The ongoing war in Ukraine saw both Russia and Ukraine increase their military spending, with each recording the highest share of government spending allocated to the military. Russia’s spending increased by 5.9 percent to $190 billion, equivalent to 7.5 percent of GDP. Ukraine, meanwhile, increased spending by 20 percent to $84.1 billion – 40 percent […]
“We are increasing risk and eliminating evasions for financial institutions that serve Russia's war economy, and reducing Russia's ability to benefit from access to foreign technology, equipment, software and IT services,” he said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said separately that the United States was “concerned about the scale and breadth of exports” from China […]
Biden then met on May 17 with Blinken, who visited Kyiv earlier this month to take stock of the grave situation created by Russia’s move towards Kharkiv, and was widely reported to be pressing Biden to relax the rules. After working out the details, the US President gave it final approval in recent days, but […]
In February, three Russian sources told Reuters that the United States had rejected Putin's previous suggestion of a ceasefire to prevent war from escalating. In the absence of a ceasefire, Putin is seeking to seize as much territory as possible to increase pressure on Ukraine, while also trying to exploit unexpected opportunities to gain more […]
Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city and lies just dozens of kilometres from the Russian border, has been under constant shelling since Moscow's forces invaded in February 2022. “Russian terrorists are taking advantage of the fact that Ukraine still lacks adequate air defense protection,” Zelensky said on social media. Ukrainian officials are urging their allies […]
“We are positive in our assessment of China's approach to resolving the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said, according to a Russian-language transcript on the Kremlin website. “In Beijing, they really understand the root causes of this and its global geopolitical meaning.” And additional principles, set out by Xi in talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, were […]
Recent setbacks have prompted rare criticism from Ukraine's military bloggers. “The (Russian) breakthrough near Ochertyn revealed a number of problems,” a deep state Telegram channel with close ties to the Ukrainian military said in a post on Wednesday. It said leaders of the 115th Mechanized Brigade, fighting in the area, were “responsible for the collapse […]
“The special services of Ukraine are directly related to this,” Bortnikov said. He said Kiev had helped prepare Islamic radicals in an undisclosed location in the Middle East. Asked by Russian journalists whether Ukraine and its allies, the United States and Britain, were involved in the attack on the concert hall, Bortnikov said: “We think […]
Vladimir Putin said Russia would not be “scared” as he hailed the election victory, which paved the way for the former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years. All of the 71-year-old's major rivals are dead, in jail or in exile, and he has cracked down hard on anyone who […]
“We have already shown that we can live together to defend the independence, sovereignty and security of Russia,” he said in a video message accompanied by the Russian tricolor flag and the presidential state emblem. “It is extremely important today that we do not deviate from this path,” he said. Early voting was already underway […]