Tag: russia

Moscow Signs Military Partnership With Taliban In Full Circle Since CIA’s Operation Cyclone

Russia and the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan have reached a military and technical cooperation agreement, Russian news outlet Interfaxreported this week. 

The deal was concluded during the International Security Forum held in Moscow. According to the report by Interfax’s correspondent, Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob held talks with Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Sergei Shoigu on the sidelines of the event.

During the meeting, Yaqoob said that engagement with Russia is important for the Taliban-led administration and that both sides have been expanding their bilateral relations. He added that Afghanistan and Russia share historic ties and that Kabul aims to maintain and strengthen those relations.

Shoigu urged western countries to release Afghanistan’s frozen assets and take responsibility for the country’s reconstruction during the event.

“We are convinced that western countries must unfreeze frozen Afghan assets, fully acknowledge their full responsibility for their 20-year presence in Afghanistan, and assume the entire burden of post-conflict reconstruction of the country,” Shoigu said.

One day later, on Thursday, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Vasily Osmakov met with Yaqoob in Moscow to discuss regional security and potential bilateral military cooperation.

According to the ministry, the two sides addressed security issues in Central and South Asia, as well as the outlook for cooperation between their armed forces, including areas of military collaboration.

Russia was the first to recognize the Taliban-led state that assumed control in Afghanistan in 2021. The recognition took place in July 2025. 

US troops launched a hasty and chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s 2021 victory and subsequent takeover of the country. 

The US military left behind large amounts of equipment. An internal State Department review from 2023 attributed the chaotic evacuation to poor planning.

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Trump Administration Slams ‘False Reporting’ by EU Top Diplomat Kaja Kallas Claiming That US Diplomats Had Left Kiev Ahead of Expected Missile and Drone Strikes

Many feel Kallas is not up to the job.

Of all the bloated bureaucracies installed in Brussels, the seemingly less effective official is the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.

In yet another of her faux-pas, she announced that the heroic European diplomats were still in Kiev, while the American would have fled after the Russian warnings of massive drone and missile attacks programmed for the next days and weeks.

But no one’s surprise, the information was incorrect, prompting US officials to criticize her statement, calling it a ‘false reporting’.

The Telegraph reported:

“Kaja Kallas, the EU’s most senior diplomat, claimed the US was the only country to evacuate its embassy in response to Russian threats against the Ukrainian capital over the weekend, while praising Europeans’ courage for remaining in place.

But in an unusual intervention highlighting the tensions between Washington and Brussels, the US embassy in Ukraine stated: ‘There are no changes to our operations, and reports otherwise are false’.”

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Double Standards of Diplomacy

On May 22, Russia accused Ukraine of deadly attack on student dormitory in the Luhansk region. More than 20 people were killed and about 40 were injured, many of them young women.

All of this is painfully reminiscent of the deadly US missile attack on a school in Minab, Iran, in February 2026. The strike killed more than 150 civilians, the vast majority of whom were children.

The most terrible thing is that, both then and now, the countries responsible for the attacks hid behind a wall of disinformation. Its politicians shift the blame, make numerous contradictory statements and accuse their victims of even greater crimes. It’s not surprising as all of these are favourite propaganda tactics used to distract public attention.

It’s pertinent to note, that modern satellite technology makes it possible to track the direction of attack, identify those responsible, and conduct a prompt investigation, especially when it comes to potential harm to children. However, while the European political machine immediately constructed a discourse about US involvement in the case of the strike on Minab School, at the emergency UN Security Council meeting on the attack on Starobilsk, European diplomats insisted that Ukraine’s involvement could not be verified or confirmed due to a lack of access to the site of the tragedy. It’s as if Europe ever had access to the site of the tragedy in Minab!

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Russian Drone Strikes Romanian Apartment Building During Attack On Ukrainian Port City Of Izmail Across Danube River

A Russian drone struck an apartment building in Galați, Romania, injuring two people. The drone hit the roof of a residential building near the Ukrainian border. At the same time, Russia was attacking the nearby Ukrainian port city of Izmail across the Danube River.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense says the Russian drone was not shot down because doing so could have posed a greater risk to civilians and infrastructure.

Officials said it was initially unclear whether the drone carried explosives or was a decoy, and concluded after reviewing the incident that there was no safe opportunity to intercept it. The Romanian Ministry of Defense said the Russian drone was tracked for only four minutes, leaving insufficient time for a safe interception, reported Clash Report.

The European Union seemed to relish the incident.

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Zelensky sends letter to Trump, Congress pleading for Patriot interceptor missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the United States Congress requesting more Patriot interceptor missiles.

In the multi-page letter sent on Tuesday, provided by CBS News, Zelensky said it had already been “proposed that Ukraine is ready to purchase the number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles” needed.

The Ukrainian president recognized and expressed gratitude for U.S. support but emphasized the country’s reliance on the United States for ballistic missile defenses.

“And when it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States,” Zelensky said. “Patriot systems remain the most effective defense against every type of Russian ballistic missile.”

While asking for the product, he recognized the high demand for “Patriot antiballistic missiles” in many regions, including in the Middle East.

“For us–for a nation fighting for its survival–there is hardly anything more painful to see than Patriot batteries with no missiles loaded. I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine’s skies from Russian missiles,” the leader said.

He claimed that ballistic missiles remain Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “last major advantage on the battlefield.”

“The one challenge that remains extremely difficult for us–and the one that Europe cannot solve alone at this stage–is Russian ballistic missile threat,” he said.

“They can be intercepted. With Patriots. With your help. And you have the power to help,” Zelensky added.

Zelensky’s letter comes in the wake of one of the largest Russian attacks on Kyiv since the war broke out, involving nearly 700 air attack assets.

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Inside The Effort To Build Ukraine’s Ground Robot Arsenal

With ground maneuver a huge risk thanks to the ubiquity of deadly aerial drones, Ukraine is increasingly relying on uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) to move supplies, rescue the wounded, shoot down drones, lay mines and even fight battles. As a result, the head of the country’s defense technology incubator has been tasked with ensuring that there are enough of these systems to meet the voracious demand.

These efforts are being closely watched. Five years into an existential fight, Ukraine has become a global leader in ground drone technology. Kyiv is deploying these systems at a scale and pace that even the most advanced militaries can’t come close to keeping up with.

In an exclusive hour-long interview earlier this month, Brave1 CEO Andrii Hrytseniuk spoke with us about how Ukraine is set to produce tens of thousands of UGVs this year, how they are being used, and the importance of artificial intelligence in increasing the efficiency of these robots in combat.

This is the second of a two part interview. The first part focused on Ukraine’s interceptor drones, which you can read here.

Some of the questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

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Russia Vows ‘Systematic Strikes’ on Kiev – Foreigners Warned To Leave Ukrainian Capital, Residents Urged To Stay Away From Military, Industrial and Government Sites

Kiev is in Russia’s crosshairs.

After Ukraine killed 21 students in a college dorm in Luhansk oblast, Russia retaliated yesterday (24) with a massive combined drone-missile attack on Kiev.

The strikes on Ukraine’s capital were one of the heaviest in the war, and even the new hypersonic Oreshnik (‘Hazel’) missile was used.

But that was not the full extent of Moscow’s retribution, as it warned of ‘systematic strikes’ on military targets in Kiev.

RT reported:

“The [Foreign] ministry made the statement on Monday, a day after a large-scale retaliatory strike on Kiev, prompted by the drone attack on the college in the Lugansk People’s Republic. The Ukrainian strike killed at least 21 people in their dormitory, mainly teenage girls.

The Starobelsk attack has become yet another testament to ‘the Nazi and terrorist nature of the Kiev regime, which deliberately targets civilians and does not hesitate to murder children in cold blood’, the ministry said, warning that Moscow is shifting its approach to the Ukraine conflict.

‘This was the last straw. Under these circumstances, the Russian Armed Forces will be launching systematic strikes against the Ukrainian military-industrial complex in Kiev, including locations where UAVs are designed, manufactured, programmed, and prepared for use’, the ministry said, adding that the campaign will also affect ‘decision-making centers and command posts.”

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NATO-made mines found on gas tanker arriving in Russia from Belgium – investigators

A tanker ship that arrived in Russia’s Leningrad Region from the Belgian port of Antwerp had NATO-made magnetic mines attached to its hull, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.

A criminal case has been opened over an attempted terrorist attack on the gas tanker, the Arrhenius, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Divers discovered “factory-produced naval magnetic mines manufactured in one of the NATO countries” on the hull when they inspected the vessel upon its arrival in the port of Ust-Luga, the statement read.

The explosive devices were neutralized by Federal Security Service officers, working together with servicemen from the Defense Ministry and the National Guard, it added.

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China and Russia Issue New World Order Declaration: All Talk, No Action

Russia and China just released two documents outlining how they want to remake the world order and displace the United States as the leader of the global system. The documents are heavy on aspirations but absent any means of achieving those goals.

One of the key themes in the documents is increased defense cooperation. However, there is still no mutual defense agreement between the two countries. Essentially, the documents confirm what China and Russia want and what they have already been doing, while the United States remains the world’s leading economic, military, and diplomatic power.

On May 20, 2026, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin met the press at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing following two days of talks. The visit marked Putin’s 25th trip to China. The summit produced two distinct joint statements, issued simultaneously as a package, along with more than 40 bilateral agreements. The first was a Joint Statement on Further Strengthening Comprehensive Partnership and Strategic Cooperation, which focused on the practical bilateral relationship.

The second was a Joint Declaration on Advocating a Multipolar World and New Types of International Relations, ideological in nature and targeted at the existing U.S.-led international order. The two sides also agreed to extend the 2001 Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the China-Russia strategic partnership.

The bilateral statement deepens cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and China in transport, logistics, digitalization, e-commerce, and agricultural trade, and links the Eurasian Economic Union development plans to the Belt and Road Initiative. Russia reaffirmed the one-China principle, recognizing Taiwan as an integral part of China and supporting Beijing’s actions to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The statement also commits both sides to expanding joint military exercises, increasing air and maritime coordination, and strengthening cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The only genuinely new and concrete outcome was a separate agreement to build a second railway line through the Zabaikalsk-Manzhouli crossing, an actual infrastructure project backed by a signed deal.

The military language falls well short of a defense alliance. There is no Article 5-style collective defense clause, no obligation for either country to come to the other’s aid, no defined trigger for military intervention, no integrated command structure, no basing rights, no pre-positioned forces, and no shared nuclear doctrine. Joint exercises and military-to-military contacts already existed.

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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: UK, France, Spain, Italy and Canada Reportedly Reject NATO Plans for Extra Funding for Ukraine

NATO’s Rutte knows the proposal is dead.

We’ve come to a point where even the most ardent supporters of the Kiev regime are starting to wonder just how much more money they will have to sink into their unwinnable war effort.

Yesterday, a report arose that Britain, France and other countries have sunk the chances for a proposal that would have NATO allies spend 0.25 percent of GDP on military aid for Ukraine.

The Telegraph reported:

“Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary-general, this week conceded his plan wouldn’t be taken forward because it didn’t have sufficient support. ‘I don’t think this one will be proposed’, he told reporters, without naming the opponents.

But now The Telegraph can reveal that the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Canada blocked the idea when it was floated in discussions for how to boost support for Kyiv.”

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