It took some time, but Ukraine now allows its prisoners to have early release in return for taking up a gun to fight Russia.
When he pulled a knife and robbed a jewellery shop in President Zelensky’s home city of Kryvyhi Rih, the convict and career criminal codenamed “Makar” was not thinking of a future in the army.
Yet since he was freed from prison along with thousands of other Ukrainian convicts last summer on condition they fought at the front, the 47-year-old, now a respected and wounded veteran of Ukraine’s 71st Jaeger Brigade, is certain that his life of crime and prison prepared him well for the stresses of war.
Makar is proud to have commanded three other convicted thieves — Zippo, Alavarez and Dronik — in an assault team sent up against Russian positions near the gutted city of Vovchansk.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for more than two hours Monday, after the White House said the U.S. leader has grown “frustrated” with the conflict and planned a separate call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in hopes of making progress toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
Moscow is ready to work toward ending fighting in Ukraine, Putin said following the call. He said Russia was in favor of a “peaceful settlement” and that compromises would need to be found to suit both parties. He also described the conversation with Trump as “frank and meaningful.”
ROME — Prime Minister Mark Carney reaffirmed Canada’s “steadfast and unwavering support” for Ukraine in his first meeting with the country’s president on Saturday in Rome.
His meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy was one of several sitdowns with world leaders taking place in the Italian capital, where Carney — a devout Catholic — has travelled to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV. The Prime Minister is making a concerted effort to meet with other G7 leaders ahead of the global summit Canada is hosting in Kananaskis, Alta., next month.
Big plumes of smoke are visible on a screen that’s providing a live feed from Ukrainian drones hovering over the outskirts of the eastern city of Pokrovsk, one of the most intense front lines in Ukraine.
A few seconds earlier, Ukrainian artillery strikes Russian positions, places where we’d seen Russian soldiers moving about as they try to advance towards a key road going into Pokrovsk.
At least one Russian soldier is injured, possibly dead after the strike.
President Putin has declined to meet President Zelensky in Istanbul for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, sending instead a low-level delegation headed by a former culture minister in a move that will quash hopes of a breakthrough.
Zelensky had challenged Putin to meet face-to-face in Turkey for the first direct negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since the early weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
President Trump also said that he could join the talks if there were indications that a deal could be agreed to end the war. However, after it emerged that Putin would not be attending, a US official said that Trump would not be travelling to Turkey.
Police in Germany and Switzerland have arrested three men on suspicion of being recruited by Russian state authorities to send parcel bombs that were due to explode in transit.
The Ukrainian citizens were arrested in Cologne, Konstanz and in the canton of Thurgau in northeastern Switzerland on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday respectively.
President Zelensky will meet only with President Putin in Istanbul for direct talks on the war, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.
“Only Putin can decide whether the war continues or ends. That’s indisputable,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Russian opposition journalists, ruling out talks between Zelensky and Russian ministers or negotiators.
“We understand how power is structured in Russia,” Podolyak said. “It’s clear that even people with formal ministerial status — or even someone like [the prime minister, Mikhail] Mishustin — are unlikely to be authorised to make key decisions.”
European leaders have urged Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine starting on Monday.
The call was issued at a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” in Kyiv. The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland were hosted by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, while others joined remotely.
They made the announcement after discussing the plan by phone with US President Donald Trump – who initially mooted an unconditional ceasefire. The leaders threatened Russia with “massive” sanctions if it does not comply.
Ukrainian women injured in the war with Russia have bared their battle scars in the latest issue of Playboy.
Five women – including a veteran who lost a limb in combat – were photographed for the Scarred Beauty project, which tells the stories of women who have survived severe injuries and their rehabilitation.
The creators said they wanted to highlight “female strength” and show that beauty did not “vanish after injury”.
JD Vance has accused Russia of “asking for too much” in the most direct American criticism yet, singling out Moscow as a barrier to peace.
The vice-president admitted there was still a “big gulf” between Russia and Ukraine which he said could only be bridged by direct talks between the two adversaries. He also appeared to accept Russia’s argument that it could not, for strategic reasons, agree to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US and accepted by Ukraine.
Joe Biden has told the BBC that pressure from the Trump administration on Ukraine to give up territory to Russia is “modern-day appeasement” in an exclusive interview, his first since leaving the White House.
Speaking in Delaware on Monday, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin believed Ukraine was part of Russia and “anybody that thinks he’s going to stop” if some territory is conceded as part of a peace deal “is just foolish”.
Biden, who spoke as Allied nations mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day this week, said he was concerned about US-Europe relations breaking down under President Donald Trump, which he said “would change the modern history of the world”.
I wonder how much the 1st Family of Sleaze got paid for this?
Joe Biden on Trump: ‘What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are’
In an exclusive and remarkably candid interview – the first since he left office – Joe Biden discusses what he really thinks of his successor’s first 100 days, plus his fears for the future if the Atlantic Alliance collapses.
Biden’s attempt to rewrite history is fooling no one
In his first interview since leaving the White House, Joe Biden accused President Trump of appeasing Russia over Ukraine. Well, Biden certainly knows all about appeasement. It was the hallmark of his presidency and accounts for much of the instability in Europe and the Middle East today.
Before Putin invaded, Biden sent the worst possible signal, seeming to suggest that a “minor incursion” might not be too big a deal. Then when the tanks rolled in he offered to evacuate the leader of the embattled country to safety. That would have been like Roosevelt flying Churchill out of Britain in 1940.
Moscow’s intelligence services have launched a new type of attack on the west, violent but piecemeal and hard to prove
Serhiy was just about to board a coach bound for Germany when Polish security services detained him at the bus station in the city of Wrocław.
In his backpack, the officers found firelighter cubes, a juice bottle filled with paraffin, a lighter, two pocket knives, a mini handsaw and a face mask. Later, when they searched the mobile phone of the 49-year-old Ukrainian refugee, they found a pdf of a Russian-language book called Modern Pyrotechnics. It contained detailed instructions on how to start fires and detonate explosives.
Serhiy S – as he is identified in accordance with Polish law on naming criminal suspects – is one of dozens of people who have been rounded up across Europe over the past two years and accused of being foot soldiers in a new front of Russia’s war against the west.
U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged European Union member states and their allies to work towards a “lasting peace” and end the war in Ukraine. This means Europe must both commit tangible resources to the goal and show clear political resolve.
This renewed pressure from the Trump administration came in a meeting between Rubio and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday, May 1st. According to Rubio, President Donald Trump remains committed to ending the “senseless bloodshed.” The two met in Washington for talks—described as centred upon advancing “on the path toward peace in Ukraine.”
The long-awaited minerals deal signed on Wednesday between Ukraine and the United States has given Kyiv a much-needed boost of confidence in Washington’s long-term support.
It could also make it harder for President Trump to force Ukraine into a peace deal with Russia that Kyiv sees as damaging to its national interests.
Ukraine and the United States planned to sign a long-awaited minerals deal Wednesday — before yet another last-minute obstacle threatened to scupper the plan.
As Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko traveled to Washington on Wednesday to ink the agreement, the American side demanded Kyiv sign not only the main economic pact, but also two technical side-deals, a senior official familiar with the matter told POLITICO after being granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
