The EU imposes new sanctions on Belarusian officials and companies supporting the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. In response to Belarus and Russia’s artificial migration crisis, the EU pledged 170 million euros for border security and backed Poland’s plan to suspend the right to asylum. Belarus labels exiled National
To rein in accelerating inflation fueled by war spending, Russia's Central Bank has been raising its interest rate — from 7.5 percent in July 2023 to the current 21% - the highest level since the early 2000s.
When asked what he would have done differently if he could go back to February 2022, the month Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine, Putin responded, "Knowing what's happening now, back in 2022, I would've thought the decision ought to have been taken earlier."
Key developments on Dec. 19: * Zelensky blasts Putin’s Oreshnik threats, calling him ‘dumbass’ * Zelensky dismisses ceasefire as Putin’s ploy to regroup, seeks coordinated peace plan * Ukraine strikes 'only oil refinery operating' in Russia's Rostov Oblast, military says * Putin acknowledges sanctions have impact on Russia's economy * Ukraine’s Special
“We need coordinated work for a lasting peace, not just the suspension of hostilities that Putin seeks in order to buy time,” Zelensky said.
At a press conference in Brussels on Dec. 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent threats of using the new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile against Kyiv to test Western air defense systems in what he called a "high-tech duel" with the West.
"Everything what is happening in Syria is not a defeat for Russia," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Moscow has already built a 40-kilometer-long segment between the Russian city of Taganrog and occupied Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking during his annual press conference and a call-in program, Vladimir Putin again claimed that Russia's "new" Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) cannot be intercepted by air defenses.
"The sanctions are having an effect, but they are not of key importance," Russian President Vladimir Putin said when talking about the surging inflation and prices in Russia.
“I do not want my words to be used by the Russian Federation or war criminal Putin to justify their aggression against our country,” Boyko said. "If my words insulted some Ukrainians who are fighting on the front line or working on the home front to achieve victory, I want to apologize."
Autocratic regimes like Russia are becoming increasingly bold in their efforts to undermine the principles and norms that came to define the democratic world order in the aftermath of World War II. A month after the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even declared
Large-scale production of Russia's nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile is a goal for "the near future," Putin alleged at a defense ministry board meeting on Dec. 16.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said during a Defense Ministry meeting on Dec. 16 that Moscow aims to seize the entirety of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in 2025.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the next G20 summit due to his pending arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a spokesperson of the South African president told Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency on Dec. 15.
In December 1994, Russian troops launched a brutal and eventually unsuccessful military campaign against Chechen rebels, effectively beginning the First Chechen War. Thirty years later and two wars since, Chechnya, under strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, has become a key pillar of Russian President Vladimir Putin's oppressive regime. After losing the first
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko sign a security pact, announcing the potential deployment of Russian Oreshnik missiles in Belarus. Lukashenko frees 29 more political prisoners amid an ongoing pre-election civil society clampdown. Exiled Belarusian activists to face a record 17 in absentia charges for aiding
Editor's note: This article is based on a publicly available research report on scenarios for the end of Russia’s war on Ukraine by KI Insights, the Kyiv Independent’s research unit. Read Francis Farrell's full report here. After nearly three years of heavy battles and mass strikes, Russia’s
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for urgent measures to support the country’s coal companies, which face multibillion-dollar losses and risk mass bankruptcies, The Moscow Times reported on Dec. 12.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s State Duma, has been sentenced in absentia to 15 years by a Ukrainian court, Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) reported on Dec. 12.
Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and Indian refining giant Reliance Industries have finalized a landmark agreement to supply 500,000 barrels of oil daily for the next 10 years, Reuters reported on Dec. 12.
"I will do it again. But we must not have any illusions about it," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, according to Zeit.
Most Russians seem unwilling to give up the privileges the government gives them at the expense of the country's ethnic minorities, says Botakoz Kassymbekova, a historian focusing on Eastern Europe at the University of Zurich. "Russian colonialism is not reformable," she says. "Russian dissidents want to retain the empire, which
President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Dec. 11 following his hour-long call to Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the two discussed the war in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent’s Natalia Yermak sat down with Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at Chatham House, to talk about what it means for Russia’s war in Ukraine and how it might put Kyiv and the West in a more favorable position in the potential peace negotiations with Moscow.
Moscow persuaded Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia with his family after realizing his regime was bound to lose to the opposition's rapid advance, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 11, citing its sources.
The Hungarian government has not yet commented on the call, which appears to have taken place after Orban's visit to Trump's Florida residence.
Politico presented on Dec. 10 its end-of-the-year list of the most influential people in Europe, with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and Russian President Vladimir Putin among the finalists for the "dreamers" and "doers" categories, respectively.
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's regime collapsed in a matter of days, Russia's influence in the Middle East appeared to wane. Preoccupied with its all-out war against Ukraine, Russia was unable to prevent the Dec. 8 downfall of its main ally in the region. The stunning rapidity of the rebels'
Russia’s spending on “national defense” reached an unprecedented $43 billion in the third quarter of 2024, The Moscow Times reported on Dec. 9.
According to the outlet’s correspondent in Ankara, Russia has proposed relocating its forces to Turkish-controlled areas of Syria before transporting them to Russia by air.
Russian President Vladimir Putin should seek an end to the war as he lost 700,000 people to hostilities, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said in comments for the New York Post published on Dec. 8.
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