Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites. Spain’s Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the yacht at the …

CNN reports: The lifeless bodies of at least 20 civilian men line a single street in the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital. Some lie face down on the pavement while others are collapsed on their backs, mouths open in a tragic testament to the horrors of Russian occupation. The hands of one man are tied behind his back …

The New York Times reports: The stream of antiwar letters to a St. Petersburg lawmaker has dried up. Some Russians who had criticized the Kremlin have turned into cheerleaders for the war. Those who publicly oppose it have found the word “traitor” scrawled on their apartment door. Polls and interviews show that many Russians now accept Mr. Putin’s contention that …

Posted today to Franklin Graham’s Facebook page: This is a man-made disaster, a historic humanitarian crisis—and I believe God is the only solution. I am urging Christians around the world to pray for God to work in the hearts of leaders involved and to intervene and bring peace and an end to the conflict. I have written to Russian President …

Reuters reports: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a decree ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia’s annual spring draft, but the defence ministry said the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. The issue of conscripts’ involvement in the war is highly sensitive. On March 9, the defence ministry acknowledged that some …

Newsweek reports: A Russian state TV host has said that President Joe Biden should be removed from office and replaced by his predecessor Donald Trump, whom he described as a “partner” for Moscow. In a comment suggesting who Russia would prefer in the White House, Popov said on Channel One on Tuesday: “It’s time for us, our people, to call …

Mediaite reports: Former President Donald Trump called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release dirt on President Joe Biden amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with Just the News founder John Solomon published on Tuesday, Trump reiterated his unproven claim that Yelena Baturina, a Russian oligarch and the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, gave $3.5 million …

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s military said Tuesday it would “fundamentally” cut back operations near Ukraine’s capital and a northern city, potentially a significant concession by Moscow since it invaded its neighbor more than a month ago. Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the move was meant “to increase trust” in talks aimed at ending fighting, as negotiators met face-to-face …

Reuters reports: Russia wants to split Ukraine into two, as happened with North and South Korea, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said on Sunday, vowing “total” guerrilla warfare to prevent a carve-up of the country. A local leader in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic said on Sunday the region could soon hold a referendum on joining Russia, just as happened in …

The Washington Post reports: The war in Ukraine is proving extraordinarily lethal for Russian generals, the gray men bedecked in service medals, who are being aggressively targeted by Ukrainian forces and killed at a rate not seen since World War II. Ukrainian officials say their forces have killed seven generals on the battlefield, felled by snipers, close combat and bombings. …

The New York Times reports: President Biden delivered a forceful denunciation of Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, declaring “for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power” and casting the military clash as the “test of all time” in a decades-long battle to defend democracy. In a speech from a castle that served for centuries as a home for …

The Wall Street Journal reports: NATO says that up to 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner or are missing in Ukraine, said a senior military official from the alliance. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization calculates the figure based on information provided by Ukrainian authorities and information obtained from Russia–both officially and unintentionally, the official said. NATO estimates …

Reuters reports: A veteran envoy of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said on Wednesday, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago. The Kremlin confirmed that Anatoly Chubais had resigned of his own accord. Chubais was one …

Reuters reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the next G20 summit in Indonesia later this year and received valuable backing from Beijing on Wednesday in a pushback to suggestions by some members that Russia could be barred from the group. The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty …

Reuters reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that it would not be possible to negotiate an end to the war in his country without meeting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy told European public television networks such a meeting could discuss the future of occupied Ukrainian territory, but more time would be required to resolve the issue. He also …

The BBC reports: The Moscow stock exchange has partially reopened after a nearly month-long suspension over the war in Ukraine. Only bonds issued by the Russian government can be traded as part of a phased re-opening of the market. The exchange closed hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine on 24 February. Andrei Braginsky, a …

The New York Times reports: A Russian missile strike reduced a sprawling shopping mall in Kyiv to a smoldering ruin, one of the most powerful strikes to rock the center of the Ukrainian capital since the war began last month. City officials said at least eight people were killed, though the toll was likely to rise from the explosion around …

“Ukraine is not even remotely about what they’re telling us. Ukraine is about the fact that the Ukrainians have used their soil to place dual launch missile pads, missiles that would be aimed at the Soviet Union. “There are, in fact, biolabs there funded by our tax dollars cooking up who knows what pestilence to dump on the Russian people. …

The Washington Post reports: In a dingy Russian classroom with worn-out rugs, elementary school students lined up to form the shape of the letter Z: the symbol used on much of Russia’s military equipment in Ukraine and an emblem of support at home, showing up on everywhere from bus stops to car stickers to corporate logos. Now it has become …

The Associated Press reports: Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city. Even as Russia intensified its attempt to bombard Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts …