Four Years into Its Full-scale War in Ukraine, Russia Is Feeling the Effects

BBC: At first glance, Yelets in winter looks like something from a Russian fairy tale.

From the embankment I spy the golden domes of Orthodox churches and, down below, ice fishermen dotted along the frozen river.

But in this town, 350km (217 miles) south of Moscow, the fairy tale feeling is transient.

On the riverbank I spot an army recruitment billboard. It promises a one-off sum equivalent to £15,000 to anyone who'll sign up to fight in Ukraine.

Close by there's a poster of a Russian soldier taking aim with a Kalashnikov.

"We're there where we need to be," the accompanying slogan declares.

The Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Outside Russia it was widely seen as an attempt to force Kyiv back into Moscow's orbit and to overturn the entire post-Cold War security architecture in Europe.

The Russian leadership envisaged a short and successful military operation.

It didn't go to plan. » | Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor, in Lipetsk | Monday, February 23, 2026

'Anyone Who Runs Is Shot': Russian Soldiers Describe Killings of Troops Who Refuse Orders

BBC: Russian soldiers have exposed the brutality of conditions on the Russian side of the front lines in Ukraine, with two men telling the BBC they saw soldiers being executed on the spot for refusing orders.

The men, who are on the run, spoke about the horror they witnessed from an undisclosed location outside Russia in the documentary, "The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War". Read on and watch the video » | BBC | Tuesday, February 24, 2026

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Putin Wants 'All of Ukraine' while Trump Only 'Cares about Success' Warns Polish Foreign Minister

May 20, 2025 | Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, has told Sky News that Vladimir Putin wants "all of Ukraine" and warns Donald Trump is "capable of changing his policy rather rapidly".

Mr Sikorski says that Trump's approach to a peacekeeping solution is "unusual” and that he "cares about having success". He goes on to say that the "credibility of the United States is staked on the quality of the solution".

Trump Is ‘Completely Out of Touch with Reality’ as Ceasefire Fails

Mar 20, 2025 | “People just saw the word ceasefire in America and said, oh, great, I can't believe he's achieved that…within an hour there were strikes on the Ukrainian infrastructure.“

Donald Trump is “completely out of touch with realty” as Putin “has not even payed lip service” to ceasefire agreement, says The Times’s Maxim Tucker.


Striking a deal to stop a war is clearly very different from striking a real estate deal! – © Mark Alexander

‘He’s Humiliating Trump’: Browder on Putin’s Negotiations with Trump

Mar 19, 2025 | Bill Browder, a former top investor in Russia, weighs in on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s phone call with President Donald Trump and its failure to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Russia Agrees to Halt Ukraine Energy Attacks for 30 Days, Says Kremlin | BBC News

Mar 18, 2025 | Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days, the Kremlin says, after a phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Fresh Ukraine peace talks will also begin in the Middle East immediately, the White House says.

After the call, the White House said: "The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire".

The Kremlin says the two presidents had a "frank exchange of opinions" and agreed to stay in touch.

Putin Rejects Immediate Ceasefire

THE TELEGRAPH: Vladimir Putin has rejected a proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine but agreed to halt attacks on energy and infrastructure.

After what the Kremlin called a “frank” phone call with Donald Trump, the two leaders agreed that formal negotiations on a 30-day truce would begin “immediately” in the Middle East.

Putin ordered the Russian military to halt attacks on energy plants in Ukraine without delay, the Kremlin said after the 90-minute phone call ended.

But the Kremlin also said that the “complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv” is a condition for any permanent peace deal. Ukraine, and much of Europe, is highly unlikely to agree to this. » | Kieran Kelly. Iona Cleave | Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Trump-Putin Call Sticking Points: Ceasefire, Security Guarantees, NATO

Mar 18, 2025 | US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to talk on the phone on Tuesday to discuss Washington's plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Kyiv has already agreed to the proposal. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Putin is dodging the ceasefire proposal to prolong the war. Many ordinary Ukrainians also remain sceptical that the US plan will lead to peace.

Trump Backs Himself into a Corner in ‘Weak’ Deal with Putin | General Sir Richard Shirreff

Mar 15, 2025 | “He has absolutely backed himself into a corner.”

General Sir Richard Shirreff says Trump is negotiating from a position of weakness.

In No Hurry for Cease-Fire, Putin Demands Numerous Ukrainian Concessions

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The remarks by the Russian leader suggested he wanted to draw out negotiations or make a truce impossible. Ukraine’s leader called the response to a cease-fire plan “manipulative.”

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday did not rule out a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for a monthlong cease-fire, but he set down numerous conditions that would most likely delay any truce — or could make one impossible to achieve.

Mr. Putin’s comments during a news conference highlighted the balance he was trying to strike, exuding confidence in Russia’s position on the battlefield while seeking to continue talks with the United States and avoid upsetting President Trump. The U.S. president, having antagonized the country’s allies and realigned American foreign policy in Russia’s favor, has emerged as a key geopolitical partner for Mr. Putin.

In sharp remarks later in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the Russian leader set so many conditions “that nothing will work out at all or that it will not work out for as long as possible.”

Mr. Putin’s comments came before he was to meet with Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, to discuss the cease-fire proposal that Ukraine had already agreed to. As of early Friday Moscow time, the Kremlin had not commented on how the meeting went. But the Kremlin said Mr. Putin had also spoken by phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, about Ukraine. » | Anton Troianovski | Reporting from Berlin | Thursday, March 13, 2025

Putin Says Captured Ukrainian Soldiers in Kursk Will Be Treated as 'Terrorists'

THE GUARDIAN: Russia’s chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov, said his forces had captured about 430 Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, state news agency Tass reports.

Gerasimov, in a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin at a command post in Kursk, said:

“The Ukrainian military, seeing futility of further resistance, started surrendering. Four hundred and thirty fighters were captured.

Putin said the captured fighters should be “treated as terrorists, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation,” Agence-France-Presse reports.

Putin’s comments suggest the captured soldiers could face trials in Russian courts and be jailed for decades. [Source] » | Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Ukraine Targets Moscow With Large-Scale Drone Attack

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The assault, which the mayor called the largest on Russia’s capital since the war began, was a reminder of Ukraine’s power to strike as its president proposes an air truce.

Russian officials said Ukraine attacked Moscow before dawn on Tuesday with its largest long-range drone bombardment of the war, as both sides stepped up attacks ahead of talks intended to find a way to end three years of fighting.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have shot down at least 91 drones in the region around Moscow and more than 240 drones directed at other targets across the country. The Ukrainian military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes.

Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said the attack was the largest against the city since the start of the war. At least two people were killed and 18 others were injured, the Russian authorities said, and Moscow’s four international airports temporarily suspended operations. Railway tracks near the Domodedovo airport south of Moscow were also damaged and a security guard was killed in a nearby town.

President Vladimir V. Putin was briefed on the attack, according to Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman. Mr. Peskov said Russian air defenses were doing “a great job” but told reporters that the authorities “must remain on guard” because attacks would likely continue. » | Marc Santora and Ivan Nechepurenko | Marc Santora reported from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia. | Tuesday, March 11, 2025

'Europe Should Tell Donald Trump to Back Off' | LBC

Mar 8, 2025 | Caller Kerrie says the US president is 'completely out of control' when it comes to his stance on Russia-Ukraine.

Sen. Whitehouse: "You Don't Get a Tyrant Like Putin to the Table by Giving Him Everything He Wants."

Mar 4, 2025 | Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joins CNN's The Situation Room with Pam Brown to assail Trump's betrayal of Ukraine. Senator Whitehouse also reveals what he'd like to hear from President Trump's joint address — including that he's sending Elon packing.

Trump’s ‘Minion’ JD Vance Needs to Resign Now: Sir Bill Browder

Mar 3, 2025 | Sir Bill Browder tells Times Radio’s Maddie Hale that US Vice-President JD Vance needs to resign from his job for not only “‘attacking” and attempting to “humiliate” Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office, but for also making a “fool” out of the United States.

Trump’s Dressing Down of Zelensky Plays Into Putin’s War Aims

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The public blowup could propel President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to escalate the fight in Ukraine instead of agreeing to peace.

President Trump says he wants a quick cease-fire in Ukraine. But President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia appears to be in no rush, and the blowup on Friday between Mr. Trump and Ukraine’s president may give Russia’s leader the kind of ammunition he needs to prolong the fight.

With the American alliance with Ukraine suffering a dramatic, public rupture, Mr. Putin now seems even more likely to hold out for a deal on his terms — and he could even be tempted to expand his push on the battlefield.

The extraordinary scene in Washington — in which Mr. Trump lambasted President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — was broadcast as the top story on state television in Russia on Saturday morning. It played into three years of Kremlin propaganda casting Mr. Zelensky as a foolhardy ruler who would sooner or later exhaust the patience of his Western backers.

For the Kremlin, perhaps the most important message came in later remarks by Mr. Trump, who suggested that if Ukraine did not agree to a “cease-fire now,” the war-torn country would have to “fight it out” without American help.

That could set up an outcome that Mr. Putin has long sought, at the cost of tens of thousands of Russian lives: a dominant position over Ukraine and wide-ranging concessions from the West. » | Anton Troianovski, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Paul Sonne | Anton Troianovski and Paul Sonne reported from Berlin. | Saturday, March 1, 2025

Trump DESECRATES Oval Office in Meeting with Zelenskyy | The Warning with Steve Schmidt

Feb 28, 2025 | Trump and JD Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office today and it went as poorly as it could have gone. Steve Schmidt breaks down the meeting and explains why Trump and Vance's behavior was an embarrassment.

THE NEW YORK TIMES:

U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World: Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails. »

Scott Ritter: Trump Admits Russia Won, Putin CRUSHES Ukraine–NATO in TOTAL Collapse?

Feb 28, 2025 | SPECIAL Debate episode! Ukraine's final hour approaches as Russia's overwhelming advantages are bolstered by a US administration which openly admits to closest ally UK to the need to end the conflict as soon as possible. But is the US genuine about peace or seeking to regroup NATO in a different form to continue its pursuit for hegemony. This is a conversation you don't want to miss.

Jeffrey Sachs on the 3 Most Important Things Trump Has Done So Far and America’s Global Dominance

Feb 18, 2025 | Can Donald Trump actually end the Ukraine war? Jeffrey Sachs thinks he can.

'Putin Bet the Farm' on Trump's Deal, Russia Will Collapse If He Can't Secure It | Former MI6 Boss

Feb 23, 2025 | "Putin needs this to succeed more than Trump does. And I think that gives Trump quite a lot more power than he perhaps realizes."

Putin will face the collapse of his regime if he cannot secure a pause in the fighting in Ukraine, former MI6 Chief Alex Younger tells Times Radio.