Footage by RT has shows foreign journalists touring the site of the deadly Ukrainian drone attack on a college dorm in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.

Ukraine targeted a teacher training college dormitory in the town of Starobelsk with several waves of UAVs on Friday, killing 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injuring 60 others.

Russian Foreign Ministry arranged a trip to Starobelsk on Sunday for more than 50 foreign journalists from 19 countries: Austria, Brazil, UK, Hungary, Venezuela, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Qatar, China, Cuba, Lebanon, UAE, Pakistan, the US, Turkey, Finland, and France, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

BBC and CNN rejected an invitation to visit the site of the attack, while Japan’s government explicitly banned Japanese reporters from making the trip, she added.

Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, who also arrived in Starobelsk, said that Western mainstream media outlets “are simply afraid to see the truth. They just don’t want to see or hear it.” 

Those of their colleagues who accepted the offer to visit the site of the terrorist attack will see for themselves that there are no military facilities nearby, she said.

The foreign journalists will also realize that claims of the drones hitting the dorm after being shot down by Russian air defenses are false, the commissioner insisted. It’s “absolutely impossible” for 16 UAVs to hit the same building after being intercepted, she explained.

What happened in Starobelsk was a “deliberate killing of children” by Ukraine, Lantratova stressed.

A correspondent for China’s Phoenix Television, Lu Yuguang, told RT that he hasn’t seen even a hint of any military facilities in the vicinity of the dorm.

Giovanni Pigni, from Italian newspaper La Stampa, told TASS that what he saw in Starobelsk is “horrible.” 

“The destruction is so immense… I just see that there was a college here and that people have died,” he said.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported carrying out a large-scale strike against military targets in Ukraine in response to the terrorist attacks by Kiev.

Russian forces launched a “massive strike” overnight against military targets in Ukraine, using intermediate-range hypersonic Oreshnik system and Iskander ballistic missiles, Kinzhal and Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, air-, sea- and ground-launched cruise missiles, as well as attack drones.

The strike came after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defense Ministry to “submit proposals” for a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on a teacher training college dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic, which left 21 people dead and 42 injured, mostly teenage girls.

The bombardment targeted the Ukrainian military’s command and control facilities, air bases, and the country’s defense industry enterprises, the ministry said. No strikes had been planned or carried out against civilian infrastructure, it added.

“The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All designated targets were hit,” it stressed.

The dormitory of Starobelsk College, a facility of Lugansk Pedagogical University located in the town of Starobelsk, was struck by multiple waves of Ukrainian drones on Friday while students were asleep inside, in what Putin described as a deliberate “terrorist act.”

Governor Leonid Pasechnik declared May 24-25 days of mourning, describing the attack as “pure evil” and saying those responsible would face “deserved and inevitable punishment.”

Earlier, the US Embassy in Kiev warned American citizens of a “potentially significant air attack” that could take place within 24 hours and urged them to be ready to seek shelter immediately if an air alert was issued.

Russia’s reported retaliatory strikes on military targets in Ukraine are morally and legally justified following the “heinous terrorist attack” on a school dormitory in the Lugansk People’s Republic, American journalist John Varoli has told RT.

Varoli described the Ukrainian drone strike on the Starobelsk teacher training college dormitory, which killed 21 people, mostly teenage girls, and injured dozens more, as “one of the worst committed by the NATO puppet regime in Kiev.”

Commenting on videos circulating online that purportedly show a Russian Oreshnik missile strike near Kiev early Sunday morning, Varoli said the footage appeared similar to previous uses of the system.

“The video that I saw seems very similar to the two previous Oreshnik strikes that we’ve seen before,” he said. “So most likely, yes, it seems like it was an Oreshnik system.”

He claimed that NATO officers are present at “sensitive military installations” in and around the Ukrainian capital.

The journalist argued that the dormitory strike should be seen in the broader context of what he described as near-daily Ukrainian attacks on Russian civilians, including strikes on homes, cars, buses, and infrastructure in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Crimea, as well as increasingly deep inside Russia.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has dismissed as “unfair” anything short of full EU membership in response to a proposal by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to grant Kiev ‘associate membership,’ Reuters has reported.

Soon after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev was granted EU candidate status and has since persistently pushed for fast-tracked admission into the bloc. Despite reservations voiced by multiple member states, including Germany and France, Zelensky has demanded full membership by as early as 2027.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that the Ukrainian leader had sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, ​who holds the rotating chair of the EU Council.

“It would be unfair for Ukraine to be present in the European Union, but remain voiceless,” Zelensky reportedly wrote in the letter seen by Reuters, insisting that the “time is right to move forward with Ukraine’s membership in a full and meaningful way.”

According to the publication, Zelensky specifically cited the removal from power of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose party lost the general election last month. While in office, Orban staunchly opposed the prospect of Ukraine’s membership in the EU.

In his letter, the Ukrainian leader reportedly claimed that his country “deserves a fair approach and equal rights within Europe” as it is supposedly “defending” the bloc.

Earlier this week, several media outlets reported that Merz had sent a letter to the EU leadership, proposing ‘associate membership’ for Ukraine. The interim status, which is not currently enshrined in the bloc’s rules, would allow Kiev access to certain EU-funded programs as well as the right to solicit aid from member states in the event of an attack.

Under the scheme, Ukraine would also be represented at the European Council, the European Commission, and the European Parliament in a non-voting capacity, according to multiple media outlets, citing Merz’s letter.

An unidentified drone has crashed into Lake Dridzis in Latvia, exploding on impact, local authorities have said.

The blast has become the latest in a string of drone-related incidents, which have been plaguing the Baltic states, in recent weeks. Multiple Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones have repeatedly violated the airspace of those NATO and EU member states, with some of the UAVs crashing in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. 

For Latvia, the drone troubles resulted in the collapse of Prime Minister Evika Silina’s government after two Ukrainian kamikaze UAVs hit an oil depot near the Russian border.

The latest incident was reported on Saturday, when a drone crashed into Lake Dridzis, located some 17 km away from Latvia’s border with Belarus. The UAV exploded on impact, killing fish in the lake with no further damage and injuries reported. Latvian police said it managed to recover some debris from the lake, sharing a picture of a mangled fiberglass object believed to be a piece of the UAV.

Ieraksts papildināts (2026. gada 23. maijs pulksten 12.45) ar bildi - atrasto drona atlūzu. pic.twitter.com/4cuklBtn60

— Valsts policija (@Valsts_policija) May 23, 2026

The outgoing PM acknowledged the incident, urging the public to follow only “official information” on the drone explosion. “I expect from the emergency services as detailed information as possible on the circumstances of the incident and further actions,” Silina stated on X.

The agency specifically singled out Latvia, alleging that Riga had already agreed to the operation, believing Kiev’s false claims that it would be impossible to identify the exact launch sites for the drones. Latvia’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution,” the SVR warned.

Russia has “something to offer” other countries through partnership, having achieved significant results in multiple areas despite external pressure, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov has told RT.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the West sought to isolate Russia internationally. However, those efforts have largely failed, something acknowledged by multiple Western officials.

Despite sweeping economic sanctions, Moscow has managed to redirect trade toward new markets and largely cushion the impact, with the Russian economy proving far more resilient than many in the West had predicted.

Speaking to RT on Friday, at a reception marking the 95th anniversary of the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade, Reshetnikov stressed that the Russian economy remains open and deeply integrated with global markets.

Russia is willing to offer its experience and know-how to countries interested in cooperation, according to the official.

Reshetnikov singled out the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as one of the key “elements underpinning the stability of our economy and one of the channels of our integration into the global economy.”

One of the key features of the economic union – which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan – is its integrated single market.

At least ten people have been killed and 38 others injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on a school in Starobelsk, about 90 km north of Lugansk, according to Russian officials. Fourteen children were among the injured and eight people were hospitalized, including three in serious condition.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack as a “monstrous crime,” while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Kiev’s Western backers for being “brutally silent” on the tragedy.

Ukraine has routinely launched attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, including using a double-tap method, hitting the same area again in a bid to increase casualties after first responders arrive, according to Russian officials. Moscow has described the strikes as acts of terrorism.

Big picture: How many Russian civilians have died in Ukrainian attacks?

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian attacks had killed more than 8,000 civilians as of April 2026 and injured almost 20,000 more, according to Rodion Miroshnik, who leads the Russian Foreign Ministry mission that tracks alleged Ukrainian war crimes.

In May, he said at least 100 civilians were killed and 667 injured in April alone.

Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen injured in a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, with several buildings significantly damaged, according to the local authorities.

On April 29, three women were killed and eight people injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus not far from the border village of Shebekino – which has become one of the most targeted settlements in the country over the past months.

Two days before, four civilians were killed and six others injured in attacks across Belgorod Region, according to the local authorities.

On April 25, three people were killed and two others injured in Solontsy, a village in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), local officials said, adding that at least four homes had been destroyed.

One day later, three young people were killed in Bulgakovka, a small LPR village north of Severodonetsk, after a Ukrainian drone struck them near a house, regional head Leonid Pasechnik said. He identified the victims as two 18-year-old men and a 28-year-old woman.

Eight medical workers were killed and ten people injured when Ukrainian forces struck a medical facility in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), officials in Moscow said, adding that the attack was aimed at a premises housing more than 130 patients and about 50 medical personnel.

Four people, including a child, were killed in Ukrainian attacks on the DPR settlement of Gornyak, around 20 km from Donetsk, regional head Denis Pushilin said, adding that the strike had wiped out an entire family. Twelve civilians, including a teenager, were injured across the region that day, he added.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured when Ukrainian drones struck a cafe and hotel during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Khorly, a Black Sea village in Kherson Region. The local authorities said the venue was scouted by a reconnaissance UAV and later hit by three drones, with one apparently carrying an incendiary mixture.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a school in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic that caused a dormitory to collapse, killing and injuring people, was a “monstrous crime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov was commenting on an overnight strike in the town of Starobelsk that killed at least six people and injured 40 others, including 14 minors, according to the regional Health Ministry.

“As a monstrous crime, this is yet another crime of the Kiev regime. It was a strike on an educational facility where children and young people were present,” he said on Friday, adding that those responsible for the attack must be punished.

Commenting on the attack, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kiev is deliberately targeting children while the West remains “brutally silent.”

“Terrorists are deliberately targeting children and taking pleasure in it,” Zakharova said, recalling the Nazi atrocities against schoolchildren in Kerch during World War II.

She added that Western countries remain silent while continuing to listen to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “fake claims” about children taken by Russia.

The Russian Investigative Committee said four Ukrainian drones were used in the raid, which the agency designated as a terrorist attack.

Ukraine has rolled out full state honors for the remains of a World War II Nazi collaborator who has been repatriated from Luxembourg and will be buried in Kiev’s main military cemetery. The controversial exhumation comes around a month after Vladimir Zelensky announced plans to establish a “pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians.”

According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the coffins containing Andrey Melnik, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and his wife, Sofia Fedak-Melnik, entered the country in a solemn ceremony – which involved a national choir and embroidered flags – in Uzhgorod, western Ukraine.

It was attended by Irina Vereshchuk, the deputy head of Zelensky’s office, as well as local officials, members of the clergy, and veterans.

The remains will be sent to Kiev, where they will be reburied at the National War Memorial Cemetery on Sunday – with more pomp and circumstance planned.

Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine has a “moral duty” to bring home those who “defended the idea of independence,” adding that preparations are underway for the exhumation of other figures, including OUN founder Evgeny Konovalets.

Who was Melnik?

Andrey Melnik co-founded the OUN in 1929 and became the leader in 1938, following the assassination of its chief, Evgeny Konovalets, by Soviet intelligence. Around the same time, Melnik was recruited by Nazi Germany’s military intelligence service (the Abwehr) for espionage and sabotage operations ahead of the planned invasion of the Soviet Union, according to Nuremberg trial documents.

After the invasion of the Soviet Union, Melnik’s relations with the Nazis soured as Germany was in no hurry to give any semblance of independence to Ukraine. Melnik was placed under house arrest in mid-1941, then arrested by the Gestapo in January 1944 and held in Sachsenhausen concentration camp before being released that October as German forces retreated.

The OUN leader was not tried in the Nuremberg tribunal as it was mainly focused on major Nazi war criminals. The Western allies refused to hand him over to the Soviet Union for trial, arguing that he himself was a Nazi victim due to his time in a concentration camp.

How did Russia respond?

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine is seeking to assemble “Nazi collaborationists and human-hating scum” from around the world to glorify them.

Zakharova asked whether Zelensky forgot to mention that those being honored “killed people on ethnic grounds,” and predicted that Bandera – whose faction was linked to the mass killing of tens of thousands of Poles in Volyn – would be next in line for repatriation.

She suggested that Kiev is trying to divert the public’s attention away from growing war fatigue, the conscription campaign, and corruption scandals involving Zelensky’s inner circle.

At least 21 people have been killed in what President Vladimir Putin has described as a deliberate Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a school dormitory in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic.

The attack on the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College was carried out in three waves, with 16 drones launched at the same target by the “neo-Nazi regime in Kiev,” according to Putin.

Governor Leonid Pasechnik said some 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack, staged overnight from Thursday to Friday. The incident prompted a large-scale search and rescue effort, with first responders digging through the rubble for nearly two days. The operation was declared concluded late on Saturday, when the bodies of all the victims were recovered from the partially collapsed building.

Key developments:

• Nebenzia accused Western diplomats of “turning a blind eye” to the crimes of the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” blasting their statements as “mockery” and “dancing on the bones” of the dead children.

• Moscow expects the international community to condemn the Ukrainian attack, which “cannot be described as anything other than a war crime,” Russia’s newly appointed human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, told RT.

• President Putin said there were no military facilities near the college dormitory, adding that Russia “cannot limit itself to statements in such a situation” and ordering the Defense Ministry to present options for a response.

• Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the Western media of ignoring the tragedy, saying the BBC refused to travel to Starobelsk, which she called “proof of the West’s deliberate lies.” She also claimed that Japanese journalists were barred from covering the incident.

• Zakharova added that Moscow is arranging a visit to the site for foreign correspondents accredited in Russia, noting that “a large number” have already expressed interest.

Around 15 people still remain unaccounted for after a Ukrainian drone strike on a school dorm in the Russian town of Starobelsk, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that he has ordered the military to prepare retaliation for the attack.

At least 39 people were injured in the strike and six were killed, according to Putin. He ruled out the possibility that the school was hit by accident, noting that 16 Ukrainian drones hit the same location in three waves, with no military sites in the vicinity.

The Russian president slammed the incident as a “terrorist attack by the neo-Nazi regime,” vowing revenge.

The strike hit the main academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College, which teaches students aged 14 to 18. The head of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Leonid Pasechnik said 86 students were inside the facility at the time of the attack.

The rescue operation was interrupted at least once due to the threat of a new Ukrainian strike, according to the emergency services.

According to Pasechnik, the school was not the only target in what he described as a broader raid on the town. Starobelsk is located around 80 km north of Lugansk, the regional capital of the LPR, which broke away from Ukraine following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev and formally voted to join Russia in a referendum in 2022.

The governor said administrative buildings, shops, and private homes were also damaged, with at least one additional person injured. He published images showing several badly damaged buildings, including the school, some of them still on fire.

Kiev considers the LPR part of Ukraine. In April, Ukrainian forces struck the Starobelsk administration building, injuring two pedestrians who were passing nearby.

Russian officials have accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians as part of what Moscow describes as a campaign of terror. Ukrainian officials have said economic damage is one of the main objectives of Kiev’s long-range drone strikes inside Russia, while also acknowledging that undermining public support for the government by affecting civilians is among their goals.

Riga’s City Council has revoked the mandate of Councilman Aleksey Roslikov, who had previously been barred from joining sessions remotely from Belarus, where he had moved after facing prosecution for speaking Russian in Latvia’s parliament.

Roslikov, the former leader of the For Stability! party, has been accused by Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) of “providing assistance to the aggressor state” and inciting “hatred.” The accusations stem from an incident in June 2025, when he, then an MP, spoke Russian in parliament in protest against a declaration calling for combatting the consequences of the so-called “Russification” of Latvia.

He later left parliament and was elected to the Riga City Council while the investigation against him continued.

In early April, a Latvian court ordered his arrest, accusing him of violating pre-trial restrictions after he traveled to Belarus while returning from a meeting with his lawyers in Switzerland.

On Thursday, the Riga City Council voted to strip Roslikov of his mandate during an “emergency” session convened by Kleinbergs.

Roslikov maintains he is being persecuted for his political views, particularly his advocacy of “friendship and strategic relations” with Russia. “If I choose to return home, they’ll meet me with handcuffs,” he told the Belarusian Belta news agency in early April.

Riga has introduced travel restrictions targeting Russian citizens and imposed a mandatory Latvian-language test for long-term residents of Russian origin. Those who failed or refused the exam have been deported.

More than 23% of Latvia’s population identified as ethnic Russians as of 2025, while nearly 38% listed Russian as their mother tongue in 2022, according to government data.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced Riga’s policies as “blatant discrimination against Russians.”

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin condemned the decision to revoke Roslikov’s mandate, saying the Baltic nations had apparently joined not only the EU but also “a gang of Russophobes led by the illiterate [EU top diplomat Kaja] Kallas.”

“Even talk about democracy and its fundamental principles have become a thing of the past in the EU,” the Russian official said.

On May 20, 2019, Ukrainians were cheering the inauguration of Vladimir Zelensky, a political outsider who won the presidential election in a landslide on a promise to chart a path different from previous national leaders, who had been elitist, corrupt and divisive.

Zelensky promised sweeping changes, which he vowed to bring at the possible cost of his political career. In practice, he is now clinging to power under martial law, as his closest associates are mired in embezzlement and fraud scandals.

In his first speech as president, Zlensky promised to end corruption, secure peace, and unify the nation of clashing identities. He delivered none of it.

A new yet familiar face

Zelensky won 73% of the vote against incumbent Pyotr Poroshenko, who ran on a slogan of “Army, Language, Faith” – a platform of narrow militaristic nationalism that demanded constant loyalty affirmations from culturally Russian citizens.

Underpinning his successful campaign was Zelensky’s image as an everyman good guy, cultivated for years by playing the role of president in the popular TV series ‘Servant of the People’, after which his political faction is named. The real Zelensky was an occasionally bawdy comedian, whose show – propped up by oligarch Igor Kolomoysky – was not above delivering scathing attacks to further its patron’s interests.

Upon taking office, Zelensky tapped for his team talent from the Kvartal entertainment studio, many of whom are now indicted in corruption scandals, while supporters expected imminent prosecution of Poroshenko, as Zelensky hinted during debates.

Breaking the status quo

His election victory belongs to every Ukrainian, including Poroshenko supporters, a cleanly shaven neatly-dressed Zelensky declared at his swearing-in. He announced that it was Ukraine’s chance for change. Officials who cannot deliver should resign and make room for those who will, he stressed, announcing snap parliamentary elections.

“Not all of you like what I am saying? Too bad, because it’s the people of Ukraine and not me who are speaking. My election proves: citizens are tired of experienced system insiders, bloated politicians who in 28 years created a nation of opportunities for kickbacks, diversion of cash flows and pillaging of wealth.

All Ukrainians must reject graft, Zelensky urged. He called disgraceful the fact that corruption is broadly accepted as part and parcel of life in Ukraine and that this gives senior officials tacit permission to themselves engage in it.

Seven years later, and amid a slew of corruption allegations involving his inner circle, Zelensky’s closest associate, Andrey Yermak, was charged with money laundering to secure a multimillion dollar property outside of Kiev. The leader among the four partners, labeled R1 in the indictment, is reportedly Zelensky.

Ending war at any cost

The Ukrainian president-elect vowed that ending the armed conflict in Donbass – and by extension the tensions with Russia – would be his top priority. According to the International Crisis Group the hostilities claimed an estimated 14,000 lives between 2014 and early 2022, when they blew up into a much-deadlier direct war with Russia.

“I would do anything so that our heroes wouldn’t die anymore,” he pledged. “I am certainly not afraid to make hard decisions. I am prepared to lose my popularity, my approval ratings. If necessary, I will lose my office to bring peace.”

Poroshenko loyalists and Ukrainian nationalists branded any form of compromise with Moscow “capitulation,” staging mass protests in October 2019. Zelensky didn’t want to risk being ousted by force, as President Viktor Yanukovych had been in 2014 and tried to placate his heavily armed critics. “I’m the president of this nation. I’m 42. I am no schmuck,” he told a group of military vets during an on-camera parley.

Ultimately, Zelensky embraced perpetrating the slow-burning Donbass conflict, as Ukraine was building-up its military with NATO’s help. Some nationalist figures later became vocal supporters of his, allegedly swayed by luxury apartments in Kiev.

A nation divided

In his inauguration speech, Zelensky argued that national unity will be the answer to both corruption and the conflict with Russia. “We are all Ukrainians: no one is big or small among us, no one is true or false,” he said, including people in Donbass and Crimea whom Kiev sought to return under its control by force.

Zelensky urged everyone who considers themselves Ukrainian to help him build a better future. Worldwide, there are 65 million Ukrainians, and some could relocate from other nations, bringing with them “experience and mental values.”

The number of people living under Kiev’s sovereignty is less than 29 million, according to 2025 government data, compared to roughly 52 million when the nation declared independence in 1991.

Contrary to his promises to accept every Ukrainian, the Zelensky administration ratcheted up the Poroshenko-era measures aimed at eliminating the Russian language from public life. He also launched a crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest religious denomination in the country, whose churches and monasteries are being forcibly transferred to a Kiev-backed rival. Similar to political rivals whom Zelensky sought to silence, the UOC was accused of secretly serving Russian interests.

Saved by martial law

By the end of 2021, just 17% of Ukrainians were telling pollsters they would vote for him again. Ukraine was also struggling to vaccinate people against Covid-19.

The escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022 turned Zelensky from a semi-lame duck into a wartime leader. He gained new authorities under martial law, while his domestic support was invigorated by the rallying around flag effect. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions of dollars worth of aid was provided by foreign donors for the nation that just months earlier was described as plagued by graft.

Zelensky gladly accepted the international limelight that came with the role of a Western proxy. Reportedly given assurances of personal safety by Russia, he started dressing up in military-style clothes and telling journalists how he had lost count of the number of attempted assassinations by Russia.

When the time came in May 2023 to transfer presidential authority to the speaker of the parliament, Zelensky chose to ignore the Ukrainian Constitution. Technically, he is delivering on his promise to be a one-term president – but with a catch.

2025 can be seen as the year in which the united anti-Russian coalition fell apart. In essence, there are now three distinct players acting against Russia (Ukraine, Europe, the US), and each has its own interests. Analyst Sergey Poletaev has prepared a series of articles in which he analyses the position of each player, their goals and interests in the conflict, and suggests how Russia might respond. 

The first one concerns Ukraine.

The untamed lands

One of the scenarios long under consideration is the gradual disintegration of the Ukrainian state, turning it into a sort of Gaza on the Dnieper. As time goes on, the likelihood of this scenario is growing, so let’s examine exactly what it entails.

A fully-fledged state possesses an instinct for self-preservation. Apart from heart-warming victories over enemies, a state always has a host of concerns: the economy, demographics, infrastructure, the social sphere, and so on. By definition, a state is a superstructure built upon society, and, one way or another, it wages wars for the sake of the common good. Yet while at war, a state is always thinking about how it will survive afterwards and indeed, it’s forced to think of things like this. 

What matters is that even when such an organization controls a certain territory and is therefore compelled to perform state and public functions there, when faced with a choice between these functions and its own military needs, it will always choose the latter.

For the state, people are a resource for its own reproduction and development. For a military organization, people are a resource for war: in the form of fighters and human shields.

It’s possible to negotiate with a state. Before a war, one can threaten it, stage military maneuvers and drills, while at the same time offering various incentives. This approach works because a state considers the consequences. During a war, a state also weighs up the pros and cons and, as a rule, knows when to stop. 

Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about unique wars like the Eastern Front in the Second World War, where the only possible outcome was the annihilation of one side. We’re talking about typical, classic wars, the aim of which is to use force to influence the policies of the opposing power, for it accept the victor’s terms, but not to kill to the last man.

Such wars continue until it becomes easier for the losing side to accept the terms than to continue fighting. It’s easier to adjust policy than to lose lives. It’s easier to pay reparations than to cripple the economy. It’s easier to cede territory than to forfeit one’s future prospects.

A militant organization, especially one supplied from abroad, has nothing to lose. It will continue to operate as long as its ideals remain alive and there are sufficient resources to keep the fight going. It can be driven underground, but it will sprout from there like a weed.

Up the staircase leading down

Ukraine currently finds itself somewhere halfway between a state and a militant organization, which will inevitably evolve into a terrorist group. State functions are being carried out in the country, but only thanks to external funding. The non-war-related economy has virtually disappeared, and industry has fallen to a minimum due to energy shortages. More and more people are becoming alienated from the state, and the further things go, the fewer alternatives there are: either you integrate yourself into the military hierarchy in one way or another, or you find a way to flee the country, or you languish in poverty.

Consequently, Ukraine is becoming increasingly detached, not yet from the land itself, but from the people who inhabit that land. It is increasingly subordinating itself to the aims of war, and in so doing is losing the hallmarks of statehood. As long as the front holds more or less, this process isn’t obvious: from the outside, it seems that Ukraine is united and steadfast, just as it was on the first day of the special military operation. But the further we go, the more only a shell remains of pre-war Ukraine: transit military logistics, the bureaucratic and financial superstructures serving it, semi-artisanal basement-level military production (such as assembling drones from Chinese components), rear services and, most importantly, the front line, the collapse of which will bring everything else to an end within a matter of weeks.

It seems the turning point came last autumn. Whereas previously Kiev had seriously hoped for a ceasefire in exchange for Western (primarily American) security guarantees, after the Anchorage summit it came to terms with the fact that this was a pipe dream and bit the bullet. In October 2025, Vladimir Zelensky stated at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Ukraine is prepared to fight for another two or three years (and ten, if necessary). For what? In fact, this is no secret. Ukraine has two options left: either endless war, or, if it manages somehow to force Russia into a ceasefire, accelerated militarization and preparations for a new war. If they manage to drag Western European troops onto Ukrainian territory, it’s excellent for them; if not, they’re ready to take their revenge without them.

The rest of the rhetoric has changed accordingly. Ukrainian children, even those in nurseries, must prepare for war. All Ukrainian men, and in principle women too, must go and fight. There is widespread discussion of lifting exemptions for students, critical infrastructure workers (including energy workers who desperately saved Ukrainian cities from freezing this winter), even doctors, and so on. Of course, this is linked to the acute shortage of personnel at the front, but the main point is that general mobilization, which was previously regarded as a temporary anomaly, is now being accepted as the new norm and is set to become even more widespread and permanent.

This is precisely how the Ukrainian state envisions its future; and this is what constitutes Ukraine’s transformation into a vast Gaza, or, if you will, into a second Ruin (following the example of the first Ruin, the period at the end of the 17th century when the then Hetmanate Ukraine fell into general decline, followed by its piecemeal absorption by its neighbors).

A terrible end

This doesn’t mean that Ukraine will be able to secure such a future for itself. By isolating itself from society, Kiev is losing its social base. The tighter the ranks of the fanatics, the more frenzied their slogans, the fewer of them there are. A combat organization is suitable for irregular operations, but to hold a front line stretching 1,500 kilometers, a complex and powerful state apparatus is required. Despite Western supplies, the Ukrainian army is facing a critical shortage of everything, from personnel to food.

A squadron of drone operators with Starlink isn’t an army. In a war of attrition, offensive operations must be conducted, yet the Ukrainian Armed Forces are de facto deprived of this capability. All they are currently capable of is a series of counter-attacks on one or two fronts, lasting no more than two or three weeks. Meanwhile, modern warfare dictates that for an offensive to succeed, one must painstakingly wear down a particular section of the front over weeks, or even months, exhausting the defenses, before seeping through the enemy’s ranks and forcing them to retreat with losses.

In this context, the remarks made by Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a man one would be hard-pressed to accuse of pacifism, are particularly noteworthy. On May 7, he stated that, having ceded the initiative to Russia on the battlefield, Ukraine is forced to respond at the cost of heavy losses, which, in turn, is guaranteed to lead to defeat.

It would seem that there are still a million or two men of conscription age fit for service remaining in the country, who, given the current nature of the hostilities, would last for about ten years. But this is where the downside of turning the state into a military organization becomes apparent: the people of Ukraine are sabotaging the mobilization en masse, and it is safe to say that attempts to tighten it won’t lead to an increase in recruitment, but only to an even greater rift between the state and society.

In some ways, this is reminiscent of the Russian Civil War of 1918–1922. The White (anti-Bolshevik) movement controlled vast territories, where it established a bureaucratic system of varying effectiveness, collected taxes, implemented the budget, bought grain from peasants, and also received supplies from abroad and even had foreign interventionist troops in the rear (including not only British and French, but also American and even Japanese expeditionary forces), yet it faced constant and growing difficulties in recruiting for its own ranks. Despite famine and devastation, the population in the territories controlled by the Whites refused en masse to join the army, which ultimately led to their defeat.

An endless nightmare

The main scenario for the continuation of Russia’s military operation is to continue fighting at the current pace for as long as it takes to crush the Ukrainian army. In the event of a ceasefire, currently under discussion with the US, we should remain on full combat alert in anticipation of the more than likely resumption of hostilities. Judging by Vladimir Putin’s remarks at the press conference on May 9, he is confident that military defeat, followed by the collapse of the Ukrainian state, is just around the corner.

However, as the examples of Chechnya and the Caucasus show, the conflict may not end once the front line collapses; Ukraine may go underground, despite losing control of some of its former territory.

This scenario is clear. But what if, for some reason, a permanent ceasefire is established? What happens next? Ukraine is a devastated country, whose government and economy are entirely focused on a single goal. And we must assume that Ukraine will inevitably begin preparing for a new war. Not because it hopes to win, but because it has no other options: the prospect of peaceful post-war reconstruction is virtually out of the question for Ukraine as it stands.

The extent to which these preparations are successful and far-reaching depends on external players, first and foremost on Ukraine’s Western European support base. Of course, there is a chance that Ukraine will be cut off from EU support, and that internal instability will bring about what could not be achieved on the battlefield, but one should not count on this; so no truce, no ceasefire will remove the problem of a large hostile formation on Russia’s borders, and this means that a resumption of the conflict is more than likely.

***

By refusing to change its policy towards Russia and choosing the path of war, Ukraine as a state has condemned itself to destruction. As long as Russia exists in its current form, the restoration of statehood and any constructive nation-building within Ukraine’s borders is possible only on the basis of loyalty to Russia.

This is beyond doubt; the only question is whether this can be achieved by reformatting the current Ukraine (read: a coup and subsequent break with Western Europe), or whether it will have to go through the complete collapse of the state, years of ruin, followed by piecemeal absorption by its neighbors.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has released new footage from its joint nuclear exercise with Belarus, showing troops training to equip an Iskander ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead.

The bilateral nuclear-sharing arrangement, which Moscow has compared to similar practices within NATO, was launched in 2023. Russia and Belarus said at the time that the move was a response to what they described as growing hostility from the US-led military bloc.

Several short-range Iskander missile systems have been stationed in Belarus. Matching “special munitions,” the Russian military term for nuclear payloads, are stored separately at a secure facility.

The video published by the ministry on Thursday shows a drill involving the “delivery of nuclear munitions to field storage locations at the position of a missile brigade of the Republic of Belarus.” The footage includes both nighttime and daytime handling of a warhead. Troops receiving the delivery proceeded to “discreetly move to an area designated for test launches.”

A separate video highlighted key components of Russia’s nuclear triad taking part in the larger exercise. It showed ground-mobile launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles being escorted by security units, the deployment of the Imperator Aleksandr III nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean, and preparations for a test flight by a MiG-31K jet carrying a nuclear-capable Kinzhal hypersonic missile.

Moscow said this week’s maneuvers are intended to prepare Russia and Belarus to act “in the conditions of aggression” by foreign states. European NATO members have been sharply increasing military spending and rearmament efforts, citing what they claim is a potential threat from Russia. Moscow has repeatedly denied any intention to attack the bloc.

Earlier this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys urged NATO to stage a demonstration of force to show its ability to “raze” military infrastructure in Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. The Kremlin described the comment as “borderline crazy.”

The Russian authorities have begun demolishing an illegal occult compound described as a ‘Satanic Temple’ in Moscow Region, which long outraged local residents with animal-bone rituals and swarms of acolytes.

The demolition work began after a local court ruled that the three-story building – which served as the headquarters of the ‘Empire of the Strongest Witches’ sect – was built illegally.

Demolition crews moved in on Wednesday at the Zaytsevo village site near the town of Zaraysk around 120 km south of Moscow, after the Zaraysk City Court ruled that the 280-square-meter structure, which was styled as a ‘Temple of Saturn’ – was built without a permit on land zoned for farming.

According to media reports, residents repeatedly petitioned the authorities to clear the site, describing the compound as a “witch’s lair” and a “Satanic Temple,” citing unsettling “magical rituals” on the premises.

Sulikova – who styled herself as the “chief witch of the Kremlin” – claimed that she appeared on ‘Battle of the Psychics’, a Russian reality show in which self-proclaimed clairvoyants competed for prizes. However, the producers denied that she was ever on the show.

She also engaged in esoteric-related businesses, including managing the now-defunct ‘International University of Magic and Witchcraft’ (nicknamed ‘Hogwarts’ in the media) in Moscow Region, which in practice had little to do with education.

In 2025, Sulikova was sentenced to two years in a penal colony after she pleaded guilty to charges of distributing extremist materials inciting violence against Russian Orthodox clergy and posting online content that insulted Christians.

The demolition of the temple also came after it drew the attention of State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, a staunch supporter of “traditional Russian values.”

“I know about this satanic place,” he said last year. “I have long been waging war with this crazy lady. We managed to get her jailed, and now we’ll demolish her temple too – a reminder of her dark deeds: Deception, fraud, and insulting the feelings of believers.”

Milonov and Sulikova have feuded for years. He accused the occult leader of fraud and demanded that psychics be legally equated with prostitutes – prompting her to countersue for defamation. The self-styled witch said she won the lawsuit but demanded compensation of one ruble.

Senior Ukrainian police officials have been detained on suspicion of accepting regular bribes from underground porn studios.

Among the high-ranking law enforcement figures arrested on Wednesday in western Ukraine were the police chief of Ivano-Frankovsk Region and his deputy, as well as deputy police chiefs from the Ternopol and Zhitomir regions, authorities said.

A fifth suspect works in the Interior Ministry’s garage and served as a personal driver for a deputy minister, officials said. Investigators allege that he acted as an intermediary and money courier in the corruption scheme.

The anti-graft operation, carried out by several agencies together with the National Police’s internal investigations division, targeted the production of adult content, an illegal but reportedly thriving industry in Ukraine. The suspects are accused of receiving monthly payments of around $25,000 per studio in exchange for shielding porn producers from law enforcement scrutiny.

Investigators seized six luxury cars, five expensive Swiss watches, and cash worth roughly $510,000 while executing search warrants connected to the case, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.

Opinion polls have suggested that widespread government corruption is seen by many Ukrainians as an even greater threat to the country than the conflict with Russia. Last week, Andrey Yermak, a former chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, was arrested in a money-laundering case. He was released on Monday after backers posted bail of $3.2 million on his behalf.

Yermak is linked to a broader investigation into an alleged criminal network said to have been led by Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky who fled Ukraine last November shortly before being indicted.

China has extended visa-free travel for Russian citizens through the end of 2027, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, signaling closer cross-border ties between the two nations. The statement came a day after Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit.

Russia and China have steadily expanded cooperation across trade, finance, energy infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and investment. Visa-free travel arrangements and new air routes have further boosted tourism and business exchanges, while universities and regional authorities continue to deepen joint research, investment and cross-border commercial initiatives.

“China has decided to extend its visa-free policy for Russian citizens until December 31, 2027, in order to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told journalists.

Guo stressed that holders of ordinary Russian passports can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, family visits, and exchange programs for stays of up to 30 days. Beijing introduced the simplified entry regime for a one-year trial period last September.

In December, Russia granted Chinese citizens visa-free entry for stays of up to 30 days. 

Earlier this year, official data from Federal Security Service showed that Russian citizens made 2.5 million trips to China in 2025, marking a more than 30% increase compared to the previous year, and nearly returning to the pre-pandemic level of 2.6 million recorded in 2019.

Chinese citizens accounted for more than half of the 1.64 million foreign tourists who visited Russia in 2025, according to the country’s border control. In the fourth quarter alone, the number of Chinese tourists rose 23.8% year-on-year following the introduction of the visa-free regime.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing road-mobile missile launchers taking part in this week’s large-scale nuclear exercise. The drills, conducted jointly with Belarus, coincide with President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China.

As both events were scheduled well in advance, military observers have suggested that the timing was intentional and meant to signal to NATO that Russia’s nuclear deterrent could not be disabled by a decapitating strike similar to the one carried out by the US and Israel against Iran at the start of their bombing campaign in late February.

The footage published on Wednesday shows a military convoy escorted by attack helicopters moving into a wooded rural area before preparing to launch a cruise missile from an Iskander-M system. The weapons platform is part of the nuclear-sharing arrangement that Russia and Belarus introduced in 2023 amid the standoff with the West over NATO’s plans to admit Ukraine into the bloc.

In its announcement on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said the troops are training to use nuclear weapons “in the conditions of aggression,” adding that all three components of Russia’s nuclear triad are involved in the exercise. The maneuvers include 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships, and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile carriers.

Putin typically oversees major military drills personally in his role as commander-in-chief. This week, however, he traveled to China to formally extend a key partnership treaty and discuss major bilateral and international issues with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Recent threats directed at Russia’s Kaliningrad Region by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys are “borderline crazy” and reflect a “maniacal” hostility toward Russia among Lithuania’s leadership, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

In an interview with Neue Zurcher Zeitung published on Monday, Budrys described NATO as the “strongest organization ever created” and called for a more aggressive approach toward Moscow. Russia, he claimed, had left behind only a “toxic and corrupt” legacy in the former Soviet republic.

“We must transform our fear of the threat into a sense of empowerment,” Budrys said, voicing confidence in NATO’s mutual defense commitments and, in particular, Germany’s readiness to fight for Lithuania.

“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built in Kaliningrad,” he added. “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

Responding to the comments, Peskov told Russian media that Budrys’ statement did not merit serious analysis. He suggested that Lithuania is being led by “unbridled” politicians who are incapable of sober strategic thinking, which he said ultimately works in Russia’s favor.

Later in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov echoed Peskov’s remarks, arguing that Western officials resort to such hostile rhetoric to assert their relevance. “But unlike the philosopher [Rene Descartes] who said ‘I think, therefore I am’ these people simply are,” the diplomat joked.

The remarks come as the European Union debates whether to resume diplomatic engagement with Moscow. Russia says the ball is in Brussels’ court since it chose to suspend contacts over the Ukraine conflict. Budrys’ Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, has urged Western nations to increase pressure on Russia instead, telling Bloomberg last week that “now is not the moment to talk or negotiate.”

A hardline position toward Russia remains prominent within the EU leadership, including in the office of the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. The former Estonian prime minister was jettisoned to Brussels in 2024 after her domestic approval ratings dived in the wake of a scandal over her husband’s business interests in Russia.

Russia will respond to efforts by European NATO members to build up their nuclear war capacity, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has told TASS.

The Russian diplomat was referring to the new “forward nuclear deterrence strategy” unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron in March. Under the plan, France aims to expand its atomic arsenal and move its nuclear weapons to other European NATO states as part of “circumstantial deployments.”

“Paris’ false slogans about strengthening its allies’ security are leading to exactly the opposite [results],” Ryabkov said. Nations that would host French nuclear weapons on their territory would come “under closer scrutiny of our military responsible for strategic deterrence,” he stated, adding that “the general security level of those nations would… not increase.”

Moscow “cannot ignore an obvious buildup of the nuclear component of NATO’s joint potential,” the deputy foreign minister stated.

In March, the Finnish government also announced it would seek to amend the national legislation to allow for importing and hosting nuclear devices for “defense purposes.” The Kremlin warned at the time that the step would only lead to an escalation of tensions and prompt a response from Russia.

Ryabkov described both the potential French-Polish drills and the Finnish government’s plans as “elements of a general process of accelerated militarization of Europe openly aimed against our country.”

Moscow has stated that it has no intention of attacking any NATO nation, but warned that it would aim its nuclear arsenal at countries hosting such weapons directed at Russia.

Residents of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have fought back against heavy-handed conscription officers on two separate incidents, according to videos circulating on social media.

Ukraine continues to rely on mandatory mobilization to replenish troops amid the conflict with Russia. The practice dubbed ‘busification,’ referring to the vans commonly used by patrols to abduct unwilling conscripts, has been causing increasing resistance from the public.

Just last month, a draft raid member was stabbed to death by a Lviv resident. New clips showcasing the growing discontent go viral every week.

In one incident shared Tuesday by the local Telegram channel Lvivich, a confrontation unfolded on a busy road after a vehicle used by draft officials became stuck in traffic. Footage appears to show a young woman tearing off one of the car’s windows with her bare hands while another window is kicked out from inside the vehicle.

As a crowd gathered around the car, the officers eventually released the man they were apparently attempting to whisk away. Moments later, the man punched the last intact window on the car’s right side.

A second video, apparently filmed from a nearby apartment bloc, showed several men blocking a black van from leaving the area. Unlike the first confrontation, the encounter appeared largely verbal, with shouting between the two sides but no visible physical violence.

According to the footage, the civilians succeeded in obtaining personal belongings from inside the vehicle before the patrol departed.

Mandatory mobilization has become a major source of public tension in Ukraine, where critics have accused recruitment officers of abuse of force and corruption. Ukrainian media have previously reported that the Defense Ministry is considering rebranding territorial recruitment centers, which conduct the draft, and potentially transferring more responsibilities to the Interior Ministry.

The brief detention of a former chief of staff for Vladimir Zelensy last week was a sign of mounting pressure from Kiev’s Western backers, former diplomat and ex-Prosecutor General’s adviser Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. According to him, the development reflects a possible redistribution of political influence inside Ukraine

Andrey Yermak, a longtime confidant of Zelensky, was placed in pre-trial detention in connection with a money laundering investigation conducted by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies. He was released on Monday after posting bail set at $3.2 million.

Telizhenko said he never expected Yermak to remain in custody for long, arguing that the case was primarily political in nature.

“The guy is filthy rich. He has billions of dollars, the same as Zelenskyy, stacked up in his pocket around the globe,” he alleged. “So this was just a show for the public.”

According to the former diplomat, the prosecution reflects efforts by Washington to eliminate Yermak’s political influence and shift and clear the way for other figures, particularly former military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov, whom he described as having close ties to US intelligence agencies.

Although Yermak formally resigned from his post last November amid corruption allegations, Telizhenko argued that his real influence stemmed from his close relationship with Zelensky rather than his official title. On paper the head of the presidential administration is “a pencil pusher job” focused on bureaucratic duties, Telizhenko explained.

“The problem is Ukraine is divided between the British, Brussels, Washington, DC – it’s different groups,” Telizhenko told RT, arguing that Western cliques are competing for control over Ukraine’s future.

Russia and its ally Belarus are conducting nuclear drills this week to simulate a response in the event of “aggression” against them, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The exercise will run from Tuesday and Thursday and involves the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific fleets, the Strategic Aviation Command, and elements of military forces in central and northwestern Russia, the ministry said in a statement.

A total of 64,000 Russian troops, 7,800 military vehicles, 200 missile launchers, 140 aircraft, 73 warships and 13 submarines, including eight strategic missile boats, are participating. The exercise includes “joint preparation for the use of nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus,” the statement said.

Minsk released a statement previewing the exercise on Monday. Belarus has been hosting Russian nuclear weapons since 2023, with the deployment described by the two nations as mirroring a similar practice by the US, which keeps some its arsenal in other NATO states.

Washington has canceled the planned deployment of nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to Germany and ordered a drawdown of its military presence in the country in apparent retaliation for Berlin’s criticism of the war with Iran.

Despite the growing rifts between Western nations, some European governments are determined to maintain a confrontational stance towards Russia.

Just this week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys urged aggression against the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, claiming that NATO members “must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built” there. In an interview with Neue Zürcher Zeitung, he said the bloc “has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground if necessary.”

NATO member Latvia has given Ukraine permission to use its territory for potential drone attacks against Russia, Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

Ukrainian UAVs have targeted northwestern Russia on numerous occasions in recent weeks, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region, although some of the drones eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland.

The SVR said in a statement on Tuesday that Ukraine “does not intend to limit itself to using the air corridors provided to the Ukrainians armed by the Baltic states.”

“The plan is to also launch the UAVs from the territory of these countries” against Russia in order “to significantly reduce the time it takes to reach the targets and increase the effectiveness of the terrorist attacks,” the statement read.

Ukrainian drone operators have already been deployed to Latvia at the Adazi, Selija, Lielvarde, Daugavpils, and Jekabpils military bases, the agency said.

The agency expressed bewilderment about the “naivety” of the Latvian authorities, pointing out that modern reconnaissance methods and study of debris means the location from which a UAV was launched can be pinpointed with high accuracy.

The SVR warned that “the coordinates of decision-making centers on Latvian territory are well known, and the country’s NATO membership will not protect the accomplices of terrorists from just retribution.”

“Ultimately, the ‘caveman-like Russophobia’ of current Latvian leaders proved to be stronger than their capability for critical thinking and their sense of self-preservation,” it added.

The SVR said Ukraine is planning more drone attacks against Russia to demonstrate to its “ideological and financial supporters in Europe” that it is still capable of fighting and inflicting damage on the Russian economy.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics insisted that Riga isn’t allowing Ukraine to launch attacks on Russia from its territory or use its airspace. The country’s foreign minister, Baiba Braze, called the report by the Russian spy agency “a disinformation campaign.” Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy accused the SVR of making “false statements."

During the raid, NATO jets were scrambled in Latvia after an unidentified drone entered the country’s airspace. Russia retaliated against Ukraine on Monday, carrying out a large-scale missile and UAV strike against military-related targets in the country.

Earlier this month, a government crisis erupted in Latvia after a drone hit oil storage facilities in the country. Prime Minister Evika Silina first sacked Defense Minister Andris Spruds, saying that he had “failed to deliver on… promise of a safe sky over our country,” but was later forced to resign herself due to the threat of a no-confidence vote.

Unlike top officials in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland, Spruds previously declined to criticize Kiev for the drone incursions, saying they will continue as long as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unresolved, and insisting that Moscow it to blame.

A military court in St. Petersburg has sentenced a local true crime podcaster to 12 years in prison after she was manipulated by Ukrainian operatives into conducting an arson attack on a police facility.

Diana Chistyakova, 30, hosted a small YouTube podcast focused on criminal psychology and high-profile crime cases. The sentence was handed down on Monday over an incident which took place in October.

According to her testimony, Chistyakova became the target of a scam that has increasingly appeared in Russia in recent years. Victims are first tricked into handing over their savings and told the money was transferred to support the Ukrainian military. The scammers then convince them they are under investigation for terrorism-related offenses and can avoid prosecution by carrying out a “covert operation.”

Authorities said Chistyakova was instructed to prepare Molotov cocktails and attack vehicles belonging to a police unit responsible for transporting suspects to court hearings. She was reportedly apprehended while trying to ignite her third firebomb, having failed to cause damage with the first two.

В Петербурге девушка попыталась сжечь отделение полиции

29-летняя блогерша Диана Чистякова из Санкт-Петербурга бросила две бутылки коктейля Молотова в отделение полка охраны в районе Купчино. Девушку вскоре задержали.

По версии силовиков, её обманули мошенники, вынудив… pic.twitter.com/Ux7c4dSfRx

— Activatica (@Activatica) October 23, 2025

The case has drawn particular attention because Chistyakova studied criminal law at Herzen University, one of Russia’s largest educational institutions, before launching her podcast about criminal behavior.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has repeatedly reported cases involving individuals allegedly manipulated by Ukraine-based operatives into committing acts of sabotage inside Russia. In several incidents, authorities claimed suspects unknowingly carried explosive devices disguised as ordinary packages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in attacking European NATO states and is instead patiently waiting until their hostile and deeply unpopular leaders are replaced by their own citizens, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern told RT’s Rick Sanchez.

In an interview published on Monday, the former analyst noted that Russians are growing increasingly frustrated with drone attacks facilitated by Kiev’s backers. Moscow has said that Ukrainian UAVs are increasingly being built with the help of Europe’s military-industrial complex and attack via NATO members’ territory.

“We’re very fortunate in having such a cautious, perspicacious person as Vladimir Putin in office,” McGovern said. “He’s not going to be sucked into something that would be most dangerous.”

The Russian president is aiming to outlast the “three blind mice” – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he added.

“The Europeans are going to do away with these clowns that they have at the top,” McGovern said. “Starmer’s on his way out. Macron will be out next year. Merz is about the most unpopular chancellor that Germany ever had. So I think the Russians play the long game… I wish we all had the patience that Vladimir Putin seems to have.”

Watch the full interview with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern on RT’s Sanchez Effect below.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recorded a video address to the people of China ahead of his official visit to Beijing, replacing the article or interview that he usually presents to local media ahead of important foreign trips.

In the message, Putin said he was “delighted” to be visiting Beijing again at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he described as his “long-time good friend.”

“Regular mutual visits and Russia-China top-level talks are an important and integral part of our joint efforts to promote the entire range of relations between our two countries and unlock their truly limitless potential,” Putin said.

Putin is due to visit China on May 19-20 at the invitation of Xi. The trip coincides with the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Russia-China Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

Putin said Russia and China are expanding cooperation in politics, the economy, defense, and humanitarian exchanges, adding that these issues will shape the agenda of the upcoming talks in Beijing.

“I deeply appreciate President Xi Jinping’s commitment to long-term cooperation with Russia,” Putin said. “I am convinced that our warm and friendly ties enable us to chart the boldest plans for the future and bring them to life.”

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said Putin would travel with a high-level delegation that includes senior officials, ministers, and heads of major Russian companies. Around 40 bilateral documents are expected to be signed during the visit, including a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Putin also welcomed the introduction of a mutual visa-free regime between Russia and China, saying it would facilitate business and tourism exchanges and create new opportunities for personal contacts between Russian and Chinese citizens.

“The close strategic relationship between Russia and China plays a major, stabilizing role globally,” Putin said. “Without allying against anyone, we seek peace and universal prosperity.”

Russian and Belarusian gymnasts have been cleared to return to international competition after being banned for over four years, the World Gymnastics Executive Committee announced on Monday. The decision reverses a ruling that had been denounced by Moscow and Minsk as politically motivated.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and the imposition of sweeping Western sanctions on Russia and Belarus, Olympic federations barred athletes from the two countries across dozens of sports. Some restrictions were later eased, allowing select competitors to take part under a neutral status.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western countries of politicizing sport and pressuring federations to exclude their athletes. Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin denounced what he described as selective sanctions against Russian competitors, arguing that the differing treatment compared with other conflicts exposed political bias and corruption within international sports bodies. He has also insisted that athletes should be granted equal access to competition based solely on merit, stressing that “politics has no place in sport.”

World Gymnastics said in a statement that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete with immediate effect across all five disciplines represented by the Russian Gymnastics Federation. These include artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, acrobatic gymnastics, and aerobic gymnastics.

World Gymnastics became the fifth Olympic federation to allow Russian athletes to compete at international tournaments under their national flag. Similar decisions were previously adopted by the international federations for judo, taekwondo, and aquatic sports, as well as the governing bureau of United World Wrestling.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board maintained the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and upheld recommendations on sanctions against Russian athletes, while recommending the removal of restrictions on Belarusian competitors. The Kremlin described the IOC’s stance toward Russia as disappointing.

Moscow and Minsk have launched a joint nuclear exercise, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Monday. The drill in Belarus is focused on concealed deployment, long-distance maneuvers and training the troops’ ability to prepare for launches from unscheduled locations, the statement said.

Russia stationed nuclear weapons in Belarus in 2023, following repeated requests from Minsk. It also deployed its nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile system there last year. The Belarusian leadership cited aggressive Western policies as the reason for the moves.

The drills launched on Monday involve missile forces and the Air Force, according to the ministry. Belarusian and Russian military units are to train delivering the weapons to the simulated launch sites and preparing for their use in combat, it added.

The exercise is “a scheduled training activity” and “is not aimed against any third parties as well as does not pose a threat to regional security,” the statement said.

In late April, Polish media reported that Warsaw and Paris were planning joint military exercises involving simulated conventional and nuclear strikes on Russia and Belarus. The reports came just days after French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced deepening military cooperation, citing the perceived “Russian threat.”

“Our cooperation, whether in the nuclear domain or in joint exercises [...] is a cooperation that knows no bounds,” Tusk said at the time. Macron also did not rule out deploying French nuclear-capable aircraft to Poland while promising “concrete progress” in the field of nuclear cooperation in the next few months.

Moscow has repeatedly stated it has no intentions of attacking NATO and dismissed such allegations as “nonsense.” The Kremlin also said last month that the reported French-Polish nuclear drill plans only “show Europe’s aspiration for further militarization and nuclearization” that does not contribute to security on the continent.

Andrey Yermak, formerly the chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, has been released from custody after posting bail worth approximately $3.2 million, one week after being charged in a major money laundering case.

Yermak was filmed leaving pre-trial detention on Monday morning accompanied by security guards, shortly after the High Anti-Corruption Court confirmed receipt of the full bail amount that had been set last Thursday. Some Ukrainian commentators interpreted the fact that the influential former aide spent the weekend behind bars as a sign of weakening political influence surrounding Zelensky’s inner circle.

Opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak claimed the necessary funds had been assembled by Friday evening, but delays in processing the transfer meant the payment was finalized only after business hours, forcing Yermak to remain in custody over the weekend.

Yermak tied to alleged corruption scheme

The charges against Yermak, brought by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, are linked to a wider investigation into businessman Timur Mindich, often referred to in Ukrainian media as “Zelensky’s wallet.”

Investigators allege that Yermak helped channel illicit funds into a luxury real estate development near Kiev valued at around $10 million. Reports claim the project was jointly owned by Mindich, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, Yermak, and a fourth silent partner believed by some media outlets to be Zelensky himself.

Yermak was released from pretrial detention on bail. He spent the weekend in a private cell.

According to media reports, they managed to raise even more than the required amount – 154 million hryvnias instead of 140 million. pic.twitter.com/uKwrrlaUmr

— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) May 18, 2026

Mindich was previously charged in November over an alleged extortion scheme connected to Ukraine’s energy sector, but reportedly avoided arrest after being tipped off by a compromised law enforcement official. Yermak later resigned amid allegations linking him to the affair. Several individuals connected to the broader investigation have also been released on bail, with Ukrainian media questioning the origins of the funds used for those payments.

Former Energy Minister German Galushchenko, one of the suspected Mindich accomplices, was previously accused of personally approving a cell in abysmal condition for a detective of the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), who was detained last year by the security agency SBU in what was broadly believed to be an attempt to derail the investigation.

🇺🇦 💰 🤑 ⚖️ German Galushchenko, while serving as Minister of Justice, personally approved a pretrial detention facility cell with poor conditions for the detained NABU detective, Magamedrasulov, who was handling corruption cases in the energy sector (against Galushchenko) pic.twitter.com/KMftlh8cHs

— senore_amore (@SenoreAmore) February 18, 2026

Questions raised over bail payments

Ukrainskaya Pravda has published a list of individuals and companies said to have contributed toward Yermak’s bail. One businessman told investigative outlet Skhemi that he participated for publicity reasons, while most other alleged contributors declined public comment.

Earlier reports suggested the prominent law firm Asters — formerly associated with ex-Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov — would provide funds.

Political tensions deepen in Kiev

News outlet Strana.ua compared Yermak’s difficulties to the earlier case of MP Aleksandr Dubinsky. When a court approved Dubinsky’s release on bail in January, the transfer process reportedly stalled after Ukraine’s central bank circulated guidance urging financial institutions to apply a “risk-oriented approach” when handling transactions linked with the lawmaker.

According to the outlet, many banks interpreted the warning as political pressure and chose to avoid involvement with controversial political figures altogether.

“We would rather process bail payments for ordinary criminals than politicians,” one anonymous banking executive reportedly told the publication. “Why would a bank want such clients? For a meager commission? We can live without that.”

Strana.ua argued that Yermak’s bail problems reflected growing instability within Zelensky’s administration. Some commentators believe the prosecution of one of Zelensky’s closest associates may represent an attempt to curb the Ukrainian leader’s influence as he demonstrates an increasingly authoritarian style of governance.

Russian forces have carried out a large-scale missile and drone strike against military-related targets in Ukraine in response to “terrorist attacks” Kiev launched over the weekend, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

On Sunday, Moscow and its suburbs came under what appeared to be the largest Ukrainian drone raid in more than a year, which left at least three people, including an Indian national, killed and over a dozen wounded. Kiev launched some 130 UAVs at the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the overnight bombardment focused on Ukrainian defense industry facilities; fuel, energy and transport infrastructure; as well as naval ports and military airfields.

Land- and sea-based precision weapons and drones were deployed during the attack, the ministry said.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky praised his military and intelligence services for the attack on Moscow, in which three civilians were killed. It “sent a clear signal that one shouldn’t mess with Ukraine,” he claimed.

Zelensky also suggested that the raid meant that the conflict was moving to Russian territory, neglecting the steady advance by Moscow’s forces in Donbass and along other parts of the frontline.

Ukrainian drone raids deep inside Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev launching hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on an almost daily basis against residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and industrial facilities far from the front.

Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

A Colombian mercenary has spoken of his regret at fighting for Ukraine, telling RT that the experience nearly cost him his life and could leave him unable to safely return home.

William Andres Gallego Orozco, 23, was captured by Russian troops after being seriously wounded by shrapnel on the front line. Russian soldiers provided him with medical treatment and evacuated him from the combat zone.

Speaking to RT, he said he had been promised around $3,200 per month and believed he would work as a cook for the Ukrainian military. According to Orozco, neither the pay nor the assignment matched what he had been told.

Orozco said he received just 15 days of basic military instruction before being issued a UAR-15 rifle – a Ukrainian-produced version of the AR-15 platform – along with a radio. He was deployed with the Guajiro unit, a group of Colombian fighters attached to the Khartia Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

During combat operations, he said he witnessed heavy casualties among foreign recruits while Ukrainian commanders stayed away from the front. Orozco could now face difficulties in returning to his homeland, where mercenary activity is prohibited by law.

Watch the full report.

Domestic demand is expected to spur economic growth in Russia, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov has told RBK.

Despite facing economic challenges, the Russian economy has proven far more resilient to Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict than many analysts had initially predicted. Kremlin officials argue that the country has largely succeeded in reorienting trade toward new markets and adapting to foreign pressure.

In an interview published on Sunday, Reshetnikov said Russia’s economic growth remains largely inward-oriented, while the role of exports is diminishing. According to the minister, the trend is being supported by a steady increase in real disposable incomes, which are projected to rise by 1.6% this year.

Reshetnikov attributed the trend to the gradual reduction of the Russian central bank’s policy rate in recent months. According to the minister, lower rates are making bank deposits less attractive, freeing up more money for consumer spending, while lending activity is also recovering.

The government is also seeking to boost labor productivity through the introduction of new technologies, artificial intelligence, and automation. Reshetnikov said the authorities plan to expand workforce participation by offering new internships, apprenticeships, and short-term training programs.

Reshetnikov added that the “balanced policy” pursued by the central bank and the government would allow inflation to gradually decline to a projected 5.2% by the end of 2026.

During a meeting with ministers on Friday, President Vladimir Putin pointed to “positive statistical data” for March, including a record-low unemployment rate of 2.2% and GDP growth of 1.8%.

Three civilians were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded by a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian capital and the surrounding region on Saturday night, the local authorities have said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanian said on social media on Sunday morning that a total of 127 UAVs were destroyed by air defenses during the previous 24 hours. He described the raid as “massive.”

The attack appears to be one of the largest Ukrainian drone raids targeting Moscow in more than a year.

There have been several major UAV attacks on the capital in recent months, but the number of drones deployed by Ukraine never exceeded 65.

Fatalities in Moscow Region

Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev confirmed that three people were killed during the attack.

Two men died when the debris of a downed drone fell on a home construction site in the village of Pogorelki near the city of Mytishchi next to Moscow in the northeast, he said.

Another UAV struck an apartment block, killing a female resident in the city of Khimki, northwest of the capital, while another person was trapped under the rubble, according to Vorobyev.

Moment a Ukrainian drone crashes into a residential building in Moscow. https://t.co/vEcAt6Pf5M pic.twitter.com/q0ZEdHpV2R

— Woofers (@NotWoofers) May 17, 2026

In Istra, around 50 km northwest of Moscow, four people were wounded when an apartment block and six private homes were hit, he said.

Residential areas and infrastructure facilities have also been targeted in other parts of the region, the governor added.

In the town of Lobnya, north of Moscow, a woman was injured in a drone attack that damaged five apartment blocks and 20 cars, the local authorities said.

Three Indian nationals were also wounded and one was killed in a drone strike in Moscow Region, the Indian Embassy in Russia has said. It is not immediately clear whether the tally includes the Indian nationals.

Strike on Moscow Oil Refinery

A total of 12 people were wounded in Moscow as a result of the raid, according to Sobyanin.

Most of those injured were construction workers affected by an explosion near the entrance to the Moscow Oil Refinery in Kapotnya District in the northeast of the city, he said. The refinery’s operations weren’t affected by the incident, he added.

Air traffic disruptions

More than 200 flights were delayed or canceled at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo international airports as the authorities introduced air traffic restrictions during the drone raid. Some of the incoming passenger jets had to be redirected to other airfields.

Incursions across Russia

The capital and Moscow Region weren’t the only targets of Ukrainian UAVs on Sunday night, with the Russian Defense Ministry reporting the destruction of a total of 586 drones across the country.

The additional interceptions took place not only in parts of Russia bordering Ukraine (Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk regions) but also deep inside the country, including Kaluga, Tula, Smolensk, Pskov, Tver, Rostov, and Krasnodar regions, as well as over Crimea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov, the ministry said.

Escalation of raids in recent months

Ukrainian drone raids deep inside Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Kiev launching hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on an almost daily basis against residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and industrial facilities far from the front.

Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.
Russia has responded with long-range missile and drone strikes targeting Ukraine’s military, energy, and other dual-use infrastructure, and has said the operations are aimed solely at assets supporting Kiev’s war effort and not at civilian targets.

On Sunday, Ukrainian media and Telegram channels reported more explosions near Kiev, as well as in the cities of Kharkov and Dnepr, and parts of Zaporozhye Region which remain under Ukraine’s control.

An amateur cycling race taking riders through the "Golden Circle" surrounding Moscow has begun in the city of Kostroma, launching a summer-long series of mass events.

Around 2,400 riders are expected to take part in the 504 km “Rossiya” competition, which combines cycling with tourism and cultural events along Russia’s Golden Ring route, known for its historic towns and UNESCO-listed landmarks.

The race involves eight stages passing through Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Kalyazin, Nizhny Novgorod, Sergiev Posad, and Moscow, where the finale will take place on September 12.

The project is backed by the Russian Cycling Federation, the Sports Ministry and Liga Geroev (“League of Heroes”), a company known for organizing large amateur sports events and obstacle races across Russia. While aimed mainly at amateur cyclists, experienced semi-professional riders are also expected to join.

The “Rossiya” race first launched in June 2025 with a three-stage event through Murom, Vladimir and Suzdal in Vladimir Region. Organizers hope it will grow into Russia’s biggest amateur cycling series, similar to popular mass-participation races held across Europe, attracting riders from across the country and eventually from abroad as well.

Three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone raid on Moscow Region overnight, Governor Andrey Vorobyev has said.

Air defenses in the area have been repelling a “major” UAV attack since 3:00 AM local time, Vorobyev wrote in a post on Telegram on Sunday morning.

Two men lost their lives when the debris of a downed drone fell on a home construction site in the village of Pogorelki near the city of Mytishchi, northeast of Moscow, he said.

In the city of Khimki, northwest of the capital, a UAV struck an apartment block, killing a female resident, according to the governor. Another person remains trapped under the rubble, with rescuers working on site, he added.

Four people were wounded when an apartment block and six private homes were hit in the city of Istra, Vorobyev said.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that 12 people in the capital were wounded as a result of the drone raid. A total of 120 UAVs targeting Moscow have been intercepted over the past 24 hours, he added.

Ukrainian drone incursions into Russia have intensified since mid-March, with Ukraine deploying hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on almost a daily basis, targeting critical infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and residential areas.

Officials in Moscow have described the raids as “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

The Ukrainian military repeatedly attacked Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) this week, injuring two employees and targeting a pipeline in the immediate vicinity of the reactors, Aleksey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has said.

Speaking to the company’s corporate newspaper Strana Rosatom on Saturday, Likhachev said that a Ukrainian drone had attacked the pipeline running along the power units of the plant earlier in the day. The UAV did not detonate, crashing near the first power unit of the facility.

On Thursday, a Ukrainian kamikaze drone targeted a car carrying two employees of the ZNPP. The attack occurred just 100 meters away from the plant’s premises, with both employees receiving moderate to serious wounds, the Rosatom boss said. 

“The employees were carrying out their duties at the time. Even this didn’t stop the enemy. For an hour, combat drones prevented ambulances from reaching the attack site, and the evacuation of the wounded resembled a military operation,” Likhachev stated.

The CEO slammed the inaction of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stating that it has been doing its best to “de facto turn a blind eye to daily Ukrainian attacks on the ZNPP, civilian infrastructure, and killings of Russian nationals by Ukrainian servicemen.” Moscow will address the continuing incidents around the plant during upcoming consultations with the IAEA leadership scheduled for July, Likhachev said. 

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has ramped up attacks on the plant, which fell under Moscow’s control early in the conflict and was taken over by Rosatom after Zaporozhye Region was incorporated into Russia following a referendum in late 2022. Moscow has repeatedly urged Kiev and its backers to stop targeting the facility, warning the attacks could result in a continent-wide nuclear catastrophe.

Moscow has made it easier for residents of Transnistria, a de facto self-governing region of Moldova, to obtain Russian citizenship, according to a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

The measure applies to “foreign citizens and stateless persons” permanently residing in Transnistria. It aims “to protect human rights and freedoms” of the region’s residents in line with “international legal norms,” the decree states.

The move comes amid growing political and economic pressure on the predominantly Russian-speaking region from authorities in Chisinau and their Western backers, in what Moldova has described as a policy of “reintegration.”

WHAT IS TRANSNISTRIA?

Transnistria is a self-governed breakaway region located along the Dniester River in Moldova, a former Soviet republic located between Ukraine and Romania.

The region broke away from Moldova after a brief war in the early 1990s and has remained under the protection of a joint Russian-Transnistrian-Moldovan peacekeeping force ever since.

Moldova has charted an increasingly anti-Russian and pro-EU course since President Maia Sandu came to power in 2020. The country applied for EU membership shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, obtained candidate status the same year and formally opened accession talks with Brussels in 2024.

In October 2025, the Moldovan government adopted a new security strategy identifying Russia as the country’s main threat. Moscow warned at the time that the nation’s leadership was “making a grave mistake” by increasingly antagonizing the Kremlin.

LANGUAGE

Language has become one of the most sensitive issues between Chisinau and Transnistria.
Despite it being widely spoken, Russian lost its status as a “language of inter-ethnic communication” in 2021, and Romanian became Moldova’s sole official tongue.

Tensions have grown as Moldova’s pro-EU leadership has increasingly promoted Romanian-language integration. Among the latest measures are new restrictions on the use of Russian in Moldova’s parliament, which were introduced earlier this month, under which bills will no longer be routinely translated into the language.

ENERGY SECURITY

The Ukraine conflict has severely undermined Transnistria’s energy security. For decades, the region relied on free or heavily subsidized Russian gas delivered through Ukraine, which powered the Soviet-era Cuciurgan power station supplying electricity to much of Moldova, including the breakaway region. The arrangement had long formed the backbone of the enclave’s economy.

But the system collapsed in early 2025 after Kiev refused to extend a transit agreement allowing Russian gas deliveries through Ukraine. The disruption triggered the worst energy crisis in Transnistria since the 1990s.

TAXATION

Despite the ongoing crisis, Moldovan authorities have moved to increase pressure on Transnistrian businesses by introducing new taxes and gradually phasing out long-standing exemptions.

Under the measures, enterprises registered in Transnistria will increasingly be required to pay taxes and customs duties to Moldova’s state budget rather than solely local authorities. Transnistrian officials have condemned the policy as “double taxation” that could deepen the region’s economic crisis and trigger further businesses closures.

Moldovan leadership and the EU have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops despite strong public support for the mission inside Transnistria. A poll conducted in the region in April suggested that 82.5% of residents support the continued presence of Moscow’s peacekeepers.

Authorities in Transnistria’s capital Tiraspol have rejected the possibility of troop withdrawal, arguing that the Russian military presence is “absolutely legal and legitimate” and remains a key part of the existing peacekeeping mechanism that has preserved stability for more than three decades.

Russia’s allegations that the US-funded clandestine biological laboratories near its borders – claims denied until recently by Washington – have remained a persistent flashpoint in the steadily deteriorating relationship between Russia and the West for nearly a decade.

This abruptly changed the past week when US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that her department had identified more than 120 US-funded biological laboratories in 30 countries, with over a third of them located in Ukraine. The agency is now working to “identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain, and what ‘research’ is being conducted to end dangerous gain-of-function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and the world,” according to Gabbard.

RT looks back at the timeline of the biolabs saga and the US denial of its existence until now.

2017 RT report 

The US-funded bio research made international headlines in July 2017, when RT published an investigative report revolving around a tender issued by the US Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The command was seeking to procure genetic material samples that “shall be collected from Russia and must be Caucasian.” The Air Force explicitly said that it did not want samples from Ukraine, for reasons not explained.

“The question is – why is it being done? It’s being done purposefully and professionally. We are a kind of object of great interest,” the president said. “Let them do what they want, and we must do what we must,” he added.

The attention this garnered from the Russian leadership prompted a vague explanation from AETC, which claimed the samples were needed for research on the musculoskeletal system and Russia had been picked as the source of the samples for no particular reason.

Georgia revelations

Another bombshell on the clandestine US-funded biolabs was dropped by a former Georgian minister for state security, Igor Giorgadze, in late 2018. He claimed he had obtained some 100,000 pages of data pointing to questionable practices at the US-funded Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

The tests appeared to involve “a highly toxic chemical or biological agent with a high lethality rate,” the commander of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces (RKhBZ), Igor Kirillov, said at the time. Kirillov, who had spearheaded the Russian military’s probe into the US-funded biolabs in Ukraine and beyond, was assassinated in late 2024 in a bombing staged by Kiev’s intelligence.

The Pentagon flatly denied the allegations, with then-spokesman Eric Pahon dismissing the Russian ministry’s statements as a part of “a Russian disinformation campaign directed against the West.” The US and Georgian governments also dismissed the claims made by Giorgadze, describing them as “absurd.”

Ukraine conflict 

The escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022 marked a new turn in the biolabs saga. While Moscow seized additional evidence of questionable research activities conducted in secretive facilities dotting Ukraine, the West entered a full-denial mode, bluntly dismissing any Russian statement on the matter as “propaganda.”

“The credibility of information provided by the Kremlin is in general very doubtful and low,” EU foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said at the time. “Russian disinformation has a track record of promoting manipulative narratives about biological weapons and alleged ‘secret labs.’”

The Biden administration took a similar defensive stance, with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki calling the allegations “preposterous” and accusing Moscow of plotting to use “chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine or to create a false flag operation using them.” John Kirby, then-Pentagon spokesman, also branded the Russian allegations “absurd,” “laughable,” and a “bunch of malarkey.” 

“There’s nothing to it. It’s classic Russian propaganda,” Kirby told reporters at the time.

Gabbard’s remarks this past week have reignited scrutiny of a program Washington spent years denying existed.

Ukraine is stripping some doctors of their draft exemptions and requiring medical students to undergo compulsory military training, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko has announced.

Lyashko made the remarks during question hour at the Ukrainian parliament on Friday, saying the Health Ministry would be authorized to cancel draft deferrals of certain medical workers at the request of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces’ Medical Forces Command.

“There will be changes to the procedure under which all doctors are currently exempt, and it is currently impossible to replace the active doctors at the front,” he said.

Medical students at universities “will become service members, and upon completing their studies, will receive the rank of officer,” Lyashko added.

Lyashko also stressed that most injured service members are treated in civilian hospitals.

The announcement comes amid Ukraine’s increasingly unpopular forced mobilization campaign, which has been fraught with violent clashes between conscription officers and reluctant recruits, with the overall effort being widely mocked as “busification.” 
In July 2025, the Council of Europe found systemic human rights violations in the drive, including beatings and the conscription of people with disabilities.

By embracing harsh mobilization policies, Ukraine is seeking to stem the manpower crisis caused by mounting battlefield losses. According to a report by the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies last year, some of the Ukrainian frontline units are operating at as low as 30% of their intended strength.

New videos circulating online show Ukrainian military recruiters and police officers forcibly detaining men and placing them into unmarked vehicles for possible mobilization into the conflict with Russia.

Ukraine continues to rely on mandatory conscription to replenish troop numbers at the front line, with press gangs operating in major cities and rural areas alike. The mobilization campaign has increasingly sparked public resentment, with many Ukrainians accusing officials of corruption and abuse of power. Videos showing confrontations between civilians and draft officers regularly spread across social media platforms.

In one recent clip from the Black Sea city of Odessa, a man is seen clinging to the legs of military recruiters as they drag him into a van. The footage was reportedly submitted to a local Telegram news channel by the man himself, who claimed he was legally exempt from military service.

Another video from Kiev shows police officers forcing a young man into a vehicle while bystanders shout at the officials. The man resists so strongly that the officers drive away with the rear door still open and his legs hanging outside the car.

The practice of forced mobilization has become widely known in Ukraine as ‘busification’, a reference to the vans used to transport detained men to conscription centers. Officials acknowledge that the campaign has become one of the biggest sources of domestic dissatisfaction, particularly because draft officers are perceived to operate with virtual impunity.

In a recent interview, Ukrainian MP Yury Kamelchuk recounted the case of a father of five – exempt from military service under Ukrainian law – who he claimed was “literally murdered” inside a draft center before the incident was allegedly covered up. According to the lawmaker, the case was far from unique.

The Danish government has suspended plans for a solid rocket fuel facility intended to supply Fire Point, the Ukrainian defense company widely linked to high-level corruption involving Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle, one of the firm’s senior executives has told the Financial Times.

The Danish government had used national security provisions to bypass potential legal objections surrounding the construction of a facility in Vojens, southern Jutland, where fuel for Fire Point’s missile systems was expected to be manufactured. However, the project announced last September was quietly halted earlier this month, Fire Point chief designer and co-owner Denis Shtilerman told the outlet on Thursday.

Originally operating as a film scouting agency owned by Zelensky insiders, Fire Point has been exposed in leaked transcripts of conversations between Zelensky’s inner circle as a vehicle for syphoning off lucrative arms contracts.

Surveillance recordings published by Ukrainian media since April indicated that businessman Timur Mindich – who is wanted in Ukraine over an alleged $100 million corruption scheme in the energy sector – effectively controlled Fire Point during 2025. The recordings also suggested he enjoyed preferential treatment from then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who now serves as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

Shtilerman dismissed the allegations as “rumors,” while lamenting that the suspicions had delayed the company’s plans. He claimed that Fire Point’s products could contribute to the creation of a “pan-European air-defense shield” and claimed that Gulf states, Germany, and other countries had shown strong interest in the firm’s technology.

Mindich scandal widens

The recordings were originally gathered by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies as part of their investigation into Mindich, a longtime business associate of Zelensky dating back to the Ukrainian leader’s entertainment career. Ukrainian media have nicknamed Mindich “Zelensky’s wallet.”

Political uncertainty in Denmark

While Danish media acknowledged that the so-called ‘Mindich tapes’ had intensified scrutiny of Fire Point’s operations in Denmark, authorities have up to now stopped short of confirming that the fuel plant project was in jeopardy.

In late 2025, Deputy Foreign Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, who also serves as defense minister under pro-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, stated that Copenhagen “does everything it can to follow the money we give” Ukraine.

Denmark is currently facing difficult coalition negotiations after Frederiksen’s Social Democrats recorded their worst election result since 1903 in March voting. Last week, King Frederik asked Poulsen to attempt to form a new government after Frederiksen failed to secure enough parliamentary support for a third term.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 205 prisoners of war, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Friday.

The ministry said the Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus and are receiving psychological and medical assistance, adding that they will be taken to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation.

The officials noted that the release was negotiated with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates, which has helped mediate exchanges on numerous occasions.

A source for RT Russian said the bodies of deceased service members were also exchanged, with Russia handing over a disproportionately larger number (526 to 41).

Ukraine has confirmed the swap, describing it as the first stage of a wider 1,000 for 1,000 exchange, which was announced by US President Donald Trump on May 8 as part of a US-mediated three-day ceasefire around Russia’s Victory Day commemorations.

Officials in Kiev said the freed group includes army, navy, and air force service members, as well as members of the territorial defense forces, the National Guard, and the Border Guard Service.

Russia and Ukraine regularly exchange POWs and bodies of deceased service members. The last swap took place in late April, with both sides releasing 193.

Ukrainian drones have killed four people, including a child, in the Russian city of Ryazan after striking high-rise residential buildings, regional Governor Pavel Malkov said on Friday.

Ryazan, the capital of the eponymous region located 210 km (130 miles) southeast of Moscow, was targeted overnight, with the UAVs damaging two apartment complexes.

Malkov said a total of 99 kamikaze aircraft were involved in the raid on the region. Multiple people were injured, including seven whose wounds are serious enough to demand treatment in hospital. The governor’s initial preliminary account reported three fatalities and a dozen other casualties.

According to photos from the scene, one of the drones struck the Tricolor residential complex, a group of three 25-story buildings decorated in the colors of the Russian flag.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has designated the incident a terrorist attack. The agency mentioned unspecified industrial sites as damaged during the raid.

Drone attacks were also reported in several other regions across western and southern Russia, including Voronezh and Rostov. The Defense Ministry reported intercepting 355 Ukrainian drones overnight.

An eccentric Russian man who became famous for attempting to reach South America on foot while pulling a makeshift wagon was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian drone strike.

Bryansk Region Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said a man was killed on Wednesday in the village of Staraya Pogoshch, near the border with Ukraine. Although he did not identify the victim by name, RIA Novosti, citing law enforcement sources, reported that it was a local celebrity known online as Sasha the Horse.

Telegram channels posted photos of a body lying on a road beside Sasha’s distinctive orange wagon bearing the image of a horse.

Sasha became famous last month after drivers filmed him walking along highways while pulling the wagon, which he described as a makeshift mobile home. Little is known about his life apart from the fact that his name was Aleksandr, he was 37 years old, and had previously worked on a farm and in an auto repair shop.

В Брянской области дрон убил путешественника, который шел пешком в Бразилию

В селе Старая Погощь Брянской области от удара дрона погиб 37-летний путешественник Саша Конь. Об этом сообщает телеграм-канал Shot.

Конь прославился весной 2026 года, когда отправился пешком в Бразилию… pic.twitter.com/GPd4FZpmbS

— Вот Так (@vottak_tv) May 14, 2026

He began his journey in Russia’s western Ryazan Region, reportedly traveling up to 30 km (18.6 miles) a day with the aim of reaching Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Sasha told the news website Rybnoe.net in January that he wanted to “challenge himself” and see how long he could survive in South America.

Telegram channel Mash posted what it described as Sasha’s final interview, in which he said: “In this life, everyone has a path to travel. Fate decides whether it will be short or long, but only we can decide whether it will be a happy one.”

Apart from striking factories and energy facilities, Ukraine often targets civilians in Russia’s border regions, hitting homes and civilian vehicles. Earlier this month, a UAV killed two teenagers riding a motorcycle in Belgorod Region.

Vladimir Zelensky’s former chief-of-staff, Andrey Yermak, could end up murdered in jail, Vasily Prozorov, a former officer with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), has suggested.

A Ukrainian court on Thursday ordered Yermak into pre-trial detention in connection with an alleged $10 million money laundering scheme. Yermak said he could not afford the $3.2 million bail and would appeal the ruling. The case is tied to a wider investigation into an alleged $100 million corruption network reportedly organized by Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich and involving several senior officials and politicians.

Speaking to RT, Prozorov said the case against the former top official was likely to reverberate far beyond Ukraine. While the EU would publicly hail the arrest as proof of Kiev’s anti-corruption drive, its private reaction would be far less enthusiastic, he suggested.

“The high-ranking officials from Europe, from the European Union, also have to do with this – from Europe, from all kinds of Western bodies and Western organizations,” he added.

Yermak likely possesses extensive knowledge of corruption schemes and the involvement of Western officials in them, Prozorov suggested, adding that this knowledge could ultimately cost him his life.

“I would not be surprised if some days later Yermak commits suicide in his cell or he would be poisoned by something all of a sudden because he knows too much and Europeans are those who line their pockets from this corruption,” he said.

Watch the full video below:

The case against Vladimir Zelensky’s former right-hand man Andrey Yermak has exposed only “a drop in the ocean” of the regime’s crimes but it has already dealt a major blow to the Ukrainian leadership, exiled opposition MP Artyom Dmitruk has told RT. Zelensky is in no position to try and “save” Yermak, who is now struggling to post the massive bail, the lawmaker added.

Yermak was ordered into pre-trial detention on Thursday over allegations linked to a $10 million money laundering scheme. The case stems from a broader corruption probe conducted by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) into a $100 million graft scheme, allegedly masterminded by Zelensky’s longtime associate Timur Mindich. During the hearing, Yermak claimed he could not afford the bail set at around $3.2 million and announced plans to challenge the decision in an appeal.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s bailed out or not, it has already dealt great damage to the entire criminal system, the terrorist system that was established by him and by Zelensky throughout this political season in Ukraine,” Dmitruk stated, adding that Zelensky’s influence over the affair is “very limited” and he is unable to “save” his “girlfriend Yermak.”

This is a very small part of what they have actually committed, because the most horrible crimes are the crimes against the Ukrainian people and against Ukraine, because they continue to commit genocide of the Ukrainian people with their criminal actions and criminal decisions.

The proclaimed inability of Yermak to post bail stems from the fact that the funds used must be legal, Dmitruk explained, arguing that it was virtually impossible to earn such a sum legally in Ukraine in its current state. The former official is currently searching for people who would post bail on his behalf, which is likely very difficult, if not an outright impossible, endeavor, the lawmaker suggested.

“It is important to say that those people, even if they go through with this, those people who will bail him out, they will unavoidably be held responsible for what they committed when they assisted, when they supported a criminal, and they would be investigated where these funds came from,” Dmitruk warned.

Watch the full video below:

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court has ordered Vladimir Zelensky’s former chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, into pre-trial custody, setting bail at around $3.2 million over allegations linked to a money laundering scheme.

The ruling was delivered on Thursday on the third day of hearings in Kiev. Yermak told the court he could not afford the amount and plans to challenge the decision on appeal. Prosecutors insisted that simple electronic monitoring would be insufficient to prevent the former official from interfering with the investigation.

The case stems from a broader corruption probe conducted by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), which is focused on businessman Timur Mindich, a long-time associate of Zelensky. Mindich fled Ukraine last November shortly before investigators accused him of orchestrating a $100 million extortion network.

Investigators allege Yermak participated in a scheme that channelled illicit funds into an upscale real estate development outside Kiev. According to media reports, the project involved Mindich, Yermak, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, and Zelensky himself.

A pattern of controversial bail payments

Several defendants linked to the Mindich investigation who remain in Ukraine have secured large bail payments under circumstances that Ukrainian media outlets describe as questionable.

Chernyshov, arrested in June 2025 on abuse-of-power charges, was released after supporters quickly assembled a $2.7 million bail package.

An investigative outlet later reported that more than half the money originated from a little-known company established only months earlier. Additional scrutiny fell on transfers made by Chernyshov’s wife, Svetlana, whose declared assets reportedly did not match the contribution. Leaked NABU surveillance materials suggested that Mindich and people connected to him secretly financed part of the payment.

Another defendant in the Mindich case, Igor Mironyuk, failed to secure release after the authorities in February confiscated nearly $2.9 million intended for his bail, citing concerns over the source of the funds.

Media reports have also highlighted the role of newly created companies in helping finance bail for several lower-level suspects allegedly tied to the Mindich network. In one case, a lawyer reportedly contributed a quarter of the six-figure bail posted for defendant Dmitry Basov.

Psychic consultant and courtroom confusion

The hearings also produced unusual revelations about Yermak, long viewed as one of the most influential figures in Zelensky’s administration. Prosecutors claimed he maintained contact with a psychic adviser who allegedly vetted candidates for senior government positions based on their birth dates.

The adviser, identified as Veronika Anikievich, also allegedly encouraged Yermak to aggressively resist corruption allegations. One message presented in court warned: “If they [Yermak’s political opponents] get power, they will act in a more serious way, and you would have neither a guarantor friend nor authority.” The court’s ruling listed Anikievich among individuals the defendant is not allowed to communicate with.

It comes out that for the past six years Ukraine was actually run by a black witch fortune teller named Veronika Fenshui. What a time to be alive. pic.twitter.com/i5FcJRo0sG

— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) May 14, 2026

Yermak denied any close relationship with fortune tellers. However, journalists identified a Kiev resident with the same name whose social media profiles advertise astrological consultations and publicly express support for the former official.

The proceedings also featured an awkward exchange on Wednesday when Yermak’s attorney attempted to bolster his client’s credibility by incorrectly stating that he had served as a member of parliament. Although Yermak previously worked as an adviser to an MP, he was never elected himself and interrupted his lawyer twice to correct the claim.

The US and Israel launched the war against Iran in order to prevent the normalization of Tehran’s relations with the Gulf states, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told RT India. The campaign was intended to push Arab countries closer to Israel and pressure them into abandoning support for Palestine, he added.

Iran responded to the US-Israeli airstrikes launched on February 28 by targeting US bases in the Gulf states, along with energy and port infrastructure linked to US operations. In an interview published on Wednesday, Lavrov condemned the attack on Iran as “unprovoked” and described Tehran’s response as an act of self-defense.

“I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states,” Lavrov said. “Now, everything is being done to ensure that reconciliation never happens.”

“They seek to rule the world through controlling global energy supplies,” Lavrov added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he secretly traveled to the UAE at the height of the war and described the trip as “a historic breakthrough.” The UAE has denied that the visit took place.

Media outlets reported this week that Saudi Arabia and the UAE conducted covert airstrikes against Iran during the conflict. The UAE denied the claims, though Saudi Arabia neither confirmed nor denied the reports. Iranian officials have accused the Gulf states of facilitating attacks on Iranian territory and called on the US to withdraw from the region.

Ukrainian draft officers have snatched several workers directly from construction sites, MP Georgy Mazurashu told parliament on Wednesday, calling the practice “banditry” that must be stopped.

According to the lawmaker, the press gangs are merely “chasing numbers” and forcing unwilling men into the military, which only fuels desertion.

Mazurashu described one incident in the western Ukrainian city of Chernovtsy several weeks ago, when construction workers climbed into a cradle suspended between the third and fourth floors of a building to avoid being captured.

“Five dozen busificators, some wearing balaclavas, surrounded the construction site,” the MP said Wednesday, referring to the press gangs.

The term ‘busification’ emerged in Ukraine as hundreds of videos have surfaced on social media showing military-age men being snatched off the streets, from workplaces, and from residential areas, then taken to recruitment centers in mini-buses against their will. The practice has often triggered clashes with relatives, neighbors, and passersby.

The local draft office in Chernovtsy rejected Mazurashu’s accusations, claiming that no “illegal actions” had been committed by its staff members, adding that two men had been detained for “violating the rules of military registration” at the time mentioned by the lawmaker.

The accusations came just days after the Ukrainskaya Pravda media outlet reported that the number of complaints against draft officials filed with the parliamentary commissioner for human rights had reached nearly 12,000 since February 2022.

Ukraine has faced chronic manpower shortages throughout the conflict with Russia amid high battlefield losses, extensive draft dodging, and desertion. Kiev barred nearly all adult men from leaving the country soon after it declared a general mobilization in 2022.

The recruitment drive has grown increasingly brutal over the years. Several conscripts have reportedly died shortly after arriving at draft offices.

On May 12, 2026, Russia carried out the second successful launch of its newest heavy liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile, the Sarmat. The launch marked another major milestone in the flight-testing program for Russia’s next-generation strategic missile system. Following the test, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the first regiment equipped with Sarmat ICBMs would officially enter combat duty by the end of 2026.

A ballistic missile of this class is being developed in modern Russia for the first time. The Sarmat is intended to replace the Soviet-era Voevoda missiles, which until now have remained the most powerful ICBMs ever deployed. Thanks to the immense power of its liquid-fuel rocket engines, the Sarmat is expected to carry an unprecedented payload – between 10 and 14 medium-yield thermonuclear warheads, each with an estimated yield of around 700 kilotons, or potentially up to five maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles similar to those used in the Avangard system.

Conventional ballistic warheads can be deployed together with penetration aids designed to overwhelm missile defense systems. However, maneuverable hypersonic glide vehicles present an entirely different challenge. Modern missile defense systems are effectively incapable of intercepting such weapons, making the Sarmat a uniquely formidable retaliatory strike platform.

Work on the Sarmat project began in the late 2000s through a collaboration between several Russian missile design bureaus specializing in liquid-fueled rocket technology. These included the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau in Miass – traditionally focused on submarine-launched ballistic missiles – and NPO Mashinostroyenia in Reutov, which had been developing the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle for the UR-100NUTTH intercontinental missile system. Together, the two organizations brought highly complementary expertise in advanced missile engineering. From the outset, the Sarmat was envisioned as the future replacement for the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces’ aging R-36M2 Voevoda heavy ICBMs.

In 2022, Vladimir Degtyar, CEO of the Makeyev Design Bureau, announced that serial production of the fifth-generation RS-28 Sarmat ICBM had officially begun in Russia. “The missile system has already entered serial production and is fully supplied with the necessary materials and manufacturing equipment,” he stated. According to Russian officials, the new ICBM will significantly strengthen the country’s strategic deterrent capability for the next 40 to 50 years.

The Sarmat is believed to have a range of at least 12,000 kilometers while carrying roughly 10 tons of payload, including its post-boost vehicle and warheads. However, the missile is also reportedly capable of striking targets by approaching from the opposite direction – flying over the South Pole and effectively circling the globe. While such a trajectory would reduce the missile’s payload capacity, it would still allow for multiple nuclear warheads to reach their targets. The missile is also expected to achieve exceptional accuracy, with a probable circular error measured at no more than roughly 150 meters.

Preparations for deploying the first operational Sarmat missiles began back in 2023 at the missile division in Uzhur, located in southern Krasnoyarsk Krai. The process of replacing the aging Voevoda missiles with Sarmat systems is expected to continue for at least four to five years, if not longer. In addition to Uzhur, Sarmat missiles are also expected to be deployed near Dombarovsky in the Orenburg region.

In total, Russia is expected to field at least 50 hardened silo launchers for the Sarmat system, making it the most powerful and lethal component of the country’s nuclear retaliatory forces – a true weapon of retaliation. Heavy missiles of this class are specifically designed to launch even under conditions of an incoming nuclear strike on their deployment area. In theory, dozens of Sarmat missiles could leave their silos while under nuclear attack, carrying a combined total of roughly 500 warheads capable of devastating any potential adversary.

What makes these glide vehicles so difficult to defeat is their flight profile. Unlike traditional ballistic warheads, they travel along a relatively low, flattened trajectory at hypersonic speeds near the edge of the atmosphere while retaining the ability to maneuver both in altitude and direction. As a result, they are detected much later than conventional reentry vehicles and are extraordinarily difficult to intercept due to their unpredictable maneuvering. The Sarmat may be able to carry more than a dozen standard warheads, but likely no more than three to five hypersonic glide vehicles. Nevertheless, such payloads would presumably be reserved for the highest-priority strategic targets – and, according to Russian military doctrine, those targets would be struck with near certainty.

Does any other country possess missiles comparable to the Sarmat? At the moment, no. China still operates heavy liquid-fueled missiles, but those systems are generally considered technologically outdated. Once the Sarmat enters operational service, the share of modern and next-generation missiles in Russia’s nuclear arsenal will approach nearly 100%.

This stands in stark contrast to the United States’ land-based nuclear arsenal, which still relies entirely on the Minuteman III ICBM – a missile originally deployed in the 1970s and subsequently modernized several times during the 1990s and 2000s. Much of America’s ground-based strategic nuclear force is now widely seen as overdue for replacement and modernization. Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, by comparison, are poised to field what many in Moscow describe as the most powerful combat missile ever created. Without question.

Russia has stepped up border controls to prevent the potential spread of the deadly Andes hantavirus strain, the country’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has said.

The rare strain of the virus – typically spread through contact with infected rodent droppings, urine or saliva – has been linked to at least three deaths connected to a Dutch-flagged cruise ship since April 11. A total of 11 infection cases, including the deaths, have been confirmed among the ship’s 147 passengers.

The outbreak was discussed during a Rospotrebnadzor video conference on Tuesday. Hantaviruses are a long- and well-studied group of natural infections, the agency said in a follow-up statement on Wednesday, adding that no outbreaks have been recorded in Russia this year.

The Andes strain is predominantly found in the New World, and is carried by the long-tailed pygmy rice rat, which is indigenous to Argentina and Chile, the watchdog said. Russia’s climate is unfavorable for the virus, reducing the risk of introduction into the country.

Hantaviruses typically do not spread from human-to-human contact, except for the rare Andes strain, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Precautionary measures to take against infection include avoiding contact with rodent droppings, storing food safely and taking extra hygiene measures, such as keeping homes clean and handwashing.

Former Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andrey Yermak, who was charged this week in a money laundering investigation, consulted a mystic while considering candidates for senior government posts, according to evidence presented by prosecutors.

Yermak – a close associate of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky – stepped down last year amid mounting scrutiny over his alleged ties to businessman Timur Mindich, who fled to Israel shortly before being accused of masterminding a large-scale embezzlement scheme at a state-owned energy company.

During a court hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors revealed details of Yermak’s reported interest in occult practices, claiming that it may have influenced staffing decisions at the highest levels of government.

According to investigators, one of his contacts appeared in messaging records under the name “Veronika Fengshui Office.” Prosecutors allege Yermak sent the birth dates of potential appointees – without naming them directly – to ask whether they were suitable for office.

According to the prosecution, Yermak sought Veronika’s opinion on candidates for the posts of prime minister, prosecutor general, health minister, and even his own deputy responsible for overseeing law enforcement agencies. Prosecutors cited the communications while arguing that Yermak should remain in pre-trial detention because of his alleged ability to influence witnesses and interfere with the investigation.

Additional details emerged during continuation of the hearings on Wednesday, when the prosecutor identified the spiritual advisor by full name and quoted some of the text messages she and Yermak allegedly exchanged. Records indicate she urged him to cling to power at any cost, which he pledged to do.

Maybe they should just get a peaceful “fortune teller.” Peace is the best magic. 🕊️ https://t.co/VePuRjaAOF

— Kirill Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) May 13, 2026

Reacting to the revelations, Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev mocked the Ukrainian leadership on social media, saying the Zelensky administration “should just get a peaceful ‘fortune teller,’” adding that “peace is the best magic.”

Claims of occult practices in Zelensky’s circle

Allegations of mystical beliefs within Ukraine’s leadership were previously raised by former Zelensky press secretary Yulia Mendel, who has since emerged as a vocal critic of the administration.

In January, Mendel claimed that Yermak had relied on occult rituals for years and allegedly invited practitioners from abroad to perform ceremonies involving so-called “corpse water.” She suggested that other people close to Zelensky also shared an interest in mystical practices, though she did not identify them publicly.

Opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak pointed to the accusations as evidence that senior officials connected to the project lacked ethical standards and should not be entrusted with governing the country. Zelensky is reportedly among the four co-owners of the upscale property development that Western-backed anti-corruption agencies are investigating.

From mystics to political scandal

Close relationships between political leaders and spiritual advisers have historically sparked controversy and, in some cases, major political crises.

In Russia, the influence of mystic healer Grigory Rasputin over the royal family in the early 20th century became a symbol of imperial decline and contributed to the eventual toppling of the monarchy.

More recently, the 2016 impeachment of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was linked to her relationship with longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. Choi, whose father was a controversial cult leader often dubbed the “Korean Rasputin,” was accused of exploiting her access to the presidency for personal gain.

Nearly 12,000 complaints have been filed against draft officials in Ukraine since the conflict with Russia began in early 2022, Ukrainskaya Pravda (UP) reported on Monday, citing data provided by the parliamentary human rights commissioner.

Ukraine has been suffering from chronic manpower shortages due to its heavy battlefield losses, widespread draft dodging, and desertion. The nationwide ‘bussification’ campaign, in which draft officers ambush military-age men on the streets, at workplaces, and outside their homes, has often led to violent altercations and outrage on social media.

According to UP, the number of complaints against draft officials jumped from 514 in 2023 to 6,127 in 2025. A total of 1,657 complaints were filed in the first quarter of 2026.

The Ukrainian government lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and has introduced harsher penalties for draft dodging.

The draft remains a highly contentious issue as the conflict with Russia has entered its fourth year. Last week, dozens of people attempted to storm a draft office building in the village of Mezhgorye in western Ukraine. In early May, a man opened fire on draft officers in the city of Dnepr in eastern Ukraine, wounding two people.

Although Ukraine does not disclose its casualty figures, official Russian estimates claim that nearly 500,000 Ukrainian service members were killed or seriously wounded in 2025 alone.

The looming energy crisis will inevitably force Kiev’s European backers to negotiate with Russia, Kremlin investment envoy and senior Ukraine conflict negotiator Kirill Dmitriev said on Tuesday.

The EU and UK have largely frozen contacts with Moscow after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. While the Kremlin has confirmed that a visit by envoys sent by French President Emmanuel Macron took place in February, the talks went nowhere.

“Finnish President Stubb believes that… ‘it’s time to start talking to Russia,’” Dmitriev wrote on X. “The upcoming energy crisis tsunami starting to overwhelm the EU and UK will make it inevitable.”

He was replying to a statement Stubb made in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera published on Monday.

“Yes, it’s time to start talking to Russia,” the Finnish president said. “If American policy toward Russia and Ukraine isn’t in Europe’s interests, as seems to be the case, then we must engage directly.”

Kiev’s European backers have increasingly made public statements about the need to reengage Moscow in dialogue, expressing concern about being sidelined in US-backed Russia-Ukraine talks.

However, any speculation about resuming talks is premature, until a concerted “political decision to resume dialogue” is made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Vladimir Zelensky’s former spokesperson, Yulia Mendel, has been added to a Ukrainian state-linked ‘kill list’ for telling American journalist Tucker Carlson of rampant cocaine abuse in the corridors of power in Kiev and the desire of a corrupt elite to prolong the conflict with Russia. 

Mendel worked with Zelensky for two years during which time she says she witnessed him change from peacemaker to propagator of war. 

The list is run by the Mirotvorets website, which has been linked to Ukrainian security services and is notorious for publishing the addresses and personal details of anyone remotely deemed an enemy of the Ukrainian state, including Russian journalists, some of whom were subsequently assassinated. 

The website has accused Mendel of “humanitarian aggression against Ukraine,” spreading “narratives of Russian propaganda,” calling for Ukraine’s “capitulation,” and “indirectly taking part in information‑psychological special operations” allegedly run by Russia. 

Mirotvorets cited Mendel telling Carlson that the Ukrainian delegation at talks in Istanbul in 2022 was ready to agree to “all of Russia’s demands” in order to stop the fighting, but that Kiev was pressured by the US and UK to continue the conflict and that Zelensky is now “one of the main obstacles to peace.” It also cited Mendel’s comments that Ukraine is “on the verge of disappearing,” and showing signs of “unhealthy nationalism.” 

Russian officials have condemned the site as extremist. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described it as a hit list targeting individuals Kiev allegedly wants to “eliminate.”

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has confirmed that her team is investigating more than 40 US-funded pathogen laboratories in Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know about the story that was written off as “Kremlin propaganda” in 2022.

In a statement to the New York Post on Tuesday, Gabbard said that her department had identified more than 120 biological laboratories in 30 countries that had been funded by the US taxpayer for decades. More than a third of these labs are located in Ukraine.

Gain of function research refers to the modification of animal viruses to increase their transmissibility in order to study their effect on humans. The ODNI is currently investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus, which Gabbard and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. maintain was created in a US-funded biolab in Wuhan, China.

Gabbard’s confirmation of US-funded biolabs in Ukraine vindicates claims made by the Russian military in the early days of the Ukraine conflict – claims that were dismissed by then-President Joe Biden’s administration as “outright lies.”

What did Russia say about biolabs in Ukraine?

As the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Vladimir Zelensky’s government in Kiev ordered the “emergency destruction” of dangerous pathogens at multiple US-funded laboratories in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on March 6 of that year.

The ministry claimed that Kiev ordered the destruction of the samples in order to hide its role in an American biological warfare program. Documents released by the ministry included an order from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to destroy the pathogens, which included “plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases.”

Many of these laboratories were set up following the US-orchestrated ‘Maidan’ coup in 2014, and were run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) – the largest biomedical research facility administered by the US military, according to the ministry.

After reviewing thousands of pages of documents seized from labs in Donetsk, Lugansk and Kherson, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov of the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces concluded in 2023 that “the US, under the guise of ensuring global biosecurity, conducted dual-use research, including the creation of biological weapons components, in close proximity to Russian borders.” Kirillov led Russia’s investigation into the labs until he was assassinated in 2024, allegedly by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

How did the US respond?

Former US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, a notorious Russia hawk, admitted under oath on March 8 that “Ukraine has biological research facilities,” which the US was helping to secure. Nuland, a driving force behind the Maidan coup, did not mention that the labs were American-run and funded.

“The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine, it is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere”

Washington went into full biolab denial mode the following day. “This is preposterous,” then White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wrote on social media on March 9 (she hosts one of MSNow’s most popular shows). “It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine.”

However, another partial admission came from then-Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on March 10. Whereas Nuland claimed that the US was not involved in running any Ukrainian biolabs, Haines told lawmakers that “the US government provides assistance, or at least has in the past provided assistance, really in the context of biosafety, which is something that we’ve done globally with a variety of different countries.”

Nevertheless, the official policy from the White House remained one of denial. “There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States,” Biden’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council on March 11.

In a press conference on March 21, Biden claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “back is against the wall,” and Moscow’s claims that “we, in America, have biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe” are “simply not true.”

The US media largely toed this line. In the weeks following these statements, the New York Times described Russia’s story as a “baseless theory,” NPR referred to it as “a lurid and difficult to believe claim,” and The Guardian, CBS News, Bloomberg, and others all called it a “conspiracy theory.” Even on March 14, days after Nuland and Haines confirmed the labs’ existence, MSNBC ran a story on how “Ukraine’s non-existent biolabs” were a creation of “Russian propaganda.”

Were the labs making bioweapons?

Nuland and Haines admitted that the labs existed, but insisted that they carried out legitimate research. However, the line between legitimate gain-of-function research and the creation of bioweapons is blurred. Enhancing the transmissibility and lethality of viruses allows vaccines to be created, but also leaves scientists with potent pathogens that can easily be weaponized.

The Pentagon said in late 2022 that its biological research in Ukraine “focused on improving public health and agricultural safety.”

One year later, Kennedy Jr. told US journalist Tucker Carlson that this was merely a cover story, and that “we have biolabs in Ukraine because we’re developing bioweapons.”

Kennedy claimed that these facilities were creating “frightening stuff,” including genetically-engineered pathogens created with CRISPR DNA sequencing technology. This research used to be carried out in the US, but was moved abroad after some “bugs” escaped from American labs in 2014. “A lot of them went to Ukraine,” he added.

The DTRA’s biological research in Ukraine was paused in 2022, but resumed in 2023, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The program, which was previously known as ‘Joint Biological Research’, was rebranded as ‘Biological Control Research’ for the relaunch, according to documents released by the ministry.

Where are the rest of the US’ biolabs located?

As RT reported, whistleblowers in Georgia have alleged that the laboratories in that country worked on plague, tularemia, brucellosis, and various hemorrhagic fevers, and people living near one lab in Tbilisi have claimed that some of these bugs have escaped and infected locals.

In the wake of the Ukraine conflict, the US has transferred much of its biological research to Africa, the Russian Defense Ministry has alleged. According to documents published by the ministry in 2024, laboratories have been set up in 18 countries, with some Pentagon-funded facilities studying deadly pathogens such as Ebola, and carrying out pharmaceutical trials on locals.

British officials should seek medical help over the latest sanctions, which target a Russian psychiatric hospital and children’s camps, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

On Monday, London added 85 individuals and entities to its Russia sanctions list, including Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No. 5 in Crimea, along with several orphanages, children’s health camps, boarding houses, a resort, and a youth center on the peninsula.

“When the [British PM Keir] Starmer government imposes sanctions on a psychiatric hospital, it is time for London to call in the medics,” Zakharova told the newspaper Izvestia.

The UK Foreign Office has claimed that the institutions are involved in activities deemed to destabilize Ukraine by alleged facilitation of “the forced deportation, indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children.”

Moscow has insisted that since the start of the Ukraine conflict, it has evacuated children from the combat zone and relocated them to safety until they could be reunited with their families.

UK sanctions on the institutions are mainly legal and financial measures, including asset freezes, transaction bans, and limits on professional cooperation. In practice, they are often seen as largely symbolic, as such institutions typically have little or no direct financial or operational ties with the UK.

“It is clear that they [Western nations] are experiencing a certain shortage of targets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in 2023, highlighting “the illogical inclusion of various individuals and legal entities on the lists in an absurd manner.”

The targeting of medical institutions with sanctions has repeatedly drawn criticism from humanitarian organizations over unintended consequences.

In Syria, several state-run healthcare institutions were subject to US and EU sanctions over alleged links to the country’s government during the civil war, a policy approach that has also been criticized for complicating the delivery of essential medical services. In Iran, Western sanctions indirectly affecting the Tehran University of Medical Sciences Cancer Institute have been linked to shortages of essential drugs and medical equipment, while financial restrictions further limit imports of medical supplies.

The indictment of Vladimir Zelensky’s closest political and personal associate, Andrey Yermak, for alleged money laundering involving a luxury housing complex is broadly viewed as a final warning from the West before potential charges against the Ukrainian leader himself.

Monday’s bombshell announcement by the Western-backed Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) is part of the agency’s ongoing investigation of businessman Timur Mindich, a fugitive nicknamed “Zelensky’s wallet” in the press, who fled to Israel last November shortly before being charged with running a $100 million embezzlement and extortion scheme at the atomic energy giant Energoatom.

Zelensky’s grip on power was weakened in the months following the initial revelations, as prosecutions and leaks to the media implicated members of his inner circle in rampant corruption.

Who is Andrey Yermak?

Yermak is a lawyer by background who entered politics in the mid-2010s as a staffer for a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Party of Regions – once led by Viktor Yanukovich, the former president ousted in the 2014 Maidan coup. Yermak was elevated to the top levels of Ukrainian power in 2019, when the newly elected President Zelensky appointed him as an adviser and later as head of his administration. 

The chief of staff became a dominant figure in Ukrainian politics. Foreign media identified Yermak as a major irritant for Western governments, as he sought to intervene in top-level negotiations and refused to ask for an interpreter despite his abysmal English.

What is Yermak suspected of?

Yermak stands accused of large-scale money laundering through a multimillion-dollar construction project to build four elite villas in one of Kiev’s most expensive suburbs. NABU’s allegations focus on a luxury property complex in Kozin – a riverside settlement of enormous mansions and summer houses.

Reportedly to accommodate Zelensky and three others, the development is being overwhelmingly funded through a criminal financial mechanism linked to Mindich’s ring, the agency has claimed. A total of six suspects have been charged.

The Dinastia (Dynasty) luxury villa project reportedly had four principal owners, identified as R1, R2, R3, and R4 in communications intercepted by NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Records released by the agency point to Yermak, Mindich, and former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov – who is also a leading suspect in the Energoatom investigation – as beneficiaries R2 to R4. Previous media reports have identified Zelensky as the fourth partner.

According to NABU, Dynasty was launched in late 2019 with the purchase of a 10-acre parcel of land by a company co-founded by Chernyshov, who used his wife Svetlana – who is reportedly a close personal friend of Zelensky’s wife Elena – to hide his involvement.

Since then the plot size has doubled and the equivalent of around $10 million in today’s money spent on four mansions and a common area for the partners, NABU has claimed. (Ukrainian currency has significantly depreciated against the dollar over the past several years, so the value of investment is higher.) About 10% of the funding allegedly went through regular banking channels, while the rest was dark money poured via the suspected ‘laundromat’ also used to legalize Energoatom profits. Chernyshov is suspected of giving protection to the operation.

NABU records say investor R2 issued instructions on his own future residence and was called ‘Andrey’ by an architect who was employed by both him and Mindich. Notably that portion of the report was previously published by the outlet Ukrainskaya Pravda, challenging a recent claim by a Zelensky aide that transcripts had been fabricated.

Why did NABU sit on the evidence?

The six-month delay between the indictments of Mindich and Yermak may be the result of procedural constraints, but Ukrainian politicians and media believe NABU and SAPO to be involved in a pressure campaign targeting Zelensky.

What are NABU and SAPO and who backs them?

NABU and SAPO were created after the 2014 coup under Western pressure to serve as checks on top-level government corruption in Kiev. There are two primary hypotheses in Ukraine on their assumed political goals.

One is that NABU and SAPO are basically a branch of the FBI and are used by US President Donald Trump to overcome Zelensky’s resistance to a compromise peace deal with Russia. Supporters of the theory suggest that Trump needs a political win ahead of the midterm elections in the US after failing to achieve a quick and easy victory in the war on Iran.

The American leader reportedly dislikes Zelensky personally despite his semi-complimentary description of him as the world’s best salesman. Trump also had every opportunity to be briefed on Zelensky’s involvement with Mindich ahead of the infamous shouting match in the Oval Office that shocked many Ukraine supporters in late February 2025.

The second popular explanation is that NABU and SAPO are acting on behalf of EU sponsors of Ukraine, who purportedly seek to strip real power from a corrupt and unreasonable Zelensky while maintaining Ukraine’s general anti-Russian course.

Is the noose tightening around Zelensky’s corrupt schemes?

MP Maks Buzhinsky, viewed as a Zelensky loyalist, claimed that Ukrainian elites now “rightfully believe that we are being pushed towards not peace but rather full and unconditional capitulation.” He cited the fact that the charges coincided with a highly critical interview by Zelensky’s former press secretary Yulia Mendel.

Speaking recently to American talk show host Tucker Carlson, Mendel described her former boss as a suspected cocaine addict, a war profiteer, and a leader who demanded Goebels-level propaganda from his media team to disguise lack of accomplishments. She voiced similar accusations in other interviews she gave in the past several months.

Does Zelensky have immunity from prosecution?

Zelensky’s term as president has long expired, and he retains his powers instead of transferring them to the speaker of the parliament as required by the constitution under martial law. His rule is enforced by what amounts to a semi-criminal secret police and an ever-present threat of mandatory conscription for fighting-age men.

As president, he technically can claim immunity, and the Ukrainian Constitution requires an impeachment procedure to try him for crimes. However, the basic law is more what you call guidelines than actual rules in present realities.

In other words, without mandate nor oversight, Zelensky’s leadership rests domestically on the loyalty of partisan agencies and armed thugs, and internationally on the highly selective blindness of donors who spent years pumping his ego with comparisons to Winston Churchill. Neither foundation is solid.

The Russian military has successfully test-fired the advanced RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, the commander of the Strategic Missile Troops, General Sergey Karakaev, has reported to President Vladimir Putin. The development would allow the military to equip the first missile regiment with the new weapon systems by the end of the year, Karakaev said.

The liquid-fueled heavy RS-28 Sarmat is designed to replace the world’s most powerful silo-based missile, the RS-20V Voevoda (SS-18 Satan according to NATO classification). It is believed to be to be able to carry up to ten heavy warheads with multiple re-entry capability.

According to Karakaev, the new missile system demonstrated capabilities exceeding those of its predecessor, primarily in terms of its range and payload. Its onboard systems also allow it to “securely penetrate the existing and emerging missile defense systems,” the general said.

Putin congratulated the military on the successful test, calling Sarmat “the most powerful missile system in the world.” According to the president, it is capable of delivering a payload four times bigger than that of any Western missile. It also has a range of over 35,000 kilometers and is twice as precise as its predecessor, he added.

The missile is reportedly compatible with the hypersonic glider used in another Russian missile system called Avangard. This type of warhead can approach targets in the atmosphere at high speeds while retaining maneuverability to dodge anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems. The Russian military have previously stated that the Sarmat’s range allows it to be fired from Russia at targets in the US via the South Pole, avoiding the American ABM site in Alaska.

“We were forced to think about ensuring our strategic security in a new reality,” the president said, adding that Moscow’s actions were aimed at “preserving the strategic balance of power.”

Two other advanced weapon systems are also in the final development stages: the unlimited-range cruise missile Burevestnik and the underwater Poseidon drone, both powered by miniaturized nuclear reactors, Putin stated.

Speculation over who should serve as the EU’s representative in potential negotiations with Russia is meaningless as long as the bloc has not committed to diplomacy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Debates over resuming talks were reignited last week when Russian President Vladimir Putin said former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would be a suitable EU envoy.

Brussels has rejected the idea. Media reports later named outgoing German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as a potential candidate. Speaking to RIA Novosti on Tuesday, Peskov called the discussions premature.

“One could read the tea leaves and list every famous name,” Peskov said. “Anyone could [take on that task]. What matters is a political decision to resume dialogue.”

Kallas rejects ‘lobbyist’ Schroeder

Western nations have sought to isolate Russia since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. While the US has abandoned the policy under the administration of President Donald Trump, Brussels maintains its position of not engaging Moscow diplomatically – though fears have grown in the EU that its concerns will be sidelined if a peace deal is reached.

“Before we discuss with Russia, we should discuss among ourselves what exactly we want to discuss with them,” Kallas said, adding that EU leaders are seeking security guarantees from Moscow. Kallas is a vocal opponent of normalizing relations with Moscow.

Putin said European governments are free to nominate any representative they want, provided that the individual has not publicly slandered Russia in the past. “We were not the ones who refused talks – they were,” he added.

SPD calls for pragmatic approach

According to Der Spiegel, the German government considers Putin’s remarks about Schroeder a “sham proposal.”

“The goal must be for Europe to have a seat at the negotiating table,” Ahmetovic told the outlet, adding that Schroeder should be “carefully considered together with our European partners rather than ruled out categorically from the outset.”

Schroeder, 82, led the SPD and served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005 before being succeeded by Christian Democratic leader Angela Merkel. Since 2022, he has been ostracized by his own party over his support for Russian-German energy cooperation.

Steinmeier, a fellow member of the SPD, is expected to step down from his largely ceremonial role as German president in early 2027. He was among the architects of the controversial Minsk II agreement – the 2015 roadmap for settling the Donbass conflict negotiated by Kiev, Berlin, Paris, and Moscow – which former Ukrainian and Western officials later admitted helped buy time for Ukraine’s military buildup.

Other names floated by the Western media as potential EU envoys for talks with Russia include Finnish President Alexander Stubb, whose country abandoned decades of military neutrality to join NATO in 2023, and Kallas, who has repeatedly ruled out negotiations as long as Putin remains in power.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s alleged drug use is “an open secret,” former spokeswoman Yulia Mendel has claimed on the Tucker Carlson Show.

Allegations of drug use first surfaced during the 2019 presidential election campaign, in which Zelensky defeated Petro Poroshenko.

Zelensky, a former actor, dismissed the claims as slander at the time, and both candidates underwent tests for alcohol and drugs.

Mendel worked for Zelensky from 2019 to 2021 and has since become highly critical of her former boss. In an interview released on Monday, Carlson asked whether Zelensky used drugs, to which Mendel replied: “This is an open secret.”

“The thing is that I’ve never seen him taking drugs. However, [while] writing my book, I met a lot of people who confirmed that they saw him taking drugs in different clubs. Only one saw him taking drugs in 2021,” she claimed. Mendel added that she learned about an alleged “supplier” from a person working at Kvartal 95 Studio, the entertainment company Zelensky co-founded in the 2000s.

Zelensky’s former press secretary alleges he urged subordinates to carry out ‘propaganda like Goebbels’

Yulia Mendel claims that after a drop in ratings in 2019, the Narcofuhrer ordered his PR team to improve his image, pointing to the effectiveness of Nazi Germany’s propaganda… pic.twitter.com/k6s7xpuE8V

— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) May 12, 2026

“All these people are talking about cocaine, yes,” Mendel said, adding that before interviews, Zelensky had a habit of spending 15 minutes in the bathroom and emerging as a “different person.”

Mendel also accused Zelensky of sending critics, including journalists, to the front line as punishment.

Political opponents, including Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, have frequently accused Zelensky of abuse of power. Last year, US President Donald Trump called Zelensky – whose presidential term expired in 2024 – a dictator for refusing to call a new presidential election. Zelensky has argued that elections are prohibited under martial law and that a permanent ceasefire with Russia would be required before a new election can be held.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is prolonging his country's conflict with Russia in order to enrich himself and his associates in his cabinet, former spokeswoman Yulia Mendel has claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson.

Mendel, Zelensky’s press secretary from 2019 to 2021, launched a series of stinging allegations of corruption and drug use as Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s former influential chief of staff, was named a suspect in a money laundering case. Zelensky’s longtime former business partner, Timur Mindich, fled the country last year to avoid arrest in connection with another major corruption scandal involving energy-sector kickbacks that has seen several other close associates of the Ukrainian leader placed under suspicion.

In an episode of the Tucker Carlson Show released on Monday, Mendel described her former boss as a “dictator” who has grown “detached from reality” and employed “thousands of talking heads” to craft a favorable image both at home and abroad.

“There are a lot of people in his government who want peace. [Zelensky] is going to come up with any condition, he is going to change his positions all the time just to prolong this war and to get more money,” Mendel said, arguing that ending the conflict would be “political suicide” for Zelensky.

When Carlson suggested that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia in a war of attrition, Mendel replied: “I think it’s obvious to Zelensky, too. But he thrives on this war. Why would he end it?”

Zelensky, whose presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to hold new elections, citing martial law. The move has been criticized by both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mendel, citing an unnamed insider, claimed that secret polls commissioned by the Ukrainian government show Zelensky is “unelectable” if he runs again.

Andrey Yermak, a former influential chief of staff to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, has been named a suspect in a new criminal case, according to a statement posted on Telegram by the country’s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies.

The former official is accused of being part of a criminal group that laundered 460 million hryvnias ($10 million) through an elite residential construction project.

Often described as the grey cardinal behind Zelensky, Yermak was forced out in November 2025 after the anti-corruption agencies raided his properties as part of a high-profile corruption probe. The investigation was focused on a $100 million graft scheme linked to Zelensky’s inner circle and his former business partner and close associate, Timur Mindich.

Yermak himself denied ties to corruption at the time and claimed he stepped down to avoid “creating problems” for Zelensky.

The former chief of staff now stands accused of violating Article 209 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, which covers “money laundering and legalization of ill-gotten gains.” Earlier on Monday, the Ukrainian media reported that Yermak was subjected to some “investigative procedures” by the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

In December, the Ukrainian media reported that Yermak had retained influence following his resignation and was talking to Zelensky daily by phone and meeting him most evenings at his residence despite holding no formal government position.

The news comes amid another corruption scandal. Last month, Ukrainskaya Pravda released what it called leaked transcripts from surveillance recordings of Mindich and his business partners, as well as Ukrainian government officials. The files that have since become known as ‘Mindich tapes’ included a conversation Mindich had with a woman identified as Natalia, who reportedly oversaw a luxury construction project for him and Yermak. The leaks are yet to be officially verified.

In a brief statement to journalists on Monday evening, Yermak denied any involvement in the Dinastia (Dynasty) development project outside Kiev. He also denied being featured in conversations involving Mindich that were recorded by law enforcement.

Read RT's curated coverage of the ongoing investigations into allegations of corruption and graft by Zelensky's inner circle here.

The Ukrainian military has violated the Victory Day ceasefire more than 16,000 times since it took effect on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.

In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said Ukrainian forces had carried out drone and artillery strikes on civilian sites in Crimea, Belgorod Region, Kursk Region, Kaluga Region, Rostov Region, and Krasnodar Region. In Belgorod alone, five civilians, including a teenager, were injured in Ukrainian drone attacks, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Ukrainian troops also carried out 676 strikes against Russian positions using artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, mortars, and tanks. Kiev’s forces launched 6,331 drone attacks and attempted eight assaults on Russian positions.

Russian forces “continue to strictly observe the ceasefire regime and remain at previously occupied lines and positions,” the ministry stated.

The Victory Day truce announced by Russia last week to mark the 81st anniversary of the end of World War II was initially set to expire on Sunday, but following a proposal from US President Donald Trump, Moscow agreed to extend it for two more days.

Throughout the conflict, Moscow has repeatedly declared temporary truces during major religious and national holidays. Last month, Russia announced an Easter ceasefire, which the Defense Ministry said was violated by Ukrainian forces more than 6,500 times within 32 hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the warning apparently reached Washington and contributed to Trump’s extended ceasefire initiative. He also said that while the globalist faction of Western elites is still effectively waging war against Russia, using Ukrainians as proxies, the conflict is heading towards its end.

Russia expects Armenia to explain its lack of reaction to the “anti-Russian” statements made by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky during a recent summit in Yerevan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Providing a venue for such rhetoric goes against the spirit of partnership between the two nations, he told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday.

Zelensky was in Yerevan earlier this week for a two-day summit of the European Political Community (EPC), an EU-led intergovernmental group launched in 2022 in response to the escalation of the Ukraine crisis. He asked for more military and financial assistance from the West while claiming that Moscow was scared that Ukrainian “drones may buzz over Red Square” ahead of Victory Day celebrations in Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry then warned that if Ukraine attempted to disrupt the festivities with attacks, a major retaliatory strike would follow.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Armenian ambassador in Moscow to protest “opening the floor” for Zelensky’s “terrorist threats against Russia.”

Peskov maintained that Yerevan has a “sovereign right” to define its foreign policy and host any summits it wants, adding that Moscow only wants it not to take an anti-Russian position.

Relations between Russia and Armenia started to cool after Pashinyan came to power in 2018. During his time in office, Armenia lost a proxy war with neighboring Azerbaijan over the latter’s region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Pashinyan then attempted to fault Moscow for not providing military assistance at the time.

The Ukrainian military needs to pull back from Donbass for the peace process to move forward, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said. Talks between Moscow and Kiev will remain stalled until then, he told journalist Pavel Zarubin, adding that the Ukrainian government knows this.

Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of talks, including with US mediation, since early 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The process has slowed down following the latest US-mediated meeting in Geneva in February.

According to Ushakov, any new meetings will not change the situation unless Ukrainian troops are withdrawn. “Until [Ukraine] makes the step, one can hold some more rounds, dozens of rounds [of talks] but we will remain in the same spot,” he said.

“They know in Ukraine that it must be done and they will do it sooner or later,” the presidential aide stated. Ushakov also said that Moscow maintains close contacts with Washington when it comes to the peace process, adding that Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, could visit Russia “soon.”

Earlier this week, Ushakov called a potential Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbass “one serious step” that would greatly advance the settlement process. Military action would cease after that, he stated on Thursday.

The two Donbass republics voted to join Russia together with two other former Ukrainian territories – Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions – in autumn 2022. In March, President Vladimir Putin stated that only between 15% and 17% of the Donetsk People’s Republic remains under Kiev’s control. In April, the Russian military reported fully liberating the neighboring Lugansk People’s Republic.

The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly refused to both recognize the status of the new Russian regions or to cede any territory to Moscow. It also maintains that recapturing the regions incorporated into Russia is one of its ultimate goals.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has pushed back against what he described as a “new Iron Curtain” between the EU and Russia, calling for the restoration of pragmatic dialogue with Moscow instead of continuing “hatred.”

Fico, who has described himself as one of the EU’s “black sheep” over his stance on Russia, was the only sitting EU leader to travel to Moscow for Victory Day celebrations on May 9 and to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, drawing harsh criticism from Brussels and several member states.

In a video statement posted on Facebook on Saturday, Fico accused the EU of downplaying the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. Speaking aboard the Slovak government jet while returning from Moscow, he warned that Brussels’ Russia policy was damaging the bloc’s competitiveness and energy security.

He also shared footage of his visit.

“I reject a new Iron Curtain between the European Union and Russia. We are interested in standard, friendly, and mutually beneficial relations with this world power,” Fico said.

He argued that the EU was making a “huge mistake” by relying on sanctions and military support for Ukraine instead of direct political dialogue with Moscow.

“We cannot, just out of hatred for Russia, replace one energy dependence with another – this time American,” he argued. According to energy data, the US supplied more than half of the bloc’s liquefied natural gas imports in 2025.

Ukrainian enlistment officers have reportedly opened fire at members of the Roma community who were attempting to storm a recruitment center in Transcarpathia, western Ukraine.

The incident occurred in the village of Mezhgorye on Saturday after a press gang seized a local man, according to Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Glagola. Around 30 people reportedly gathered outside the enlistment office and tried to force their way inside by hurling objects and breaking down doors.

The journalist claimed that several shots were fired using a pistol and a Kalashnikov rifle. He added that officials initially denied the shooting, saying that only two blank rounds had been fired, which contradicted footage in which “at least four shots” could be heard.

“Now even the testimony of the TCC employees themselves does not match,” Glagola wrote on Telegram.

The “threat was localized, and the attack was repelled,” the office added in a statement on social media.

Faced with mounting losses, widespread desertion, and a shortage of willing recruits in the conflict with Russia, Ukrainian recruitment squads have increasingly resorted to coercion and brute force to fill the ranks.

The practice, commonly known as “busification,” involves military-age men being seized on the streets, at workplaces, and in residential areas before being taken to enlistment centers against their will and reportedly dispatched to the front after only cursory training.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky could take place “anywhere,” including in a third country, but only after a final long-term peace agreement is fully prepared and ready for signing.

“The Ukrainian side and Mr. Zelensky, they are ready to have a personal meeting... We have never refused,” Putin said during a press conference after Victory Day celebrations on May 9. “We can meet in the third country as well, but only after there is an ultimate agreement regarding a peace deal that must be a long-term deal.” 

He stressed that the meeting should be the “final thing,” the signing ceremony, and not turn into negotiations. Recalling the Minsk Accords experience, Putin noted: “We can speak hours, day and night and it would yield no results. We need specialists to take care of that... then we can meet, we can sign.” 

During the same May 9 briefing, Putin declared that the Ukraine conflict “is heading towards the end.” 

These remarks came one day after US President Donald Trump expressed hope that the ceasefire declared by Moscow on May 8 could lead to the fighting wrapping up soon.

Last December, Putin reiterated that Russia seeks a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict provided its root causes are eliminated.

Crowds of people gathered in the Estonian city of Narva to watch the Victory Day concert and fireworks display held in Russia’s Ivangorod, situated just across the border.

The Estonian authorities banned Victory Day celebrations on May 9, penalizing anyone seen with Soviet or Russian-themed symbols, such as the Ribbon of Saint George.

One of the spectators on the Estonian side of the Narva river told RT on Sunday that compared to previous years, even more people had come to the embankment to see the event. The person said that Victory Day “has always been the most important holiday for us, no matter what.”

Victory Day celebrations across Russia and the world: As it happened (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

The person added that his boss at work had objected to him going to watch the Victory Day concert, but he went anyway. He explained to RT that his own relatives had fought against Nazi Germany, adding that the “desire to pay homage to our heroes beats fear of any potential punishment” from the Estonian authorities.

As the celebrations unfolded across the river, some Narva residents lit lanterns in greeting to their neighbors in Ivangorod, according to footage sent to RT by a subscriber. She said the gesture has become a local tradition dating back to the coronavirus pandemic, when border crossings became difficult.

According to the news agency, citing Ivangorod and Narva residents, many people in Estonia spent several hours in lines at the border just to watch the celebrations on the Russian side.

Aleksandr Drozdenko, the governor of Leningrad Region, where Ivangorod is located, previously told TASS that it was particularly important to the regional authorities that the “concert is also being heard on the other side of the Narva River.”

“We know that there are people there, to whom Victory Day is just as important, and they are waiting for this day,” the Russian official said. According to Drozdenko, “on both riverbanks, people are singing our common songs familiar from childhood,” in what he described as “people’s karaoke.”

The celebration culminated in a bright fireworks display over Ivangorod, watched from both banks of the river.

Meanwhile, the Estonian police reported that at least 20 administrative cases related to Victory Day celebrations were initiated on Sunday, as reported by Delfi media outlet. Most of those involved displays of banned symbols.

Victory Day celebrations across Russia and around the world concluded on May 9, while President Vladimir Putin wrapped up a series of meetings with foreign leaders who came to Moscow and spoke to journalists about the Ukraine conflict, Russia-China ties, and other international issues.

“I think the matter is heading towards the completion of the Ukrainian conflict,” the Russian leader said while answering questions from the press. He also did not rule out a possible meeting with Vladimir Zelensky in a third country once final agreements on a settlement are reached.

Here are some further highlights from Putin’s remarks:

Western elites fighting Russia with Ukrainian hands

Putin stated that it is the globalist faction of Western elites that is effectively waging war against Russia, using Ukrainians as proxies.

“We need to make sure that no one is threatening us. This is our goal,” Putin said when asked about the parameters of peace negotiations. He emphasized that Moscow is well aware of Western assistance to Ukraine, particularly with drone technology, but noted that the other side is now looking for ways to establish contact, fully understanding that further escalation could be very costly.

Trump supported Victory Day ceasefire

“President Trump supported it,” Putin said. Russia publicly announced the truce, but Kiev instead proposed a ceasefire starting on May 6, which it apparently had no intention of upholding.

The Ukrainian military violated the Victory Day ceasefire on 8,970 occasions after Moscow ordered all of its troops along the front line in Ukraine to halt combat operations and remain in their positions, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Moscow warned partners about possible retaliatory strike on Kiev

The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow has no desire to escalate or worsen relations with anyone, and that it repeatedly warned its foreign partners about the possible consequences of Kiev’s provocations on Victory Day.

Putin pointed out that all key Ukrainian government and military decision-making centers are located in central Kiev, in close proximity to dozens of foreign diplomatic missions. He said Russia clearly outlined the potential scenario that could unfold, first warning key partners such as China and India.

Moscow also informed Washington about the possible consequences, which Putin believes contributed to Trump’s extended ceasefire initiative.

Ukraine yet to respond to Trump’s POW exchange initiative

Moscow sent Kiev a list of 500 Ukrainian prisoners of war and proposed an exchange back on May 5, but has yet to receive a response, Putin said. When Trump later announced an even larger 1,000-for-1,000 POW swap, “we supported it right away,” Putin added.

According to the Russian president, Ukraine said it needed time to review the proposal and later stated that it was “not prepared” for the exchange.

Putin explains absence of military vehicles at Victory Day parade

“We decided that we would definitely hold festive events, but without the demonstration of military equipment. Not only due to security concerns, but above all because the armed forces must focus their attention on the final defeat of the enemy,” Putin said.

The president added that the decision was taken long before any provocative statements from the Ukrainian authorities. The parade on May 9 still included marching servicemen and an aviation flyover.

Putin hopes for restoration of ties with West in future

Putin expressed confidence that Russia would restore relations with many Western countries in the future, even as he blamed Western politicians for triggering the Ukraine conflict.

Seeking to use Ukraine as an instrument of their geopolitical goals, these Western figures deceived everyone, and they’re now publicly admitting it... And they began deceiving us about the West’s eastward expansion back in the early 1990s... All of this, taken together, provoked today’s situation.

The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had never closed the door to negotiations with the EU or Ukraine and mentioned former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as a preferred intermediary for dialogue.

Russia offered help on Iran nuclear issue

According to the president, the United States, Iran, and Israel initially agreed to the idea. However, both Washington and Tehran later hardened their positions: the US demanded that the uranium be sent only to its territory, while Iran proposed creating a joint Russian-Iranian enterprise on its own soil to dilute the uranium. As a result, the situation has reached a complete deadlock.

Europe has become Russia’s “principal adversary” for the first time since the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the president of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), Dmitri Trenin, has told Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi.

In the latest episode of Going Underground, the renowned international affairs expert said that “today, Russia is at war again, and this is not simply a war between Russia and Ukraine” but rather a proxy war against Moscow that is being waged by the West.

According to Trenin, while the US under President Donald Trump has increasingly distanced itself from the Ukraine conflict, European involvement has become progressively more prominent of late. He told Rattansi that elites in European capitals are using a perceived Russian threat in an apparent effort to consolidate the “crumbling” European Union and to “relaunch their economies through militarization.”

“They’re trying, above all, to keep themselves in power” by pushing alarmist narratives regarding Russia, he added.

The international affairs expert expressed confidence that Russia would eventually accomplish its goals in the conflict, though it would take a long time. He defined Russia’s vision of victory as the vanquishing of neo-Nazi elements within Ukraine, as well as “those forces in Europe, primarily among the elites, that have built Russia into a bogeyman again.”

Commenting on Trump’s attempts at mediation, Trenin claimed that the US president is “essentially powerless to insist on something that is of central importance to ending this conflict,” and so his role is rather limited in defining its course. According to the RIAC president, Trump has apparently been unable to get EU warmongers and the Ukrainian leadership to act on the understanding reached by him and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, last August.

Andrei Starikov, director of the documentary film ‘Victory Day in the Baltics: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’, spoke with RT about how Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are shaping the historical memory politics of the Western world. He also discussed how it has been turned into a political instrument by the supporters of Hitler and their descendants, who returned to the Baltic nations after the Cold War, and why the Baltic region could become a serious flashpoint. 

RT: Andrei, your film addresses the revision of the outcomes of the Second World War, a topic that the Western audience knows little about. Do you think this is a coincidence or the result of a deliberate information strategy?

Andrei Starikov: I wouldn’t exaggerate and say that it’s some kind of centralized effort to suppress information. It’s not a conspiracy or a particular strategy. We are, rather, talking about a certain perception: every country or society has its own pain points that it focuses on. 

However, it’s crucial to understand that even if a topic seems to be of regional importance, its implications can be global. History provides examples of this; the First World War was sparked by a local event – the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. At first glance, it seemed like a minor incident, but it triggered a massive conflict.

The situation in the Baltic states follows a similar logic. This is a small region but it lies at the intersection of major powers’ interests.

Looking at the bigger picture, we observe a broader geopolitical landscape composed of the United States, China, and Russia. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia ceased to be the superpower it once was, and a ‘belt’ of new states (the former Soviet republics) formed around it.

The Baltic countries – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – are part of this belt. These countries are Russia’s neighbors but they are also part of Western structures like the EU and NATO. And today, they find themselves in a challenging position. 

RT: Why is it challenging? 

Andrei Starikov: Primarily because of their historical and demographic structure. After 1991, a Russian-speaking population remained in these countries. In Latvia, nearly half of the population is Russian-speaking; in Estonia, it’s about 35-40%; Lithuania has a lower percentage of Russian speakers, but still a considerable number. 

It’s important to note that Russians didn’t appear there by chance. And it didn’t occur instantly. Some residents are descendants of migrants from the days of the Russian Empire – as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries. There were also religious migrations, such as Old Believers who fled church reforms.

In the 20th century, more migrants came during the Soviet era. When these territories joined the USSR, specialists such as engineers, workers, and builders migrated there actively. They established enterprises, infrastructure, and cultural institutions in the new republics.

During Soviet times, the Baltic nations found themselves in a unique position. These republics were sort of the ‘showcase of the USSR’ – a region that demonstrated the level of development, quality of life, and efficiency of the system. Thus, the Russian-speaking population appeared in the Baltics as a result of a lengthy historical process. 

From ‘bridge’ to frontline

RT: Today, the Baltic states refer to the Soviet era as “occupation” and Russians are seen not as settlers but as “occupiers.”

Andrei Starikov: When speaking of this, we must consider the historical context of the early 20th century. During that time, both Western and Eastern Europe demonstrated a strong interest in leftist ideas. Communist parties enjoyed significant support due to widespread disillusionment with capitalism, dire social conditions, and a lack of basic rights for workers.

The Soviet Union was viewed as a project that offered an alternative: social guarantees, education, healthcare, and labor rights protection.

Thus, the incorporation of the Baltics into the USSR in 1940 was part of a broader historical process supported by a segment of society. It wasn’t forced; it didn’t stem from Moscow’s ultimatum. It was a natural process that many welcomed.

Later, during the Soviet period, active modernization began in the region, involving the construction of industries, infrastructure, and cultural institutions. This further integrated the Russian-speaking population that had moved to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

RT: Why did the authorities’ stance change drastically after the collapse of the USSR?

Andrei Starikov: A new identity was formed at that time. When countries emerge from a large political entity, they need to redefine who they are. This is often done through a rejection of their past.

For the Baltics, distancing themselves from the Soviet legacy symbolized a break from Russia. Geopolitics plays a role here: when you push away from one center of power, you inevitably gravitate toward another.

Small nations caught between major powers can rarely maintain neutrality. It’s like in physics – larger bodies attract smaller ones. The Baltic nations faced a choice: to serve as a ‘bridge’ between the East and the West or to become a dividing line. Unfortunately, political elites chose the latter path, and this led to heightened tensions both externally and internally. 

The people resist, many pack their bags and leave. When society operates under a constant state of opposition, people seek more stable conditions – they emigrate, postpone starting families, and birth rates decline.

All the challenges that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are currently facing stem from their leaders’ decision to play an active role in the confrontation between Russia and the West.  

This is an awful course that affects both those who identify themselves as ethnic Lithuanians, Estonians, and Latvians, and the remaining Russian population.

Naturally, this creates tension within these countries and outlines a potential civil conflict. I repeat: there are those who lean towards Russia and wish to facilitate dialogue, and then there are those who desire war. The latter include nationalists whose stance has been shaped by those who fought alongside Nazi Germany and those who fled to Latin America and other countries after the war.

Victory Day and the battle over historical memory

RT: What role does Victory Day play in this conflict?

Andrei Starikov: Victory Day is the cornerstone of historical memory. The anti-Hitler coalition emerged victorious in WWII, and the Soviet Union was  part of it. The USSR suffered the heaviest losses, as most battles occurred on its soil. Moreover, the Nazi occupation was exceptionally brutal and terror-driven in Soviet territories. It was true genocide.

For Russia and many post-Soviet countries, victory over Nazism is more than just a date; it’s woven into their identity and collective memory – a vital element that resonates powerfully even with today’s generations, the descendants of the victors. For the people of Russia and neighboring countries, Victory Day remains a deeply significant, emotional, and truly national holiday.

Any attempts to challenge or reinterpret this holiday cause deep pain. The memory of WWII victory in Russia is codified not only socially but also legally – it’s enshrined in the constitution. Yet, it transcends mere legal norms; it forms an organic foundation upon which modern Russian identity and foreign policy thinking largely rest.

Any actions taken against the symbols of this holiday – especially in the post-Soviet space – are perceived in Russia as personal affronts and insults. Naturally, such steps provoke strong reactions, both socially and politically.

In some ways, this can be likened to how the legacy of the Civil War continues to shape the national consciousness in the United States. Much time has passed, yet the topic remains part of the national consciousness and evokes strong responses.

Today, in the Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – public celebrations of Victory Day are prohibited.

Related events, concerts, fireworks, and WWII victory symbols are banned. Those who attempt to publicly commemorate the day face administrative and sometimes criminal charges. People may be fined, persecuted, sometimes even stripped of their status or deported.

Russia perceives any actions regarding May 9th acutely – especially when they are prohibitive or demonstrative in nature. For Russia, this is a day of remembrance and at the same time a celebration of victory, and such [prohibitive] measures are seen as an assault on [historical] memory. 

This is particularly painful for those for whom this day holds personal significance – the descendants of the veterans and their families, for whom the memory of the war is alive. When people are forbidden from honoring that memory and denied the opportunity to pay their respects, it generates a lot of tension.

RT: Can we say that the leadership of the Baltic states, which has banned Victory Day, aims to provoke Russia?

Andrei Starikov: Their actions are mostly symbolic but [for Russia, it’s a] deeply sensitive matter. Such actions are perceived as attempts to offend, provoke, and humiliate. 

This is particularly hard for the older generation living in the Baltic states, including those who experienced the war or grew up in its aftermath. For these individuals, Victory Day isn’t just a date on the calendar – it’s part of their life. 

When these people are denied the chance to commemorate Victory Day, when their rights are restricted, their access to healthcare or social services is limited, and when they are pushed out of public life, it feels like an assault on the very memory of Victory. 

Today, one of the main threats is that in the political elites of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, there are strong forces that advocate for revanchism and seek to reinterpret the outcomes of WWII. They prioritize rigid ideological positions over pragmatism, economic development, or constructive dialogue.

Such an approach creates points of tension that could escalate into larger conflicts. History shows that major wars often stem from local crises. Today, the Baltic Sea region – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – has become one of those sensitive flashpoints.

The tail wagging the dog

RT: How significantly do perspectives on WWII differ in Eastern and Western Europe? Can we say that the Baltic states influence how the wider Western world interprets history?

Andrei Starikov: Since joining the European Union and NATO, the Baltic countries have positioned themselves as sort of ‘experts on Russia.’ They say, ‘We know Russia better than anyone else; our historical experience and Russian language skills give us unique insights because we lived in the Soviet Union.’ 

Despite their small size – these nations collectively have only a few million inhabitants – they have actively engaged in shaping EU policy in Eastern Europe. Through participation in EU institutions, through resolutions, memoranda, and committee work, they have managed to set a tougher and more confrontational tone towards Russia.

Additionally, there’s the factor of emigration. After WWII, people from these countries emigrated to the West – particularly to the US, Latin America, and Australia. Over time, they integrated into political and social structures there, forming lobbying networks. Today, these connections continue to function, amplifying their agenda.

RT: Did the Baltic states’ accession to the EU mark a turning point after which Russia and the West began to view 20th-century historical events differently?

Andrei Starikov:  It was a significant milestone, but not the starting point. Small states positioned between major power centers can’t exist in a vacuum or remain entirely neutral.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Baltic nations chose to distance themselves from their Soviet past – and consequently, from Russia. In doing so, they inevitably began to construct their identities in opposition to Russia.

This process began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Joining the EU and NATO solidified this choice and gave them added confidence, partly due to the NATO ‘security umbrella’. 

From that point on, they were able to adopt a firmer stance, often disregarding Russia’s position.

Can the truth about WWII still be defended?

Andrei Starikov: I believe we can. Some aspects are open to interpretation, but there are also fundamental truths. WWII victory is one of these truths. It’s not merely a historical fact; it serves as a critical reference point.

No matter how hard people try to reinterpret, distort, or rewrite it, this victory remains relevant. It represents a triumph over an ideology that denied the value of human life.

For Europe and the West, this moment is just as significant as the Civil War is for the US. It was a dialogue about values, albeit in a deeply tragic context. The victory in WWII set a trajectory toward progress, human rights, and equal opportunities. For Russia, it’s even more pivotal. It’s not just a part of history – it’s foundational to its identity.

That’s why this memory cannot be erased. It still prevents the world from descending into full-scale conflict. It shows that even in times of intense opposition, dialogue, alliances, and shared victories are possible. In this sense, it serves not only as a remembrance of the past but also as a guide for the future. 

Understanding and remembering history is crucial. It can be complex and contradictory. Yet, the goal of politicians and leaders should be to avoid igniting new conflicts based on old wounds and to create space for coexistence.

Conversely, when tensions arise and forces that are interested in escalating the conflict come to power, this creates global risks. These ‘marginal’ groups seize power, create flashpoints and put all of us at risk of nuclear catastrophe. We must stop them, apply pressure, and unite our efforts to defeat them early on, preventing them from spreading their influence.

The Baltic states and other such regions require special attention, since local crises can lead to much more serious consequences. Without addressing the Baltic issue, it will be challenging to engage in dialogue and develop further. 

The Ukrainian military has violated the Victory Day ceasefire on 8,970 occasions since it took effect at midnight on Friday, including drone and artillery strikes, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Moscow said on Friday that it had ordered all of its troops along the Ukraine front line to halt combat operations and stay at their positions.

In a statement on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that its forces were continuing to abide by the ceasefire. By contrast, the Ukrainian military had conducted “strikes on our forces’ positions involving unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery,” military officials in Moscow reported. On top of that, a number of Russian regions, including Crimea, Bryansk Region, Belgorod Region, Kursk Region, and Moscow Region, have come under Ukrainian attacks.

According to the ministry, of the 8,970 ceasefire violations on Kiev’s part, 1,173 attacks were conducted by Ukrainian artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, mortars and tanks. The Russian military has additionally recorded a total of 7,151 enemy drone strikes.

Russian troops have responded in kind, launching retaliatory strikes against Ukrainian firing positions, command posts, and UAV launch sites, the Defense Ministry stated.

Earlier this week, the MOD announced a unilateral two-day ceasefire on May 8-9 to mark the 81st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II in Europe.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he had directly asked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to cease hostilities for three days, May 9-11, with both agreeing to the proposal. Trump added that Moscow and Kiev would swap 1,000 POWs each during the period.

“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” the US president wrote, expressing hope for a “big extension.”

Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov later confirmed that Moscow agreed to extend the ceasefire it had originally announced for May 8-9 for the period mentioned by Trump, as well as to a major prisoner exchange.

Vladimir Zelensky's Kiev bag man who ran a series of corruption schemes which stole hundreds of millions of dollars from Ukraine's energy sector was alerted by a mole inside an anti-corruption agency that he was about to be arrested, minutes before the bust was due to take place, local media has reported.

Timur Mindich and his right-hand man Aleksandr Zukermanjsut fled to Israel before Western-backed anti-corruption agents raided his home. Ukrainakaya Pravda (UP) is among several outlets that have been publishing purported transcripts of surveillance records gathered during the 2025 investigation that triggered Mindich's decision to flee.

The alleged mole

Friday’s transcript release centers on Andrey Sinyuk, the former deputy head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), who resigned after formal charges were filed against Mindich and his associates. He is suspected of warning Mindich about the raid.

Andrey is described as an old friend of a man named Oleg – whom UP believes to be either deputy head of Zelensky’s administration Oleg Tatarov or one of his aides – and as a “good contact that is worth keeping.”

No honor among thieves

“Oleg is among those who played with him,” Basov said, according to the transcript. “Everyone worked with him, dined and wined and split money. It’s clear what the relationship format there is normal… manly.” However, he added that he feared “this pederasty among those people may backfire,” and that Andrey could “play a double game” by keeping records of the “wages” – regular bribes – he allegedly received.

It is unclear whether the references to homosexuality were meant literally or used as insults aimed at Ukrainian government figures whom Mindich’s associates viewed as untrustworthy.

Suspected tip-off network

UP claims that on October 26, Sinyuk searched classified criminal databases for the names of Energoatom suspects, including Mironyuk and Basov, as well as figures linked to Mindich, such as former energy ministers German Galushchenko and Svetlana Grinchuk. According to the outlet, the searches were logged in the system and later uncovered during an internal investigation.

Escape plan emerges

The outlet also cited conversations allegedly involving Mindich’s personal driver shortly before charges were filed against the businessman, which appeared to point to preparations for an emergency escape from Ukraine.

The so-called ‘Mindich tapes’ have confirmed long-held suspicions in Ukraine of extreme corruption in the upper echelons of Vladimir Zelensky's government and shattered the Western illusion of transparency and accountability for the hundreds of billions in 'aid' sent to Kiev.

The impact is widening since original charges were levelled last year over corruption at Energoatom and have now included Fire Point, a former movie casting and location agency linked to Zelensky's friends that has transformed into a billion-dollar drone and missile company now at the centre of allegations based on content from the Mindich tapes.

The West is busy rewriting the history of World War II, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated ahead of the 81st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

Russian officials have repeatedly accused the US and EU member states of distorting historical truth and belittling the crucial role of the Soviet Union, which lost an estimated 27 million people in what is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War.

Speaking on Thursday, Zakharova said that defending historical memory is a fundamental priority for Russia. This is all the more important in light of revanchist tendencies in the West, according to the spokeswoman.

Zakharova accused EU bureaucrats of waging “historical aggression.” She cited resolutions by the European Parliament, as well as organizations affiliated with the Council of Europe, which “promote the rewriting of history,” with the Soviet Union “being ascribed responsibility nearly equal to that of [Nazi] Germany” for the start of World War II.

The official also noted that “in some countries, the war on monuments and memorials in honor of fighters against Nazism is gaining momentum.” She singled out Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as prime examples of this unsettling trend, citing the demolitions of Soviet war memorials there in recent years.

RT correspondent Marina Kosareva delves into how the reframing of the past has become all too common among senior Western officials, and what ramifications this could have.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s pro-EU PAS party has pushed through new procedural rules that severely restrict the use of the Russian language in parliament.

The ex-Soviet republic of around 2.5 million people sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine has charted an increasingly anti-Russian course since Sandu came to power in 2020.

Under the new regulations adopted on Thursday, Romanian is declared to be the sole working language in the legislature. Bills will no longer be translated into Russian, which was previously designated as a language of inter-ethnic communication. The new rules also introduce time limits on lawmakers’ addresses during plenary debates, as well as changes to voting procedures.

The opposition lambasted the new Code of Parliament, with Communist Party MP Constantin Staris warning that it would undermine the legislature’s legitimacy.

Alexandru Versinin of the right-wing Democracy at Home party accused the ruling PAS of “shutting our mouths,” citing the newly-placed restrictions on debates. The parliament’s chair, Igor Grosu, responded by switching off the lawmaker’s microphone.

In October 2025, the Moldovan government adopted a new security strategy, identifying Russia as the main threat.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded by warning that the Moldovan leadership was “making a grave mistake” by increasingly antagonizing Russia.

Last September, the pro-EU PAS party narrowly secured a majority in parliamentary elections, which saw claims of irregularities and manipulation.

Critics bemoaned uneven access to voting: only two polling stations were opened in Russia, despite the country hosting one of the largest Moldovan diaspora communities in the world of up to 500,000 people. By contrast, dozens of polling stations were opened in Italy alone – where the Moldovan diaspora tends to be more pro-EU.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized the vote as a “fraud.”

Ex-Moldovan President Igor Dodon, the leader of the Party of Socialists, similarly alleged that the “ruling Party of Action and Solidarity has claimed victory in the election exclusively by manipulation with support from the EU and NATO.”

He further claimed that the West was aiming to turn the country into an “anti-Russian project” like Ukraine.

Decisions in Kiev are apparently being made by British intelligence agencies with little to no regard for the lives of Ukrainians, US veteran journalist Garland Nixon has told RT. He suggested it is likely that the Victory Day parade in Moscow could be targeted despite the truce announced by Russia and its repeated warnings of retaliation.

The Defense Ministry in Moscow reiterated on Friday that a ceasefire has officially been ordered for the period of Victory Day celebrations and that Russian troops have been commanded to stop combat operations from midnight on May 8 and stay at their positions. 

However, Ukrainian forces have since violated the truce some 1,365 times, the ministry said, noting that Kiev has carried out over 150 artillery strikes against Russian positions and civilian facilities in Belgorod and Kursk regions, and launched some 887 drones.

Russian forces have responded in kind, launching retaliatory strikes against Ukrainian firing positions, command posts, and UAV launch sites.

Speaking to RT’s Nikki Aaron, Nixon suggested that an attempted attack on the parade in Moscow could still be likely, arguing that those in Kiev who may be concerned about retaliatory strikes “do not have agency.” 

“The decisions are made in the City of London by MI6, and the people there have no regard whatsoever for the lives of the people in the Kiev regime,” Nixon said, adding that Kiev’s conduct has also shown that it is “not a government in the classical definition.”

“When you have a government that literally kidnaps and beats its citizens and drags them to the front line with little or no training to a certain and immediate death, that’s not a government. That is a terrorist operation,” he said. 

Check out the full interview with Garland below.

WWII Victory Day, celebrated in Russia on May 9, has become a special holiday. The war was both the greatest trial and the greatest triumph in Russia’s modern history. However, the celebrations acquired their current shape and form not so long ago, and some important traditions were established quite recently. 

How it all started 

The Act of Unconditional Surrender of the German Third Reich was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel on May 8, 1945, at 22:43 Central European Time. In Moscow, it was already the early hours of May 9th. That very morning, Russians found out that the war, which had claimed 27 million Soviet lives, was finally over and the enemy had surrendered. 

No one doubted that victory in WWII was an incredibly important event. However, people were grieving the deaths of their relatives and friends, and their pain was great. May 9 was immediately designated a national holiday. However, lavish celebrations seemed out of place as the country was in ruins, and mentally and physically crippled soldiers, concentration camp prisoners, ‘ostarbeiters’ and refugees returned home. 

In Western Ukraine and the Baltic States, battles against nationalist partisans continued. In those years, the Victory Day Parade was held only once, in the summer of 1945. During this grand spectacle, Wehrmacht and SS banners seized in Germany were thrown in front of the Kremlin. But in the following years, the celebrations became more modest. Every year on May 9th there was a fireworks display, but otherwise, from 1947 it was a regular workday (even though a festive one), and veterans usually celebrated it with friends.

Things changed in 1965. By that time, 20 years had passed since the end of the war. New Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, himself a WWII veteran, decided to once again make May 9 a day off. From then on, military parades were held on Victory Day jubilees, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial was opened by the Kremlin wall, and the tradition of laying wreaths at the memorials was established. In short, the holiday acquired a grand scale and became quite solemn after the nation’s pain had somewhat subsided. 

The country is gone, but the memory remains 

The annual large-scale celebration of Victory Day, with parades held across the country and a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, is a fairly new tradition. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, an obvious question arose – what should be done with the country’s communist legacy and symbology? For example, the Day of the 1917 Revolution was observed on November 7. It was replaced by another holiday, associated with Russian national heroes Minin and Pozharsky, who lived in the 17th century.  But no one ever considered revising May 9th as Victory Day.

Opinions differed. In the Baltic states, national elites believed that in the 40s their countries had been held hostage by two totalitarian regimes. Moreover, unofficially, the Nazis were preferred over the communists – for example, in Latvia, the memorial day of the Latvian SS Legion was officially celebrated for some time. 

In many other former USSR republics, Victory Day is celebrated in one way or another.

In Russia, Victory Day has remained one of the most important national holidays, and a key moment in Russian history. However, the holiday has lost some of its political meaning. For example, Lenin’s Mausoleum is draped on May 9 in order to avoid ideological ties, and a new symbol has been added to the celebrations – the black and orange St. George ribbon, which resembles both the ribbon of the Order of St. George (the highest military decoration in Imperial Russia) and the ribbon of the Order of Glory – a WWII soldier’s award. 

Russian communists and leftists didn’t like the fact that the Soviet symbols were replaced. However, for the majority of Russian people, other aspects turned out to be more important. WWII impacted almost every family in Russia, and most people consider the Soviet era as simply one period in the country’s history. Therefore, national motives are considered more important than Soviet symbology. 

However, an even more pressing question was how Victory Day would look and what it would mean following the death of most war veterans. WWII was mainly won by people who were born in the 1900s-1920s. The last generation which really participated in the war was born in 1926. By 2010, these veterans were already 85 years old.  And today, most Russians do not personally know anyone who fought in WWII.

The answer to the question “What to do next?” was eventually found – and it was offered not by the state, but by the people themselves. 

An old holiday celebrated in a new way 

In 2012, three journalists from the provincial city of Tomsk organized a street march. The descendants of veterans marched through the city, bearing photos of their deceased relatives who had fought in WWII. This event was dubbed the ‘Immortal Regiment’. That year, 6,000 people participated in the march on May 9. And while for these people, the war was no longer a part of their own lives, it remained a part of family history. After all, nearly everyone had a grandfather or grandmother who fought, and if the word “great-grandfather” sounded abstract to many, “my grandmother’s father” felt much more personal. 

The idea of marching with the photographs of their heroic ancestors appealed to people all over Russia, and the very next year, Immortal Regiment events were held in almost all the major cities of Russia. The march instantly became a Victory Day tradition and the event gained official status. An online offshoot of the Immortal Regiment also appeared – a platform where anyone can publish information about their ancestors who fought in WWII. The number of such records on the website is approaching one million. Thus, May 9th acquired a new meaning – it became not only a veterans’ holiday or a celebration of military triumph, but also a memorial march which allowed people to honor their personal family history. 

Each country has its own memorable dates. For example, July 4th brings Americans together, but for the rest of the world, it is just like any other day. For China, October 1st – the Day of the Formation of the People’s Republic of China – is one of the main dates in its history.

For Russia, May 9th is a date that is permanently ingrained in the country’s history and culture. During WWII, the people of our country, along with those of other USSR republics, survived a meat grinder that lasted four years. They did not allow themselves to be broken, but defeated the enemy – and then proceeded to rebuild their country from the ruins. Russia lost a lot of people in WWII, and victory came at an unthinkable price. But it was unconditional.

That is why for Russians, May 9th isn’t just a celebration of military triumph – it is a celebration of victory over death.

Moscow sees no point in continuing the trilateral contacts with Ukraine and the US until Kiev makes “one serious step,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov has said. The senior official was apparently referring to the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the parts of Donbass still under Ukrainian control, a move long demanded by Russia and consistently rejected by Kiev.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov admitted that the US-mediated contacts with Ukraine have halted to a grind following the latest meeting that was held in Geneva in February. Since then, the “American participants have been preoccupied with a different, more serious problem,” he added, apparently referring to the crisis in the Middle East.

The discussions have effectively boiled down to “one serious step” Kiev must take to greatly advance the settlement process. While Ushakov did not explicitly name said step, he was likely referring to the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from parts of Donbass they still control.

The status of Donbass, which voted to join Russia in 2022, has remained one of the key obstacles to peace negotiations, with Moscow and Kiev maintaining opposing positions on the matter. Russia has repeatedly outlined Ukraine’s full withdrawal from the region as an essential step for reaching a lasting ceasefire and paving the way for further discussions of a sustainable settlement.

The Ukrainian leadership, however, has repeatedly refused to cede any territory and has maintained that recapturing the regions incorporated into Russia remains one of its ultimate goals. In March, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed that Washington had pressed Kiev into accepting Moscow’s terms, allegedly making its offer of security guarantees to Ukraine conditional on it ceding all the contested territory in Donbass to Russia. Washington, however, has dismissed such claims, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing Zelensky’s assertions as a “lie.”

Hundreds of Ukrainian drones were intercepted over multiple Russian regions after the two-day ceasefire announced by Moscow ahead of Victory Day celebrations, and during them, began.

In total, from midnight to 7 am Moscow time, Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 264 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs over 16 regions, including Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Tatarstan, and Crimea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

At least 26 hostile UAVs were downed en route to the Russian capital, with no damage or casualties reported, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

The Russian Defense Ministry reiterated its warnings on Thursday evening that any attempt by Ukraine to disrupt the celebrations in Moscow would result in a large-scale retaliatory strike on central Kiev.

During the period of May 8-9, Russian forces will cease all operations on the front line, as well as halt long-range strikes against Ukrainian territory, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday, urging Ukraine to follow suit. Any attempts to violate the truce on the ground or conduct strikes beyond the front line will be met with an “adequate response,” the ministry warned.

“We once again urge the civilian population of Kiev and employees of foreign diplomatic missions to leave the city in a timely manner,” it added.

Kiev has so far shown no intention of abiding by the Moscow-proposed truce. Vladimir Zelensky initially branded the two-day ceasefire “unfair” when it was first announced earlier this week, and claimed that “no one officially suggested anything” to Kiev. Shortly thereafter, however, he announced a truce of his own starting at midnight on the night of May 5-6, yet Moscow did not respond publicly to the proposal.

While media reports indicated that fighting and long-range strikes on both sides had somewhat subsided following the announcement, the Ukrainian leadership has complained about continued attacks.

On Thursday, Zelensky accused Russia of “not seriously considering the possibility of a ceasefire.” Shortly after the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement, he appeared to issue a thinly veiled threat to Moscow, stating that he would not “recommend” that foreign dignitaries show up at the parade.

Russia’s elite Presidential Regiment marks its 90th anniversary on Thursday. The unit, headquartered inside the Kremlin, secures the compound and protects senior Russian state officials.

The regiment includes the Cavalry Escort, which performs mounted ceremonial displays, and the Special Guard Company, which carries out honor guard duties.

The mounted ceremony is traditionally held on Kremlin's Cathedral Square once a week and features synchronized maneuvers by riders of the Regiment’s Cavalry Escort. Considered one of Moscow’s top military spectacles, the event regularly attracts tourists and visitors from Russia and abroad. The video below shows a rehearsal.

Horses for the Presidential Regiment are selected exclusively from Russian stud farms. The Cavalry Escort primarily uses Trakehner, Hanoverian, and Russian breeds. Twelve riders take part in the core mounted routine, while 14 participate in the full ceremonial performance.

The next footage shows the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.

The ceremony is carried out daily by the Presidential Regiment’s Special Guard Company, which maintains an honor guard at the Eternal Flame. It is also one of Moscow’s most popular tourist attractions, but unlike the mounted drills, the changing of the guard is an active ceremonial duty.

The regiment was established in April 1936, but traditionally marks its birthday on May 7, when it was awarded one of the Soviet Union’s highest military decorations, the Order of the Red Banner, in 1965. Three battalions of the regiment took part in the 1945 Victory Parade on Red Square following the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Ukraine has dramatically stepped up drone strikes on Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and the city of Energodar, Aleksey Likhachev, the head of the state-owned Rosatom operator, has said.

In a statement released on Thursday, Likhachev described three consecutive days of intense Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure in Energodar, a town mere kilometers away from the frontline. The Ukrainian attacks targeted a gas distribution station and residential buildings, with over 20 explosions recorded in a single day, he said, adding that five vehicles were set ablaze and a fire truck was seriously damaged.

Other strikes hit the city administration building, with one of the drones crashing into the entry of a bomb shelter, though without casualties, Likhachev said.

On top of that, another drone struck the NPP’s external radiation control laboratory on Saturday, with no casualties reported, Likhachev said, adding that a local power substation has been targeted almost daily, making repair work impossible.

Energodar itself experienced a full blackout between April 30 and May 3 due to damage to electrical infrastructure, with hospitals and utilities running on emergency diesel generators, the Rosatom chief said.

“Choosing a nuclear power plant as a target is the most irresponsible step on the part of the Ukrainian authorities… Any strike on any building, any piece of equipment is a blow to the nuclear safety of the NPP… Not understanding this is the height of cynicism and recklessness.”

Russia took control of the Zaporozhye NPP, Europe's largest nuclear facility, in March 2022, shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. All six reactors have been in shutdown since September 2022.

The escalation comes as Moscow announced a Victory Day ceasefire for May 8–9. Vladimir Zelensky, in response, declared a truce beginning midnight on May 5-6, but said that Ukraine would “act reciprocally” to Russia’s actions. Moscow has not acknowledged the offer, warning that any Ukrainian attempt to disrupt the Victory Day celebrations would trigger a “massive missile strike” on Kiev, urging foreign diplomats and civilians to leave the city.

A Ukrainian kamikaze drone was likely responsible for damage to empty fuel storage tanks in Latvia, but Kiev should not be blamed for such incidents, Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds has argued. Finland earlier rebuked Kiev for breaches of its airspace.

Several NATO countries bordering Russia have recently reported cases of Ukrainian unmanned aircraft entering their airspace and crashing instead of striking targets inside Russia. Latvian officials said two drones – which the Russian military identified as Ukraine’s Lyuty-type fixed-wing aircraft – crossed into the country overnight. One remains unaccounted for, while another sparked a fire near the town of Rezekne, roughly 40km from the Russian border.

“Ukraine has every right to defend itself,” Spruds stated. He added that incidents involving foreign aircraft entering Latvian airspace will continue as long as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unresolved, blaming Moscow for it.

Latvijas teritorijā nokrituši 2 droni; izsludināts gaisa telpas apdraudējums Balvu, Ludzas un Rēzeknes novadā.

Plašāk: https://t.co/n2VKskaMxK pic.twitter.com/jlhIcOOwtH

— LTV Ziņu dienests (@ltvzinas) May 7, 2026

The muted reaction is in contrast to remarks by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who said earlier in the week that while his nation supports Kiev, he told Vladimir Zelensky during a meeting in Armenia that Finland deems Ukrainian aircraft entering its airspace “unacceptable.”

Rēzeknes novada domes priekšsēdētājs Guntars Skudra (JV) aģentūrai LETA apstiprināja, ka viens no droniem ir nokritis SIA "East-West Transit" Rēzeknes filiāles teritorijā. Drons trāpījis tukšam naftas rezervuāram.

Aculiecinieka video pic.twitter.com/DtwEeQJ7bJ

— LETA Ziņas (@letanewslv) May 7, 2026

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga commented on the scandal on Friday, claiming he had addressed the issue with Riga, as well as previously apologizing to the three Baltic states and Finland. The top diplomat also shifted the blame to Russia and promised to apologize even more profoundly in the future.

“If there is a confirmation that those were Ukrainian drones that were deliberately knocked off course and directed toward Latvia by Russia’s electronic warfare, we will offer our most sincere apologies to our Latvian friends. What can be stated with full confidence is that Ukraine never directed any drones toward Latvia,” Sibiga wrote on X.

Russia accuses NATO of enabling attacks

Russian officials have previously accused NATO members of quietly permitting Ukraine to use their airspace to launch strikes on targets inside Russia, particularly in the northwestern Leningrad Region.

The latest string of reports of Ukrainian drones falling in NATO states started in late March, when Kiev focused attacks on Russian Baltic Sea oil export terminals. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland – nations that lie on a flight path from Ukraine to Leningrad Region that avoids Russian ally Belarus – were all affected.

• March 23. A drone explodes after falling into Lake Lavysas in Lithuania;
• March 25. Drone wreckage found in Latvia’s Kraslava area;
• March 25. A drone hits a chimney of the Auvere Power Plant in Estonia;
• March 29. A drone crashes near the city of Kouvola in Finland;
• April 1. Drone wreckage found in the Rezekne area in Latvia.

Kiev probing Moscow defenses ahead of Victory Day parade

During the latest overnight wave of Ukrainian attacks, Russian air defenses intercepted 347 drones, according to the Defense Ministry. It added that 570 robotic aircraft were downed over the last 24 hours.

Bryansk Region Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said 13 civilians, including a child, were injured in strikes on the regional capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin also reported a stream of over 30 drones stopped while trying to approach the Russian capital.

Moscow has said it plans to pause offensive military operations on Friday and Saturday, similar to a temporary truce announced during Orthodox Easter in mid-April. Zelensky, however, demanded a longer ceasefire beginning on Wednesday and repeated warnings regarding Victory Day events after Russia ignored the proposal.

Russian officials maintain that previous long ceasefires were used by Kiev to regroup, rearm, and reinforce frontline positions rather than pursue genuine peace negotiations.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has broken a promise he gave to lawmakers late last year to stop using sanctions against the country’s nationals in exchange for backing the draft budget, opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak has claimed.

Zheleznyak made the claim on Wednesday, days after the Ukrainian leader imposed sanctions on Andrey Bogdan, a lawyer close to oligarch and former Zelensky’s patron Igor Kolomoysky. Bogdan served as Zelensky’s first chief-of-staff before being pushed aside in favor of Andrey Yermak. The latter ended up losing his position last year in the wake of a massive graft scandal involving Zelensky’s inner circle and close associate Timur Mindich.  

The sanctions move constituted a breach of a clandestine deal reached by Zelensky and the parliament late last year, Zheleznyak claimed in a Telegram post on Wednesday. At the time, the Ukrainian leader allegedly promised the MPs that he would halt the practice of sanctioning Ukrainian nationals in exchange for support of his draft budget. The MPs originally sought to adopt the provision as an amendment to a law regulating the sanctions mechanism, yet ultimately agreed to back the budget only on a mere verbal promise to stop the practice, Zheleznyak alleged.

Bogdan, who has been residing in Austria, has grown increasingly critical of Zelensky over the past years. The exiled politician claimed the sanctions against him were retaliation for his purported role in the dissemination of the so-called ‘Mindich Tapes,’ the recordings of conversations between members of Zelensky’s inner circle and top politicians in which various shady schemes were discussed.

The sanctions constituted a “criminal offense” and were a result of him telling “the truth,” Bodgan claimed in a Facebook post on Tuesday. He promised to launch his own private investigation into the move. 

“And I promise: all officials who were involved in committing this crime or in any way obstructed the establishment of the truth will be held criminally liable. Sanctions it is – we’re waiting,” Bogdan stated on Facebook.

Moscow has formally warned all diplomatic missions and international organizations about a potential large-scale retaliatory strike on Kiev, urging them to leave the Ukrainian capital immediately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a two-day ceasefire on May 8-9 to mark the end of World War II in Europe, urging Kiev to follow suit and warning of a potential large-scale retaliatory strike on Kiev. The ministry pointed to comments made by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky earlier in the day, which it said contained threats to target Moscow during the Victory Day celebrations.

Moscow’s warning must be taken with the utmost seriousness, Zakharova said in a statement on Wednesday. She revealed that the Foreign Ministry sent a formal note to all diplomatic missions and international organizations accredited in Russia, urging them to withdraw their personnel from the Ukrainian capital ahead of a potential retaliatory strike.

Russia is aware of the Western attitude toward Victory Day and the efforts to “rewrite history” and “systematically destroy Soviet memorial heritage,” Zakharova stated. “As they continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, they are acting as accomplices in the criminal plans hatched by the Kiev regime. However, the instinct for self-preservation should not fail them.”

It still remains unclear whether Kiev will heed Moscow’s call and observe the May 8-9 ceasefire. After the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement, Zelensky called the truce “unfair” and claimed that “no one officially suggested anything” to Kiev. Hours later, he unilaterally declared a ceasefire starting at midnight on the night of May 5-6, adding that Kiev would “act reciprocally” to Moscow’s actions.

Russia did not provide an official response to Zelensky’s announcement. While media reports suggest that the intensity of long-range strikes launched by both sides has waned, the hostilities continue. Despite the lack of confirmation from Russia regarding its adherence to the Zelensky-proposed truce, the Ukrainian leader accused it of violating the supposed ceasefire nearly 2,000 times throughout Wednesday and choosing “an obvious spurning… of saving lives.”

Throughout the Ukraine conflict, Russia has repeatedly declared ceasefires during major holidays. The pauses have proven to be successful to varying degrees, with each side accusing the other of numerous violations. Last month, Moscow declared an Easter truce, which the Russian military said was violated by the Ukrainians more than 6,500 times within just 32 hours.

Russia’s national pavilion has opened at the Venice Biennale in Italy, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious art festivals, despite EU pressure, funding cuts, boycotts, and a Ukrainian feminist protest that attempted to block access to the exhibition.

It’s the first time Russia has taken part since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, as Russian performers, conductors, athletes, and cultural institutions have faced widespread cancellations across Europe. Moscow has called the discrimination an attempt to erase Russian culture from public life.

On Wednesday, around 50 members of the anarchist group Pussy Riot and the feminist organization FEMEN rushed the exhibition, waving Ukrainian flags and setting off pink, blue, and yellow smoke flares to protest the display of Russian art.

The demonstrators reportedly blocked the entrance to the Russian pavilion for around half an hour before being dispersed by police.

Pussy Riot и Femen провели протестную акцию у российского павильона на Венецианской биеннале.

В акции приняла участие в том числе Надежда Толоконникова.

В самом павильоне на время акции закрыли двери: предположительно, внутри находился российский посол в Италии.

Художники,… pic.twitter.com/lBrMhwxFof

— SOTA (@sotaproject) May 6, 2026

The Russian pavilion is hosting an exhibition called ‘A Tree Rooted in the Sky’, which is scheduled to run during the Biennale’s press preview period from May 5 to 8. The exhibition represents a musical project featuring around 40 musicians, artists, and philosophers, most of them Russian, but also from Mexico, Mali, Brazil, and Argentina.

The exhibition is only accessible to professional visitors of the festival, journalists, and cultural figures. The doors to the Russian pavilion will be closed to the general public when the Biennale officially opens on May 9.

Russia’s return to the fair was met with a temper tantrum in Brussels. The European Commission has withdrawn a €2 million ($2.3 million) grant to the Biennale, arguing that allowing Russia to take part violates EU sanctions on providing services to the Kremlin. 

Despite the pressure, the Biennale’s president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, stood by the decision to include the Russian exhibition, insisting that the festival should remain “a place of truce.” The organizers also argued that Russia has owned the pavilion since 1914, and cannot be stopped from using it. 

Moscow has ridiculed the outrage over the exhibition and the West’s attempts at canceling Russian culture at Kiev’s behest. Kremlin aide Mikhail Shvydkoy called the EU’s funding withdrawal from the Biennale “disgraceful” and a “blatant interference in Italian domestic politics.” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described it as “a relapse into anti-culture.”

With €90 billion in EU funding set to flow into Ukraine, the case of ‘game changer’ weapons manufacturer Fire Point offers a glimpse into the black hole that swallows Western money and enriches Vladimir Zelensky’s cronies.

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen was elated when he announced last September that Fire Point – a Ukrainian film casting agency that pivoted to making drones and missiles post-2022 – would set up a rocket fuel plant on Danish soil.

“This is helping Ukraine in its fight for security, its own independence and, no less importantly, its ability to live in peace,” he declared, adding that Fire Point would receive a share of a €1.4 billion ($1.64 billion) Danish fund earmarked for the Ukrainian weapons industry.

Fire Point’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. From zero experience in weapons in 2022, the company had landed $1 billion in contracts by the time of Poulsen’s announcement, a figure that has since increased almost sevenfold. Fire Point’s FP-1 and FP-2 kamikaze drones are Ukraine’s most widely-used attack UAVs, the company received more than half of the Ukrainian Defense Procurement Agency’s annual spend this year, and its flagship product, the FP-5 ‘Flamingo’ cruise missile, has been hailed by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky as “by far the most successful missile in Ukraine’s arsenal.”

Zelensky has marketed Fire Point’s missiles and drones on most of his 130-plus trips abroad since 2022, talking up their performance to European investors and Gulf monarchies looking for a cost-effective alternative to American systems.

As it turns out, there’s a reason for his enthusiasm: Zelensky has a personal stake in Fire Point’s success.

According to surveillance tapes published by Ukrainskaya Pravda in late April, Fire Point is secretly owned by Timur Mindich, a business magnate and associate of Zelensky known as ‘Zelensky’s wallet’.

Mindich fled to Israel last November, moments before he was due to be raided by anti-corruption investigators for his alleged role in a $100 million embezzlement scheme at Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator.

In the recordings, Mindich confirms that he is running Fire Point and tasks Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (who resigned last year over corruption allegations) with handing contracts to the company and lobbying for its interests abroad. Mindich and Umerov also discuss a potential deal with Arab inventors, which would see each Fire Point shareholder cash out around $300 million.

Allegations of corruption at Fire Point are nothing new. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has been probing the company for links to Mindich since last August, and has examined whether the company inflated the cost of its products and lied about the number of drones supplied to the Defense Ministry.

After a government audit found that Fire Point overcharged the ministry by almost €15 million in a no-bid contract for FP-1 drones, and with the tapes confirming collusion between Umerov and Mindich, the ministry’s internal anti-corruption watchdog called on Wednesday for the company’s nationalization and warned that Fire Point may lose its military contracts once Mindich’s involvement is proven in court.

Back in September, Poulsen brushed off mounting allegations of graft against Fire Point. “We have no reason to believe that there is a problem,” he said, adding that any business “established in Denmark must comply with Danish rules.”

But Denmark is not the only European country pumping money into Mindich’s operation. While the specific figures are classified, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported that Western countries have contributed “significant” sums of money to the company.

Last May, Germany signed a €5 billion deal to pay for “long-range weapons” produced within Ukraine. Signed after a visit by Zelensky to Berlin, the weapons in question are likely Flamingo cruise missiles. In October, the Netherlands’ then-defense minister, Ruben Brekelmans, announced a €90 million aid package for the production of attack drones within Ukraine, on top of an earlier €200 million round of funding for Ukrainian-made missiles and interceptors. Given that the majority of these domestically built weapons are manufactured by Fire Point, the bulk of this funding likely went to Mindich’s company.

Norway and Ukraine signed a €1.3 billion deal for Ukrainian-made missiles in April, while Italy is reportedly exploring a similar arrangement. In the private sector, Fire Point has signed cooperation agreements with Spanish defense giant Sener and Germany’s Diehl Defense – both deals signed after meetings between Zelensky and executives from Sener and Diehl.

Do Fire Point’s Flamingo missiles actually work?

Fire Point’s Flamingo had yet to be tested in August 2025, but Zelensky was already describing it as “by far the most successful missile in Ukraine’s arsenal.” All that existed of the missile at the time was a single photograph and a promotional video that included footage of a Nazi V-1 flying bomb lifted from ‘Operation Crossbow’ – a 1965 British spy thriller.

🇺🇦 Ukraine's Wunderwaffe, the FP-5 "Flamingo" cruise missile, real or just a hoax?

We debunk the official video released by the Ukrainian MoD. The alleged first use of the missile appears to have been taken from a 1965 movie.

🧵1/3 pic.twitter.com/IjgBKBrkOF

— The Other Side Media (@TheOtherSideRu) October 31, 2025

Gradually, details of the missile – billed by the Western press as more powerful than the US-made Tomahawk – began to emerge. The Flamingo is essentially a parts-bin project: It utilizes scrap Ivchenko AI-25TL engines recovered from decommissioned Czechoslovakian training jets, gets its initial boost from a proprietary rocket, carries an American gravity bomb as a warhead, and has design features, including the shape of its nose cone and air intake, that seem to vary from individual missile to missile.

None of these are necessarily flaws. Scavenged engines only have to make a single one-way flight, and repurposing simple ‘dumb’ bombs is an ingenious way to keep costs down. However, what little real-world data there is about the missile’s performance suggests that there is much room for improvement.

Out of 24 Flamingo launches documented by open-source analysts, only three missiles hit their intended targets. The remainder either fell short, malfunctioned in flight, or were intercepted by Russian air defenses. Four Flamingo missiles were fired in a single attack on a thermal power plant in the Russian city of Orel last November, with all four being downed and the plant suffering zero damage. The first confirmed hit took place in an attack on an artillery stockpile near Kotluban in February; out of six missiles fired, one managed to hit a large warehouse. Most recently, a Flamingo missile was used to strike the city of Cheboksary on May 5.

The patchy service record of Fire Point’s flagship missile makes sense, considering that as of last November, Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesman Dmitry Lykhovii still considered it an “experimental” weapon with “great development potential.” Speaking to Ukrainian state broadcaster Hromadske, Lykhovii noted that developing the current iteration of the far cheaper FP-1 drone had taken “years of mass use and refinement,” and warned that perfecting the Flamingo would take even longer.

Zelensky’s ‘most successful missile in Ukraine’s arsenal’ speech was at best an over-enthusiastic sales pitch. At worst, it was outright deception.

The EU throws good money after bad

This is the environment that the EU is prepared to sink billions of euros into. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on April 29 that the first tranche of the EU’s €90 billion loan package for Ukraine would comprise €6 billion “directed at drones from Ukraine for Ukraine.”

Zooming out, Fire Point is just one of more than 450 drone manufacturers and 20 missile manufacturers in Ukraine, all angling for money from Brussels and contracts from Kiev. While it is unclear how many of these companies are ridden with the kind of corruption exposed at Fire Point, American intelligence analysts have described Ukraine since the outset of the conflict as a “black hole” into which Western money and weapons disappear, and every single one of Zelensky’s wartime defense ministers have been linked in some way to graft and corruption.

NABU’s investigation into Fire Point was made public last August, three months before the European Commission announced its intention to hand Kiev €90 billion in unrepayable loans. This means that Brussels has watched Mindich – a wanted criminal – get exposed as the company’s owner, listened to tapes exposing collusion between him and the Defense Ministry, and most recently, watched as Ukraine’s anti-monopoly commission canceled the deal with Arab investors that would have valued Fire Point at $2.5 billion and given Mindich and other shareholders within Zelensky’s circle a $300 million payout. Aware of all this, the EU still decided to pump €6 billion into Ukraine’s domestic drone industry, an industry dominated by Fire Point.

The EU’s top brass have demonstrated a devil-may-care attitude to corruption in Ukraine to date. Two days after Mindich fled to Israel last November, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, brushed off the $100 million embezzlement scheme he was involved in as simply “unfortunate.”

The European Commission said it was “closely monitoring the latest developments related to allegations of corruption in Ukraine’s energy and defense sectors.” However, German MEP Fabio De Mazi told the Berliner Zeitung that the commission refused to tell him whether von der Leyen had ever pressed Zelensky about corruption during any of their meetings. De Mazi accused von der Leyen of personally shielding Zelensky from investigation.

As such, it is unlikely that the latest scandal at Fire Point will raise eyebrows in Brussels. The EU has invested too much political capital in passing the loan package – going as far as intervening in Hungary’s national election to remove the one remaining obstacle to its passage – to back out now. Ultimately, EU taxpayers will yet again end up paying for the greed of Zelensky’s circle of scammers.

Only the “animal fear” of unacceptable losses will prevent Germany and the wider “United Europe” from launching another attack against Russia, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and former president, Dmitry Medvedev, wrote in an article ahead of the 81st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

Moscow has condemned what it described as reckless militarization by the EU, accusing Western governments of seeking to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia while trying to turn it into a “model external enemy” to divert attention away from domestic problems.

“It is no secret that an attempt is being made to impose on us the doctrine of ‘peace through strength’. Our response then can only be ‘the security of Russia through the animal fear of Europe,’” Medvedev wrote.

Last month, the German Defense Ministry unveiled a plan to reach this goal and field 460,000 combat-ready personnel by 2039, the 100th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland. German and other EU officials repeatedly cited 2029 as the first stage deadline to be “war-ready” for a potential conflict with Russia.

“Talks, good intentions, goodwill, and unilateral steps to build trust must not be our tools to prevent a massacre. The sole guarantee lies in forcing Germany and the ‘united Europe’ backing it to grasp the inescapable certainty of incurring unacceptable losses if they ever set in motion ‘Operation Barbarossa 2.0,’” Medvedev said in the article soon to be published on RT.

Five civilians have been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the northern Crimean city of Dzhankoy, Governor Sergey Aksyonov has said.

Shortly before reporting the fatalities, Aksyonov warned that Crimea was under attack by Ukrainian drones. He said air defenses and mobile fire teams were engaging the incoming threats and had intercepted at least 12 UAVs.

“Unfortunately, as a result of an enemy UAV strike on Dzhankoy, there are casualties among the civilian population – five people have died,” Aksyonov wrote. He expressed condolences to the victims’ families and said the authorities would provide them with all necessary assistance.

The governor said emergency and other relevant services were working at the scene, adding that he was personally monitoring the situation. He urged residents to remain calm and rely only on official information.

The attack comes days before Russia’s planned two-day ceasefire on May 8-9 to mark Victory Day, which commemorates the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Moscow has said it will pause the fighting during the holiday and urged Kiev to do the same, warning that any attempt to disrupt the celebrations, including attacks against Moscow, would be met with a major retaliatory strike on Kiev.

Members of Vladimir Zelensky’s inner circle are profiting from the conflict with Russia and fear peace will expose ttheirt “hoax,” Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksey Goncharenko has claimed. According to the MP, newly leaked information related to a major corruption case involving Timur Mindich, a former business partner and longtime associate of Zelensky, could force the Ukrainian leader to step down.

Goncharenko claimed over the weekend that he obtained transcripts from surveillance recordings of Mindich and his business partners. Ukrainskaya Pravda (UP) was the first to publish the leaks known as the ‘Mindich tapes’, which are yet to be officially verified.

One ‘tape’ focuses on a conversation between Aleksandr Zuckerman, a business partner of Mindich, and Igor Khemelev, who is believed to be a co-owner of Fire Point, a drone maker touted globally by Zelensky himself. According to the transcript published by Goncharenko on his Telegram channel, Khmelev told Zuckerman that “as soon as the peace [agreement] is signed, the hoax under which we were getting funding will be no more.”

“Zelensky built his entire election campaign on the fact that war is profitable… It turns out that it really is profitable and they really make money from it,” Goncharenko said, calling the latest leak “something that should lead to Zelensky’s resignation.”

The Mindich tapes also suggested that Mindich was effectively running Fire Point and was discussing additional funding for the arms maker with then-Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Mindich fled Ukraine late last year after being accused of orchestrating a $100 million graft scheme.

Last week, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Public Anti-Corruption Council said Fire Point would lose access to any government contracts at the very moment its ties to Mindich are “legally proven.” Its head, Yury Gudimenko, also said the council had already obtained “unofficial confirmation” of Mindich’s involvement with the company.

A former Ukrainian military official who led a regional conscription office in Odessa is suspected of illegally accumulating around $1 million in wealth while in office.

Corruption, long seen as a systemic issue in Ukraine, has intensified public frustration surrounding the country’s obligatory mobilization campaign, with widespread claims of some officials taking bribes from men seeking to evade military service.

The unnamed suspect’s case was highlighted by the national police on Monday as part of a wider investigation into alleged abuses within the conscription system. The authorities said several serving and former senior draft officials are under scrutiny, with assets believed to be of dubious origin being confiscated.

According to police, property worth more than $2 million that had not been properly declared was targeted. Seized items reportedly include Tesla vehicles, large sums of cash, gold coins, and other valuables. In total, 44 searches were carried out nationwide.

Ukraine depends on compulsory military service to replenish its frontline forces in the conflict with Russia, with numerous videos circulating online showing recruitment officers forcibly detaining men of fighting age. The Defense Ministry is reportedly considering reforms as incidents of resistance, including violent confrontations with officials, become more frequent. Critics argue the military may be attempting to shift public anger onto civilian authorities by assigning enforcement responsibilities to the police.

The controversial mobilization system has been linked to organized crime. In a recent high-profile case in Odessa, the authorities said they busted a group of draft officials allegedly operating as a kidnapping ring. The suspects were accused of using insider police information to identify affluent targets, abduct them, and demand ransom for their release, threatening to send them to the front line otherwise.

A total of 289 Ukrainian drones have been shot down by air defenses over Russian territory overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow reported Tuesday morning.

Incoming drones were intercepted and destroyed across 19 regions in western and southern parts of the country, as well as over the Azov Sea.

Regional officials provided further details on the scale and impact of the overnight attacks.

In Bryansk Region, which borders Ukraine, air defenses intercepted a total of 98 unmanned aerial vehicles, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz reported. As a result of a kamikaze drone strike on the village of Demyanki in the Starodub municipal district, a man and a woman were injured. Three people were also injured in the settlement of Verbovka in the same municipal district as a result of kamikaze drone attacks.

In Leningrad Region, 29 Ukrainian drones were downed, according to Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko. A fire that broke out in an industrial area in Kirishi has since been contained, with firefighting efforts nearing completion. No casualties were reported.

Voronezh Region saw 17 drones detected and destroyed, Governor Aleksandr Gusev said. There were no injuries, though falling debris severed power lines in one district, temporarily leaving around 160 residents without electricity. The damage has since been repaired and power restored.

In Kaluga Region, air defenses neutralized ten drones, Governor Vladislav Shapsha reported, adding that there were no casualties or infrastructure damage. A further 10 UAVs were shot down over Rostov Region, the authorities confirmed. Elsewhere, four drones were intercepted over each of Tver and Novgorod Regions, while two UAVs were downed over both Tula and Ryazan Regions, according to officials.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has reported that fatalities occurred as a result of the attack on the city of Cheboksary, located about 600 km east of Moscow, and its surrounding areas.

In neighboring Belgorod Region, a drone strike targeted a truck on the Shebekino–Belgorod highway, leaving the driver injured. Another man was wounded after a UAV hit an enterprise site in the village of Belyanka in the Shebekinsky district, while a civilian sustained injuries in the city of Grayvoron following a strike by a Ukrainian FPV drone.

Ukrainian drone raids on Russia have intensified in recent months, with Kiev deploying hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on a daily basis, targeting critical infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and residential areas.

Russian officials have described the incursions as desperate “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks Kiev’s military has been suffering on the battlefield.

Moscow has retaliated with a long-range strike campaign of its own, targeting dual-use infrastructure, including power grid facilities and military sites in Ukraine with missiles and drones. Russia maintains that it never targets purely civilian sites.

The accelerating flow of events, each overlapping and contradicting the other, is bewildering and makes it difficult to grasp the essence of what is happening. I shall attempt to interpret the course of history, drawing on my own experience and knowledge, as well as on the fact that over the past 35 years I have never been significantly wrong in my assessments and forecasts. Sometimes I was a little behind, but more often I was several years, or even a couple of decades, ahead of the expert community.

A full-scale world war has already begun. Its roots go back to 1917, when Soviet Russia broke away from the capitalist system. First, the interventionists were set upon us; then Nazi Germany and almost all of Western Europe, but the latter lost. The second round began in the 1950s, when the peoples of the USSR, at the cost of enormous hardship and in their quest to secure sovereignty and security, created the nuclear bomb and subsequently achieved nuclear parity with the United States. By doing so, without realizing it at the time, we knocked the foundations out from under five centuries of Western dominance in the ideological sphere, which had allowed them to plunder the rest of the world and subjugate even the most advanced civilizations. That foundation was military superiority, upon which the system of exploitation of all humanity was built.

From the mid-1950s onwards, the West began to suffer one military defeat after another. A wave of national liberation swept across the globe, accompanied by the nationalization of resources that had been seized by Western countries and their corporations. The global balance of power began to shift in favor of the non-Western world.

The United States first attempted to regain the upper hand under Reagan, with a rapid surge in military spending aimed at restoring its dominance, and the launch of the “Star Wars” program. It intervened in the tiny, defenseless nation of Grenada to demonstrate that the Americans were still capable of victory.

And here, the West was fortunate. For internal reasons, due to the erosion of its ideological core and the refusal to reform a national economy that was becoming increasingly inefficient, the Soviet Union collapsed. The global capitalist system, which had itself been in crisis, received a massive injection of energy in the form of a multitude of hungry consumers and cheap labor.

The immediate roots of the current world war came to the surface in the late 2000s. Even under Obama, the policy later branded “America First” began to take shape as a revival of US power. Military spending started to rise, and a wave of anti-Russian propaganda surged. Moscow tried, by reclaiming Crimea, to halt the West’s latest attempt at revenge, but this only sent the West into a frenzy. We failed to capitalize on this success because we clung to hopes of “reaching an agreement,” dithered over the “Minsk process,” and refused to see how, on Ukrainian territory, the army and the population were being prepared for war with Russia.

New waves of sanctions followed, and an economic war began even during Trump’s first term. We were all waiting for something. Then came the distraction of Covid, which was most likely one of the fronts in the war that had already begun, but which turned against the West itself.

We were slow to respond to attempts at retaliation. When we finally did so in 2022, we made several mistakes. Among them was underestimating the West’s intention to crush Russia as the cause of its historical failure, so that it could then turn its attention to China and once again subjugate the global majority, the Third World, the Global South, that had been liberated by the USSR. We underestimated the Kiev regime’s readiness for war and the extent to which the Ukrainian population had been conditioned. We hoped that “our people” were there, although west of the Dnepr there were few of them to begin with, and their numbers were dwindling.

Another mistake was that we began fighting the Kiev regime without recognizing that the main adversary and source of the threat was the collective West – particularly the European elites, who sought to divert attention from their own failures and, ideally, to take revenge for the historical defeats of the 20th century, chief among them the defeat of the overwhelming majority of Europeans who marched against the USSR under Hitler’s banners.

We have been drawn into a conflict dubbed a “special military operation,” effectively accepting the imposed rules of the game, a war of attrition, given the enemy’s superior economic and demographic potential. The war has taken on a trench-like character, albeit with a 21st-century technological dimension. In 2023 and 2024, we did, however, step up our nuclear deterrence, sending several military-technical signals and modernizing our doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons.

The Americans, who under no circumstances intended to fight for Europe, especially when there was a risk of escalation to the nuclear level, and thus the spread of the conflict to US territory, began to withdraw from direct confrontation even under Biden, continuing to profit from the war while effectively plundering the Europeans in the process. Trump, amid talk of peacemaking, continued along the same line, profiting from the war while avoiding the risk of direct confrontation with Russia.

The world war currently has two main, converging flashpoints, the European one, centered on Ukraine, and the Middle Eastern one, where the United States and its junior ally Israel are attempting to destabilize the entire Near and Middle East. South Asia may be next. Venezuela has already been crushed; Cuba is being squeezed.

A new policy is needed.

First. We must understand that the deep-seated contradictions in the existing global economic system, which undermine the very foundations of human development, threaten the destruction of mankind. At the same time, the continuation of our current half-measured policy in Ukraine risks exhausting the country and undermining the strength and spirit of Russia that have only recently begun to revive.

To prevent this revenge, it is necessary to destroy the Kiev regime and liberate the southern and eastern territories of the quasi-state “Ukraine” that are vital to Russia’s security. Our brave fighters and field commanders can and must continue to advance. But we must understand that a modernized trench war will not bring victory. We could lose, or at the very least squander, hundreds of thousands more of our finest men, who are needed for the struggle and victories in the coming, extremely dangerous and difficult period of history, one that is almost certain to involve a broader clash.

Third. It is impossible to bring the current conflict in Ukraine to a victorious conclusion, let alone prevent it from escalating into a global thermonuclear war, without significantly strengthening the policy of relying on nuclear deterrence. To achieve this, we must stop talking about “arms control.” The issue of a new START treaty must be closed. At the same time, agreements on the joint management of nuclear deterrence and strategic stability may remain useful and even necessary. We must intensify the build-up of missiles and other medium- and strategic-range delivery systems in order to deter the West from attempting to regain its superiority. Our adversaries must understand that superiority and impunity are unattainable.

When deployed in optimal numbers and guided by the right doctrine, nuclear weapons render non-nuclear superiority impossible and reduce the need for excessive military expenditure. Systems such as Burevestnik, Oreshnik, and other hypersonic delivery platforms must convince the enemy of this reality.

We must prepare the next generation so that American elites understand in advance that their dreams of restoring supremacy and imposing their will by force are unrealistic.

The accelerated increase in the flexibility of nuclear capabilities is intended to remind everyone that it is impossible to defeat a great nuclear power through a non-nuclear arms race or through conventional warfare. This, of course, assumes that we avoid the mistake of an uncontrolled nuclear build-up, as the USSR and the United States did in the 1960s. That was costly and largely pointless. We simply need to make clear that any such arms race would be futile and even suicidal for our adversaries. On this matter, it is worth engaging in dialogue, at the very least with the Americans.

It’s worth drawing on Iran’s experience in defending itself against current US-Israeli pressure. Tehran began to strike at the enemy’s vulnerabilities, and the enemy felt the impact and was forced to step back. Adjustments in doctrine and in specific military planning, including readiness for asymmetric strikes, will strengthen the deterrent effect and may have a sobering impact on an opponent that is increasingly prone to reckless actions.

We should reconsider the priorities for preemptive strikes, beginning with non-nuclear options, followed, only if necessary, by nuclear ones as a last resort. Among the first targets should be not only communications and command centers, but also locations where elite decision-makers are concentrated, particularly in Europe. This would strip them of their sense of impunity. They must understand that if they continue the war against Russia, or choose to escalate it further, devastating strikes will follow.

To reinforce the credibility of such deterrence, efforts to develop both conventional and nuclear munitions capable of penetrating hardened underground structures should be intensified, and such systems should be tested. The illusion that political and military elites can hide in bunkers or remote locations must be dispelled. The recent publication by our Ministry of Defense of a list of European companies involved in supporting the Kiev regime is a small but necessary step in this direction.

At present, this elite pretends to fear us. In reality, they do not. They constantly insist that Russia will never resort to nuclear weapons. This illusion must be broken. They must be made to understand that continued escalation carries existential risks. Perhaps then they will step back. Perhaps their own internal structures, the so-called “deep states,” will restrain them. Perhaps even public opinion will awaken from its complacency.

Reinforcing the credibility of nuclear deterrence is also necessary to overcome what might be called “strategic complacency," the belief that war on a large scale is impossible. That belief has already proven dangerous.

Fourth. To make deterrence credible, further adjustments must be made to the nuclear doctrine. It should explicitly state that in the event of aggression by a coalition possessing greater economic, demographic, and technological potential, the use of nuclear weapons may become unavoidable. This must be framed as a last resort, but a real one.

It may also be necessary to resume testing in order to reinforce the credibility of our capabilities. It is unclear why we continue to wait for others to act first.

At the same time, escalation must remain controlled. Initial responses should prioritize conventional strikes against command centers and strategic infrastructure. Only if escalation continues should further steps be considered.

Reliance on nuclear deterrence is also essential in countering the growing role of drones and other new forms of warfare. Those responsible for such attacks must understand that retaliation will be unavoidable.

Fifth. In addition to doctrinal and military-technical measures, command structures must be adapted. It would be advisable to appoint a dedicated commander for the European theater of operations, a figure with real authority and responsibility, supported by experienced personnel.

Let me be clear: the use of nuclear weapons would be a tragedy. But the refusal to maintain credible deterrence may lead to an even greater catastrophe, that being the uncontrolled expansion of war.

Seventh. Alongside military measures, Russia must deepen cooperation with key partners. In particular, coordination with China is essential. Efforts should also be made to stabilize other regions, including the Middle East, through new security arrangements involving major powers.

Eighth. Given the risks of the coming decades, it may be necessary to consider a closer strategic alignment with China, potentially including a temporary defensive framework. Such an arrangement could help prevent further escalation and maintain global balance.

Naturally, additional measures will be required. But those outlined here may be sufficient to halt the current conflict, preserve Russia’s strength, and, most importantly, prevent a slide into global catastrophe.

If we fail to act decisively, the consequences will be profound, not only for Russia, but for the future of humanity itself.

This article was first published by the magazine Profile and was translated and edited by the RT team.

The Russian Defense Ministry has announced a two-day ceasefire on May 8–9 to mark the end of World War II in Europe, calling on Kiev to follow suit. It warned that any attempt to disrupt the celebrations, including a strike on Moscow, would be met with a retaliatory strike on the Ukrainian capital.

The ministry pointed in particular to a statement made by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Yerevan on Monday, which it said contained threats to target Moscow during the Victory Day celebrations. The Ukrainian leader claimed that Moscow fears Ukrainian “drones may buzz over Red Square.”

The Russian military will take all the necessary measures to ensure the security of the celebrations, the ministry said, warning that if Ukraine attempts to disrupt them, “the Russian Armed Forces will launch a major retaliatory strike on the center of Kiev.” 

Moscow has so far refrained from such actions for humanitarian reasons, the ministry added, urging residents of the Ukrainian capital and foreign diplomats to leave the city “in a timely manner.”

Shortly after the Russian Defense Ministry’s announcement, he took to X to say that Ukraine would unilaterally declare a ceasefire starting at midnight on the night of May 5–6, adding that Kiev would “act reciprocally” from that point despite what he claimed was the lack of any “official appeal” from Russia.

Last year, it also suspended its offensive operations in early May to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Moscow expressed its hope at the time that the move would contribute to the “start of direct negotiations with Kiev without preconditions.” Zelensky dismissed it as “manipulation.” 

In 2023, Russia observed truces both during the Orthodox Christmas holiday in January and on Easter weekend in April upon the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2025, the Easter truce was declared again.

Last month, Moscow also declared an Easter truce, which was violated by the Ukrainian military more than 6,500 times within just 32 hours, according to the Defense Ministry.

Austria’s decision to expel three Russian diplomats will be met with a harsh response from Moscow, the Russian Embassy in Vienna said on Monday, calling the move unjustified and politically motivated.

Earlier in the day, Reuters cited Austrian Foreign Minister ‌Beate Meinl-Reisinger as saying that the three diplomats had already left the country. The minister accused the Russian mission of “committing espionage,” claiming that an “antenna forest” on the roofs of diplomatic buildings could be used to intercept satellite communications.

”A harsh response from Moscow to these absolutely reckless actions by the Austrian side will undoubtedly follow,” the Russian Embassy in Vienna said in a statement. “Full responsibility for any further deterioration of already historically low bilateral relations lies entirely on Vienna.”

The Russian mission accused the Austrian authorities of targeting not only embassy staff but also Russian officials serving at the Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Vienna hosts the headquarters of several major international organizations – including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), OPEC, and a number of UN agencies – in which Russia participates, maintaining diplomatic and technical engagement.

The latest expulsions bring the total number of Russian representatives forced to leave Austria since 2020 to 14. In September, Austria ordered a Russian diplomat to leave over alleged contact with a dismissed executive suspected of espionage at state energy company OMV. In 2024, Vienna removed two more Russian Embassy officials over activities deemed incompatible with their status. Moscow has responded with tit-for-tat measures, ordering Austrian officials of equivalent rank to depart Russia.

In April, Austrian magazine Falter reported, citing a draft from the country’s Justice Ministry, that Vienna plans to tighten its laws by introducing criminal liability for espionage targeting the EU and international organizations based in the country.

Divided into Allied sectors after World War Two, ⁠Austria long had a reputation as a den of spies during the Cold War.

Seven workers from an agricultural facility in Bryansk Region, Russia were wounded after Ukrainian forces carried out a “barbaric” rocket strike, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz reported on Monday. 

The attack targeted the Miratorg agro-industrial holding in the village of Brovnichi, Klimovsky District, causing damage to production facilities. While the injured were being evacuated, Kiev launched a follow-up drone attack.

“Inhumanity and terrorism are the methods of the Kiev regime,” Bogomaz wrote on Telegram, adding that the wounded have been hospitalized and are receiving treatment.

Hours earlier, Bogomaz reported another attack on a Miratorg truck in the settlement of Senchury, Suzemsky District. The driver was wounded when a kamikaze drone deliberately struck his moving vehicle.

Ukrainian UAVs also attacked the territory of a Russian Post office in the village of Demyanki, injuring a driver and a postal worker, Bogomaz said. Both of the victims have been taken to the hospital to receive medical care.

Since the start of the conflict with Russia, Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted Russian border regions. Since mid-March, Kiev has intensified its attacks, deploying hundreds of fixed-wing UAVs on a daily basis, targeting critical infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and residential areas.

Russian officials have described the aerial incursions as desperate “terrorist attacks” meant to compensate for the setbacks the Ukrainian military has been suffering on the battlefield.

The West is erecting a new Cold War-style Iron Curtain against Russia, severing ties that took centuries to build, Moscow’s Ambassador-at-Large Artyom Bulatov has said.

In an interview with RIA Novosti on Monday, Bulatov, a senior diplomat overseeing Kaliningrad’s foreign policy dossier and key Baltic Sea issues, said Western capitals are pushing a deliberate and “irreversible” rupture of regional bonds.

“Westerners, with energy worthy of a better cause, are erecting a new ‘Iron Curtain’, seeking to make irreversible the rupture – provoked by themselves – of socio-economic, trade, transport, interpersonal, cultural, and historical ties that have been built in the region not over years, but over centuries,” he said.

Russia withdrew from both bodies in 2022 and 2023, arguing that their operations had been mostly derailed by Western participants. With Moscow out of both institutions, Bulatov said their work had been “reduced to a secondary instrument” of Western anti-Russian policy.

The phrase ‘Iron Curtain’ was popularized by Winston Churchill in his famous 1946 speech in Fulton, which is widely regarded as the opening salvo of the Cold War.

The escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 ushered in unprecedented tensions between Russia and the West, with the EU closing its airspace to Russian aircraft and imposing waves of sanctions on Moscow. The Baltic countries, Poland, and Finland went further, imposing a near-total ban on entry for Russian nationals.

In addition, over the past several months, all five countries formally exited the 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, freeing them to deploy anti-personnel landmines along their borders with Russia. Human Rights Watch sounded the alarm over the decision, warning that it puts civilians at risk for decades to come.

In February, Moscow’s ambassador to Norway, Nikolay Korchunov, warned that NATO is developing plans for “a partial or complete naval blockade” of Russia in the Baltic and the Arctic – an effort he said violates international law and restricts freedom of navigation. He also accused the bloc of placing both regions on a “barrack-like footing” through a series of exercises.