Tag: russia

Russia’s secret drone playbook handed to Iran as Zelensky warns Trump’s war is a gift to Putin

Russians are advising Iranians on how to use their deadly mini drones to target US assets in the Middle East, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is warning. 

The Ukrainian President shared on Monday that Russian officials have advised Iranian counterparts on their operational experience from their invasion against Ukraine, including how to carry out short-range first-person-view (FPV) drone attacks. 

Videos of the drone strikes have been a hallmark of the brutal conflict, often showing soldiers or tanks on patrol being hunted by the small UAVs before the screens go black, indicating a detonation. 

Russia has recently released a new first-person drone called the KVS which reportedly has a range up to 30 miles that was designed after previous drones faced issues on shorter flights.  

Russia has closely worked with Iran since 2022 to deploy its Shahed-136 drone against Ukraine, which Russian officials rebranded into the Geran-1. 

In 2025 alone, Russia launched approximately 55,000 Shahed-style drones at Ukraine, according to the institute for Science and International Security. 

Having to rely on cheap, widely available drones to fend off repeated Russian assaults during the invasion, Ukraine has developed world-class FPV drone weapons. 

They’ve been so effective that the Ukrainian drone tech has even been procured by the US military. 

‘I think Russia is supporting Iran directly, 100 percent. The same format of sharing satellite images like they did in the case of Ukraine,’ he told Axios in an interview. 

He shared that Russia is keen on the US-Iran war dragging out so that President Vladimir Putin’s oil-reliant economy can sell crude at a markup to continue funding its hostilities in Ukraine.  

‘I am sure Russia wants long war. They have benefits: The U.S. is focusing on the Middle East and may decrease military help to Ukraine. Sanctions are partially lifted. I see only benefits for Russia from the war with Iran continuing,’ Zelensky said. 

Another concern for Ukraine as the US-Iran war continues: Ukraine’s weapons supply.

Zelensky said he is ‘absolutely’ sure that his country will have ‘challenges’ due to US resources being reallocated to the Middle East.

The Ukrainian President was recently in the Middle East to meet with leaders about possible security deals. He reportedly met with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. 

Ukrainian military officials have also been advising Gulf nations on how to shoot down Iran’s Shahed drones. 

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Ukraine Loses Over 2,395 Soldiers to Russian Forces in Past Week – MoD

Ukraine lost over 2,395 soldiers in combat against Russia’s Battlegroup Tsentr over the past week, in addition to losses in manpower and equipment on other fronts, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

“The losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to over 2,395 military personnel, 63 armored combat vehicles, 97 vehicles, 21 field artillery guns, 10 electronic warfare and counter-battery warfare stations. Three ammunition depots were destroyed,” the ministry said in a statement.

This is in addition to over 1,620 Ukrainian soldiers eliminated over the past day by Russia’s Battlegroup Sever, over 2,065 by Battlegroup Vostok, over 1,280 by Battlegroup Zapad, over 1,210 by Battlegroup Yug, and up to 310 by Battlegroup Dnepr, the ministry said.

The Russian forces carried out one massive and five group strikes on facilities connected to the Ukrainian army in Ukraine in the past week, the ministry added.

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Rubio Accuses Zelenskyy of Telling a Significant Lie About US Security Guarantees: ‘He Knows That’s Not True’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio might be the United States’ top diplomat, but there was nothing diplomatic in his language on Friday.

During a meeting with reporters at the end of a foreign ministers summit in France, Rubio was asked about a statement by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing security guarantees the U.S. has offered in talks to end the Russian war in Ukraine.

Rubio’s response was blunt to the point of insult.

A reporter had asked Rubio to comment on Zelenskyy statements reported Thursday by Reuters, in which the Ukrainian president said U.S. security guarantees depended on Ukraine withdrawing its forces from the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east — the scene of heavy fighting between Russian invaders and Ukrainian defenders.

In effect, Zelenskyy said the U.S. was pressuring Ukraine to surrender its territory in exchange for American support against future Russian aggression.

“That’s a lie,” Rubio said. “And I saw him say that, and it’s unfortunate he would say that, ’cause he knows that’s not true, and it’s not what he was told.

“What he was told is the obvious: Security guarantees are not going to kick in until there’s an end to a war. Because, otherwise, you’re getting yourself involved in a war …

“What he was told very clearly, and he should have understood it, is that the security guarantees come only after there is an end to the war.

“That was not attached to, ‘unless he gives up territory.’ I don’t know why he says these things. They’re just not true.”

The blowup is the latest battle between Zelenskyy and the Trump administration. That relationship has experienced some rocky moments since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

At that point, the war in Ukraine, which started in February 2022, had been raging for almost three years.

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US Will Only Offer Ukraine Security Guarantees if Kiev Withdraws Troops From Remaining Areas It Controls in Donetsk Region

Kiev must stop the senseless slaughtering of its citizens and seek peace.

Now in its fifth year, the war between Russia and Ukraine has faded from the public’s attention, and though the Euro-Globalists still profess their complete support, even the UK press is noticing Volodymyr Zelensky’s ‘Panic’ due to the lack of perspective for his war effort.

Now, to worsen the situation even more, news arises that the US will only offer security guarantees for a peace deal in Ukraine if Kyiv withdraws from all the areas it still controls in Donetsk Oblast.

Reuters reported:

“With the U.S. focused on its own conflict with Iran, President Donald Trump is applying pressure to Ukraine in an effort to bring a quick end to the four-year war triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, Zelenskiy said.

‘The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump, and I think on his next steps. President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the ​Ukrainian side’, he told Reuters.”

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Hungary to halt gas deliveries to Ukraine – Orban

Hungary will gradually halt natural gas deliveries to Ukraine until Kiev restores the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced.

In a video posted to his Facebook page on Wednesday, Orban said that Ukraine has been blocking the operation of the Soviet-era oil pipeline for 30 days. “As long as Ukraine does not provide oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary,” he said.

Orban stated that gas that would have been sent to Ukraine will instead be stored in Hungarian facilities, adding that the move is necessary considering that Ukraine “is also attacking the southern gas pipeline that supplies Hungary,” referring to the TurkStream route that brings Russian gas to Hungary via Türkiye and the Balkans.

“We will defend Hungary’s energy security, the protected petrol price, and the reduced gas prices,” Orban declared. He said the country has so far been able to “successfully defend against Ukrainian blackmail” thanks to the protected price scheme, adding that Hungarians pay the lowest prices at gas stations in all of Europe.

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Citizens In Eastern Ukraine Will Not Be Allowed To Vote, Zelensky Says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that Ukraine and Washington are in talks about holding elections, after earlier this month he much belatedly said while under pressure from Trump that he’s ready to allow national elections, so long as they can be done fairly and freely.

Zelensky indicated current discussions also hinge on the US and other partners helping set the conditions so Ukrainians can vote in safety. He previously stated the country could hold a vote within 60 days – but only if there are security guarantees.

Already over the weekend he erected more barriers to holding a vote, stipulating that citizens in Eastern Ukraine would not be able to participate. 

“Any election in Ukraine can not be held in Russia-occupied parts of the country,” Zelensky has been quoted in international press as saying, and he once again added that a proper voting process can take place only if security is ensured.

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Russia’s Rumored Telegram Block Appears Underway As Outage Reports Surge

Reports are flooding in from across Russia that Telegram is suddenly going dark, fueling speculation that the Kremlin may already be testing a nationwide block ahead of a rumored planned crackdown next month.

“Over the last 24 hours, Telegram has effectively stopped working through some providers if you are using Russian IP addresses,” tech sector observer Vladislav Voytenko told Kommersant FM on Monday. “As for using Telegram via mobile internet, you can basically forget about it,” he added.

Russia’s Main Radio Frequency Center, an arm of media watchdog Roskomnadzor, said a surge of complaints began appearing over the weekend, with at least one-third coming from Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg and other cities spread across the country’s vast 11 time zones.

Regional media has tracked user reports on outage monitors such as Downdetector and Sboi.rf, which show complaints spiking sharply over the weekend as the app began failing across multiple regions.

Some Russian users have described the platform is barely functioning “in any form”. They complain the app won’t open, messages won’t send, and neither will photos and videos load.

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Iran Receiving ‘Military Cooperation’ From Russia and China, Iran Foreign Minister Confirms

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has openly admitted that the Islamic terror regime is receiving active “military cooperation” from Russia and China, confirming the worst fears of the axis of evil now openly uniting against America and its allies in the escalating Middle East war.

The revelation came during an exclusive interview with MS Now, in which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that Tehran maintains ongoing military cooperation with Moscow and Beijing, though he refused to provide details.

MS Now’s Ayman Mohyeldin pressed Araghchi on mounting reports that Russia and China may be providing targeting intelligence and military support to help Iran strike U.S. military facilities and infrastructure across the Middle East.

Instead of denying the allegations, Araghchi appeared to confirm the growing alliance.

Ayman Mohyeldin:
I wanted to ask you about the war strategy from an Iranian perspective. Can you tell us right now, because, as you know, there has been reporting that both Russia and China are providing targeting intelligence to Iran to target U.S. positions, facilities, and infrastructure across the region—can you confirm or deny whether Russia or China is providing military support and intelligence to Iran?

Abbas Araghchi:
Well, Russia and China are our strategic partners, and we have had close cooperation in the past, which still continues, and that includes military cooperation as well. I’m not going into any details of that. We have good cooperation with these two countries politically, economically, and even militarily.

But let me say once again that this is not our war. This is an imposed war against us. We didn’t start this war. It was an unprovoked, unwarranted, illegal act of aggression against us. We are only defending ourselves, and we will continue to defend ourselves as much as it takes and for as long as it takes in order to end this war in a way that it will not be repeated in the future.

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“Unprovoked act of aggression,” Russia claims Israel attacked its cultural center in Lebanon

Russia’s international humanitarian cooperation agency said on Monday that Israel attacked the partner Russian House in the Lebanese city of Nabatieh, calling it an “unprovoked act of aggression,” Anadolu reports.

In a statement on Telegram, head of the agency, Rossotrudnichestvo, Evgeny Primakov said the cultural center was strictly civilian.

“Israeli aviation struck the partner Russian House in the Lebanese city of Nabatieh. The director of the cultural center, Assaad Deia, is alive and safe. These are our good friends, there was no military activity in the cultural center. The strike was not provoked by anything,” he said.

He added that the agency’s official representative office, the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Lebanon’s capital Beirut, is in contact with colleagues from the Nabatieh office.

“We regard its destruction as an act of unprovoked aggression,” Rossotrudnichestvo said in an official statement published on Russian social media platform Max.

It also noted that the Soviet Cultural Center in Syria’s capital Damascus was destroyed by a direct hit from Israeli bombs on Oct. 10, 1973, during the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, killing two people.

Tension escalated across the region on Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran that have so far killed around 1,300 people, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran has responded with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, as well as Gulf countries that are home to US assets.

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The Satanic Temple working to save Satanists in Ukraine

The Satanic Temple launched an effort to save fellow worshippers of Baphomet in war-torn Ukraine:

“As the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues unabated, The Satanic Temple is organizing its networks to ensure TST members trying to flee can reach safety,” the organization posted on its website. “By coordinating donations to pay for transport and accommodations, and strategically locating members who can physically aid refugees, we are doing what we can to assist our members who are caught in the conflict.”

The site called for Ukrainian Satanists to contact them.

Jack Matirko, formerly associated with the  Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and now an advocate for The Satanic Temple, covered the story for Only Sky Media.

“While it is taken for granted that larger religious organizations will be offering aid to members of their communities who need help, we rarely focus on the plights of members of severely marginalized religions, such as Satanism,” Matirko wrote.

Though it is unknown how many, or even if there are any Satanists in Ukraine, Russia has accused several members of the Ukrainian government of worshipping the devil. In 2014, Rossia 24, a state-owned Russian news channel, accused Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov of allying with Satanists in a plot to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church. The report claimed that the group had received permission from local authorities to build a church, focusing on footage of a lamb that is apparently about to be slaughtered in a ritual sacrifice. As a Baptist, Turchynov drew suspicion. Yatsenyuk was even worse, accused of practicing Scientology, which the Russian government does not recognize.

It should be noted that there are Satanists on both sides of the conflict. The Satanic Church of Russia began operating in 2013 and received legal recognition on May 10, 2016 

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