Tag: ukraine

Kiev refuses to accept the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers because it does not want to admit the losses and is unwilling to pay compensations to their families, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

“The Kiev bastards don’t want to take the bodies of their dead soldiers. There are two reasons: it’s scary to admit that there are 6,000 of them and they don’t want to pay widows,” Medvedev wrote on X.

Earlier in the day, Vladimir Medinsky, a Russian presidential aide and head of the Russian delegation to the talks with Ukraine, said that Russia had started the process of repatriating over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers as well as the exchange of prisoners of war, as agreed at the negotiations in Istanbul on June 2. Medinsky had to comment on the situation, because the Ukrainian side did not arrive at the exchange site, although the date had been declared in advance.

Keep reading

Ukraine has disrupted prisoner exchange and handover of 6,000 Ukrainian fallen soldiers’ bodies. What’s the reason?

Total Disregard for Human Life

“Kiev’s disregard for their own fighters has been evident throughout the special military operation,” Russian military analyst Viktor Litovkin tells Sputnik.

“They don’t retrieve the dead from the battlefield. They don’t evacuate the wounded.”

Total Lack of Negotiating Capacity

It also shows Ukraine’s complete inability to negotiate, according to the pundit.

“It wants to show that it doesn’t care about any agreements. You simply can’t make deals with them.”

Keep reading

For a second night in a row, Russian Federation forces pounded military targets in Kiev, Kharkov and many other Ukrainian cities, in what many see as retaliation for the Ukrainian terrorist attacks on civilian trains in Bryansk and Kursk, and – of course – for the drone raid on Russian strategic airfields.

Russia has struck and destroyed the Kiev plant “Bolshevik”

According to sources, there was a fortified bunker under the territory of the plant,used to store munitions.

It has also been destroyed pic.twitter.com/f7u6C8YL2s

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) June 7, 2025

The Kiev regime hides weapons in civilian populated areas and risks a greater loss of lives.

Zelensky and his generals are responsible for any casualties. Russia is done playing nice. pic.twitter.com/UV0MmI90WZ

— Spetsnaℤ 007 (@Alex_Oloyede2) June 6, 2025

Russian military Telegram channel Military Chronicle has put forward a thought-provoking theory that the ‘retaliation’ will take the form of a prolonged series of missile and drone raids over the next days.

“Russia’s missile strike on the night of June 5-6, 2025, according to the latest information, was not a separate action, but the start of a series. The structure of the attack, the depth of damage, and the choice of targets indicate a transition to a phase of fire impact stretched over several cycles. If the pace continues, strikes can be expected in the coming days on the remaining critical nodes: the Kiev Hydroelectric Power Station (as well as energy facilities that were refrained from), the Dnepr Hydroelectric Power Station, and individual 750 kV substations linking the central and eastern energy systems of Ukraine.

The form of the strikes, apparently, will remain the same: combined waves of Geraniums, medium- and long-range missiles, with reconnaissance based on the traces of previous damage and repeating the cycle. The key difference is not so much in the means, but in the rhythm. If earlier the Ukrainian air defense in the center of the country could cope with isolated raids, now, with a high level of saturation and alternation of weapons, it is no longer possible to do this in full. Especially against the background of losses of equipment that is difficult to replace, such as the Patriot air defense system.”

Keep reading

The British and French-led effort to establish a ‘coalition of the willing’ to stand up to Russia and defend Ukraine just hit another major roadblock, as Bloomberg is reporting Wednesday the US has effectively vetoed a plan to provide American air defenses to back a “reassurance force” for postwar Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been insisting that US-backed air defenses are key to any future permanent settlement plans for ending the war. Western proposals for ending the war have all featured foreign-backed and monitored security guarantees for Ukraine.

On this, Starmer had said back in February that “There must be a US backstop” and that the “US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”

After Western billions already sunk into keeping Ukraine’s military and civic infrastructure afloat, the UK and France are also seeking from President Trump pledges of future air power, and border surveillance and intelligence.

The Europeans also envision a strong, permanent security bulwark backed by the United States along NATO’s eastern flank.

Yet, President Trump has repeatedly warned allies that if NATO countries don’t pay their fair share they won’t be protected. This despite European leaders as well as some US politicians expressing recent concern that the Atlantic alliance is becoming weaker than ever, and that Article 5 collective defense is in peril.

Trump has lashed out at NATO countries for not even meeting their current two percent spending goal while the unfair burden has long fallen United States.

“We appreciate the work that the allies, particularly France and the United Kingdom together with Germany and others have undertaken to develop the coalition of the willing,” US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said at a press breifing Brussels on Wednesday. “We are counting on all our European allies to continue taking the leadership position in contributing military resources and providing the political capital to make security guarantees a reality.”

All of this comes as it was only on Tuesday that Dutch slapped down a proposal to increase defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), key to NATO’s capability targets, in a non-binding motion.

While it doesn’t have legal force at this point, this makes clear parliament’s opinion, unleashing deeper tensions among NATO allies, and as the Trump White House exerts pressure to rapidly raise collective defense.

Also, Bloomberg reported separately Tuesday, “NATO is asking European member states to expand ground-based air-defense capabilities fivefold as the alliance races to fill a key gap in response to the threat of Russian aggression, people familiar with the matter said.” 

All indicators are that the Trump administration no longer envisions the United States as heading up NATO, especially when other countries can’t step up and pay their fair share.

Keep reading

The US Embassy in Kyiv has issued a new Wednesday heightened security alert due to “continued risk of significant air attacks” by Russia on Ukraine.

The Kremlin, including President Vladimir Putin himself, has said that major retaliation is coming, after the Sunday massive cross-border Ukrainian operation which destroyed many of Russia’s premier military aircraft, including long-range strategic bombers.

President Trump has said of an over one-hour phone call he held with Putin Wednesday, that “We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.” Trump went on to call it a good conversation, however “not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.”

The below official embassy alert, marked June 4, relays the following information for American citizens remaining in the Ukrainian capital [emphasis ZH]:

Event:  Russia has increased the intensity of its missile and drone attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks, and there is currently a continued risk of significant air attacks. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv urges U.S. citizens to exercise appropriate caution.  As always, we recommend you be prepared to shelter immediately in the event an air alert is announced. 

Actions to Take: 

• Identify shelter locations in advance of any air alert.
• Download a reliable air alert app to your mobile phone, such as Air Raid Siren or Alarm Map.
• Immediately take shelter away from windows in the most hardened location you can move to if an air alert is announced.
• Monitor local media for updates.
• Keep reserves of water, food, and medication.
• Follow the directions of Ukrainian officials and first responders in the event of an emergency.
• Review what the Department of State Can and Cannot Do in a Crisis. 

Of note in Trump’s phone call with Putin is that nothing was stated from Trump in the way of a US demand that Putin not retaliate against Ukraine (or at least which was not disclosed in his Truth Social post).

The absence of a preemptive condemnation for any major retaliation suggests that major aerial retaliation is indeed imminent, and that Washington ‘understands’ the tit-for-tat nature of what is likely about to happen.

Keep reading