Tag: ukraine

Ukrainian attacks on Russian planes ‘Western’ intel op – Jeffrey Sachs

Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian military airfields earlier this month were a “Western intelligence operation” orchestrated by the CIA and MI6, American public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs has claimed.

In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson released on Wednesday, Sachs accused Western intelligence services of covertly working to undermine peace efforts aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict, acting on orders from the US “deep state.”

On June 1, Ukrainian drones struck several Russian airbases in a coordinated assault across five regions – from Murmansk in the north to Irkutsk in Siberia – which Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky later called Operation Spider’s Web.

Kiev claimed that around 40 Russian military aircraft were damaged or destroyed, including long-range bombers. Moscow has dismissed the numbers and extent of damage, saying some of the aircraft were damaged, but that it was minimal and will be repaired. It added that most of the drones were intercepted.

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Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO Pulls Forces Out Of Eastern Flank

A top Kremlin official was quoted in Newsweek this week warning that Russia won’t end the Ukraine war until NATO pulls its troops out of the Baltic and ‘eastern flank’ states.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov demanded that NATO must withdraw its troops from the Baltic region. Russia has long seen the Baltics as very near, and its sphere of influence, also given its territory of of Kaliningrad. 

“The American side requires practical steps aimed at eliminating the root causes of the fundamental contradictions between us in the area of security,” he had said, originally in state TASS.

“Among these causes, NATO expansion is in the foreground,” he emphasized. “Without resolving this fundamental and most acute problem for us, it is simply impossible to resolve the current conflict in the Euro-Atlantic region.”

NATO’s ‘eastern flank’ closer to the start of the Ukraine war – forces have since grown…

“Given the nature and genesis of the Ukrainian crisis, provoked by the previous U.S. authorities and the West as a whole, this conflict naturally acts, well, if you like, as a test, a trial, which checks the seriousness of Washington’s intentions to straighten out our relations,” he said.

Ryabkov said Moscow’s position all along has been that the Western military alliance “not deploy strike weapons near Russian border.”

“In any case, reducing NATO’s Eastern European contingent would likely boost the security of the whole continent,” he concluded.

Such a broader ultimatum was actually issued just before the full-scale invasion, but was not heeded. In fact, countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have only grown more hawkish and vocal in their anti-Moscow rhetoric, and have even taken legal action against the Russian Orthodox Church in the Baltics.

A very provocative and sensational alert issued by German intelligence…

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Israel Unveils Unprecedented Transfer To Ukraine Of ‘Several’ Patriot Missile Batteries

In early May it was first reported that a US-supplied Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel would be refurbished and sent to Ukraine. This was despite what the White House’s National Security Council said at the time in a statement: “President Trump has been clear: he wants the war in Ukraine to end and the killing to stop.”

But American and Western arms for Ukraine have continued flowing, with no end in sight, despite what was a very brief stoppage of maybe a couple days earlier in Trump’s term. Israel has just revealed that it wasn’t merely “one” Patriot battery transferred to Ukraine, but “several”.

Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky unveiled in a Sunday interview with Pravda USA that Israel has delivered several MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to Kiev, in a clear significant escalation in its military support to the Zelensky government.

During the opening years of the war Israel largely remained on the sidelines, for fear of damaging sensitive relations with Russia, which has maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria’s coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus.

Ambassador Brodsky told the Ukrainian media publication (according to machine translation):

The Patriot systems that we once received from the United States are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service with Israel in the early 90s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. And unfortunately, not much was said about this. But when they say that Israel did not help militarily, this is not true. This is not true,” Brodsky emphasized.

This appears to be confirmation of what Axios reported in late January:

The U.S. military transferred around 90 Patriot air defense interceptors from storage in Israel to Poland this week in order to deliver them to Ukraine, three sources with knowledge of the operation tell Axios.

These are apparently older US-supplied systems which remained in Israel’s stockpile. Still, the NY Times had presented that merely one Patriot battery was being prepped, in this May 4 report for example:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Israel is perhaps only making this public now in the context of Russia’s air war against Ukrainian cities, and the capital in particular, heating up.

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Russian Forces Reach Donetsk’s Western Border and Enter Dnipropetrovsk, Taking the War Into Another Ukrainian Region

During the Istanbul talks between Russia and Ukraine, when presented with Moscow’s demand that Kiev’s troops must withdraw from territory of the four regions that they have partially conquered (Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhie and Kherson), the Ukrainian delegation reacted with a strong rejection of this point.

It’s been widely reported that, at this point, Russian negotiators warned their foes: ‘Next time, it won’t be four regions, but six or eight’.

That could, of course, be nothing but bragging, except that today the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that units of the 90th Tank Division have reached & crossed the western border of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and that their offensive continues deeper into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

That the Russian offensive has now breached into a brand-new region is a serious setback for the Kiev regime, who really depends on a constant PR effort to keep allies engaged and prevent further deterioration of public morale in their country.

So, at this point, besides the four regions mentioned above, there are also Russian successes in the northern Sumy and Kharkov regions – and now Dnipropetrovsk.

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Ohr Memo Confirms Clinton Team Had Early Knowledge Of Ukrainian Black Ledger

The newly released Nellie Ohr documents from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have already made waves for two major reasons. First, they show the FBI concluded Nellie Ohr lied to Congress and then failed to act on it. Second, they revealed an internal FBI “black hole” filing system designed to bury evidence that contradicted or disproved the Donald Trump-Russia narrative, shielding it not just from the public but from the FBI’s own agents.

Yet there’s more. Buried in the release is also confirmation of another key aspect of how the Russiagate smear unfolded, one that has so far escaped much attention: Clinton campaign operative Ohr appears to have had advance knowledge of the so-called “black ledger” operation by Ukrainian officials.

This operation ultimately led to the political downfall of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort in 2016. This information also provides more evidence that it wasn’t Trump who colluded with foreign powers against domestic opponents — it was Democrats.

While the broad outlines of this connection between the Clinton campaign and Ukraine have been known for some time, the newly released documents reveal the FBI was aware of Ohr’s foreknowledge as early as 2019. That’s when a report on her activities was written — but the FBI took no action.

Notably, this was before the first impeachment of President Trump, which was triggered by his inquiries into corruption in Ukraine. This detail confirms the strong likelihood that the Clinton campaign was more directly involved in the Ukrainian effort to smear Trump than was previously acknowledged.

The American public didn’t learn about the ledger until August 15, 2016, when The New York Times ran a front-page story accusing Manafort of receiving off-the-books cash payments from the Party of Regions, the political party of Ukraine’s deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych. But according to Grassley’s release, Nellie Ohr had already tipped off her husband, Bruce Ohr — then a senior DOJ official — along with two prosecutors from the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, on May 30, 2016.

Even more striking, that alert came a full day before the first known public mention of the ledger in Ukrainian press. That May 31 article, co-authored by anti-Trump activist Serhiy Leshchenko, mentioned the ledger’s existence but made no reference to Manafort or U.S. politics. In congressional testimony, Nellie Ohr later admitted that Leshchenko was one of her sources at Fusion GPS and had passed along information about Manafort.

Leshchenko has been candid about his motives. Speaking to the Financial Times in 2016, he said his goal in publicizing the ledger was to intervene in the U.S. elections to damage Trump, whom he described as a pro-Russian candidate who could destabilize the global order. Notably, Leshchenko now serves as an advisor within Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle, a disturbing fact considering his history of actively promoting anti-Trump disinformation.

Ohr’s foreknowledge and contact with Leshchenko provide more evidence that the Clinton campaign, through Fusion GPS, was not only behind the fake Steele and Alfa Bank dossiers, but also acted as a conduit between Ukrainian political operatives and U.S. law enforcement. These efforts laundered foreign political propaganda into the DOJ and FBI under the guise of international criminal intelligence.

The ledger’s authenticity has long been in question. Manafort was never charged with receiving the cash payments alleged in the ledger and reported by The New York Times. Shortly after the 2016 election, Ukraine’s former domestic intelligence chief, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, expressed skepticism, pointing out it was suspicious only one fragment of the ledger had surfaced. “Where is the handwriting analysis?” he asked. “It’s crazy to open an investigation based on this kind of document.”

The orchestration also appears to go back even further. According to former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko, who spoke exclusively to me about the latest Ohr revelations, the operation began with a January 19, 2016 meeting at the White House.

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US diverted military aid for Kiev to Middle East – Zelensky

US President Donald Trump’s administration has diverted a large military aid package his predecessor promised to Kiev to American forces in the Middle East, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has told ABC. The package included thousands of anti-drone missiles Ukraine desperately needs to fight Russia’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), he said.

The Ukrainian leader raised the issue in an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz which aired on Sunday. When asked about the importance of US support, Zelensky admitted that the Ukrainian military was struggling to deal with Russian UAVs on its own.

“We have a lot of problems with these Shaheds,” he said, referring to Russian Geran-2 long-range drones, which Kiev claims to be Shahed-family UAVs allegedly supplied to Moscow by Tehran. Both Russia and Iran have previously denied the allegations.

The Ukrainian leader then revealed that Kiev had not received a major aid package it was “counting on.” Former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised Ukraine 20,000 anti-drone missiles that were based on a “special technology,” Zelensky claimed. Austin served as the secretary of defense under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden.

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Ukraine Not Reclaiming Bodies for Fear of Admitting Losses, Paying Widows – Medvedev

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.

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Why Ukrainian Regime Doesn’t Want to Accept Dead Soldiers and Wounded POWs

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.”

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Russian MASSIVE ‘Retaliation’ Air Raid Campaign Continues Unabated for a Second Night – Trump Says Ukraine ‘Gave Putin a Reason To Go In and Bomb the Hell Out of Them’

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.”

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Shadow Diplomacy and Sanctions Sabotage: The Constitutional Crisis Brewing in Ukraine

In May and June 2025, a bipartisan delegation including Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Kyiv, Ukraine, where they publicly advocated for escalating sanctions against Russia, China, and India. Their visit and messaging directly contradict President Trump’s ongoing diplomatic approach, which emphasizes restraint, strategic de-escalation, and renewed peace negotiations. This white paper explores the constitutional and national security implications of such rogue diplomacy, warns of the precedent it sets, and offers recommendations to restore executive primacy in foreign affairs.

I. Background and Context

The United States Constitution places the authority over foreign policy firmly within the Executive Branch. Article II, Section 2 vests the President with the power to conduct diplomacy, command the armed forces, and negotiate treaties. While Congress holds sanctioning power and oversight responsibilities, no individual member or coalition has the authority to represent U.S. foreign policy abroad without Executive coordination.

“A lot of countries still buy Russian oil and gas but less. Some European countries still have relationships with Russia, but they’ve been very helpful to Ukraine. So I want to carve them out,” Graham told reporters Wednesday.

“I tell China, if you don’t want to have a 500 percent tariff, help Ukraine.” Lyndsey Graham

In May 2025, Senator Graham led a delegation to Ukraine alongside Senator Blumenthal and Mike Pompeo. During the visit:

  • The group praised Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian airfields.
  • They announced a bipartisan push for a “Sanctioning Russia Act” targeting any country trading with Russia.
  • Graham and Pompeo gave statements suggesting bipartisan U.S. commitment to military and economic escalation.

These actions were taken without President Trump’s authorization and occurred while his administration was pursuing diplomatic de-escalation and ceasefire negotiations through backchannels.

“There’s some of our allies who’ve really helped Ukraine but would be affected by the bill, they’ve earned their way to get a carveout. Those who have helped Ukraine, meaningfully, will get a carveout. In other words you’ll incentivize people to help Ukraine.” Lyndsey Graham

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