Russian President Vladimir Putin

Moscow calls for independence in rebel regions and ban on Kyiv joining Nato or EU, as Kremlin military offensive remains stalled.

Growing evidence of Putin's frustration came on Monday when it emerged that he had been trying to recruit Syrian mercenaries, offering them $200 to $300 a day, to join his faltering invasion. A third round of talks held in Belarus failed to reach agreement on Monday night. Putin's opponents said the offer represented a climbdown on his call to "de-Nazify" Ukraine and showed that his war had been a "failure".

But the United States does not believe that Russia is “preparing to move additional battalion tactical groups from elsewhere in the country” to shore up its ...

But the U.S. does not believe that Russia is “preparing to move additional battalion tactical groups from elsewhere in the country to shore up what they’ve put into Ukraine,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. “I just don’t think we should underestimate that — or the firepower that he is so clearly willing to increase the use of,” the official added. But the United States does not believe that Russia is “preparing to move additional battalion tactical groups from elsewhere in the country” to shore up its troops in Ukraine.

As Russian forces continue to advance across Ukraine, the U.S. is accusing the Kremlin of "starving" besieged Ukrainian cities, in the words of Secretary of ...

[That] is in no one's interest, including in the interest of the Ukrainian people," he said Monday in Riga. And no one -- no one -- should have any doubt about that." Our commitment to Article 5 -- an attack on one is an attack on all -- is ironclad. End it now." "Antony, deterrence is no longer enough, and we need forward defense here in place because otherwise it will be too late here, Mr. Secretary. Putin will not stop in Ukraine. He will not stop. Putin's older brother Viktor died of diphtheria during the siege of Leningrad before Putin was born. After noting that huge spike in refugees, Blinken said alongside Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, "Many more people are trying to flee, but they cannot get out of besieged areas. "Our efforts are all in the direction of ending this war as quickly as possible, ending the suffering as quickly as possible, and what we don't want to do is to widen it and to widen it to our own countries, to our own territory... Let the food and medicine in. Let the people out safely, and end this war of choice against Ukraine," he said. "That siege affected millions of Russian families, including President Putin's, whose one-year-old brother was one of the many victims. As Russian forces continue to advance across Ukraine, the U.S. is accusing the Kremlin of "starving" besieged Ukrainian cities, in the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Monday appealed directly to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to "end the war, end it now."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has now sent about 100 percent of his invasion forces into Ukraine, a senior US defense official said on Monday.

Ukraine's military now estimates that 11,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in fighting along with the loss of 1,000 armoured vehicles, 290 tanks, 68 helicopters, 46 planes and dozens of other piece of hardware. Asked by the BBC on Sunday whether victory for Putin's men was 'inevitable', as many had predicted before the fighting started, he responded: 'No.' The figures have not been independently verified Ukraine's ministry of defence has since claimed the vessel, a corvette named Vasily Bykov, was damaged. Refugees from Irpin flee the area using the last remaining humanitarian corridor that opened at 10am this morning. Images showed it afloat with black smoke pouring out in the early hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has now utilized nearly all the troops he had amassed on Ukraine's borders, a senior U.S. defense official said.

The official added, however, that “nothing has changed about President Biden's very clear direction that we will not be putting U.S. troops in Ukraine.” The United Nations estimates that there are now 1.7 million Ukrainian refugees. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin did deploy roughly 500 U.S. military personnel to locations in Europe “to augment existing forces that are there,” according to the senior defense official. Soldiers help a child cross the river on March 7, 2022, in Irpin, Ukraine, where fighting has been intensifying. The official added that the U.S. has “anecdotal reports that, at places and at times, the Russians have not recovered their dead” troops in Ukraine. Officials in Ukraine have claimed to have killed thousands of Russian forces, and reports that lost troops are being left on the battlefield will likely only add to the backlash Putin is facing at home. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is weighing other ways to hurt Putin financially and further isolate Russia. The president held a secure call with the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Monday where the allies “underscored their commitment to continue providing security, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine,” according to a White House readout that provided few other details.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is surrounded by a deeply loyal entourage, an inner circle that is largely made up of security and military advisors, ...

Vladimir Medinsky, former culture minister of Russia and Putin’s presidential aide, is acting as the primary negotiator in the ongoing Ukrainian war. The 71-year-old has been the Minister of Foreign Affairs for 18 years and is Russia’s most senior diplomat, who has presented Moscow’s views to the world. Often referred to as “Putin’s banker,” Kovalchuk has recently been slapped with sanctions by the EU, US, Canada and Switzerland. However, this is not the first time Kovalchuk is faced with sanctions. Patrushev is one of the three loyalists who have been with Putin since 1970s in St Petersburg. The two other loyalists are security service chief Alexander Bortnikov and foreign intelligence head Sergei Naryshkin. Naryshkin has served as the Director of Foreign Intelligence Service since 2016. He is also in charge of the GRU military intelligence agency.

Putin told Erdogan he was ready for dialogue with Ukraine and foreign partners but any attempt to draw out negotiation would fail, a Kremlin statement said.

The US has told India that the consequences of a “more explicit strategic alignment” with Moscow would be “significant and long-term,” he said. Amid mounting global accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the United States on Wednesday announced a new set of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters Mariya Putina (Vorontsova) and Katerina Tikhonova, and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks. President Joe Biden's top economic adviser said the administration has warned India against aligning itself with Russia, and that US officials have been “disappointed” with some of New Delhi's reaction to the Ukraine invasion. Claiming that India-US ties remain strong in the wake of Russia's invasion, US congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy — an elected representative from Illinois and a member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence — said that different countries have different opinions with regard to different subjects. The US stands ready to support India in its any efforts to diversify its imports, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday his campaign in Ukraine was going according to plan and would not end until Kyiv stopped fighting.

Intelligence sources claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin is suffering from terminal bowel cancer. An ex-military intelligence offer working at the ...

He continued: "He's on either anabolic steroids as a bodybuilder - and he's very proud of his muscles and strips to the waist and everything like that - or he's on corticosteroids. "His look suggests he is in pain and our people suggest his angry look is most likely as a result of him being in agony. The ex-intelligence offer says that his "puffy face" is a sign that he is taking chemotherapy drugs or steroid and that his unsmiling expression shows that is he in constant pain.

The health of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the man behind the invasion of Ukraine, has been called into question – but why are some people claiming ...

His conclusion was that the President would have to quite over health fears. The Daily Mail reported Senator Rubio saying ‘[Putin] is older now. His time is running out on this earth. Even if it’s not something worse than that, it could be that he’s taking high doses of steroids, or there may be something else. What is a cluster bomb? There seems to be an urgency for this that may be also driven by personal factors.”

He told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan today that his campaign in Ukraine was going according to plan and would not end until Kyiv stopped fighting - but ...

"This is a permanent member of the Security Council, and India as well. And now sanctions have kicked in that are truly significant against the Russian economy. "However, this is obviously not true as Russian forces are bogged down in many places. "If he fails and looks weak it looks disastrous at home. "In fact, I think he has given himself no way out. But what I think it's also underlined is that Russia is just not used to doing this type of stuff. The right training and the right skills. He was trying to be manipulative of public opinion. He was trying to be fast. "That's clearly not worked. "He just can't hold that country. It's have you got the right people with the right morale?

Much of the bitterness is directed at President Vladimir V. Putin, but Ukrainians also chastise ordinary Russians, calling them complicit.

The hatred is vented by mothers in bomb shelters, by volunteers preparing to fight on the front lines, by intellectuals and by artists. It is a deep, seething bitterness for President Vladimir V. Putin, his military and his government. “I won’t forgive anyone!”

More than 4,300 people have been arrested after demonstrators took to the streets in 21 Russian cities to condemn Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, ...

“Erdoğan emphasised the importance of taking urgent steps to achieve a ceasefire, open humanitarian corridors and sign a peace agreement.” Police also used loudspeakers to tell a small group of protesters in the city: “Respected citizens, you are taking part in an unsanctioned public event. A video posted on social media showed a protester on a square in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk shouting “No to war – how are you not ashamed?” before being arrested by two police officers. “Because of Putin, Russia now means war for many people,” Navalny said on Friday. “That is not right: it was Putin and not Russia that attacked Ukraine.” Activists put blue and yellow balloons in the hand of a Lenin statue towering over the small square where the rally took place, and the crowd shouted slogans such as “No to war” and “Putin is a dickhead” while waving Ukrainian flags. More than 4,300 people have been arrested after demonstrators took to the streets in 21 Russian cities to condemn Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, while protesters in Kazakhstan have followed suit, turning out in large numbers to chant “No to war” and “Putin is a dickhead”.

The latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war : SYDNEY — Australia's prime minister has described Russia and China's closer relationship as ...

It has invited both to a diplomatic forum in Antalya next week. The war is now in its 11th day. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said Sunday that “those discussions continue” with hope for success, but didn’t name specific cities. Biden and Western allies have until now held off on sanctions against Russia’s lucrative energy industry to avoid blowback on their own economies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on NATO countries to stop the Russian onslaught on his country by imposing a no-fly zone. Potential talks are to be organized in the coming days, he said. He told Putin these facilities must not be targeted by a Russian offensive or caught in the fighting. Ukraine’s regulatory authority said that phone lines, as well as e-mails and fax, are no longer working. AmEx cards issued locally in Russia by the country’s banks will also no longer work outside of Russia. The announcement comes after TikTok said users on its platform in Russia have been blocked from posting and viewing videos shared from elsewhere in the world. “I didn’t hear even a single world leader react to this,” Zelenskyy said. He did not say how many of the foreign volunteers have arrived in Ukraine.