Tag: russia

Hegseth warns Cuba: Acquiring drones from Russia and Iran invites U.S. confrontation

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a stark warning to Cuba, stating that any attempt by Havana to acquire advanced weaponry capable of striking the U.S. or its assets would invite a direct military confrontation.

Hegseth delivered the firm message to American service members during a visit to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday, amid rising regional tensions.

The Pentagon chief integrated his security briefing with the troops by participating in a morning physical fitness session, meeting with stationed personnel, and hosting a traditional coin recognition ceremony to honor outstanding performance.

“It would be unwise of the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that could reach this base or the American homeland. They would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only do they not want but ​they could not stand. No country on Earth can match the capabilities of the United States of America,” he emphasized at the base.

According to intelligence leaks, Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and recently discussed contingency plans to use them against the Guantanamo base, U.S. naval vessels and targets in Florida.

Washington has also warned of potential military action as U.S. warships continue to operate in the Caribbean Sea.

Meanwhile, the visit unfolds amid an intensifying U.S. energy and oil blockade against the island, which has further crippled Cuba’s power grid. President Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that Havana could be the next government to fall under intense American pressure, following the recent collapse of the Venezuelan regime.

After the news hit headlines, Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez fiercely denied the intelligence reports, accusing the U.S. of fabricating a baseline pretext to plot its next conflict.

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‘The Cause Is Doomed’: New Anti-EU Bulgarian Government Stops Sending Military Aid to Ukraine

Radev is not toeing the Brussels’ line.

The new Bulgarian government that was sworn in on 8 May 2026 under Prime Minister Rumen Radev is already showing it means business.

Radev’s ‘Progressive Bulgaria’ party won a landslide victory in April with 45 % of the vote and 135 seats in the 240-seat parliament – the first majority government in Bulgaria since 1997.

The government is Pro-EU membership but markedly pro-Russian and Euroskeptic in terms of foreign policy, defending national sovereignty.

So, there you have it: a NATO and EU country bucking Brussels’ war dogma.

Radev has long opposed sanctions on Russia and military aid to Ukraine, and with one month in office, his government has already stopped sending weapons to Ukraine.

This was announced today (9) by the country’s Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov.

Politico reported:

“The move cements the new Bulgarian government’s opposition to EU support for Ukraine after Russia-aligned Prime Minister Rumen Radev won a parliamentary election in a landslide in April. Bulgaria has sent 13 aid packages to Kyiv since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, but Radev has described the Ukrainian cause as ‘doomed’.

‘We have already made it clear that the war in Ukraine will not be resolved on the battlefield. We are witnessing a war of attrition, and no matter how much weaponry is amassed, the only result is the loss of human lives. It is time to sit down at the negotiating table’, Stoyanov said at a press conference on Tuesday.”

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Mystery Car Bombing Near Moscow May Have Taken Out A Top General

In what appears the latest targeted killing in a string of high profile assassinations of top Russian military brass since the Ukraine war began, an unidentified man – possibly a high-ranking military officer, was reportedly blown up Tuesday morning after a bomb detonated in his car.

The incident happened very early in the morning Tuesday in a suburb called Balashikha, just outside the Russian capital. While Russian authorities have yet to release the identity of the deceased man, it happened very near an area known to host residences of military and government officials.

“The location of Tuesday’s explosion is not far from where Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik — the deputy head of the General Staff’s main operational directorate — was killed in a car bombing last year,” the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times writes.

Investigators said an “explosive device was detonated while a BMW X3 car was driving near a residential apartment building.”  

In this newest case, the speculation on Telegram is that the fatality was a 62-year-old lieutenant general. A formal investigation is underway:

Security camera footage circulated by pro-Kremlin media showed the vehicle bursting into flames from the trunk and back seats before rolling into a parked vehicle. According to the Telegram channel Mash, bystanders rushed to pull the driver out of the burning wreckage, but he died shortly after.

Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, previously said it is making great efforts to tighten around high-ranking military officers of late.

This possibly adds, pending the details, to a growing list of high profile assassinations related to the Ukraine war. To review:

—Darya Dugina was killed in a car bombing in 2022 which was likely meant for her father, prominent political thinker and often dubbed “Putin ally” Aleksandr Dugin.

—Gen Igor Kirillov died in December 2024 outside of his residence when a bomb planted in a nearby scooter detonated.

—Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, who served as deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in a car bomb attack last April. A “homemade” explosive device detonated under his Volkswagen Golf in a residential neighborhood.

Throughout the course of the war there’s been a string of these high profile assassinations on Russian soil involving car and even cafe bombs.

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Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Says the Fate of War in Ukraine Will Be Decided by Soldiers, Not Peace Talks

Moscow will rely on its ‘missile diplomacy’.

We reported here on TGP about how Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky sent a public letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ostensibly to ask for direct peace talks.

But upon closer examination, the letter was a puerile provocation, offending and trying to ridicule Putin, and was destined to try to claim the higher moral ground in terms of peace efforts.

Putin chose to respond not to Zelensky, but to the Russian soldiers: ‘rabotayte, brat’ya!’ (Work, brothers!)

Today (8), Russia’s Foreign Minister also criticized Zelensky’s PR move, labeling it rude.

Lavrov rejected the possibility of direct talks with Kiev, saying ‘guns will do the talking’.

Euronews reported:

“Sergey Lavrov specifically pointed out on Monday that Moscow is unhappy that the letter was ‘circulated around the world’, claiming that ‘polite people do not behave this way’.

Lavrov also claimed that for the Kremlin it ‘indicates that Ukraine has no interest in negotiation’.

[…] Russia’s foreign minister echoed Putin’s earlier statement that ‘it is not negotiations but the actions of those involved’ on the front lines of Russia’s war ‘that are crucial to the outcome’ of [the war].”

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Germany Says It’s Ready To Take the Lead in Russia-Ukraine Peace Negotiations

This readiness does not mean much, since Russia won’t accept the Europeans as mediators.

Yesterday (7), once again the E3 group of Euro-Globalists (UK’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz) met with Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the war and the peace process in the Russia-Ukraine war.

These meetings have happened countless times, and never yield anything practical, only tired speeches from four deeply unpopular leaders.

This time around, the E3 leaders published a list of 5 demands to achieve peace in Ukraine – a list that will surely be ignored by both the Russians and the US.

Today, a spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that the European leaders are ‘ready to assume the leading role in negotiations’ to end the war.

Politico reported:

“’What is new, I believe, is that this process is now gaining new momentum in Europe’, Stefan Kornelius, Merz’s spokesperson, said following a meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and the U.K in London late Sunday. ‘Another new development is that we are taking up and continuing the negotiation process that the U.S. has largely led. We are doing this in close coordination with the U.S’.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have led efforts to broker negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, since early 2025 with few tangible results. The European initiative to assume a leading role in peace talks comes as Washington focuses increasingly on ending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.”

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Kiev Regime and EU Globalists Scheming To Send Ukrainian Refugees Back Home to the Meatgrinder

Europe cares so much about Ukrainians, that it will send them back to die in the war.

Among the millions and millions of ‘asylum seekers’ that turn out to be mere ‘economic migrants’, there is a subset of people who are actually refugees feeling the bloodiest war in Europe since WW2: the Ukrainians.

But now, Kiev and the Euro-Globalist establishment are plotting to send the military age men back to Ukraine to face the meatgrinder against Russian forces.

On Thursday (4), Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell forcefully expressed this view, saying that there is ‘strong support’ among EU countries to ‘exclude men who could be called up to the military’ from Europe’s temporary protection scheme.

Politico reported:

“The temporary status scheme — under which more than 4 million people who fled Ukraine have been given the right to work, live and study in European countries — will expire in March 2027. The directive has already been extended several times and preparations to prolong it once more are underway. A proposal to exclude men aged 23 to 60, who may be conscripted, from the scheme is being discussed.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of EU home affairs ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday, Forssell said the ministers had been ‘more or less unanimous’ in favoring an extension of temporary protection.”

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Russia-China Summit Advances Multipolar Vision, Analysts Say

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a two-day summit in Beijing on May 20, 2026, signing roughly 40 cooperation documents and adopting a joint declaration on a multipolar world order, according to state media reports [1]. The declaration rejects the idea of a single ideological center and advocates for civilizational diversity, according to analysis by Ladislav Zemanek, a non-resident research fellow at the China-CEE Institute and expert of the Valdai Discussion Club [2]. Zemanek wrote that the partnership “is not a crusade against the West. It is a revolt against unipolarity — against the idea that one civilization, one ideology, and one political model should dominate the entire planet indefinitely” [2]. The summit came just days after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump, a timing analysts described as deliberate [3].

Background of the Partnership

Russia and China first issued a joint declaration on multipolarity in 1997, according to historical records cited by analysts [2]. At that time, the Soviet Union had collapsed and American unipolarity seemed unchallenged, but both powers sensed the instability of a world organized around a single ideological center, Zemanek wrote [2]. The current partnership is rooted in opposition to unipolarity and perceived Western dominance of international institutions, officials said. Zemanek described the partnership as “a revolt against the idea that one civilization should dominate the planet indefinitely” [2].

Scholar Glenn Diesen notes that the relationship has evolved despite a historical power imbalance, including Russia’s appropriation of more than 1.5 million square kilometers of Chinese territory during the Qing Dynasty [4]. However, Diesen also observes that confrontation without established rules has spiraled from Ukraine to Syria, underscoring the need for major powers to consult on consequential issues [4]. The 2026 summit marked the 25th anniversary of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which laid the foundation for the strategic partnership [1].

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BEGINNING OF THE END: Russians Storming Konstantinovka, Fortified Bastion in the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk Agglomeration, Last Donetsk Stronghold Still Held by Ukraine

Konstantinovka is the key to the fortress belt.

The cradle of the war in Ukraine are the Oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk – two majority Russian-speaking regions that have since voted to be part of Russia.

By now, the Luhansk region has been completely conquered by Russians, and Donetsk is being fought inch by inch, with Kiev still retaining around 15% of the territory.

The last Ukrainian bastions are the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk fortress belt, a formidable group of fortified cities who have been preparing for this day ever since 2014.

Even though the pace of Russian advances is somewhat lackluster compared to the rapid conquests of 2025, we have arrived to the point where the Russian forces have broken through to Konstantinovka, the first bastion of the region.

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Putin Envoy Dmitriev Says Design Agreement for Tunnel Across the Bering Strait, Linking US and Russia, Will Be Signed During Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum

US and Russia linked at the top of the world.

From June 3 to 6, Russia is holding the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that hey describe as a ‘key platform for dialogue between governments, business and the expert community’.

Even though smoke billows can be seen at a distance where Ukraine sent kamikaze drones against Oil facilities, the forum is ongoing – and reportedly will host an agreement between the US and Russia on a project that is bound to literally unite the two countries.

UPDATE: The signing will NOT be between Russia and the US, but with the company designing the tunnel.

Kommersant reported (translated from the Russian):

“The tunnel through the Bering Strait, which will connect Russia and Alaska, will be built, and an agreement to continue the design will be signed on June 5 at SPIEF. This was stated by the special representative of the [Russian] president, the head of the RDIF Kirill Dmitriev.

‘As for the tunnel. We will have news tomorrow: we are signing an agreement that we will continue the design of the tunnel. There will be a tunnel’, said Mr. Dmitriev (quoted on the Zvezda TV channel). According to him, this ‘will be one of the big infrastructure projects between our countries’.”

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Zelensky Pens Lengthy Letter To Putin: ‘Enough Of War, I Am Proposing A Meeting’

On Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin in a rare open letter sent to the Russian leader. It said Ukraine is also ready for a “full ceasefire.”

“Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us – and you. I am proposing a meeting,” Zelensky said in the letter. “Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations,” he added.

The letter, which is somewhat lengthy at one point says, “The choice is yours now. Enough of war” and then spells out that “Ukraine proposes to end this war.”

“This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited,” Zelensky added. And then interestingly, “We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.“

The new letter was issued just Europe’s most influential powers of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom are trying to again jump-start Ukraine war peace talks, collectively operating as the E3 group.

They seek to implement a new framework aimed at engaging Russian President Vladimir Putin in direct negotiations to end the war. Reuters on Wednesday reports that “A window for dialogue is slowly opening between Russia and Europe on Ukraine, ​although it is likely to be months before talks can ‌begin, a German government official said at a briefing on Wednesday.”

It seems this window of opportunity is based to some degree on perceptions that the war tide and momentum is finally shifting in Ukraine’s favor, given the increasing effectiveness of Ukraine’s devastating cross-border drone attacks of late.

European leaders apparently view the current battlefield and political dynamics as having strengthened Kiev’s bargaining position, creating what they believe is the optimal moment to press Moscow for talks. It seems that Zelensky agrees, and believes that it’s time to get back to the negotiating table.

Putin on sidelines of the ongoing St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: We can control whole Donbass region AND strike a deal. One thing doesn’t contradict the other, why would you think that it does? — Putin to AP News Director

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