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US president Donald Trump said he has talked to Russian president Vladimir Putin on the phone where the two leaders discussed an end to the war in Ukraine.
Mr Trump said that he had “better not say,” when asked how many times the two leaders have spoken in an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday.”He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Mr Trump told the New York Post.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.
Meanwhile on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have advanced further along a highway inside Russia‘s western region of Kursk, where they launched another attack on Friday, according to a US-based think tank.
“Geolocated footage published on 9 February indicates that Ukrainian forces recently advanced along the 38K-028 Sudzha-Oboyan highway southwest of Russkaya Konopelka,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.
Next week, Mr Trump is likely to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss Ukraine‘s efforts to repel the Russian invaders, and the US president’s own peace proposal. Mr Zelensky has said any peace deal must include security guarantees that ensure there can be no future Russian aggression.
Ukraine’s leading rapper is now leading drone warfare against Russia
Oleksandr Yarmak has not the slightest sympathy for Russians.
At 33, he is head of research and development in Ukraine’s drone warfare, devising ever more creative ways to make the most of the lethal technology.
He is also a chart-topping artist who has used his years fighting on the frontline turning his experiences into rap songs that have become national war chants.
His troops watch their Russian counterparts on Ukrainian military feeds bowing, waving, curling up in terror, and sometimes just standing still, in the final seconds before a drone hits them.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 08:00
FBI director nominee Kash Patel paid by Russian filmmaker close to Kremlin: Report
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 07:30
Mapped: Where are Ukraine’s rare earth mineral resources and why does Trump want them?
He said on Monday he wants “equalisation” from Ukraine for the US’ “close to $300 billion” in support.
“We’re telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earths,” Mr Trump said. “We’re looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they’re going to secure what we’re giving them with their rare earths and other things.”
Below, we look at where these resources are in Ukraine, and why Kyiv has struggled to mine these minerals.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 07:00
What happened to the North Korean troops fighting Ukraine on the frontline?
North Korean troops have been pulled back from the frontline amid devastating losses, according to Ukrainian and American officials.
The reports have been backed by South Korea’s spy agency, who said that the North Korean troops had been withdrawn from the war frontline around the middle of January, the National Intelligence Service said.
“Since mid-January, there have been no signs of North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region engaging in combat,” the NIS said.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 06:30
China’s Xi accepts invitation to attend Moscow’s Victory Day in May – report
Chinese president Xi Jinping has accepted Russia’s invitation to attend the commemorations of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, Russia’s TASS news agency reported today..
“Chinese president Xi Jinping has accepted an invitation to take part in the celebrations on 9 May in Moscow on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War,” TASS cited Russian ambassador to China, Igor Morgulov, as telling Russian state television.
The Kremlin said in December that it had invited “many countries” to attend the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, which Russians call the “Great Patriotic War”.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 06:13
Photo: Ukrainian troops fire French howtizers on Russian forces on the hottest sector of frontline
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 06:03
Russia says yet to receive satisfactory proposals to start talks on Ukraine
Moscow is yet to receive a good offer to start talks on Ukraine, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said in remarks published this morning.
“It is important that words be backed up by practical steps that take into account Russia’s legitimate interests, demonstrating a readiness to eradicate the root causes of the crisis and recognise the new realities,” deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin told RIA state news agency in an interview.
“Concrete proposals of this nature have not yet been received,” he said.
Mr Galuzin’s comments were the latest in a series of contradictory or guarded messages from both Moscow and Washington in recent days about possible talks between Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin on bringing an end to the war that Moscow started nearly three years ago.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 05:46
Mapped: Ukraine’s counterattack into the Russian Kursk region explained
The attack, which was claimed by the Russian defence ministry but has not been acknowledged by Ukraine, was reported exactly six months after Kyiv launched its initial cross-border assault into Kursk last August.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 05:25
Russia says it downs 15 Ukrainian drones overnight
Russia’s air defence units intercepted and destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.
Of these, seven of the drones were downed over the southern Krasnodar region, while the rest were intercepted over several other regions in Russia’s south and west, the ministry said on the Telegram channel.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 04:56
Russia’s top UN diplomat says waiting for signals from Washington on talks
The Russian envoy to the United Nations said Russia was waiting for “appropriate signals” from Washington on contacts with Moscow.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said Russia was ready for talks with the US on Ukraine “on an equal basis”, in comments to the Russia’s state-run news agency RIA.
“We are open to contacts but on an equal basis and, as a requirement, taking account of Russian interests,” Mr Nebenzya said.
“We are waiting for the appropriate signals from the American side,” he said.
His comments were issued shortly before the US president Donald Trump said he believed the US was making progress in talks with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Arpan Rai10 February 2025 04:55
