Russia

NBC News reports: Germany’s chancellor said Monday that his government will lift all range restrictions on weapons it sends to Ukraine, meaning that all of Kyiv’s major western allies have now relaxed red lines on the use of their weapons inside Russia to fight Moscow’s offensive. The decision from Chancellor Friedrich Merz comes as Europe seeks to bolster Kyiv’s war …

The Independent reports: Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is calling on President Donald Trump to sanction Russia after the Kremlin launched a massive drone and missile attack against Ukraine over the weekend. A fed-up Grassley demanded on his X account Monday that Trump to take punitive action against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his continued aggression in Ukraine. “I’ve had enuf …

The Hill reports: The Kremlin on Monday responded to President Trump’s criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing “emotional overload” at this “very important moment.” “We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organizing and launching this negotiation process,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov when asked about Trump’s remarks, according to Reuters. “Of …

Reuters reports: A monument to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin erected in Moscow’s metro is stirring debate, with some Russians welcoming it as a historical tribute, but others saying it’s a mistake to commemorate someone who presided over so much suffering. The life-size wall sculpture in Moscow’s Taganskaya metro station depicts Stalin standing on Moscow’s Red Square surrounded by a crowd …

SEN. BILL KEATING: The person we’re negotiating with, Vladimir Putin, is he a war criminal? MARCO RUBIO: Well, I think you can look at instances that have happened there and certainly characterize them as war crimes, but our intent is to end the war. KEATING: Is he a war criminal? RUBIO: We can’t end the war without talking to Mr. …

“Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump is set to speak Monday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in what the U.S. president said is an attempt to stop the “bloodbath” of the war in Ukraine. Trump said the call would be taking place at 10 a.m. — although he did not specify whether this was on eastern daylight time or …

NBC News reports: Trump’s special envoy broke with long-standing protocol by not employing his own interpreter during three high-level meetings with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, opting instead to rely on translators from the Kremlin, a U.S. official and two Western officials with knowledge of the talks told NBC News. Steve Witkoff, who has been tasked with negotiating an end to the …

The New York Times reports: The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered a three-day cease-fire in Ukraine next month, the second time in two weeks that Russia’s leader has promised a temporary pause in the fighting as President Trump shows growing impatience with his refusal to stop the war. The Kremlin said in a statement …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. “Zelenskyy understands that,” Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “and everybody understands that it’s been with them for …

“Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is boasting on the front page of The Wall Street Journal that, ‘Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here.’ This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration has been engaged in a concerted effort to undo initiatives aimed at holding Russia and its leaders and allies accountable for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Since taking office, the administration has moved to withdraw from an international group led by the European Union that was created to punish Moscow for violating international …

Axios reports: The U.S. expects Ukraine’s response Wednesday to a peace framework that includes U.S. recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and unofficial recognition of Russian control of nearly all areas occupied since the 2022 invasion, sources with direct knowledge of the proposal tell Axios. The one-page document the U.S. presented Ukrainian officials in Paris last week describes this …

CNN reports: The Trump administration is ready to recognize Russian control of Crimea as part of the US proposal to drive an end to the war with Ukraine, an official familiar with the framework told CNN on Friday. Crimea, southern Ukraine, has been under Russian occupation since it was illegally annexed in 2014. Four other Ukrainian regions – Donetsk and …

The Washington Post reports: Trump is ready to “move on” from peace talks between Ukraine and Russia if there is no progress “within days,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Friday. “The president has spent 87 days at the highest level of his government repeatedly taking efforts to bring this war to an end,” said Rubio. “We are now …

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his aides shut down a State Department office on Wednesday that tracks and counters global disinformation from foreign actors, including the governments of China, Russia and Iran, U.S. officials said. The closing of the office, the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub, had been in the works for …

Axios reports: President Trump’s diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia and is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to a source familiar with the trip and FlightRadar data. This will be the third meeting between Witkoff and Putin as Trump pushes for a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump has become frustrated that …

The Associated Press reports: The Ukrainian soldiers clambered from the ruined house at gunpoint — one with arms raised in surrender to the Russian troops — and lay face-down in the early spring grass. Two drones — one Ukrainian and one Russian — recorded the scene from high above the southern Ukrainian village of Piatykhatky. The Associated Press managed to …

ABC News reports: Foreign adversaries including Russia and China are targeting government workers who have been laid off amid the Trump administration’s attempt to downsize to recruit as spies, according to new intelligence. “New intelligence indicates agents from China, Russia, and other countries have set their sights on recently fired probationary workers, or those with security clearances, hoping to obtain …

GOP Rep. Don Bacon writes for the New York Times: Three years on, the war for Ukraine continues to burn, consuming lives and the wealth of nations. The diplomatic rupture last month in the Oval Office beamed live around the world ignited a fierce debate about America’s allies, enemies and interests in the 21st century. Now, Vladimir Putin is dragging …