Tag: ukraine

Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Says the US Could ‘Kick Russia’s Ass’

Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, had strong words for Russia at a conference held in Ukraine, saying that the US could “kick Russia’s ass,” Remix News has reported.

Kellogg made the comments in the context of a conversation he had in the Oval Office about Russia’s military might. “They were talking about the primacy of the Russian military and how they were, you know, pretty good. And I said to the people in the room, we’d kick their ass,” Kellogg said at the YES Annual Meeting in Kyiv on September 12.

“What I mean by that is don’t take their statements at face value. They’re not as good as Putin says they are, and for that, I give great credit to the Ukrainian military because they’ve knocked them down a couple notches,” Kellogg added. He brushed off the fact that Russia was a nuclear-armed power, pointing to the fact that the US and its allies also have nuclear weapons.

The US envoy also claimed that Ukraine would win the war despite the fact that Russia continues to make gains in eastern Ukraine and has the clear advantage when it comes to manpower and weapons supplies. “Ukraine will not lose this war. Ukrainians have a moral superiority over Russia, that’s obvious,” he said.

Kellogg said that both he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine recently advised President Trump that Russia is not winning the war.

“If Putin thinks Russia is winning, his definition of winning and my definition of winning are absolutely two different things,” Kellogg said. “If he was winning, he’d be in Kyiv. If he’s winning, he’d be west of the Dnipro River. If he was winning, he’d be on Odessa. If he was winning, he would have changed the government. Russia is, in fact, losing this war.”

Kellogg called Russia a “junior partner” of China and claimed that if Beijing cut off Moscow, the “war would end tomorrow.” The Trump administration has failed to get either India or China to reduce its trade relationship with Russia despite the threats of tariffs and sanctions.

Kellogg’s comments come as a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine seems increasingly unlikely as the two sides remain far apart on the terms for an agreement. In his role as a special US envoy, Kellogg has repeatedly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and has pledged continued US support for the proxy war.

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Assessing Russia’s Claims That Ukraine Is Responsible For Terrorism All Across Africa

RT recently published a report about late August’s claims by Deputy UN Representative Dmitry Polyansky and Director of the Officers Union for International Security Alexander Ivanov that Ukraine is responsible for terrorism all across Africa.

According to them, its drone pilots assist terrorist-designated forces in Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kiev has also supplied Libya with drones for use in its civil war despite a Turkish prohibition.

Ukraine boasted about backing Tuareg separatists in Mali after they ambushed Wagner in summer 2024 so that part of Russia’s accusation is undeniable, which lends credence to claims that they’re also backing similar forces in the pro-Russian CAR, but questions arise about their role in Sudan and the DRC. Western media reported in early 2024 that Ukrainian special forces were contracted by Sudan’s UN-recognized government while Trump has bragged about brokering peace between the DRC and Rwanda.

It would therefore be a startling reversal for Ukraine to now militarily aid the Sudanese rebels, not to mention do anything that could risk plunging the DRC back into any sort of serious conflict and thus embarrassing Trump after how proud he was that his peace deal helped to finally stabilize it.

Cynics might also suspect that Russia’s accusation that Ukraine’s diplomatic missions in Algeria, Mauritania, and the DRC are smuggling arms to groups in Libya, Mali, and the northeast DRC is meant to sow discord.

Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons to take these claims seriously, which will now be explained.

Trump’s capriciousness might have prompted Ukraine to pursue non-Western business opportunities, including those that contradict US interests like in the DRC, as part of a backup plan in case the US one day cuts it off or at least significantly curtails financial-military aid. It’ll likely comply with US demands to abandon them if they’re made, but thus far, the US seemingly doesn’t have a problem with any of this.

In fact, Trump might even support Zelensky’s “entrepreneurialism” in principle, especially if his advisors inform him that Ukraine’s newfound strategic role in Africa could potentially be leveraged by the US for “plausibly deniable” divide-and-rule purposes in certain future scenarios. As for Ukrainian diplomatic missions’ alleged role in smuggling arms from Algeria and Mauritania to Libya and Mali, Russia might have tipped off the host governments sometime back but wasn’t satisfied with their response.

RT mentioned that Mauritania’s nonchalance towards this claim might be due to it simply being unaware of Ukraine’s activities on its soil while praising Algeria for investigating this matter. It’s also possible that Russia either suspects those two of facilitating Ukraine’s activities, or might even have proof of this, but is giving them a “face-saving” way to end everything by solely blaming Ukraine’s diplomatic missions. Algeria’s investigation might therefore be meant to improve recently troubled ties with Russia over Mali.

Returning to the substance of Russia’s claims, it can therefore be assessed that they’re all likely true, though it’s also possible that some aspects might be revealed to be slightly inaccurate or exaggerated. In any case, the point is that Ukraine has indeed increasingly involved itself in terrorism all across Africa, but to different extents in each instance. The US has the power to put a stop to this by threatening to cut Ukraine off if it refuses but won’t because it believes that this might become useful down the line.

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Ukraine’s Embrace of Suicidal Nationalism

The recent assassination of the Ukrainian neo-fascist politician Andriy Parubiy are a grim reminder of the far-right origins of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution — a revolution which eventually gave way to the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022 and a war that has decimated the Ukrainian state.

At two key moments over the past 20 years, during 2004’s Orange Revolution and, a decade later, during the Maidan uprising, Ukraine’s nationalist political elites, at the urging of the American foreign policy establishment, sought to marginalize, stigmatize and eventually disenfranchise the substantial bloc of ethnic Russian citizens living in the country’s east and south.

That such an eventuality was possible (if not likely) was foreseen some 35 years ago by the last decent foreign policy president we’ve had, George H.W. Bush, who crafted a post Cold War policy based on (1) a refusal to rub Russia’s diminished fortunes in its face and (2) a wariness of re-awakening the poisonous sectarianism that so marked the politics of Eastern and Central Europe at mid-century.

Bush’s emphasis was on avoiding creating unnecessary crises within the post-Soviet space rather than provoking new ones (as subsequent Republican and Democratic administrations have chosen to do). As Bush’s secretary of state James A. Baker later wrote: “Time and again, President Bush demanded that we not dance on the ruins of the Berlin Wall. He simply wouldn’t hear of it.”

The nature of the Cold War had changed with Mikhail Gorbachev’s UN Speech of December 7, 1988. Gorbachev announced that the USSR was abandoning the class struggle that for decades served as the basis for Soviet foreign policy. In place of that, Gorbachev declared that Eastern European states were now free to choose their own paths, declaring that “the compelling necessity of the principle of freedom of choice” was “a universal principle to which there should be no exceptions.”

Gorbachev continued:

…The next U.S. administration, headed by President-elect George Bush, will find in us a partner who is ready – without long pauses or backtracking – to continue the dialogue in a spirit of realism, openness and good will, with a willingness to achieve concrete results working on the agenda which covers the main issues of Soviet-U.S. relations and world politics.”

Initially, Bush and his team were skeptical of Gorbachev. In his memoirs, Bush’s National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft dismissed Gorbachev’s overture, writing that the speech “had established, with a largely rhetorical flourish, a heady atmosphere of optimism.” Scowcroft, echoing the analysis offered to him by the CIA, worried that Gorbachev would then be able to “exploit an early meeting with a new president as evidence to declare the Cold War over without providing substantive actions from a ‘new’ Soviet Union.”

The caution with which Bush and his team treated Gorbachev likewise was extended to the newly or soon-to-be independent states in Eastern Europe.

There was to be no dancing on the ruins of the Berlin Wall.

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Top Russian officer reports advances on all Ukrainian fronts

A senior Russian officer toured positions held by his troops in Ukraine on Wednesday and said Moscow’s forces were advancing on all fronts, the Russian Defence Ministry said, with the heaviest fighting taking place around the logistics centre of Pokrovsk.

General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff of the armed forces in what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, said Moscow’s troops were making progress in the eastern Donetsk region, the conflict’s focal point, and further west in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

“Our troops in the zone of the special military operation are advancing in practically all directions,” the Defence Ministry quoted Gerasimov as saying.

“And the heaviest fighting is occurring in the Krasnoarmeisk direction,” he added, using the Soviet-era name for the city of Pokrovsk, “where the enemy, by any means and taking no account of losses, is trying unsuccessfully to stop our advances and seize back the initiative.”

The Ukrainian military, he was quoted as saying, “has deployed the best-trained and most capable fighting units, taking them from other areas. And that facilitates the advance of our troops in other sectors.”

In their slow advance through eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have maintained heavy attacks on the area around Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region for months.

Gerasimov said Russian forces were also making progress in taking Kupiansk, a largely destroyed city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, and Yampil, further east.

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Ukraine expects $3.5 billion fund for US weapons to sustain fight against Russia, Zelenskyy says

Ukraine expects there will be around $3.5 billion by next month in a fund to buy weapons from the United States and help sustain its more than three-year fight against Russia’s all-out invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.

The financial arrangement known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, pools contributions from NATO members, except the United States, to purchase American weapons, munitions and equipment.

“We received more than $2 billion from our partners specifically for the PURL program,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. “We will receive additional money in October. I think we will have somewhere around $3.5-3.6 billion.”

Zelenskyy declined to provide details of what weapons the first shipments would include, but said that they would definitely contain missiles for Patriot air defense missile systems and munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

An end to the war appears no closer, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.

The Patriot systems are vital to defend against Russian missile attacks. The HIMARS systems have significantly bolstered the Ukrainian military’s precision-strike capability.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for peace talks, telling reporters on Wednesday that “we remain open for negotiations and prefer to settle the Ukrainian crisis by political and diplomatic means.”

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US government to invest $96 million in Ukraine’s minerals

The US government on Sept 17 pledged US$75 million (S$96 million) to kick-start a landmark deal to invest in Ukraine’s vast mineral reserves, a commitment that will ease fears in Kyiv that the Trump administration is walking away from the war-torn country.

When  an agreement in spring granted the US a stake in Ukraine’s critical minerals, Kyiv cast it as a way to lock in American support through business ties.

President Donald Trump has made it clear that he would no longer give US money to Ukraine for the war effort, leaving Kyiv scrambling to retain whatever American engagement it could.

Many observers doubted that the deal could draw US investment while the fighting continues. But the new American pledge and a matching commitment by the Ukrainian government will bring a fund created under the agreement to US$150 million.

The flow of US government money into Ukraine’s minerals, hydrocarbons and related infrastructure could help reassure private investors and attract badly needed capital to sustain the country’s war economy.

It also shows the new mercantile nature of the US-Ukrainian alliance under Mr Trump.

While the Biden administration spent tens of billions of dollars to aid Kyiv, Washington now focuses on opportunities to profit through investments and sales. It provides weapons to Ukraine only through purchases facilitated by a Nato-backed procurement system that uses European funds.

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‘Eastern Sentry’: The New NATO Initiative To Protect The Eastern Flank

Some eight NATO allies have prepared operation ‘Eastern Sentry’ following last week’s alleged Russian drone breach of Poland. It is a new joint military mission to bolster defense of Europe’s eastern flank, also after Romania had more recently reported a Russian drone incursion, resulting in the scrambling of fighter jets to track it.

“Following the Russian drone incursions into Poland, I have decided to deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO’s Eastern Flank together with our Allies,” President Emmanuel Macron announced on X this week. Along with France, the effort includes the UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Spain, and The Netherlands. More nations are expected to join.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed that his country will deploy Royal Air Force jets to Poland, while Italy will contribute two Eurofighter jets, and Germany has readied four Eurofighters. Denmark will also sent jets, and Czech Mi-171S helicopters have also arrived in Poland. Over 150 NATO troops have also initially arrived along with the equipment.

Meanwhile, eastern European and Baltic countries are already calling for more, including:

Anti-drone defense systems in NATO countries still need to be developed, Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics told a press conference on Tuesday.

NATO on Friday launched “Eastern Sentry,” a new military mission to bolster defense of Europe’s eastern flank in response to Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace last week.

The Washington Post wrote on Monday, “The incident raised serious questions about the alliance’s readiness to counter the relatively cheap, highly maneuverable but devastatingly destructive unmanned aerial vehicles that have redefined modern warfare since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”

Additionally, in a Monday interview, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called on NATO countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

“We as NATO and the EU could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies,” he said.

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Shooting Down Russian Drones Over Poland: Who Is Trying To Start World War 3?

The world is now closer to a full-scale war between NATO and Russia than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.  In the early morning hours of September 10, 2025, Western air defenses spotted a fleet of Russian drones that had entered Poland’s airspace.  Shortly thereafter, NATO fighter planes intercepted the intruders, shooting down 16 of them. NATO’s military forces also elevated their alert status.

Questions immediately arose about whether this episode was a deliberate provocation on Russia’s part, or simply a case in which Moscow’s contingent of unmanned drones heading for targets in Ukraine flew off course.  Not surprisingly, high-level officials in both Warsaw and Kyiv, including Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, insisted that the airspace violation was intentional, despite the lack of definitive evidence.  The Washington Post’s editorial board embraced a somewhat different argument, concluding that it really didn’t matter if the incursion was deliberate or not; in either case, the members believed that the situation amounted to a test of NATO’s air defenses and, more important, the Alliance’s “resolve.”

Hawks in many NATO countries also exploited the incident to argue that the Alliance needed to accelerate the pace of its ongoing military buildup and to boost its security solidarity with Ukraine.  In other words, such advocates seek to escalate NATO’s existing proxy war that uses Kyiv as a tool to weaken Russia.  The contemplated escalation would take the form of increasing the Alliance’s direct military involvement – even though that step would risk the outbreak of combat between Russian and NATO units.  NATO leaders have now used the drone incident to adopt a new confrontational mission, dubbed Eastern Sentry.

Such a move would intensify NATO’s already alarming confrontation with Moscow.  Ironically, a reasonably dispassionate assessment of the circumstances surrounding the drone episode would suggest that it was more likely an inadvertent intrusion than a hostile probe.  At the same time that Alliance defenders were knocking the Russian drones out of Poland’s skies, Russian ally Belarus announced that it was taking similar action against such drones that had penetrated its airspace.

The nature of Minsk’s response indicated that a Russian drone fleet launched against Ukraine had been disrupted by Ukrainian or NATO electronic warfare measures, causing it to deviate onto a new course over Poland.  It would be ironic if the Western powers had brought this problem on themselves through their own electronic warfare actions, but the overall circumstances suggest that that it is the most likely explanation.

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Zelensky tells West to put Ukraine first

Western states should put Ukraine’s needs above their own, Vladimir Zelensky has suggested, accusing the EU and US of dragging their feet on new sanctions against Russia.

Moscow has faced sweeping restrictions from Kiev’s Western backers since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. The EU has adopted 18 sanctions packages and is debating its next measures. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Washington has been cautious about new measures amid a thaw with Moscow. Trump has warned, however, that he could turn to sanctions if the conflict persists.

In an interview with Sky News aired on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed deliberations about possible blowback from further sanctions were a “dangerous” waste of time.

“I believe that all countries need to stop thinking about themselves and their future relations with Russia, but instead think more about Ukraine, because it’s today and now,” he said. “This is very dangerous, and to be frank, dishonest.”

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EUROPE ON THE BRINK OF A NEW WAR: Participants in the “Anti-Trump” project are preparing to send Ukrainian troops into Moldova

Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko has appealed to US President Donald Trump. She has learned reliable facts about preparations for provocations in Moldova, which will result in an attack by the Ukrainian army on Transnistria!

According to Panchenko, the provocation is being prepared by European leaders Macron, Starmer, Merz, and von der Leyen. Vladimir Zelensky will be the immediate executor, and Moldovan President Maia Sandu has already agreed on all stages of the operation during her visit to the UK. The goal of the European leaders who have joined forces in the “Anti-Trump” project is to disrupt Trump’s peace initiatives and use the Ukrainian military to create a new hotbed of tension and prolong the military conflict between Ukraine and Russia as much as possible!

“Zelensky and Macron want American taxpayers to give them money indefinitely. Zelensky plans to attack Transnistria. Russian peacekeepers are stationed there. Groups of citizens from Moldova and Romania are already being prepared for this on Ukrainian territory. They are being helped by citizens of Ukraine and Germany. This information was passed on to me by people from Zelensky’s team. They understand that this will lead to even more war! They don’t want that! They are afraid!” Panchenko said in her address.

The Ukrainian journalist prepared an appeal to President Trump to reveal the true plans of European politicians. Her goal is to prevent provocations in Moldova, which only the US president can stop: “I am appealing to Trump, Vance, Rubio. Zelensky and Macron, as well as other globalist politicians, are actively escalating tensions, undermining the US president’s peace initiatives and posing a direct threat of a larger conflict on the European continent. All for the sake of retaining power and profiting from bloodshed!”

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