Tag: russia

Zelensky Declares ‘Impossible’ for Ukraine to Give Up Territory to Russia, Doubles Down on Ceasefire Demand

Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Sunday that it would be “impossible” for Kyiv to cede territory to Russia and reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire.

Speaking from the European Commission headquarters in Brussels ahead of his planned sit-down with President Donald Trump in the United States on Monday, Zelensky appeared set to maintain his maximalist position towards the war with Russia, and seemingly shoot down officially recognising Moscow’s territorial gains in exchange for a peace agreement.

“Putin has many demands, but we do not know all of them. And if there are really as many as we heard, then it will take time to go through them all. It’s impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons. So, it’s necessary to ceasefire and work quickly on a final deal,” the Ukrainian president said.

This contrasts with President Trump’s position after his bilateral talks with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, after which Trump said that the best way to end the conflict would be to enter into direct peace talks rather than seeking a preliminary ceasefire.

Apparently responding to reports that Putin demanded that Ukraine cede the entirety of the Donbas region, approximately three-quarters of which is already under Russian control, Zelensky noted that “Putin has been unable” to take over the region entirely for over 12 years and suggested that Ukraine does not intend to retreat from Donetsk.

“The constitution of Ukraine makes it impossible, impossible to give up territory or trade land,” Zelensky said.

However, despite the seemingly definitive declaration, the Ukrainian leader appeared to leave some wiggle room, saying that because the “territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia” at a trilateral meeting with the United States.

“So far, Russia gives no sign that a trilateral will happen, and if Russia refuses, then new sanctions must follow,” he said.

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Europe Reveals Itself as Ridiculous in Ukraine

By Donald Trump’s transactional criterion, NATO has been a costly failure that needs fixing or needs to be cut lose. Europe has failed to pay the price and has left the U.S. with the financial and military burden of defending Europe. The war in Ukraine has proven the point.

But that was never the point of NATO. The point of NATO was never economic nor transactional. The point of NATO was, in large part, to keep Europe militarily coordinated with, dependent on and subordinate to the United States. The point wasn’t to extricate the U.S. from Europe, it was, as Lord Ismay, the first Secretary General of NATO explained, precisely “to keep the Americans in Europe,” while keeping the Russians out. By that criterion, NATO has been a massive success. The Ukraine war has proven that point too.

While it continues, with a loud voice, to make demands regarding the defense of Ukraine and the terms for ending the war, Europe has revealed to the world that it is unable to mount that defense without the U.S. and that it has been sidelined in the negotiations, leaving decisions about Europe to the Americans. 

Europe is unable to supply Ukraine with the weapons it requires and that Europe insists Ukraine must receive. The U.S. has reiterated that it will no longer be the font from which Ukraine’s weapons flow. On August 10, Vice President Vance said clearly again that the U.S. is “done with the funding of the Ukraine war business.” Europe does not have the stockpile to spare nor the capacity to manufacture a fraction of the weapons Ukraine needs. And though Europe has, by necessity, accepted the U.S. plan that Europe can send American weapons to Ukraine if they pay for them, that will not provide Ukraine with even close to the amount of weapons the U.S. was supplying. And even that was not enough.

Not only can Europe not supply the weapons, they cannot supply the troops. Europe has, to its embarrassment, publicly conceded that it cannot mount the number of troops needed to send to Ukraine as peacekeepers after a ceasefire.

The war in Ukraine has exposed Europe’s dependence on the United States. Europe can neither provide the weapons nor the troops to defend itself. Europe has been revealed as dependent on, and subordinate to, the United States.

Ukraine is now facing a crisis on the battlefield. Russia’s military efforts were long dismissed as not rapidly gaining ground. But keeping the media focus on that criterion kept the public in the dark about the real criterion. Russia’s war of attrition was devouring and exhausting Ukraine’s weapons and, more importantly, manpower. The shrinking Ukrainian armed forces is running out of weapons to defend itself against the massive and still growing Russian army. There are not enough soldiers to fill the front line. That leaves gaps in the line. As Ukraine moves troops from other places to fill those gaps, it leaves even bigger gaps in those places. Russia’s war of attrition was setting up this moment. And now, Russian troops are breaking through those gaps in the lines. 

For the first time in the war, the Russian armed forces have broken through key defensive lines and their rapid move west is now measured in miles and not inches. Logistical hubs critical for the Ukrainian armed forces to supply their troops in the east have been partially infiltrated and surrounded. Russian positions are being consolidated and roads that are lifelines to Ukrainian soldiers have been partially cut. There is also reliable reporting from both Russian and Ukrainian sources that the rapid advance has brought the Russian army all the way to the heavily fortified second Donbas fortification line, which they have now breached. Beyond that defensive line is largely open fields with no organized line of defense. The Russian armed forces may then be free to rapidly advance, making the Russian goal of control of the entire Donbas a real possibility. For the first time in the war, the Ukrainian armed forces face the very real possibility of collapse. 

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Zelensky defies Trump minutes after US President lays out his terms for peace – setting up another showdown at White House TODAY watched by European leaders

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have already rejected President Donald Trump‘s terms for a peace plan with Russia as the two leaders prepare for an Oval Office showdown. 

Trump laid out his demands on Sunday night by telling Zelensky to sacrifice Crimea and give up his desire to join NATO in advance of Monday’s blockbuster meeting in the White House. Zelensky returns to Washington DC for the first time since their famous bust-up in February.

Unlike on his previous visit, Zelensky will be backed by the UK’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, who will all join him in Washington. Trump posted a dramatic statement that claimed Zelensky could ‘end the war with Russia almost immediately’ – which the Ukrainian leader rebuked within 90 minutes. 

‘President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social about 9.20pm.

‘Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!’

In response, Zelensky took to X to insist ‘Russia must end this war, which it itself started,’ railing against Trump’s suggestion that he was solely responsible for ending the conflict.

‘Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their independence. Now, our soldiers have successes in Donetsk and Sumy regions,’ he wrote.

Zelensky also indicated he would not acquiesce to Trump on Crimea, territory which Russia annexed in 2014 and has been furiously defending during the three-year war.

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The US Has Given Ukraine The Most Aid To Date

To date, the United States has been the biggest supporter of Ukraine in terms of aid, according to data from the Ukraine Support Tracker compiled by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

EU institutions (including the European Commission and the Council), followed by Germany and the United Kingdom have been the next biggest contributors.

As Statista’s Anna Fleck shows in the following chart, financial assistance (such as loans and grants), humanitarian aid (like food and medical supplies), and the value of weapons and equipment delivered is enormous.

This included in-kind donations to the Ukrainian military and financial support tied to military purposes.

When looking solely at military aid, including weapons and defense-related financial support, Germany ranks second, contributing an estimated €16.5 billion.

The United States remains the largest military backer, however, having delivered weapons and military funds totaling approximately €115 billion between January 24, 2022 and June 30, 2025.

In early March 2025, U.S. military aid was briefly paused, but resumed on March 11 after Ukraine signaled openness to a potential ceasefire.

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Putin Proposes, in Return for the Control of the Donbas Region, to Freeze the Frontlines in Ukraine’s Southern Kherson and Zaporozhie, No More Russian Territorial Conquests: REPORT

Russia is reportedly easing their territorial demands for peace.

In the few hours since the historic Alaska meeting between Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin, myriads of articles have been written in the MSM, mostly trying to discredit the US-Russia peace negotiations, as well as planting false information about what happened behind the scenes.

However, some reports have arisen that bear all the markings of actual intel, suggesting that Putin is asking for a little less for peace than a year ago.

I first found this suggestion five days ago in the Italian Corriere Della Sera, which interviewed Russian scholar Dmitry Suslov, deputy director at the Higher School of Economics and a long-time foreign policy adviser to the Kremlin.

“I remember that a year ago Moscow had asked the Ukrainians for the complete withdrawal from all four annexed provinces, while now it is only asking for that from the Donbas. A crucial part of the agreement is Ukraine’s commitment not to join NATO.”

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On Ukraine war, Euro leaders begin to make concessions — to reality

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky huddled with European leaders yesterday in advance of Donald Trump’s highly touted meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The call, which Trump joined as well, was viewed as Europe and Ukraine’s final chance to influence the American president’s thinking ahead of the U.S.-Russia summit in Anchorage.

With Ukraine’s position on the battlefield progressively worsening and Trump renewing his push for a ceasefire, European leaders have begun to make concessions to reality. Most strikingly, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday that the frontline should be the starting point for territorial negotiations, echoing NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s recent comment that there may be a need for de facto recognition of Russian occupation of Ukrainian land.

Moreover, in response to Putin’s proposal last week to agree to a ceasefire in exchange for Ukraine’s withdrawal from the rest of Donetsk region, Europe and Ukraine have insisted that any land swaps must be reciprocal. While European leaders remain firm that the norm of territorial integrity must be upheld in principle, these moves clearly embody a shift from the more uncompromising stance they embraced through the first three years of the war.

That said, some aspects of Europe’s stance remain delusional.

Prior to their meeting with Trump yesterday, Ukraine and its European partners agreed on a series of principles for negotiations with Russia. Among these remains the long outdated notion that Russia cannot have a veto over Ukraine’s NATO accession, even though the Trump administration has already ruled this prospect out. Even Trump’s much more transatlantically friendly predecessor Joe Biden was not prepared to take any tangible steps to make Ukrainian membership in NATO a reality.

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Feds concealed names of Nazi collaborators over hurt feelings, Russia-Ukraine war

Federal agencies hid names of Nazi collaborators who entered postwar Canada, fearing disclosure “might cause them harm,” a B’nai Brith Canada executive stated. The group seeks to overturn secrecy orders on old files, according to Blacklock’s.

“We’re talking about records from the 1940s and ‘50s about individuals who have long since been dead,” said Richard Robertson, director of research for B’nai Brith. “One of the exemptions that is continuously being used against us is [that] it might cause them harm if we release this information.”

Ottawa withheld names of Nazi collaborators despite pleas from Conservatives, New Democrats, and Canada’s Jewish diaspora since the 1980s, claiming it would aid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

B’nai Brith claims archivists illegally withheld Nazi blacklists under the Access To Information Act, seeking sealed documents from a 1986 war crimes inquiry. “We’ve been fighting this battle for quite some time.” 

The Jewish group accuses Library and Archives Canada of unlawfully withholding information for decades. They seek full disclosure of communications with foreign states concerning a blacklist of 98 known Nazi Party members and 738 German POW laborers who immigrated to Canada in 1946.

To date, disclosures only include a February 1, 2024 summary of confidential records about the arrival of suspected war criminals, according to Nazi War Criminals. It found that Nazi collaborators entered Canada with inadequate background checks. 

Director Robertson questioned the ongoing concern for potentially offending a deceased former Nazi, asking, “At what point do we stop caring about the impact this might have on a person who’s been deceased for several decades?”

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Trump Said It: “There’s No Better Word Than Stupid.”

For anyone who still thinks Donald Trump does not represent the interests of what is called “the deep state” but is actually the shallow or official US state, it is time to think again. If he is not a figurehead for those alleged hidden forces, then he will agree to a Russia-Ukraine settlement on Russia’s fundamental terms – that is, a mutual security agreement that stipulates the pulling back of US/NATO forces encircling Russia, etc. – when he meets with Putin in Alaska today.

There will be no further delay.

This, however, is extremely unlikely. Trump knows little but bullying and the use of the English language as a hammer. “I’m very highly educated,” he has said, without a scintilla of irony, “I know words, I know the best words. But there’s no better word than stupid.”

On the latter assertion he is right: there is no better word than stupid when it’s applied correctly.

During his campaign for the presidency, Trump used words more than fifty times to say that he would end the war in Ukraine “within twenty-four hours” of assuming the presidency. He could have accomplished this on day one by issuing an executive order (beside all he did issue), stopping all military aide to Ukraine, but he didn’t. Seven months of game-playing have elapsed and the war goes on with Trump’s backing laced with doubletalk about how he is seeking peace in Ukraine, is a man of peace, is bringing all American troops back home, and of course he gave a grateful ah-shucks when his brother-in-genocide, Benjamin Netanyahu, showed him a letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He fully supports the destabilization of Russia, overtly or covertly, as have his predecessors, and this in incompatible with any deal Russia can agree to when he meets with Putin in Alaska.

This past weekend, and starting up again late Tuesday in the more conservative corporate media, August 12th as I write, CNN, The NY Times, and the Washington Post, three prominent establishment media (organs of propaganda) published their usual reminders to all presidents that they are watching:

CNN: “Trump-Putin summit in Alaska resembles a slow defeat for Ukraine”

The New Tork Times: “After Almost Losing Trump, Putin Gets His Ideal Summit”

Max Boot op ed, the Washington Post: “Putin is setting up Trump for another Munich”

For these media know that the Russians are coming still, as they have been for nearly a century, so don’t swim too far out into the Atlantic or Pacific, for they are waiting with Jaws to seize you. They are red and ravenous and have huge teeth.

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Zelensky’s desperate gambit: Sabotaging peace talks to maintain grip on power

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing a perilous crossroads as his nation’s military prospects dwindle and peace talks between Russia and the U.S. loom on the horizon. With Ukraine’s defeat becoming increasingly undeniable, Zelensky is resorting to desperate measures.

The comedian-turned-president is risking a wider conflict to derail the impending negotiations. But this move could have catastrophic consequences for the region and beyond. The war has reached a critical juncture, with the balance of power shifting decisively in Russia’s favor. Despite initial optimism and promises of “turning points,” Kyiv’s forces are now depleted, and morale among troops is collapsing.

Western officials, once unwavering in their support, are now tempering their rhetoric, speaking of “realistic expectations” and the need for a diplomatic resolution. Against this backdrop, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claims that Ukrainian forces are preparing a major provocation to sabotage the upcoming Russia-U.S. peace talks cannot be easily dismissed.

The logic behind such an allegation is clear: For Zelensky, peace equates to political suicide. Any agreement that acknowledges the current territorial realities would shatter the narrative that has sustained his presidency, erode his domestic support and likely lead to his swift political demise.

This strategy is not without precedent. Historically, leaders facing strategic collapse have often resorted to reckless measures to maintain their grip on power. The danger lies in the potential for such a provocation to coincide with peace negotiations, provoking outrage in Washington and disrupting fragile diplomatic channels. This could push the conflict back toward open escalation, with devastating consequences.

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MSM Forced to Report That Ukrainian Forces Face Dire Lack of Manpower, as Millions of Citizens Will Not Fight for the Kiev Regime

As we await US-Russia Alaska summit tomorrow (15), the MSM continues their painful process of recognizing the realities on the ground in the battlefields of Ukraine.

One of the most difficult realities to face is the realization that literally millions of Ukrainian citizens will not fight for their country and hide from the conscription officers.

More than half a million Ukrainian men of military age have fled the country, while many others are still in hiding.

Add to that the desertion epidemic plaguing the Ukrainian forces, with hundreds of deserters abandoning their positions at the front every single day.

Russian forces have breached Ukrainian defenses near Dobropillia and advanced nine miles into territory around the city of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine deployed Azov brigade troops to face the attackers, but the situation remains ‘chaotic’.

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