military.

The measures developed by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (SNBO) include making online casinos limit the amount of time and money that can be spent, as well as a ban on multiple accounts. It also introduces a state monitoring system for online gambling and orders a government electronic communications watchdog to block all websites granting illegal access to the activity.

The document also separately orders the head of the armed forces, Aleksandr Syrsky, and other commanders to “immediately introduce… a ban on access to gambling establishments and online gambling for military personnel” while martial law remains in effect.

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The move came after reports of widespread addiction among Ukrainian soldiers. In late March, Ukrainian MP Aleksey Goncharenko claimed that “nine out of ten soldiers on the frontlines have problems with either casinos or betting.”

According to the lawmaker, servicemen were spending their entire salaries on gambling and were falling into debt. “This is an issue that is destroying the morale of the military right now,” Goncharenko said at the time, adding that “it is not just some problem. It is all hell broke loose.”

He warned that soldiers coming back from the front without a penny to their names would be easy targets for criminal recruiters. The Ukrainian high command did not comment on the problem, while some middle-ranking commanders sought to downplay it.

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A squad leader with the infamous neo-Nazi Aidar Battalion called Goncharenko “an idiot” in an interview with Ukrainian media, and dismissed his claims as based on unverified data.

Within days of the lawmaker’s statement, a petition appeared on the Ukrainian president’s website demanding limits to online gambling. The document, said to be authored by a Ukrainian serviceman, stated that soldiers “remain far away from their families, under pressure and without proper rest for the third year in a row.” Gambling has become “the only way to cope with stress” for them, it said, adding that troops pledge military equipment, including drones, to pawn brokers to get more money to bet.

The petition was signed by more than 26,000 people, surpassing the 25,000 required for it to be reviewed by the president. Earlier this month, Politico reported that low morale among Ukrainian forces could lead to a collapse on the front line this year.

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The breathtaking display was visible in several regions of the country that are not normally treated to the phenomenon

The northern lights lit up above several regions in central Russia on Friday night with bright ribbons of pink, green, and purple light.

People from the regions of Chelyabinsk, Ryazan, Penza, Vladimir, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Moscow, and Nizhny Novgorod posted online stunning photographs of the phenomenon. The northern lights are seldom seen in many of these regions.

The unusually intense light show was caused by strong solar storms that lasted about five hours, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, are caused by electrically charged particles from the Sun colliding with the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The phenomenon is primarily observable in regions located around the Arctic Circle. It is best seen at night between the months of September and April.

Most aurora displays are predominantly green but can also include a range of other colors, such as pink, dark red, blue, and purple. Pink displays, such as the ones seen in Russia on Friday, are quite rare and tend to be caused by a solar storm making a temporary hole in the magnetosphere that allows solar particles to reach deeper into the Earth’s atmosphere than usual. At lower altitudes the atmosphere has a higher percentage of nitrogen, which lights up in a different hue than oxygen.

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Russian investigators have found a link between Ukrainian nationalists and last month’s massacre that killed over 140

Ukraine’s backers in the Group of Seven (G7) have denied that the country was involved in last month’s deadly terrorist attack in Moscow Region, according to a joint statement by the group’s foreign ministers issued on Friday. Russian authorities have claimed they found a money trail linking the perpetrators of the massacre to Ukrainian nationalists.

“We firmly reject the Russian authorities’ baseless attempts to blame Ukraine for the tragic terrorist attack near Moscow on March 22, which was claimed by ISIS. We call on Russia to stop using this tragedy in its disinformation efforts against Ukraine,” the ministers said in a joint communique issued after their meeting on the Italian island of Capri.

Four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside Moscow on March 22, shooting everyone in sight before setting the building on fire. The tragedy resulted in more than 140 deaths. The suspects, all Tajik nationals, were detained several hours after the attack near the Ukrainian border. ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the international terrorist organization Islamic State, claimed responsibility.

However, the head of Russia’s FSB security agency, Aleksandr Bortnikov, later suggested that the Ukrainian security services may have been involved in preparing the assault, possibly using the Islamists as proxies.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said the EU rejected the suggestion that Kiev had anything to do with the terror plot, accusing Moscow of using the attack “as a pretext to increase the illegal aggression against Ukraine.” Kiev, which initially claimed that Moscow itself had staged the massacre, has also staunchly denied any involvement.

This week, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, said Russian investigators had confirmed a link between the perpetrators of the terror plot and Ukrainian nationalists.

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Earlier in April, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had obtained information that could indicate the suspects’ “connection with the Ukrainian special services.” Previously, the investigators claimed to have “confirmed data” that the alleged gunmen received “significant sums of money and cryptocurrency” from Ukraine prior to the attack.

In the records of interrogations of the suspected gunmen released by FSB, the perpetrators claimed they had specific instructions to flee towards the Ukrainian border.

Earlier this month, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that persistent Western attempts to shield Kiev from accusations seemed suspicious.

“Amid such relentless attempts to pin the blame on ISIS and shield Kiev at any cost… a question about Western security services’ involvement in orchestrating this terrorist attack remains open,” the diplomat said at a UN Security Council meeting on April 12, adding that the evidence of Ukraine’s involvement in the attack was “irrefutable.” In his statement, Nebenzia urged the West to “cooperate” with Moscow in capturing and bringing to justice those who ordered the massacre.

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Izvestia correspondent Semyon Yeryomin was fatally injured on Friday in Zaporozhye Region

A correspondent for the Russian news outlet Izvestia, Semyon Yeryomin, has been killed in a Ukrainian kamikaze drone attack in Zaporozhye Region, the outlet reported on Friday.

Yeryomin’s crew was filming near the village of Priyutnoye on Friday at the positions of a battalion of Russian troops. Yeryomin had recently been reporting about the Russian military’s attempts to divert attacks by Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs. On the way back from a filming location, the crew’s vehicle was attacked by a drone. According to witnesses who spoke to Izvestia, Yeryomin was fatally injured in the attack and later died from his wounds.

Yeryomin had been working in the combat zone since the conflict began in February 2022 and had been awarded the medal For Merit to the Fatherland II Degree for his work covering the conflict.

Many of Yeryomin’s colleagues expressed their condolences over his death, including Izvestia General Director Vladimir Tyulin.

“He did his duty to tell the truth. We will do everything to ensure that his death does not go unpunished. This is our duty to him, to his loved ones, to everyone who continues his work,” Tyulin stated.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Yeryomin’s death a “bloody crime,” noting that it “cannot be considered anything other than an act of revenge for the honest performance of a journalistic duty.”

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“We regard this purposeful and cold-blooded murder of a journalist as another confirmation of the ugly terrorist nature of the Zelensky regime, which has opened a real hunt for Russian media workers, military officers and public figures, who... reveal the truth to the world community, present undeniable facts about the crimes of the militants of the Kiev regime,” she said in a statement on Saturday.

The UN also condemned the attack that resulted in Yeryomin’s death, with spokesman Farhan Haq telling the news agency TASS that the global body opposes the killing of journalists and believes that each such case requires a full investigation.

According to military expert Gennady Alekhin, who spoke to Izvestia, drones often target journalists specifically.

“This is not the first case of a targeted attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on media representatives,” Alekhin noted.

There have been a number of deaths of media figures linked with the Ukraine conflict over the past two years. These include Boris Maksudov, a Russian journalist from Russia 24 TV, RIA Novosti war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev, Oleg Klokov – director of Kherson’s Tavria TV, and Kaliningrad RuBaltic correspondent Aleksey Ilyashevich – all killed while covering the conflict on the ground.

READ MORE: Infrastructure strikes, Donbass push and anti-drone warfare: The last week in the Ukrainian conflict

Moscow has also accused Kiev of a number of targeted assassinations of Russian public figures, including journalist Darya Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky. Kiev has never officially claimed responsibility for these killings.

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Moscow’s forces have destroyed 50 aircraft, most of which were downed over border regions, the Defense Ministry has said

Russian air defenses successfully intercepted several Ukrainian drone raids across the western part of the country overnight, destroying dozens of aircraft, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said the military had thwarted “attempts by the Kiev regime to carry out a series of terrorist acts” on Russian territory. It claimed that Moscow’s forces had destroyed a total of 50 Ukrainian drones – 26 were shot down over Belgorod Region, ten over Bryansk Region, and eight over Kursk Region, officials added. All of the areas border Ukraine.

The ministry also reported the downing of several aircraft deeper into Russia, saying that two were intercepted over Tula Region. It added that individual drones were destroyed in Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga, and Moscow Regions.

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Smolensk Region Governor Vasily Anokhin stated that Ukrainian drones attempted to bomb an undisclosed oil and energy facility. He noted that while they were downed, debris fell onto a storage unit of oil and lubricants, resulting in a fire. The exact data on casualties is being determined, the governor added.

Meanwhile, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukrainian drones dropped two explosive devices on border villages, setting fire to a private residential building.

Gladkov reported that two civilians were killed in the attack, including a woman with a broken femur and a man who was tending to her. He noted that the son of the deceased woman managed to escape the burning house at the last moment.

Later, the governor said that in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, a pregnant woman was seriously injured by Ukrainian shelling. The woman and her unborn child ended up dying in the hospital, the official said, adding that three other people were also wounded in the attack.

Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said drone debris resulted in a fire at an energy facility in the region, adding that emergency services were working at the scene.

Ukraine routinely targets Russian border regions with drone and artillery strikes, causing widespread devastation and numerous civilian deaths. Kiev also periodically launches attacks on facilities deeper into Russia.

In recent weeks, Ukraine’s focus has been on Russian oil processing facilities, prompting US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to publicly warn that these actions “could have a knock-on effect in terms of the global energy situation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would prefer the US – Kiev’s main backer – to push Ukraine to completely abandon its “terrorist activities,” especially regarding strikes on critical infrastructure and residential buildings.

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The Russian foreign minister spoke at length on pressing foreign policy issues

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has given a wide-ranging 90-minute interview to Sputnik, Moscow Speaks, and Komsomolskaya Pravda. The conversation centered on the Ukraine conflict, talks with Kiev in the spring of 2022, and tensions between Iran and Israel. Here's a synopsis of what Russia's top diplomat had to say.

Ukraine is untrustworthy

Russia has no intention of ceasing hostilities with Ukraine even if the two countries engage in peace talks, as Kiev has proven itself to be untrustworthy, Lavrov said.

He stressed that while Moscow is ready to negotiate, it will not allow the situation of spring 2022 to be repeated, when both sides appeared to make progress during talks in Istanbul, with Russian forces withdrawing from the outskirts of Kiev as a goodwill gesture.

However, Moscow later accused Ukraine of backtracking on the progress achieved in Türkiye, saying it lost trust in Kiev’s negotiators. Russia said the talks collapsed after then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised Ukraine to keep fighting.

Security guarantees for Kiev

Russia and Ukraine also discussed “very serious security guarantees” for Kiev which did not apply, however, to Donbass and the Crimean Peninsula, Lavrov said.

According to the foreign minister, another provision stipulated that Ukraine would not host any foreign military bases, while setting limits on how many weapons and troops Kiev could have. “It also said that Ukraine would not hold military drills with the participation of third countries,” he added, noting that this rule could be waived in specific cases if the guarantors of the treaty – Russia and China – had no objections.

Kiev also put forward a proposal whereby it would commit to putting an end to discrimination against the nation’s minorities – mostly Russians – and stop supporting neo-Nazi movements, according to Lavrov.

However, when the sides were close to signing the treaty, Ukrainian negotiators attempted to dilute the ban on foreign military drills, indicating to Russia that they had been forbidden to make these concessions or had been acting in bad faith all along, Lavrov said.

Future of peace talks

Russia has always “preferred talks to fighting and wars,” Lavrov said. However, he dismissed out of hand Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s peace formula demanding that Moscow withdraw all its troops from Russian territory claimed by Kiev.

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Lavrov also insisted that Switzerland is not fit to host a Ukraine peace summit, arguing that it has abandoned its neutral status and has become an “openly hostile state” to Russia.

Middle East mediation

Russia is actively working to defuse the latest stand-off between Iran and Israel after Tehran launched a retaliatory strike against the Jewish state in response to what it claimed was an attack by Israel on its consulate in Syria, Lavrov stated.

The foreign minister noted that Russian diplomats are engaged in talks with Iran and Israel.

“We clearly recorded and conveyed to the Israelis that Iran does not want an escalation,” Lavrov stressed, arguing that Tehran had no choice but to respond to a “brazen violation of international law.”

The West’s intimidation tactics

EU leaders are pushing the narrative about ‘the Russian threat’ because “they desperately need to ‘wheedle’ money out of their lawmakers to continue the war,” Lavrov said, explaining that many EU politicians have invested too much political capital in this narrative, as well as their support for Ukraine, and “would simply be finished” if they changed course now.

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Those who have already killed would make more effective soldiers than those who haven’t, Denis Malyuska argues

Ukrainian convicts serving sentences for murder should be conscripted and sent to the front line to fight Russian forces, the country’s Justice Minister Denis Malyuska has suggested.

Such a move would boost the ranks of the Ukrainian military, address ongoing personnel shortages and would also help reduce pressure on the country’s prison system, Malyuska said in an interview with parliamentary broadcaster Rada on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill allowing for the incorporation of convicts into the country’s armed forces, except for those who have committed crimes against national security or who have murdered two or more people. The exemptions also include rapists, pedophiles, and those responsible for fatal driving accidents under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

However, the minister suggested that those who committed homicide should not be banned from service. “Perhaps those who know how to kill would be more effective as soldiers than those who have not killed yet, and less dangerous than those who were robbing for decades and [were] then given a machine gun,” he said, as cited by Ukrainian media.

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The Justice Ministry expects that some 10,000 inmates could become soldiers as a result of a mobilization in Ukraine’s penitentiary system, Malyuska said.

”The convicts are going to serve in separate units… those formations are definitely going to be deployed on the front line or near it,” he said. None of the criminals will serve in the rear, the minister assured his interviewer.

Malyuska didn’t mention whether drafted inmates would be provided with some sort of military training before being sent into battle.

He acknowledged that the mobilization would also reduce pressure on Ukrainian prisons, explaining that “the number of those who end up in our institutions is growing significantly; at some stage we may burst.”

Informed sources cited by Bloomberg on Thursday said that the US and the EU are concerned that Russian forces may punch through Ukrainian defensive lines in the coming weeks. Kiev’s troops are struggling because of delays in Western military aid and personnel shortages, the agency said.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky signed a new mobilization law, which states that draftees are to remain in the military indefinitely, and also introduced harsher penalties for dodgers and a simplified process of handing out summonses.

READ MORE: West fears Ukrainian front line could collapse soon – Bloomberg

In February, Zelensky claimed that only 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the conflict since February 2022. The Russian Defense Ministry estimates Kiev’s losses at over 444,000.

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A total of 34 such operations were conducted over the past week, the military has said

Russian forces have delivered 34 long-range strikes on Ukrainian targets since last Saturday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported on Friday, during a weekly summary.

The attacks have been carried out “in response to attempts by the Kiev regime to cause damage to Russian energy and industrial sites,” the statement said. Russian missiles were launched from ground, aerial and seaborne platforms, as well as from drones.

The ministry said it targeted “objects of energy industry, military industrial facilities, railway infrastructure, air defense systems, weapons depots and fuel storage facilities” used by the Ukrainian military.

”Damage was also inflicted on centers training drone operators and sites where Ukrainian troops, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries were stationed,” the ministry reported.

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In January, Ukraine began regularly launching long-range kamikaze drones at oil refineries and other key energy sites deep inside Russia.

The change of tactic reportedly caused tensions between Kiev and its key donor, the US. According to Western media, the administration of President Joe Biden is concerned that a serious decrease in Russian fuel manufacturing would cause a surge in gas prices in the US, potentially undermining his chances for reelection in November.

This month, Russia began attacking Ukrainian electricity-generating facilities that it had previously spared. DTEK, the private company that owns most of the thermal plants in Ukraine, said some 80% of its capacity had been disabled in a recent wave of strikes. Moscow also hit Ukrainian hydroelectric power plants.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that his government had refrained from such attacks during wintertime due to humanitarian considerations, but otherwise the retaliation was inevitable due to Kiev’s actions.

Ukrainian officials have been urging Western arms donors to provide additional air defense systems in response to the escalation.

READ MORE: Zelensky blames EU for Russian advance

Kiev’s troops are reportedly being pushed back in multiple locations along the conflict frontline. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday blamed insufficient aid from Western countries for the military setbacks.

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Kiev urgently needs a new US aid package or it will likely break under Russian pressure, William Burns says

Ukrainian defenses could completely collapse under a Russian onslaught as early as this year unless the US approves a new aid package for Kiev, CIA Director William Burns has claimed. His comments come after US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the chamber would vote on the long-delayed measure later this week.

Speaking at the Bush Center’s 2024 Forum on Leadership on Thursday, Burns stressed the urgency of the US approving a $61 billion security aid package for Ukraine. The bill has been held up for months in Congress due to Republican opposition demanding more efforts to enhance security on the Mexican border.

Burns urged lawmakers to break the gridlock on aid as soon as possible. “With the boost that would come from military assistance both practically and psychologically, the Ukrainians are entirely capable of holding their own through 2024 and puncturing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s arrogant view that time is on his side,” he claimed.

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However, Ukraine will face extreme difficulty if it is left out in the cold by the West, the CIA chief insisted. In his view, “there is a very real risk that the Ukrainians could lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024” or at least put Moscow in a position where it could “dictate the terms of a political settlement.”

The CIA director also argued that failure to support Kiev would have ramifications that would echo well beyond Europe. Burns believes that a powerful Western campaign to aid Ukraine has convinced China to tread lightly when it comes to its regional ambitions. “The surest way to undo that impact is for us to be seen to be walking away from the Ukrainians right now,” he added.

Ukrainian officials have for months complained about acute ammunition shortages, while their US counterparts estimated earlier in April that Kiev was being “outshot” by Russia by a ratio of five to one. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has also warned that Kiev would “lose the war” unless US aid comes through.

US House Speaker Johnson released a $95 billion foreign aid package earlier this week, $61 billion of which is earmarked for Ukraine despite flak from some of his fellow Republicans. It did not take US President Joe Biden long to emphatically endorse the bill.

Russia has consistently denounced Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning they are only prolonging the conflict. It has also argued that the deliveries make the West a direct participant in the hostilities.

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The low birth rate is endangering the country’s economic development, experts have warned

A record-low birth rate has become the most significant constraint on Russia’s long-term development, national daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported on Friday, citing a new study.

Last year, the rate was at its lowest level since the start of the century, official statistics showed. According to research conducted by macroeconomic analysis center CMASF, both the shrinking population and rising pressure on increasingly scarce workers now pose a serious challenge for Russia’s economy.

In 2023, just over 1.2 million babies were born in Russia, the lowest figure since 1999. The researchers said the decline was “inevitable” as large numbers of men are fighting in the Ukraine conflict, or have left Russia. Birth rates have been steadily declining since a peak in 2014, the researchers noted. The national statistics bureau, Rosstat, previously predicted a continued decline in the birth rate through 2027.

READ MORE: Demographics is Russia’s ‘Achilles heel’ – Kremlin

If the trend continues, by 2035 Russia’s population of 146 million will shrink by 4%, and by 2050 – by 6%, the new report says. A decline in the population leads to various problems for the economy as a whole, as well as for certain sectors, it adds.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has designated 2024 the ‘Year of the Family’ in Russia and, according to the Kremlin, the issue is of critical importance for the nation.

In his address to the Federal Assembly in February, President Putin admitted that Russia, like many other countries, is faced with a declining birth rate. He suggested that all levels of government, civil society, and religions should work together to make large families the social norm, a cornerstone of social life, and a state strategy guideline.

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A Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic aircraft came down in Stavropol Region after a combat mission, the ministry said on Friday

A Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic long-range bomber belonging to Russia's Air Force has crashed over the country's southern Stavropol region, the Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

The incident, thought to have been caused by a technical failure, occurred as the aircraft was returning to its home base after a combat mission. It was not carrying munitions at the time of the crash.

One member of the crew was killed and two ejected to safety, regional governor Vladimir Vladimirov reported. A fourth crew member remains unaccounted for.

Several videos are circulating online that purport to show the moment of the crash. A Tu-22 can be seen in them spiraling in the air and falling down, with fire erupting from its tail section.

The Ukrainian military has claimed its air defenses engaged the Tu-22 some 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and brought it down.

The incident occurred in the northwestern part of Stavropol Region, which borders Rostov Region and the Republic of Kalmykia.

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Mikhail Podoliak has argued that the West should be emboldened to send more arms to Ukraine after it thwarted Iran’s attack on Israel

Kiev expects a surge in supply of Western arms in the coming weeks, after an Iranian attack on Israel supposedly demonstrated the technological superiority of the US and its allies, Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky’s most senior adviser has said.

Tehran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel last weekend in what it said was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month. According to Israel, the barrage caused only minor damage, as the US and other Western countries helped it intercept most of the Iranian weapons.

Prior to the strike, Western media said Iran was carefully calibrating its operation so that it could save face and not cause further escalation and possible war with the US.

In an interview on Thursday, Podoliak said the developments revealed Iran as a “worthless bubble of brags in the Middle East, just like Russia is.”

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He added that he is hopeful that Western nations will now be bolder about arming Kiev.

”I believe that in the next several weeks Ukraine will be receiving significantly more arms, and that will affect the frontline,” he told Channel 24.

He suggested that access to more Western military capabilities will allow Kiev to compensate for the lack of manpower. Ukraine wants to be a party that “fights with technology against a backward power that fights with men,” Podoliak said.

This month, Zelensky signed a mobilization law, intended to boost conscription by threatening harsh punishments to citizens avoiding the draft. In February, the president previously claimed that only 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the conflict so far. Russia estimates Ukrainian military casualties at over 444,000.

READ MORE: Kiev’s morale problems could lead to defeat this year – Politico

The Ukrainian military is suffering from poor morale amid shortages of weapons and personnel, with some senior officers expecting a collapse on the frontline this summer, unless Western donors significantly increase their assistance, Politico reported this week.

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Polish claims of a thwarted “Russian plot” against the Ukrainian president are a warning sign, the senior official believes

Allegations that a Polish man was plotting with Moscow to assassinate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky are a sign that Kiev’s Western backers want to “liquidate” the Ukrainian leader, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed.

On Thursday, Polish officials reported the arrest of a man who is accused of trying to provide sensitive information to the Russian intelligence services. The information could have been used in an attempt to kill Zelensky, Warsaw and Kiev have claimed.

“An attempt on the life of the chief Banderite [Zelensky] in Poland? That is truly serious,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of the Russian Security Council, wrote on social media on Friday in response to the claims.

“It may be the first piece of evidence that people in the West have made a decision to liquidate him. Be afraid, clown!”

The term ‘Banderite’ refers to the Ukrainian nationalist movement of Stepan Bandera, which was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Poles during World War II. The Nazi collaborator is considered a national hero in modern Ukraine.

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The Polish citizen, identified as Pawel K. by the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, faces up to eight years in jail if convicted on charges of attempting to work with a foreign power against national interests.

Specifically, Pawel K. is accused of trying to share information with Moscow about Rzeszow–Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland. The facility is used to ship weapons and munitions that NATO members donate to Ukraine to fight Russia.

Polish officials, however, have claimed that his tips could “among other things” have helped Moscow plan a hit on Zelensky during a visit to Poland. Kiev’s successor to the KGB, the SBU, repeated the allegations in a statement of its own.

Warsaw has claimed Pawel K. was in contact with Russian nationals who are “directly involved” in the Ukraine conflict. Polish authorities were tipped off about the alleged threat by Ukrainian security services.

Zelensky has told Western media that Russia has been trying to kill him for years, with multiple attempts prevented by his security detail.

READ MORE: Ukraine claims it foiled Russian plot to kill Zelensky

However, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally assured him in March 2022 that Moscow would not kill Zelensky.

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Moscow has no reason to believe Ukraine will keep its promises, the Russian foreign minister has said

Russia has no intention of ceasing hostilities with Ukraine even if the two countries engage in peace talks, as Kiev has proven itself to be an unreliable actor, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

In an interview with Russian media on Friday, the diplomat stressed that Moscow does not trust the leadership in Kiev.

“We have said that we are ready for the negotiations, but – unlike the Istanbul story – we will not make any pauses in the fighting during the negotiations. The process must go on,” he said.

The two sides have not directly talked to each other since their sit-down in Istanbul in late March 2022. Russia, which initially expressed satisfaction with results of the meeting and withdrew its forces from the outskirts of Kiev as a goodwill gesture, later accused Ukraine of backtracking on all progress achieved in Türkiye, saying it had lost trust in Kiev’s negotiators.

The foreign minister noted that a major obstacle to any peace process that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky “forbid himself from negotiating” with the current authorities in Moscow. He was referring to a decree that Zelensky signed in the fall of 2022, which banned his government from any talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

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The realities on the ground have changed “significantly” since the time when the Istanbul negotiations took place, and “those realities must be taken into account,” Lavrov stressed.

He clarified that he was talking not only about the situation on the frontline, where Russian forces have recently been making gains, but also the fact that the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, which joined Russia as a result of referendums in the fall 2022, are now parts of the country in line with the Constitution. “Everybody should understand this very well,” the diplomat stressed.

Lavrov said it is “absolutely clear” to Moscow that Kiev and its Western backers “do not understand this and... are not even ready to look for any hypothetical compromises.”

Since late 2022, Zelensky has been promoting his so-called ‘peace formula,’ which calls for Russia to withdraw from all territories claimed by Kiev and pay reparations, and for the formation of a war crimes tribunal.

READ MORE: No point in Russia signing peace deal with Zelensky – Lukashenko

The Russian foreign minister again outright rejected the plan, calling it an “ultimatum” that provided for no alternative solutions.

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The foreign minister has held a press conference with three domestic radio stations on the most pressing international issues

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has given a wide-ranging interview to radio stations from Sputnik, Moscow Speaks, and Komsomolskaya Pravda. The conversation addressed the Ukraine conflict and other foreign policy issues on Moscow’s agenda.

This live stream has ended.

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The suspect allegedly intended to provide intelligence to Russia that could have led to the killing of the Ukrainian leader

A Polish man has been arrested for allegedly trying to help Russia assassinate Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Warsaw and Kiev have said.

The suspect, who was identified as Pawel K. in a statement released on Thursday by the National Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, has been charged with expressing willingness to work with a foreign power against national interests. The alleged crime carries a potential prison sentence of up to eight years.

Polish officials claimed the suspect was planning to provide intelligence that would “among other things, help Russian special services plan a possible attempt on the life of the head of a foreign state – Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.”

Specifically, Pawel K. is accused of trying to share information about Rzeszow–Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland. The facility serves as a major logistics hub for weapons and munitions provided by NATO members to Ukraine.

The SBU, Kiev’s successor to the KGB, repeated the allegations in a statement of its own, including claims that Zelensky could be targeted, while hailing the arrest as a major success for both nations.

READ MORE: Second suspect detained over attempt to assassinate Ukrainian defector – FSB

The Ukrainian leader has claimed that Russia has been trying to kill him for years, and that multiple plots have been prevented by his security detail.

However, Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, has told journalists that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally assured him in March 2022 that Moscow would not kill Zelensky.

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The interception of a night-time barrage in Belgorod Region was filmed by local residents

The moment when Russian air defenses engaged incoming Ukrainian rockets in Belgorod Region overnight has been caught on camera.

The barrage included at least 25 projectiles, which were successfully intercepted before they could reach the region’s main city, Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media on Friday morning.

There was minor damage in the city, with windows broken in three homes and four warehouses, the official added. A fire broke out in a non-residential building, but was quickly extinguished by firefighters. Some cars were also hit by fragments.

RIA Novosti news agency has released footage purportedly showing Ukrainian projectiles being intercepted by Russian forces during the night. Apparently filmed by civilians living nearby, the video showed what appeared to be rockets, judging by their engine exhaust, flying towards the city – before being destroyed in powerful mid-air explosions. An air siren can be heard blaring.

Belgorod Region comes under frequent artillery, rocket and drone attacks as do other parts of Russia bordering Ukraine. Last month, Kiev-backed militia groups that purport to be Russian anti-government forces staged a series of attempted ground incursions, which were all thwarted by Russian security forces.

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At least two MiG-29 jets and a S-300 air defense battery were destroyed

Drone footage has emerged of multiple Russian missiles striking Aviatorskoe, a Ukrainian armed forces airbase in Dnepropetrovsk Region.

The footage shows several MiG-29 fighters and transport aircraft at the airfield being caught in blasts from what appear to be cluster munitions, delivered by an Iskander-M missile. Nearby hangars and munitions depots were also struck.

Another video shows a direct hit on the S-300 air defense system deployed near the base, which did not engage the incoming missiles. The footage was captured by observation drones.

Aviatorskoe is located just south of the city of Dnepr, over 100 kilometers from the frontline.

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Talk about victory for Kiev has disappeared as Washington becomes a ‘back seat driver’

The Istanbul agreements – a tentative peace plan agreed between Russia and Ukraine in the spring of 2022 – are being discussed again. However, as they were written at the time they are no longer relevant and are unlikely to be of any use in the future. The realities on the ground and in the hearts and minds of many key people, have changed completely.

Nevertheless, it’s no coincidence that talk of negotiations began in Switzerland just as it became clear, to Westerners, that the Ukrainians are unable to make any progress. I am not talking about victory, but about any meaningful success on the battlefield. And thus it has become necessary to somehow limit Russia’s potential for success, to prevent it from winning.

This is not coming from Ukraine itself, but rather the enemy with whom we are now really at war. The desire to prevent a Russian victory is behind all these diplomatic machinations.

What we are really talking about now is a propaganda campaign. Of course nobody in the West is in a mood for serious negotiations right now.

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Let me explain what it means. From our point of view, genuine talks are ones that would solve the problem that led to the military operation. If we do not solve it, we will all face a new war in the future, and perhaps a more terrible one, with more serious consequences. Thus, as they say, if you take up arms, you must go to the end, to achieve a solution to the problem that made you take take such a measure in the first place.

The West, and they say this quite openly, is trying to prevent a victory for Moscow. And they are trying to do this in two ways. One is by pumping arms and money into Ukraine. And the other is diplomatic, by creating the appearance of some kind of negotiations.

This is diplomatic propaganda. The idea is to get dozens upon dozens of countries together, to take a group photo, and put psychological pressure on the Russian leadership. But I am convinced that they are all well aware unless Moscow achieves the stated goals of the current military operation, everything is largely irrelevant.

Otherwise, the sacrifices that Russia has made, ranging from battlefield casualties to numerous other constraints, will be in vain.

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At the same time, the Americans are crawling away from the front line. They are still in charge but, as Obama used to say, they are now a “backseat driver.” Basically, they are doing everything they can to ensure that they do not suffer in the event of a collision. They want the people in the front of the vehicle to suffer. And, of course, the Americans are not so much tired of Kiev as they are tired of having to spread their resources, which are not unlimited, in different directions.

Yes, they are huge, but, I repeat, they are no longer unlimited. Today, the Middle East is strategically much more important than Ukraine.

You may notice that I am not even talking about the issue of China, which the Americans see as existential in terms of their role in world affairs. Will they continue to be number one or will they become number two and so on? For many there, such as scenario is a death knell.

Now we have the opportunity to play the long game, to calmly observe and properly assess the ongoing machinations in the West. That is why it is interesting to see what is being said today about the negotiations and how they are being conducted, rather than the obligatory blather about Russia’s defeat on the battlefield. This kind of talk in itself is a plus for us.

We know that they also understand that they cannot defeat us and are trying to move to the next point of retreat. However the rhetoric is still about the impossibility of allowing our victory. But for us, partial victory will be equivalent to defeat. The West will be able to influence the situation in our country in every possible way if we fail to achieve the stated goals of military operation.

I think time is working in our favor. Let’s see what happens in the United States before the election, what happens during it, what happens afterwards. But at the same time, while our enemy is preoccupied with its internal problems, while its strategic vision for the Middle East, East Asia and Ukraine is in turmoil, we ourselves must make progress.

Real, serious successes on the battlefield, which I understand the Russian army is now carrying out.

This article was first published by Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, translated and edited by the RT team

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Berlin’s “provocative attack” is an attempt to distort the history of World War II, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said

Russia’s diplomatic mission in Berlin has received a notice that the presence of Russian officials at events in Germany marking the liberation of Nazi concentration camps is “undesirable,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

The letter was sent earlier this month by the administrations of several memorial complexes at the sites of former death camps, Zakharova explained. It came ahead of International Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps Day, observed annually on April 11 to commemorate the freeing of prisoners from Buchenwald – one of the largest Nazi death camps of World War II.

“Our embassy in Berlin received a notice that it is undesirable for Russian officials to participate in commemorative events marking the 79th anniversary of the liberation of death camp prisoners,” Zakharova said during a briefing. She noted that the letter targeted people who have dedicated their lives to preserving the memory of World War II.

Zakharova stressed that Moscow regards the move as a “provocative attack” and yet another attempt to portray the war in a politicized “anti-Russian vein.”

“We believe that this is the destruction of historical memory and the truth about the Second World War by Berlin,” the spokeswoman said

Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union is estimated to have caused the deaths of over 26 million people, including some 13.6 million civilians. Despite the catastrophic losses, the Red Army played a pivotal role in defeating Nazi Germany and pushed its forces out of Eastern Europe, liberating many concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz.

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Zakharova also criticized Germany for continuing to ignore Russia’s demands to recognize Nazi crimes against the USSR as genocide, stressing that Berlin “will not be able to remain silent and avoid answering.”

In January, on the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad during World War II, Berlin said it was “committed to ensuring that the memory of the atrocities of German War crimes in the Second World War” and acknowledged “its historical responsibility for the crimes committed in Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht.”

Russian diplomats, however, have argued that Berlin’s statements do not go far enough, and expressed dismay that Germany is seemingly hesitant to recognize the Leningrad blockade and other Nazi crimes against the people of the USSR as acts of genocide.

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Kiev’s forces are struggling to hold back the Russians due to delays in foreign aid and personnel shortages, the news outlet said

The US and the EU are concerned that Russian forces may punch through Ukrainian defensive lines in the coming weeks, people familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg.

Russian troops are continuing to advance thanks to an advantage in ammunition, the agency acknowledged in an article on Thursday.

At the same time, Ukrainian forces “struggle because of delays in US and European military aid and personnel shortages,” it added.

Ukraine also faces daily Russian missile, drone and bomb attacks that are knocking out key energy infrastructure and striking military positions, due to its lack of air defenses, according to Bloomberg.

Because of this, “concerns are mounting that Russia may make major gains in the coming weeks by punching through overstretched Ukrainian lines,” sources in the US and Europe told the agency.

Russian forces have now reached the outskirts of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a crucial town for Ukraine’s defenses in the area due to its elevated position, the article continued.

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In a video address to EU leaders on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky warned his foreign backers that “the Russian army feels its strength in almost everything related to the armed component. And it is precisely because of this strength – in artillery, in equipment, in the ability to operate in the sky – that they are putting pressure on us at the front and are gradually moving.”

Zelensky said that his country needs more Western aid, urging the EU to finally fulfill its promise to supply Ukraine with a million artillery shells.

The attempts by the administration of US President Joe Biden to push through another $60 billion in assistance for Kiev have been fruitless since the fall amid the standoff between Democratic and Republican lawmakers over immigration and border security. US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that he will put a standalone Ukraine aid bill to a vote on Saturday.

READ MORE: Russia charges four Ukrainian colonels with mass murder

In early April, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the country’s forces have captured another 403 square kilometers of land from Ukraine since the start of the year. The Ukrainian army has been losing around 800 personnel and some 120 units of equipment on a daily basis during the period, he said.

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Kyrgyzstan has reportedly blocked access to the app due to concerns over its impact on children

Kyrgyzstan has blocked the video-sharing platform TikTok over lax content regulations and concerns that the app may be detrimental to children’s mental health, local media reported on Wednesday.

Bishkek’s Ministry of Digital Development requested that telecom operators restrict access to the popular service as of Thursday, news outlets reported, citing a statement from the ministry. The decision was reportedly based on recommendations issued by the State Committee for National Security.

According to officials, the Kyrgyz branch of TikTok “lacks a systematic and principled approach to content censorship,” particularly in “the children’s information space.” The Chinese-owned social media platform also failed to adhere to a law on information “deemed detrimental to children’s health and development,” the statement added.

Many users have reported being unable to access TikTok service as of Thursday morning, according to news outlet vesti.kg.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international NGO defending the right to freedom of information, criticized “the arbitrary blocking” of the popular social media platform by the Kyrgyz authorities. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), RSF claimed that the authorities restricted the right to information online “under the pretext of protecting minors.”

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It is not the first attempt to bloc TikTok in Kyrgyzstan. In August last year, the Ministry of Culture announced its intention to ban the platform because it allegedly drives young people “to replicate certain actions depicted in these clips, some of which endanger their lives.” No ban, however, was implemented at the time.

Critics argue the restrictions will harm small and medium-sized businesses that promote their services and goods through TikTok. They also claim that targeting the app will not solve any negative impact of the internet on children.

TikTok did not immediately respond to the ban, but has previously insisted it has safeguards to moderate content and protect minors.

The Chinese-owned social media platform is also facing a possible ban in the US. The House of Representatives passed legislation in March that described TikTok as a “national security threat” over concerns that the Chinese government could force the platform’s owner, ByteDance, to hand over the data of US app users.

If enacted by the Senate and President Joe Biden, the bill would force ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or face a nationwide ban. Biden has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. China’s Foreign Ministry has slammed the vote as an “act of bullying.”

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The revelation debunks Kiev’s “myths,” a Russian official accused of mass abductions has said

Over 160 Ukrainian children allegedly “kidnapped by Russia” have been discovered living in Germany, the country's Federal Criminal Police (BKA) has confirmed.

The head of Ukrainian national police, Ivan Vygovsky, on Wednesday hailed the discovery, telling national media that he had discussed the issue with Holger Munch, president of the BKA, during a meeting earlier in this week.

Allegations by Kiev that Moscow kidnapped Ukrainian children en masse have been exposed as a lie after some of the purported victims have been found in the EU, according to Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. She is among the officials to have been accused of abducting youngsters from Ukraine amid the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.

When asked for clarification by RT Deutsch, the BKA said its officers had identified the children after they were flagged as “kidnapping” victims by Kiev. Their personal details were checked against German records.

The majority of the youngsters had entered Germany as refugees accompanied by their parents or legal guardians, the police said. In a handful of cases, suspicion of “unlawful transfer” remained, the statement added, without offering further details.

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Responding to the revelations, Lvova-Belova said Moscow has “long been drawing the attention of the international community to the fact that Ukraine has created a systemic myth regarding the children, who it claims had been ‘deported’ to Russia.”

Last year, Lvova-Belova was named alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the key suspects in its investigation into the alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of minors during the Ukraine conflict. Moscow dismissed the claim as politically motivated, arguing that Kiev had lied to the court about what in reality was an evacuation of civilians from areas affected by the hostilities.

In her remarks about the German discoveries, Lvova-Belova said her office had identified multiple cases in which children described by Kiev as abductees were actually residing with their parents at home or in other nations, “never having been separated from their families.”

She expressed hope that the Ukrainian “global disinformation campaign” would eventually stop and that the truth would prevail.

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Kiev’s forces “deliberately” targeted a blood donation center in the town of Gorlovka, regional head Denis Pushilin has said

Ukrainian forces have struck a hospital and blood donation center in the Donbass town of Gorlovka, the head of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has said. Eight civilians including a child were injured in the attack.

The victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the strike, Pushilin wrote on Telegram on Thursday. The the town center where healthcare facilities are located was “deliberately” targeted, he claimed. Both the hospital and the donation center were damaged in the strike.

Gorlovka Mayor Ivan Prikhodko published photos and videos from the scene showing damaged buildings, smashed windows and debris. One clip also showed destroyed furniture in a room at the healthcare facility.

Kiev’s troops used the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in the attack, according to preliminary data gathered by the Russian authorities.

Washington has sent dozens of the multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine since mid-2022. The systems provided to Kiev have a range of up to 160km (100 miles) when equipped with longer-range ATACMS missiles. Other projectiles launched by HIMARS and available to the Ukrainian military have a range of around 70km.

According to Pushilin, Kiev’s forces carried out a total of 12 attacks on Thursday – both missile and drone strikes – targeting Gorlovka as well as Donetsk and other Donbass settlements. Cluster munitions were used in some of these attacks, the official said.

READ MORE: Ukraine strikes machinery plant in Donbass – authorities

Last week, Ukrainian forces conducted a missile strike targeting a machinery plant in the city of Lugansk. Nine people were injured, including seven workers and two local residents, local leader Leonid Pasechnik said at that time. UK-supplied long-range Storm Shadow missiles were used in that assault, according to Russian law enforcement.

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Ukrainian authorities have accused a major online casino co-owned by entrepreneur Arnulf Damerau of tax evasion

One of the largest private Western investors in Ukraine has told the Financial Times that senior Kiev officials, including some from President Vladimir Zelensky's office, are trying to extort money from him.

Anglo-German businessman Arnulf Damerau co-owns Cosmolot, one of the largest online casino operators in Ukraine, which is being investigated by the country’s Economic Security Bureau (ESBU). In an interview with the British paper on Thursday, he alleged that senior Ukrainian officials some months ago had made to him what amounted to a criminal proposal.

Cosmolot was founded in 2021 by entrepreneur Sergey Potapov, after the government of President Vladimir Zelensky legalized gambling, ending a ban that had lasted for over a decade. Damerau invested an undisclosed sum in the business last year, becoming one of the primary beneficiaries.

The Ukrainian authorities suspect Cosmolot of tax evasion. Last October, the ESBU raided the firm’s headquarters and in February it froze over $17 million in the company’s accounts, claiming it owed the government $30 million in back taxes. It alleged that copycat websites that share design and infrastructure with the online casino serve some of its clients, but do not report the proceeds that they generate.

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Damerau, who denies the allegations of tax evasion, claimed to the FT that in December a Ukrainian individual met him in Vienna and said that Cosmolot’s legal woes would disappear if half of the company’s shares were transferred to an offshore trust. The businessman said he informed law enforcement in the EU and the US about the situation.

The corruption, Damerau told the British newspaper, comes from a “minority” at the top level of the Ukrainian government, including in Zelensky’s office. Some reports in Western media have claimed that the president does not tolerate graft in his inner circle.

Critics of the Ukrainian leader point out that senior officials tend to get away with major corruption scandals in their departments, as was the case with former defense minister Aleksey Reznikov. He was removed from office last September, months after his ministry was accused of procuring military supplies at grossly inflated prices.

Zelensky’s office has championed the decriminalization of gambling, touting its benefits for the state budget. Cosmolot is the tenth largest taxpayer in the country, according to Damerau.

READ MORE: Ukrainian army gripped by gambling addiction – MP

However, according to Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko, the industry has become a national security threat. He claimed last month that some 90% of frontline troops suffer from a gambling addiction. Soldiers are paid relatively high salaries and do not have many ways to spend their money, so many of them reportedly turn to online slot machines to cope with the constant stress they face on the battlefield.

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Kiev’s commanding officers have been indicted in absentia by a Moscow court

Russia’s Investigative Committee has brought charges in absentia against four Colonels of the Ukrainian military, Khamovnichesky Court in Moscow has told TASS. The commanders of Kiev’s units are being accused of mass murder, it added.

Khamovnichesky Court has received petitions for the arrest in absentia of Colonels Pavel Fedosenko, Fedor Yaroshevich and Andrey Matviishin, the court’s representative told the agency on Thursday. Another Ukrainian colonel, Dmitry Khrapach, had earlier been indicted in absentia, according to the representative.

The accused have been charged in accordance with Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code, the murder of two or more persons, and, if convicted, could face a penalty of up to life imprisonment, the court said.

However, the essence of the accusations against the four Ukrainian officers has not been disclosed, TASS stressed.

Kommersant newspaper reported that the colonels are also accused of using prohibited means and methods of war. The investigators believe that the commanders acted as organizers of the alleged crimes, which were then carried out by their subordinates, the paper said.

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According to TASS, Khrapach is the commander of the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Last August, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a court in Russia’s People’s Republic of Donetsk over the shelling of the region’s capital from multiple rocket launch systems.

Yaroshevich headed the Ukrainian military’s 19th Missile Brigade until 2023. According to Kommersant, the Colonel had previously been indicted in absentia by Basmanny Court in Moscow, for the use of prohibited means of warfare, including a strike on a train station in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kramatorsk in the People’s Republic of Donetsk last April.

Authorities in Kiev, which blamed the Kramatorsk attack on Russia, said that it had left 63 people dead and 150 wounded. Moscow insists, however, that it was a “barbaric act” by Ukraine, stressing that the Soviet-made Tochka-U ballistic missile, which had been used in the deadly attack, is only operated by Kiev’s forces and not by the Russian military.

READ MORE: Ukraine issues arrest warrant for Orthodox Christian leader

Fedosenko currently commands the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, while Matviishin heads the 8th Separate Special Forces Regiment, according to TASS.

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Ukraine’s goal of eradicating bilingual media content has almost been achieved, the government has claimed

Ukraine’s ban on using the Russian language in the media will take full effect three months from now, Kiev’s state language protection commissioner, Taras Kremin, has said.

Since gaining independence, Ukraine has been a bilingual nation, with most citizens able to speak or understand both Russian and Ukrainian. After the US-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, the new nationalist authorities adopted policies aimed at suppressing the Russian language, on the grounds of national unity and security.

The restrictions include a requirement for national media to predominantly use Ukrainian in broadcasts. The permitted share of content in Russian has declined from 40% in 2016 to an almost complete ban, which will come into force in July – the deadline that Kremin referred to in his statement on Wednesday.

“Today national television channels practice bilingual Ukrainian-Russian programming, in which participants use the Russian language without a translation or subtitles,” he said. “Starting on July 17, this practice will end. There will be more Ukrainian language!”

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The push by Ukrainian nationalist leaders to impose the state language on Russian-speakers living in the east of the country was a major reason for locals’ rejection of the post-coup authorities. One of the first acts of those who seized power in Kiev was to abolish a law adopted in 2012, which gave the Russian language official regional status.

The new authorities have been adopting laws to eradicate Russian from all spheres of public life, including education, entertainment, and even services provided by private businesses.

In an interview last year, Kremin denied that some Ukrainian citizens could be called Russian-speaking, describing the term was “a marker introduced by Russian ideology,” and declared that “everyone in the country must have a command of the Ukrainian language.”

In contrast, this week the leader of another post-Soviet nation, Kazakhstan, rejected the notion that one language spoken by his people should be favored over others.

READ MORE: Zelensky’s comedy partner slams campaign against Russian language

“Young people now are fluent in the state [Kazakh] language, in Russian language, in English and other languages, and that is good,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Tuesday. “It’s ridiculous to ramp up hysterics over a language, let alone fight against one, as they did in some other states. We all see what they have now as a result.”

The Kazakh leader did not specify which other nations he was referring to.

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The West’s failure to provide enough arms and money is the only reason Ukraine is suffering setbacks, the president has claimed

A shortage of Western arms supplies and unkept promises by EU members have allowed Russia to advance on the battlefield, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told senior European officials on Wednesday.

Zelensky made the claims during a video conference address to national leaders and senior members of the EU bureaucracy, who have convened for a two-day summit in Brussels.

The Ukrainian leader reiterated that his country needs more Western material and financial assistance to continue its armed conflict with Russia.

“Now the Russian army feels its strength in almost everything related to the armed component. And it is precisely because of this strength – in artillery, in equipment, in the ability to operate in the sky – that they are putting pressure on us at the front and are gradually moving,” he said.

Although he thanked Kiev’s donors for their aid, Zelensky also complained of unfulfilled promises.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet seen a million artillery shells from the European Union that were discussed so much. Also, some other initiatives have not yet been fully implemented, and this is primarily reflected in what our soldiers can use at the front,” he stated.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin believes “he will succeed in his counteroffensive,” Zelensky claimed, adding that “the only root of this hope is the shortage of weapons among our soldiers.”

In addition to offensive systems, Kiev wants more Western air defenses to protect its industrial base, as well as investment and technology to launch domestic arms production. It also requires electricity to compensate for the destruction of power facilities destroyed by Russian precision strikes, and according to Zelensky needs “energy of spirit” in the form of accelerated accession to the EU.

“We need the European Union to deliver what it had promised, and our people need to see Ukraine moving closer to full membership,” Zelensky insisted, urging Brussels to progress to the next phase of talks in June.

Analysis published by Politico on Wednesday cited the refusal of Ukrainians to enroll into the military as a major problem for Kiev. EU statistics body Eurostat estimates the number of fighting age Ukrainian men living in member states at some 650,000. Most of them arranged to be smuggled across the border, the outlet said.

READ MORE: Kiev’s morale problems could lead to defeat this year – Politico

This week, Zelensky signed into law a bill that makes it easier for conscription officials to issue summonses and imposes harsh punishments for avoiding the draft.

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A fresh attempt to pass the legislation triggered mass protests and drew criticism from the West

The Georgian parliament adopted a controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill in its first reading on Wednesday, despite opposition protests and warnings from the EU that the legislation could jeopardize the country’s ambitions to join the bloc.

The legislation, officially known as the bill ‘On the Transparency of Foreign Influence’, was backed by 83 members of the 150-member chamber. The opposition boycotted the vote. Several dissenting MPs were expelled from the chamber after becoming unruly during the hearing.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, is adamant that the ruling party will not cave in to foreign and domestic pressure. Speaking on Wednesday, Kobakhidze rejected criticism of the bill, arguing it would actually bring Georgia closer to the EU by making the country more transparent.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, however, has condemned the outcome of the vote, vowing to veto the legislation altogether, should it pass the second and third readings. The president claims the bill jeopardizes Georgia’s EU aspirations and imposes “obstacles” to fair elections in the country.

“I’m going to veto this law, as I’m vetoing all the other laws… that go against the recommendations of the European Union,” Zourabichvili told the BBC. She admitted that her veto would likely be overridden by the parliament, but insisted that the step was necessary to express the “voice of people.”

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The Georgian parliament first attempted to pass the ‘foreign agents’ legislation last year. The original bill would have required organizations and individuals with more than 20% foreign funding to register as “agents of foreign influence” while disclosing their donors. It faced strong criticism from the Georgian political opposition, which branded it a “Russian law” and accused the ruling party of modeling it on legislation introduced in Russia in 2012.

The ruling party, however, has insisted the law drew inspiration from the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, arguing that the Georgian version was significantly more lenient than the original American one. The initial bill nonetheless sparked rioting in the capital, Tbilisi, as well as a storm of criticism from the West, and ultimately ended up being shelved after passing the first reading.

The new version of the legislation bears only cosmetic changes, including the designation of “agents of foreign influence” being replaced with “an organization facilitating the interests of a foreign power.” The new attempt to pass it has already faced similar trouble, including street protests, a mass brawl on the parliament floor, and mounting criticism from the West. The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has warned that the adoption of the bill could “compromise Georgia’s EU path.”

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“Georgia: the ‘transparency of foreign influence’ law is not in line with EU norms and values. If adopted, it would limit CSO and media work and freedom of expression,” Borrell wrote on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the bill was passed in the first reading.

US and European politicians who have criticized the legislation have not provided any actual arguments against it, he claimed. “In such circumstances, [these] statements will not become a reason to review our decision,” Kobakhidze stated.

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The US must defend Ukraine like it did Israel last weekend, a spokesman for President Vladimir Zelensky has said

Kiev wants security guarantees from its Western backers similar to the level of protection that the US provides Israel, President Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian government is negotiating a series of treaties intended to seal the country’s pro-Western alignment until it is granted full NATO membership. Officials in Kiev say the deals will secure long-term military assistance from the US and its allies, regardless of political changes that might otherwise prompt donors to cut the aid.

“An agreement between the US and Ukraine must work no worse than the American memorandum with Israel, the effectiveness of which was confirmed by joint actions of the allies during the deflection of the mass attack on Israel by Iran,” Yermak wrote on social media.

Tehran launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Israel last weekend in retaliation for the April 1 airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, which it blamed on the Jewish state.

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The long-anticipated move resulted in only “minor damage,” according to Israel, as the US, UK and France used their military assets to help stop most of the Iranian projectiles

The interceptions cost Israel $550 million, according to local defense experts.

Western officials have made it clear that Kiev should not expect the kind of intervention that Israel enjoyed last week.

“Putting NATO forces directly in conflict with Russian forces – I think that would be a dangerous escalation,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Monday. Instead of “Western planes over [its] skies trying to shoot things down,” Ukraine requires air defense systems, he explained.

Kiev has been urging the US for months to move forward with the appropriation of over $60 billion in aid, which is being blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson. The discussions that Yermak participated in covered “the action plan right after the US Congress takes a decision on military aid for Ukraine,” he said.

READ MORE: US won’t fight for Ukraine – White House

Some US media have speculated that Johnson may yield to pro-Kiev pressure and submit the Senate-approved bill to a vote following the Iranian attack. The bill includes funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

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The man allegedly delivered the components for the explosive device used in the botched hit, Russia’s Federal Security Service has said

A second suspect has been detained in connection with an attempt to assassinate a former Ukrainian secret police agent in Moscow last week, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced.

The man allegedly delivered the components for the bomb that was used to blow up the car of Vasily Prozorov, who had previously served in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Kiev’s successor to the Soviet KGB. Prozorov’s driver, who was inside the SUV at the time of the explosion, survived.

The components of the explosive device were hidden by SBU officers inside a box containing manicure tools and hair care products, the agency said. A woman residing in Warsaw, Poland received the parcel with the hidden parts and passed it along to a private transport company for delivery to Moscow, it added.
According to the agency, the arrested “courier” received the parcel in Lithuania and delivered it to the Russian capital by car.

As instructed by the sender, the suspect handed the box over to a Russian citizen in his early 40s, who had been working for the SBU and carried out the attack, the FSB alleges.

READ MORE: Suspect arrested following bomb hit on Ukrainian defector – FSB

The agency announced that the suspect had been remanded into custody on Tuesday. He is believed to have assembled the bomb under the guidance of a Ukrainian curator and planted it on Prozorov’s car, according to the agency.

“Measures to identify all organizers and accomplices of the crime, including foreign citizens, and bring them to criminal liability in accordance with Russian law are ongoing,” it added.

Prozorov worked for the SBU from 1999 to 2018. He made headlines in 2019 when he called a press conference in Moscow and confessed that he had been providing intelligence to Russia about his country’s security services during the fighting between Ukraine and Donbass separatists, which commenced in 2014 when a Western-backed coup took place in Kiev.

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He said that he began working with the Russians due to “ideological motives,” describing the current Ukrainian authorities as a “bunch of scoundrels.”

The SBU responded by branding the former officer a “traitor,” and warned that it was “only a matter of time” before he ended up “just like Judas.”

SBU head Vasily Malyuk previously acknowledged to the media that his agency was believed to be masterminding the assassinations of supposed “enemies of Ukraine” inside Russia. He stopped short of claiming responsibility, but shared details about several such incidents.

There have been a number of killings of high-profile public figures in Russia since February 2022, when the armed conflict between Moscow and Kiev started. The victims include journalist and activist Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin; popular military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky and Ukrainian opposition MP Ilya Kiva.

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The withdrawal of troops from Karabakh region had earlier been reported by Azerbaijani media

Russia is withdrawing its peacekeepers from Karabakh, a region previously outside Baku's control, the Kremlin confirmed on Wednesday.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports of the move that had appeared in Azerbaijani media were correct.

What was formerly the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh defied Baku’s authority amid the collapse of the USSR, when its predominantly ethnic Armenian population sought independence. The region remained a constant source of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which tacitly supported the ambitions of its de facto government.

There was a series of bloody armed conflicts over Nagorno-Karabakh in the following decade. The last of these occurred last year and resulted in Baku reasserting its sovereignty over the area. A mass exodus of people followed what Azerbaijan described as a counter-terrorism operation.

READ MORE: NATO won’t bring stability to Caucasus – Kremlin

Russian peacekeepers have been stationed in the region since the previous major clash, which happened in late 2020. They had a mandate to monitor the situation and report violations of the ceasefire. Several Russian troops were killed in 2023, when the mission was working to protect civilians amid renewed hostilities.

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Ukrainians are choosing “suspended critical thinking” over the dire reality, the outlet has warned

Ukraine is facing a collapse on the frontline this summer because soldiers’ morale is being ground down by the fighting and shortage of supplies, senior officers have told Politico on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday the news outlet’s opinion editor Jamie Dettmer shared his grim view of Ukraine’s future after a month-long trip to the country, which involved interviewing political leaders, military officers and ordinary citizens. The officers agreed to talk “only on the understanding they would not be named,” he said.

The country is “slipping towards disaster.” A lack of Western arms has put troops on the backfoot and tens of thousands of civilians are dodging the draft. Dettmer said that roughly a third of the passengers on a train he took to return to Europe were fighting-age men, who somehow managed to obtain waiver papers. Getting smuggled across the border is the primary way for Ukrainians to avoid conscription, the report said.

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The climate in the country has changed drastically from the initial nationalist fervor, when thousands of volunteers were eager to fight Russia. Now “eligible young recruits find other things to do with their time, packing into hipster bars and techno clubs in the late afternoons.”

“As Ukraine’s ousted chief commander [Valery] Zaluzhny found to his cost, rational warnings that things may not turn out well can get commentators and analysts in trouble,” Dettmer wrote. “But suspending critical thinking won’t win this war either.”

He blamed the West for failing to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” as promised. The shortage of arms means Ukrainians are no longer willing to “do what it takes,” leading to Western aid dwindling further, he explained.

The US and its allies have “placed too much faith in sanctions” that have failed to cripple Russia’s economy, and engaged in “wishful thinking” about President Vladimir Putin being ousted in a public uprising or a Kremlin coup. The Russian leader “has arguably never been closer to his goal,” Dettmer lamented, and “the nation of Ukraine as it currently exists [may soon be] consigned to the past.”

READ MORE: Ukraine’s top brass believe Western F-16s no longer relevant – Politico

Moscow’s stated goals in the conflict are to ensure Ukraine’s neutral status as opposed to it joining NATO, to eradicate the influence of radical nationalists, and to protect ethnic Russians from discriminatory policies, which the Ukrainian government has been adopting since the 2014 coup in Kiev.

Putin has stressed on many occasions that he considers Ukraine a brotherly nation, which fell victim to Western schemes.

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The new legislation further simplifies mobilization procedures and introduces new penalties for draft dodgers

President Vladimir Zelensky signed a controversial military mobilization bill into law on Tuesday, a legislation card on the Ukrainian parliament’s website indicates.

The new legislation was passed by the Verkhovna Rada earlier this month, following a drawn-out debate over its contents. In a last-minute turn of events, its provisions became even stricter than originally proposed, with a demobilization clause withdrawn.

The adopted legislation effectively means that all draftees are set to remain in the military indefinitely, a decision reportedly lobbied for by the recently appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Aleksandr Syrsky. A demobilization procedure is expected to be introduced in separate legislation, though it remains unclear when exactly such a bill could materialize.

The new law further simplifies draft procedures, with all Ukrainians obliged to “update data” on themselves with the military authorities within 60 days after the legislation comes into force. The provision applies to Ukrainians living abroad as well.

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Apart from that, all eligible individuals aged 18 to 60 now must always carry their military ID on them. Moreover, a conscription notice is forthwith considered to be delivered to a draftee even should conscription officers fail to meet them in person at their residence and actually hand them their notice.

The legislation also introduces new penalties for breaches, including fines and suspension of a driver’s permit. The police can also forcibly deliver a suspected draft dodger to an enlistment office should a draftee fail to show up on being deemed to have received their conscription notice.

Critics of the legislation have argued that it will further distance the Ukrainian authorities from the general public. It has also reportedly received a poor reception within the military itself, given the lack of any demobilization mechanisms. The reception was apparently also influenced by the fact that the bill’s introduction was justified largely by the purported need to relieve war-weary soldiers from their military service.

Kiev has maintained a mobilization drive since the early days of the conflict with Russia, which broke out in late February 2022. The mobilization effort grew increasingly chaotic and lawless over time, with numerous videos circulating online showing Ukrainian enlistment officers chasing potential soldiers in the streets, violently detaining them and beating them up. Senior Ukrainian officials, however, have routinely dismissed concerns over mounting violations as Russian propaganda.

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The messaging platform now has a new channel, created by the US journalist

Russian-born IT entrepreneur Pavel Durov has teased a “very rare” interview conversation with Tucker Carlson, recorded around the same time as the American journalist’s visit to Russia and his much publicised encounter with President Vladimir Putin.

The St Petersburg-born billionaire, along with his mathematician brother Nikolay, founded VK, Russia’s answer to Facebook, before developing Telegram in 2013. The messaging platform has since grown to over 800 million active monthly users, according to Durov.

“As a leader of a politically neutral platform, it is my responsibility to speak to journalists representing different political views,” Durov said in a post on his official channel. “This way I can remain fair to all audiences and tell the story of Telegram to everyone.”

According to Durov, on the same day in February he had also given a three-hour interview to “a journalist of liberal views” as well as to Carlson, “who is famously conservative.”

“The interview with Tucker will be released very soon. It will be in video format, which is very rare for me – so be sure to watch it,” Durov added.

He also revealed that the American journalist has set up an official Telegram channel for his Tucker Carlson Network, urging the public to “keep an eye on the announcements there.” The channel has already attracted over 55,000 subscribers.

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Carlson was the most popular cable TV host in the US until last April, when Fox News terminated his contract, taking a massive hit in ratings and market value. He returned several months later on X (formerly Twitter), after the platform’s new owner Elon Musk promised to protect freedom of speech.

In February, Carlson visited Moscow and recorded a lengthy interview with Putin, the first the Russian president gave to a Western journalist since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022.

Telegram has long been the most popular messaging application in Russia and Ukraine. It has also gained popularity in the rest of the world in recent years, after Meta changed the privacy settings of WhatsApp.

Durov currently lives in the Middle East and has obtained the citizenships of France and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to his native Russian. Telegram is registered as a limited-liability company in Dubai, but the location of its physical headquarters has not been made public.

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Correspondent Donald Courter was stopped in the transit zone of Tbilisi International Airport, ending up expelled

Georgian border guards on Tuesday detained RT correspondent Donald Courter at Tbilisi International Airport.

The journalist, who is a dual Russian-US citizen, has been held for about four hours in the transit zone of the airport. Georgian officials claim his documents were not recognized by their system.

The border officials have confiscated the journalist’s Russian passport.

The correspondent was ultimately denied entry and sent back to Moscow later in the day.

Courter had flown to Georgia to cover ongoing anti-government protests. The unrest was prompted by the introduction of a ‘foreign agent’ bill; the proposed legislation would require transparency from NGOs operating in the country which obtain financing abroad. The bill has been vehemently opposed by the country’s opposition; in addition to street protests, the debate among legislators at one point degraded into a brawl on the floor of the national parliament.

The bill’s critics have branded it a “Russian law,” claiming it was patterned after legislation Moscow adopted in 2012. The ruling Georgian Dream party, however, has insisted it was actually inspired by the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, with the Georgian version being far less strict.

READ MORE: WATCH violent brawl erupt in Georgian parliament

Tbilisi first attempt to pass the controversial legislation last year; it ending up being shelved after mass riots, as well as pressure from the US and the EU. The new version of the bill is only slightly different from the original document.

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The 17-year-old traveled 650 kilometers on the exterior of a service from Moscow to St. Petersburg

A teenage boy was detained over the weekend after train-surfing some 650 kilometers on the exterior of a high-speed train in Russia, police said on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old arrived in the city of St. Petersburg from Moscow on a service that travels for four hours at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph).

The youth, whose name has not been disclosed, told police that he had been chasing an adrenaline hit and was planning to train-surf back to Moscow. However, he was detained on his arrival in St. Petersburg. A statement said the boy admitted to having practiced the reckless activity for the past three years.

The young man has since been handed over to his parents, who have been charged with breaking parental-responsibility laws. The incident will be investigated, officials said, adding that the “extremely dangerous” method of transport can result in serious accidents.

READ MORE: One killed in overpass collapse in Russia (VIDEOS)

Train surfing is the illegal act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram or other forms of rail transport. It poses a risk of death or serious injury, due to people falling off moving trains, to electrocution by the train’s power or to collisions with railway infrastructure.

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Ukraine could use any ceasefire to its advantage, the Kremlin has said

Ukraine typically uses any truce observed by Russia to gain an advantage on the battlefield, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He was responding to a proposal for an ‘Olympic ceasefire’ by French President Emmanuel Macron.

On Monday, the French president called for a global suspension of hostilities during the 2024 Olympic Games, set to be held in Paris in July and August. He specifically mentioned the Ukraine conflict and the war in Gaza while discussing the idea with the French media.

In response, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been asked about similar initiatives on numerous occasions.

“Both our president and our military officials have pointed out that the Kiev regime usually uses such ideas and initiatives to regroup, rearm, etc. This certainly makes considering such initiatives much harder,” Peskov stated.

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The Russian government has in any case not received any formal proposals from France in that regard, he added.

After Macron suggested an Olympic truce in Ukraine last month, Putin insisted that Moscow would be driven by its own interests and the battlefield situation when considering any calls for a ceasefire.

“We stand for peace talks, but not those called because the opponent is running out of ammo,” the Russian leader stated. Moscow expects Kiev to “actually be serious in seeking truly peaceful, long-term good neighborly relations between the two states, and not a pause for a couple of years to rearm,” he added.

Macron is among the Western leaders who advocate continued military assistance for Ukraine. He has vowed to ramp up French arms production so that it can supply weapons to Kiev for years to come.

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Everyone involved in the March 22 massacre will be held accountable, Nikolay Patrushev has said

Russian investigators have confirmed that there is a link between the perpetrators of last month’s terrorist attack in Moscow and Ukrainian nationalists, the secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev has said.

He reiterated Moscow’s suspicions about Ukraine’s role in the Crocus City Hall atrocity, in which over 140 people were killed.

“During the investigation, the link between the perpetrator of this terrorist attack and Ukrainian nationalists has been confirmed,” Patrushev said during a meeting of the body.

Four suspected gunmen were arrested in a Russian region bordering Ukraine hours after the mass murder they are accused of committing. Russian officials previously described them as radical Islamists and claimed that a money trail connected them to Ukrainian nationalists. The group was instructed by their handler to flee across the border, investigators have claimed.

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Patrushev reiterated his country’s pledge to hold every person responsible for the crime accountable.

”The perpetrators, accomplices and organizers of the monstrous bloody terrorist attack, affiliated individuals, wherever they hide and however they try to cover their tracks, will face deserved punishment,” he said.

Kiev, which initially claimed that Moscow itself had staged the massacre, has denied any involvement. Its Western backers maintain that all evidence they have is pointing to ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the once-powerful international terrorist organization Islamic State, as the culprit. The group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Moscow has accused Kiev of being behind a number of targeted assassinations and bombing attacks on its soil, some of which Ukrainian special services have acknowledged as their operations. According to Russian officials, Ukraine is resorting to terrorism because it cannot prevail on the battlefield even with the unprecedented amount of Western assistance it has been receiving.

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The man is alleged to have carried out the assassination attempt on the orders of Kiev’s secret service, the SBU

A suspect has been arrested in connection with last week’s attempted assassination of a former Ukrainian secret police agent in Moscow, Russian security agency, the FSB, reported on Tuesday.

A car reportedly owned by Vasily Prozorov, who previously served in the Ukrainian successor to the soviet KGB, the SBU, was blown up in Moscow last Friday. The driver survived the assassination attempt.

The suspect is a Russian national in his early 40s, who was allegedly acting on behalf of the SBU’s current leadership. His handler is a direct subordinate of the agency’s head, Vasily Malyuk, the FSB claimed.

The Russian agency alleges that the man was recruited in Ukraine last October and returned to Russia in March. He stands accused of personally assembling the radio-triggered improvised explosive device and planting it under the car.

READ MORE: Car of Ukrainian defector blown up in Moscow (VIDEO)

Investigators in charge of the case are considering whether to add charges of terrorism and treason to attempted murder and illegal possession of explosives. If tried and convicted on all four counts, the man could be sentenced to life in prison, the statement said.

The FSB did not reveal the identity of the suspect, but released several video clips related to the crime. One purportedly shows the moment right after the bomb was planted last Tuesday, according to an excerpt from an interrogation also published by the agency. The suspect also said he had mostly been living in Ukraine since 2010.

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Other video clips included the explosion and its aftermath, as well as the moment when the suspect was taken into custody by FSB officers.

Malyuk previously acknowledged during interviews that the SBU was believed to be masterminding assassinations of supposed enemies of Ukraine. He stopped short of claiming responsibility, but shared details about several such incidents that took place in Russia.

Prozorov has been giving interviews to the Russian media for years, saying that he used to provide intelligence to Russia after 2014 due to “ideological motives.” That year, a US-backed armed coup in Kiev deposed the elected government and replaced it with pro-Western forces influenced by radical Ukrainian nationalists – a “bunch of scoundrels,” in Prozorov’s words.

The SBU has branded its former officer a “traitor” and “monster,” and warned that it was “only a matter of time” before he ended up “just like Judas.”

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Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was attacked by drones last week

Russia has not stationed heavy weapons at Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters on Monday.

Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which sits close to the front line. Ukraine and its Western backers have also accused Moscow of using the facility as cover for its troops.

“There is no heavy weaponry there,” Grossi told reporters, after a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to the renewed strikes on the plant.

Although there are Russian “armored vehicles and some security presence at the plant,” IAEA monitors did not see any prohibited weapons, such as multiple rocket launchers, tanks, and artillery, Grossi explained.

He added that the IAEA does not have the mandate to determine which side has been attacking the facility, and argued that “indisputable evidence” is needed to establish who is responsible.

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Addressing the Security Council, Grossi confirmed that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was struck on April 7, which was the first direct attack on the site since November 2022. Inspectors have determined that the apex of the containment dome of the Unit 6 reactor building was hit, he added. “Whilst the damage to the structure is superficial, the attack sets a very dangerous precedent of the successful targeting of the reactor containment,” Grossi stressed, warning that “these reckless attacks must cease immediately.”

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Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that Ukrainian forces have been “systematically” targeting the plant and surrounding areas. The Russian army has been “spotting and intercepting up to 100 drones per week,” Nebenzia added, insisting that Moscow has never placed heavy weapons at the facility or used the plant to stage attacks on Ukraine.

Officials in Kiev have denied striking the nuclear plant. “The position of Ukraine is clear and unequivocal: we are not conducting any military activities or provocations against nuclear sites,” Andrey Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, told national TV this month. Andrey Kovalenko, the head of the state-run Center for Countering Disinformation, has accused Moscow of spreading false information and “manipulating the IAEA.”

The agency said in its report this week that all of the facility’s six reactors are currently in cold shutdown. According to the plant’s management, only one reactor had been working since 2022 in order to keep the site operational. IAEA inspectors were deployed to monitor the facility in September 2022.

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The Ukrainian president wants the collective West to protect his country directly, pointing to how Iran’s strike this past weekend was handled

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has urged the collective West to become involved in the conflict with Russia and protect Kiev similar to how it aided Israel during the Iranian airstrike over the weekend.

Zelensky issued the appeal in a Telegram post on Monday, showering praise on the “allied action” to help Israel. According to Israeli and Western claims, the vast majority of the projectiles fired by Iran were shot down before even reaching the country’s airspace, primarily by US and UK jets.

“It demonstrated how truly effective unity in defending against terror can be when it is based on sufficient political will. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Jordan acted together and with maximum efficiency,” Zelensky asserted.

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The president said that “no one was dragged into the war” due to the action against Iran, while noting that “Israel is not a NATO member, so no action, such as triggering Article 5, was required.” Zelensky then urged the collective West to provide Ukraine with the same level of support and protect it from Russian long-range strikes.

“European skies could have received the same level of protection long ago if Ukraine had received similar full support from its partners in intercepting drones and missiles,” he stated, pledging to raise the issue with the country’s backers.

Over the course of the conflict, Kiev has repeatedly urged Western nations to provide protection from Russian airstrikes one way or another, up to establishing a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine.

These ideas, however, have never come to fruition over fears that such moves would drag the West into an all-out war with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would treat such attempts by any parties as a direct entrance into the conflict on Kiev’s side.

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Opposition activists have reportedly tried to storm the parliament building

Demonstrators opposed to a law that would require transparency from NGOs financed from abroad have attempted to storm the parliament in Tbilisi and clashed with police.

Debate on the bill, entitled “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence,” was disrupted by violence on Monday when an opposition lawmaker assaulted a member of the ruling party during a speech. Meanwhile, thousands of opposition activists rallied outside in a repeat of last spring’s demonstrations.

A group of protesters attempted to break through the police line and surround the building, according to a TASS correspondent at the scene. Law enforcement responded by bringing up water cannons and ordering the protesters to disperse under the threat of force.

Shortly thereafter, the parliament’s legal affairs committee adopted the foreign agents bill in the first reading, setting the stage for it to advance in the full chamber.

The government in Tbilisi said it had proposed the law to curtail the influence of foreign-funded NGOs in Georgia. Critics have labeled it a “Russian law,” claiming it is patterned after a bill Moscow adopted in 2012. The ruling Georgian Dream party, however, has argued that its inspiration is actually the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, and that the Georgian version is far more lenient. Moscow has denied having any connection to the measure being proposed.

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Last year’s attempt to pass the legislation led to days of riots outside parliament and tremendous pressure on Tbilisi by the US and the EU. Although lawmakers initially passed it in the first reading, they changed their mind following the violence.

The original bill would have required individuals and organizations with more than 20% foreign funding to register as “agents of foreign influence.” The new draft has replaced that phrase with “an organization facilitating the interests of a foreign power” but left the registration requirement intact.

President Salome Zourabichvili has argued against the bill, claiming it would derail Georgia’s push to join the EU. She described the situation outside the parliament as a “massive peaceful demonstration of civil society in Tbilisi against the ‘Russian law’,” and accused the police of using violence against “civilians defending their European future.”

“Georgia will not surrender to resovietisation!” Zourabichvili posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The White House has said that the proposed law would undermine freedom of speech and hurt Georgia’s ties with the West.

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Almsgiving is the most common form of support to those in need, new research has found

More than half of Russians made charitable donations in 2023, with almsgiving remaining the most popular form of giving in the country, according to a new survey.

Conducted by a research center at the Higher School of Economics (HSE), the nationwide survey shows that 53% of the population made charitable contributions to those in need last year. One in ten (11%) said they donated money ‘often’, while about one in three (36%) did it ‘rarely’. Meanwhile, 6% donated only ‘once’ in the last year.

In 2023, the share of those showing their goodwill remained almost unchanged when compared with the previous year. It has been steady at between 53% and 57% for about ten years, according to the study, with the exception of a peak in 2019, when the share of Russians giving to charity rose to 63%.

Those aged 25 to 34 were the most active in donating money (61%). Respondents aged 60 and above appeared to be less active.

At the same time, Russians prefer alms as the most common form of charity, with approximately one quarter (24%) doing so in 2023.

Researchers also noted how well off people were who made donations. They found that the share of those who themselves do not always have money for food was 37%. Some 81% of those wealthy enough to buy an apartment or house were charitable givers.

READ MORE: Russian MP wants to double country’s population

The study showed that most often, Russians make donations to charities helping sick children and the elderly, as well as to foundations supporting animals.

Almost twice as many Russians provided assistance to the country’s servicemen or combat veterans last year as in 2022, according to Irina Mersiyanova, the director of the research center at HSE, which conducted the survey.

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An opposition lawmaker has assaulted another MP during debate on a foreign agents bill condemned in the West

A Georgian opposition MP has punched a senior lawmaker of the country’s ruling party as he was making the case for adopting a controversial foreign agents bill, according to a video that went viral on social media on Monday.

Aleko Elisashvili, who heads the Citizens party and claims to have briefly fought in Ukraine against Russia in 2022, struck Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority and the executive secretary of the Georgian Dream party.

The video shows Elisashvili rushing to the rostrum and hitting Mdinaradze in the face as he was delivering a speech. The room then erupts in violent turmoil as lawmakers apparently try to break up the fight. The parliamentary session was briefly suspended, and Elisashvili had to be escorted out of the chamber by security.

The altercation came on the first day of debate over a draft law entitled “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence.” A similar initiative was rejected by MPs last spring after mass protests that resulted in clashes with the police.

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Last year’s bill would have required individuals and organizations with more than 20% of foreign funding to register as “agents of foreign influence.” While its proponents argued that it would increase media transparency, its critics have labeled it “a Russian law.”

Russia passed similar legislation in 2012. The Russian law has been compared to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938, which requires certain individuals and organizations to register as ‘foreign agents’. Moscow has denied having any connection to the measure being proposed in Georgia.

The Georgian foreign agents bill was also criticized by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who warned it would derail the country’s push to join the EU. The White House, meanwhile, has argued that the legislation would undermine freedom of speech and hurt Georgia’s ties with the West.

The only difference between the new and the old versions of the bill is that the term an ‘agent of foreign influence’ has been replaced by ‘an organization facilitating the interests of a foreign power’.

Meanwhile, Elisashvili has attempted to defend his actions, saying that he did something that no opposition lawmaker dared to do. “Mdinaradze is completely shameless… We are being dragged into Russia, but they won’t succeed,” he said, as quoted by local media, while urging fellow Georgians to go out and protest against the bill.

At the same time, Mdinaradze accused Elisashvili of “sneaking up on him like a thief,” adding that his colleague did not behave “like a man.”

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People living in high-risk areas must evacuate immediately, the governor of Kurgan Region has said

Russia’s Kurgan Region, located on the country’s border with Kazakhstan, is braced for a major flood as water levels are rising rapidly in the Tobol River.

Governor Vadim Shumkov urged local residents living in flood-susceptible areas of the Urals region to leave their homes immediately. In a Telegram post on Monday, he shared aerial footage of a large mass of water approaching the city of Kurgan, with flood waters now only 10km away.

The situation is being further aggravated by a separate large mass of water with an estimated volume of more than 1.3 billion cubic meters, which is heading towards the region from Kazakhstan, Shumkov explained.

“Evacuate immediately from allotment and community garden communities, flood-susceptible neighborhoods on the right bank, as well as those located before the dam on the left bank of the city of Kurgan,” he stated, urging residents not to hide from emergency workers and evacuation teams. He also warned people not to secretly return to their homes after being evacuated.

Aerial footage captured by local media shows water overflowing embankments within the city, as well as spreading across the lower right bank of the Tobol.

The river’s inlets have been overflowing as well, with some reportedly becoming clogged with debris, which further contributes to the flooding.

According to the city’s local authorities, the water levels in the Tobol River surged throughout Monday, rising by 63cm in just ten hours. As of 6pm local time, the water level of the river measured 694cm, compared to 491cm on Sunday morning.

READ MORE: Flooding sparks evacuations in major Russian city (VIDEOS)

The local hydro-meteorological service expects water levels to surpass dangerous levels of 700cm and 850cm within the next few days. The rising waters are expected to spread across the Tobol’s floodplain, filling oxbows and dry lakes, and affecting multiple settlements located in the area.

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The country is stepping up controls on illegal immigration in the wake of last month’s terrorist attack near Moscow

The Russian region of Crimea has banned foreigners from working in certain industries due to an influx of illegal immigrants, the press service of local Governor Sergey Aksyonov has announced.

According to a decree signed by the regional head on Monday, the list includes 35 areas in which foreign citizens will not be permitted to work. Among them are transport, agriculture, livestock farming, hunting, mining, food and beverage production, IT, media, trade, real estate, and education.

“Effectively, labor migrants will be able to work only in construction and tourism,” Aksyonov clarified in a statement, adding that each migrant’s work permit must now indicate their profession.

The governor noted that the decree will be adopted gradually over the next six months, so that migrant workers and their employers have time to prepare for the changes. The new regulation is so far temporary, and is set to be in force until the end of 2024.

Crimea has been suffering from an influx of illegal immigrants, according to Aksyonov, who said more than 500 have recently been identified in the region – one fifth of whom were working without permission.

“Labor migration must become more controlled, and violators should be expelled from Russia. We welcome all foreign workers who come to work in Crimea, but their stay here must become more regulated,” Aksyonov said.

Authorities in Russia have stepped up efforts to tighten immigration regulations following the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow Region last month, which claimed more than 140 lives. While officials have stated that the attack may have been organized by the Ukrainian security services, those who allegedly carried out the massacre, as well as other suspects in the case, were migrants from Tajikistan.

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In the wake of the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it is necessary “to tighten the legislation” regulating migrants. He called on the government to determine activities in which foreign citizens may safely be involved, as well as spheres in which it would be preferable to hire Russians.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted a bill establishing the legal basis for mandatory collection of biometric data from foreigners upon their entry into Russia, as well as strengthening control over employers that attract foreign workers. Separately, the Labor Ministry has developed a bill that proposes limiting the term of labor contracts with migrants to two years.

According to official data, over 100,000 illegal immigrants were deported from Russia for various offenses last year, a 65% increase from 2022.

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Moscow has urged both sides to exercise restraint, warning that escalation will benefit no one

No one would benefit from a conflict between Iran and Israel spiraling out of control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, voicing hope that the two regional powers will be able to resolve their differences peacefully.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov weighed in on a massive Iranian strike on Israel over the weekend, which West Jerusalem said involved more than 300 drones and missiles. The attack came in response to an alleged Israeli strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, earlier this month. The strike killed several senior Iranian military personnel.

The Kremlin spokesman said that Russia is “extremely worried about escalating tensions in the region,” urging everyone to exercise restraint.

“Further escalation serves no one’s interests. We advocate that all differences be resolved only by political and diplomatic means,” Peskov added.

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The Russian Foreign Ministry has also said that regional tensions are being fueled by “the unresolved nature of numerous crises in the Middle East, primarily in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone.”

It also deplored that the UN Security Council had been unable to “adequately react” to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria – which Iran insists was the reason for its strike in the first place – due to the stance of Western powers on the issue.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected Israel’s call to condemn Iran’s attack, saying that West Jerusalem had not denounced Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions, and that it regularly provides vocal diplomatic support for Kiev.

In the aftermath of the barrage, Iran declared the end of its military operation against Israel, warning the Jewish state of harsh pushback if it were to retaliate.

Numerous reports indicate that the US wants Israel to exercise caution, which has yet to make a decision on whether to respond. CNN reported, citing an Israeli official, that Netanyahu’s government told the US it is not looking to significantly escalate the situation. However, according to Reuters, the Israeli war cabinet favors retaliation but is divided over its timing and scope.

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Ukraine is eager to receive the anti-aircraft weapons by any means necessary, its foreign minister has said

Ukraine is willing to accept any conditions that Western donors attach to supplies of long-range air defense systems, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on national TV on Monday.

A single MIM-104 Patriot battery, which is manufactured by US arms giant Raytheon, costs over $1 billion. President Vladimir Zelensky told US media last month that Ukraine needs at least five to seven of them to protect its industrial capacity from long-range Russian strikes. Kuleba has been at the forefront of lobbying the US and its allies for more weaponry.

”Behind closed doors, I tell all of our partners: ‘My dears, anything you want. You want them to be leased, so be it. You want them to protect your border, they will. Just give them,’” Kuleba said in an interview with TSN.

He stressed that US approval is required for the transfer of any of the weapons.

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”I don’t believe – and I suppose nobody in Ukraine would believe – that the huge US Army doesn’t have at least one Patriot battery [to send],” he stated.

The host of the program floated a scenario in which Poland could use its own Patriot systems to intercept Russian missiles over Ukraine. Kuleba said he considers it “realistic.”

Kiev is in negotiations with Western donors to receive two additional US-made Patriot systems and one French-Italian SAMP/T system, the foreign minister added. According to Western media, Ukraine currently operates at least three Patriot batteries and one SAMP/T. Kiev has reportedly approached Poland, Spain, and Romania for additional weapons.

Some Western officials have already publicly declined to help. Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin’s stockpile of Patriots are “pretty much exhausted.” Poland has “nothing to give [in terms of Patriot systems] even if we wanted to,” according to President Andrzej Duda.

READ MORE: Kiev pressing individual EU states for air defenses – FT

Moscow perceives the arming of Kiev by the West as an attempt to prolong the hostilities with Russia at the expense of Ukrainian lives. In recent weeks, the Russian military has conducted several long-range strikes on Ukrainian power stations. President Vladimir Putin said the strikes were in retaliation for Kiev’s targeting of Russian energy infrastructure with kamikaze drones, which was ramped up in January.

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The president has blamed the worsening situation on a lack of military assistance from the West

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has admitted that the situation on the front line in the conflict with Russia is deteriorating, blaming the West for its “limited” military assistance.

He echoed an earlier statement by the army’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Syrsky, who warned of a significant escalation in recent days, with Russian forces attacking Ukrainian positions near the cities of Lyman and Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut by Ukraine) and advancing towards Chasov Yar.

“The situation on the front during a hot war is always difficult. But these days – and especially in the Donetsk areas – it’s getting harder,” Zelensky said in an address to the nation on Sunday.

He drew a comparison with Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel on Saturday, which was repelled with the help of the US and allied forces.

“Modern air power proves its effectiveness, modern air defense systems are capable of protecting lives – this was demonstrated in the Middle East,” Zelensky said, adding that the West is turning a deaf ear to Ukraine’s pleas for more funding.

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“The whole world sees what real defense is. It seems that it is feasible,” he stressed, while criticizing the US Congress for holding up a proposed aid package that has been in limbo for months.

Since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, Western backers have provided Kiev with billions of dollars in aid, with Washington alone giving over $113 billion. The White House has failed, however, to gain congressional approval for an extra $60 billion in military assistance, with Republicans in the House of Representatives insisting on stronger measures to curb illegal immigration on the southern US border.

Moscow has maintained that no amount of Western funding will change the course of its military operation.

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Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the remark after West Jerusalem’s envoy urged Moscow to denounce Iranian strikes

Russia does not feel obliged to condemn Iran’s missile and drone strikes on Israel on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. The diplomat explained that West Jerusalem has never denounced Ukraine’s attacks on Russian civilians.

According to Israeli estimates, Tehran’s latest show of force involved hundreds of rockets and missiles, as well as kamikaze UAVs. Iran announced that the strike was in response to the “Zionist regime’s numerous crimes, including the attack on the consular section of Iran’s Embassy in Damascus.”

A presumed Israeli airstrike hit Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1, killing seven officers of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two high-ranking generals.

Iranian state media has claimed that a number of Israeli military facilities were struck in Saturday’s attack. The Israeli military, in turn, has insisted that its air defenses shot down nearly all of the incoming projectiles.

In a post on her Telegram channel on Sunday, Zakharova addressed the Israeli Ambassador to Russia, Simona Halperin, who had earlier told RIA Novosti that her country expects “our Russian colleagues to condemn the unprecedented Iranian attack on Israeli territory.”

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The Israeli envoy also expressed hope that Moscow would counter “Iran’s attempts to destabilize the region.”

Zakharova responded: “Simona, remind me of when Israel condemned even a single strike by the Kiev regime on Russian regions? You don’t know? Nor do I.”

The foreign ministry representative also cited “regular statements in support of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky’s actions on the part of Israeli officials.”

In another statement on Sunday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that Moscow is “deeply concerned with another dangerous escalation in the region.”

“We call on all parties involved to exercise restraint. We hope that regional states will solve existing problems through political and diplomatic means,” the ministry added.

Tensions between Israel and Iran have been escalating since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza broke out last October. Israeli authorities claimed that Tehran orchestrated the deadly Hamas incursion that triggered the conflict.

Iran has denied involvement, but pledged to keep backing the Palestinian cause.

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