Tag: russia

Russian Official Says Trump’s Mineral Deal Forces Ukraine to Pay For Future US Military Aid

Following the signing of President Donald Trump’s mineral deal by Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Washington has broken the Zelensky Regime with the agreement. He posited that Washington is effectively forcing Kiev to pay the U.S. for its future military aid. Medvedev’s analysis appears to pan out based on statements by Reuters, The New York Times and the Ukrainian official who signed the deal.

“Trump has broken the Kiev regime to the point where they will have to pay for U.S. aid with mineral resources,” Medvedev said on Telegram. “Now they (Ukrainians) will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country.”

U.S. military aid, specifically air defense, is part of the mineral deal, however that aid will be derived from the newly created fund, which is paid for by Ukraine’s own mineral resources.

“The Fund will finance reconstruction efforts, with both sides contributing – including via future U.S. military aid in the form of air defense, a notable change from the last deal draft,” the Kiev Post said Wednesday.

While the full text of the final mineral deal has not yet been officially published, several sources have reported on the fact the agreement does not provide specific ‘security guarantees’ for Ukraine, a key stipulation of Ukrainian Dictator Vladimir Zelensky’s ‘victory plan‘.

“The Trump administration did not immediately provide details about the agreement, and it was not clear what it meant for the future of American military support for Ukraine. One person familiar with the negotiations, discussing them on the condition of anonymity, said the final deal does not include explicit guarantees of future U.S. security assistance. Another said the United States rejected that idea early in the process,” The New York Times said Wednesday.

“The agreement did not, however, provide any concrete U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, one of its initial goals,” Reuters said Wednesday.

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Europe Just Proved Trump Right About NATO

In a shocking-not-shocking exclusive report in The (UK) Times, Europe “would struggle to put 25,000 troops on the ground in Ukraine” as part of a postwar peacekeeping force. Defense Editor Larisa Brown “was given a rare insight into conversations between Europe’s defence ministers and military chiefs as they thrashed out plans for a ‘coalition of the willing’ force,” and the results are as disappointing as they are sobering. 

And you know how much I hate sobering.

British defense chief Admiral Sir Tony Radakin asked European defense ministers “if they could put together a 64,000-strong force to send to [Ukraine] in the event of a peace deal.” Britain offered up to 10,000 personnel, but even then, “defence ministers across Europe said there was ‘no chance’ they could reach that number and that even 25,000 would ‘be a push for a joint effort.'”

This is not your father’s NATO.

During the Cold War, the British Army of the Rhine stood watch in West Germany for half a century with a force of 50,000 men — and the promise of swift reinforcements almost as quickly as the balloon went up.

Today, all of European NATO couldn’t put a peacekeeping force in Ukraine of half that size without wheezing like an asthmatic with a sinus infection hiking up Kilimanjaro.

NATO was always a little fractured and weaker than it should have been. Unlike the Warsaw Pact on the other side of the Iron Curtain, NATO members were independent nations, each with its own priorities and needs.

Paris could complain about American “hyperpower” all it liked, but we didn’t send in the tanks — like Moscow would have — when France withdrew its forces from NATO command and ordered NATO troops out of France in 1966. We just made do. 

And while Washington was correct to ask for more “burden-sharing” from our allies during the Cold War, it wasn’t as though they didn’t take the Soviet threat seriously. The West German Bundeswehr consisted of 10 battle-ready heavy Panzer and Panzergrenadier divisions, plus another division each of airborne and mountain forces — for a total of 38 combat brigades. That was just the Field Army. The Territorial forces consisted of reserve troops — older men called up to defend their cities, towns, and homes — amounting to another 450,000 soldiers. 

But here’s the rub.

West Germany raised those forces from a population of 60 million with a GDP of $1.6 trillion in today’s dollars. Unified Germany has 80 million people, a GDP of $4.7 trillion, and a military of three divisions that are understaffed, under-trained, and unfit for combat.

The balloon went up more than three years ago in Ukraine, and yet the only substantial-sized NATO member seriously rearming is Poland.

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SICK: Zelensky Praises Ukrainian Intelligence’s Campaign of Car Bombings and Other Terrorist Attacks That Target Military Officers, but Also Journalists and Civilians

It’s not unusual for parties losing a war to a stronger enemy to engage in ‘asymmetrical tactics’ of fighting. We have a name for that: terrorism.

Hailed as a hero by the western MSM, ‘mini-Churchill’ Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian leader who rules via martial law, who incarcerated or exiled his political adversaries and censored the media, is supposed to symbolize ‘the best of democratic virtues’.

But what we saw yesterday (28) was Zelensky praising terrorism, even if he couched it with beautiful words.

Zelenskiy commended Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service on Monday for the killing of ‘top Russian military figures’ since the start of the war.

Zelensky did not specifically mention last Friday’s car bomb that killed Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – but that’s what he was alluding to.

Reuters reported:

“Authorities in Kyiv have made no direct comment on the attack on Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures killed since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”

But the car bomb campaign also targets civilians, Administrators of the conquered regions, journalists…

The first high-profile victim of these terrorist operations was journalist Daria Dugina, daughter of famed Russian philosopher Alexandr Dugin, who died in a car bomb intended for her father.

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Trump Says Ukraine ‘Will Be Crushed Very Shortly’ Without Peace Deal

US President Donald Trump in a recent interview with conservative show host Glenn Beck expressed doubt whether the White House can actually achieve a comprehensive peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump has made Ukraine peace the top foreign policy priority of the early part of his administration, and on the campaign trail and within his first hundred days expressed continual confidence that the US can successfully mediate, but this confidence appears to be fading with each passing week.

In the interview he noted his belief – not for the first time – that Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to making a deal on Ukraine, and is actually easier to deal with than Zelensky.

“When Zelenskyy was in the Oval Office. I was talking about getting it done, and he starts screaming, ‘but we need security’, meaning security, after the fact, I said, ‘security’? I don’t even know if we can get this deal done,” Trump told Beck.

That’s when he expressed rare doubt, saying he’s not sure “if we can get this deal done.”

Referencing Zelensky, Trump continued: “He’s asking for more, just more and more and more. And he doesn’t have the cards. He doesn’t have the cards, so hopefully he’s going to get it done,” Trump said. 

And in reference to Putin, Trump explained, “I think he had the idea of going all the way through” if Trump were not in the Oval Office. “I think he’s [Putin] willing to make a deal. And I would say thus far, he’s been easier to deal with than Zelensky,” Trump added.

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Moscow accuses Ukrainian troops of killing civilians seeking food

The Russian Investigative Committee has collected new evidence and gathered accounts of alleged war crimes committed during the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk Region, including killings of civilians looking for food and murders during widespread looting.

The agency highlighted a handful of new cases over the week, sharing the accounts of those who survived the Ukrainian occupation. A woman from the village of Plekhovo testified that Ukrainian troops murdered her son in early September 2024, as he tried to retrieve some food from his house.

“According to the mother’s testimony, the man’s body was found with multiple gunshot wounds and his hands tied,” Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. The woman also testified that the Ukrainians went on a looting spree immediately after entering the region in early August last year, breaking into homes and garages to steal people’s belongings, as well as their cars.

A similar incident was reported by a resident of Bondarevka, a village near the town of Sudzha. The woman told investigators that Ukrainian forces killed a local man who had gone to get some bread. The civilian was gunned down as he rode his bike in the street, according to the eyewitness.

A resident of Dmitryukov, a small village to the southeast of the city of Sudzha, testified that his father was killed by Ukrainian troops, who demanded his car, threatening to burn the vehicle and his house down. Although the man surrendered his vehicle, the Ukrainians still shot and killed him.

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Putin announces 3-day ceasefire in May to mark 80 years since WW2 victory

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine next month to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.

The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run from the start of May 8 to the end of May 10.

“All military actions are suspended for this period. Russia believes that the Ukrainian side should follow this example,” it said in a statement.

“In the event of violations by the Ukrainian side, Russia’s armed forces will give an adequate and effective response.”

There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the unilateral truce announcement – the second by Putin in quick succession, following a 30-hour Easter ceasefire that each side accused the other of violating countless times.

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Zelensky admits Ukraine can’t reclaim Crimea by force

Ukraine does not possess the military might necessary to retake Crimea by force, Vladimir Zelensky has conceded. The peninsula joined Russia in 2014 following a referendum.

The vote was held in the wake of a Western-backed coup in Kiev earlier that year and amid fears of forced Ukrainization of the predominantly Russian-speaking region. Ukraine has continued to claim sovereignty over Crimea, repeatedly vowing to take it back.

On Friday, Interfax-Ukraine quoted Zelensky as saying that “it’s true what President Trump says… that Ukraine does not have enough weapons to regain control of the Crimean Peninsula by force.”

The Ukrainian leader expressed hope however that further sanctions and diplomatic pressure on Russia would be conducive to future discussions over “territorial issues,” but only after Kiev and Moscow have sealed a ceasefire.

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Suspect in killing of Russian general pleads guilty and claims he was paid by Ukraine, Russia says

A man suspected of killing a Russian general with a car bomb pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and said he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service, Russian authorities said Sunday.

The Investigative Committee said Ignat Kuzin admitted he was paid to kill Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces.

Moskalik was killed Friday by a bomb in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow.

Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack, the second in four months targeting a top Russian military officer that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine amid the conflict between the neighboring countries.

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Putin Announces Kursk Region Fully Liberated From Ukrainians

Russia’s top military leaders as well as President Vladimir Putin have on Saturday declared the full liberation of Russia’s Kursk region, after Ukrainian forces invaded and occupied huge swathes of it starting last August.

The final fight was for the village of Gornal, which lies on the Ukrainian border. Fighting on the vicinity of the settlement became fierce earlier this month, and the tide was definitely in Moscow forces’ favor after the capture of a key monastery complex. Russian forces accused the Ukrainian army of using the monastery as a military forward operating position.

Putin in a Saturday video address thanked Russian service members “who took part in defeating the neo-Nazi groups” who for over six months held hundreds of square kilometers of sovereign Russian territory. He declared the utter ‘failure’ of the invasion attempt.

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Is Walking Away From Ukraine The Best Option For Trump And The US?

This week Vice President JD Vance reiterated the Trump Administration’s position that “walking away from Ukraine” and the peace negotiations after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded that Crimea be “liberated” as part of the terms.  Zelensky argued that the “war against the entire free Europe” began with Crimea and must end with the return of Crimea. 

Vance’s frustration with Zelensky is understandable. As he noted, Ukraine is in no position to demand anything given their precarious position on the battlefield.  Russia’s attrition tactics have been highly effective in countering western arms and intel support on the eastern front while also whittling down Ukrainian troop strength.  They have also retaken almost all of the gains made by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region while they amass troops to take Sumy to the south. 

Furthermore, Vladimir Putin’s latest missile salvo on Kyiv proves that the Kremlin has actually been holding back, and heavy bombardment of the capital is entirely possible.  Ukraine does not have the ability to defend against such an attack should it occur.

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