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U.S. President Donald Trump in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S., on Oct. 23, 2026.
Russia

Putin's two-war advantage over Trump

by Katie Marie Davies

Two wars are testing U.S. President Donald Trump's ability to shape world events — and Russia is using the situation to its advantage. As the U.S. pushes Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is also involved in the war between the U.S. and Iran. Major news outlets have reported that Russia is sharing military intelligence with Tehran, even as Trump has praised Moscow for staying out of the fighting. The contradiction was clear last week. During high-level talks in St. Petersburg, U.S.

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Neighbors from hell — How one Oleshky family survived living next to Russian soldiers

For years, the Samarsky family lived in the embattled, occupied Oleshky alongside neighbors no one wished to have — Russian soldiers. Serhii Samarsky, his wife Olha Liutikova, and their son Vladyslav remained in the town after Russian forces occupied it during the early stages of its full-scale invasion until October 2026, when a humanitarian mission, mediated by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, allowed them to be evacuated. Together, they survived relentless air attacks, cold winters without he

Vladyslav Samarsky at the Ukraine-Belarus border in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, on Oct. 31, 2026.

About Russia

The Kyiv Independent’s coverage of news on Russia. Spanning eleven time zones across Eastern Europe and Asia, Russia has an estimated population of 146 million people. Russia’s capital city is Moscow, which is home to almost one in 10 Russians. Russia’s official currency is the Russian Ruble.

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