Tag Archives: Russia

Putin’s Army Has Significantly Changed Pace On The Frontline Throughout 2025, UK Says

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Vladimir Putin’s army has slowed down significantly with its territorial gains in Ukraine over the last few months, according to the UK.

Russia still occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian land, but is continuing to push forward and try to seize more territory.

Putin has even issued his largest conscription call yet to bolster his army, all while Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a peace deal.

However, Russia is not actually having that much success on the frontline, according to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD).

In its latest social media update on the war, the MoD said: “Russian territorial gains in Ukraine have decreased during the first quarter of 2025, with Russian forces highly likely seizing only 143 sq km of Ukrainian territory in March 2025, an average of less than 5 square kilometres per day.”

The British officials traced this decreased progress back to the end of last year.

“Russia’s rate of advance has dropped month by month since November 2024, when its forces seized more than 700 sq km,” the MoD said.

“Most of the advances by Russian forces in March 2025 were in central Donetsk oblast, but Russia not did not improve its operational position.”

And, according to the intelligence officers, Ukraine is successfully pushing some of the Russian forces back.

“Ukrainian forces also carried out tactical counter-attacks, reversing some of Russia’s gains around Pokrovsk,” they said.

“The level of Russian ground attacks on several axes was reduced through much of March 2025.

“These began to increase towards the end of the month but have not resulted in a higher rate of advance.”

It’s worth noting Russia’s casualty rate has also reached around 900,000 – wounded or dead – since Putin invaded Ukraine back in 2022, according to the MoD.

But, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned over the weekend, Russia is still launching daily air strikes on Ukraine.

The MoD’s update comes after one of Putin’s ministers spurned the US proposals for a peace plan.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the media that “there is no place for our main demand” in the American proposals, and so Moscow “cannot accept” such a plan.

Trump has been pushing for a quick resolution to the Ukraine war, even if it means settling on Russia’s terms.

The US president did manage to secure partial ceasefires in the Black Sea and against Ukrainian energy infrastructure – but both sides now claim that brief truce has already been broken.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Friday that the world will know “in a matter of weeks” if Russia is “serious about peace or not”.

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North Korea Has Suffered More Than 5,000 Casualties Fighting For Russia In Ukraine, UK Says

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North Korea has suffered more than 5,000 casualties in the Ukraine war, according to UK intelligence.

Around one-third of them have been killed in action while fighting for Russia, the Ministry of Defence said in its latest update on the conflict.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent around 11,000 fighters to help Russia last November.

They have been fighting in Kursk, the Russian territory invaded by Ukraine in a surprise move last year.

The MoD said: “As of March 2025, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) forces had highly likely sustained over 5,000 casualties in offensive combat operations against Ukrainian forces in the Russian oblast of Kursk, with approximately a third of the casualties killed in action.”

Although the Russian and North Korean troops have gained territory in recent weeks, the MoD said Ukraine still has “at least a foothold” in the region.

The update comes amid ongoing attempts by the US to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in a bid to end the war, which began in 2022.

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European Leaders Slap Down Putin’s Bid To Get Sanctions Lifted With A Message To Trump

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Keir Starmer and his European allies slapped down the idea of lifting sanctions against Russia today and sent a clear message to Donald Trump.

The prime minister’s group of around 30 nations prepared to defend Ukraine after the war ends – known as the “coalition of the willing” – met in Paris on Thursday.

It came after Russian president Vladimir Putin said he would only agree to a US-brokered peace deal with Ukraine if economic penalties imposed on Moscow were dropped.

While the White House has said it will “evaluate” the Kremlin’s suggestions, European leaders flat-out rejected it – and suggested hiking up the sanctions instead.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has pushed for sanctions to be increased, Starmer accused Putin of “playing games” and “filibustering”.

He said: ”[There is] complete clarity that now is not the time for lifting of sanctions.

“Quite the contrary, what we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative, to bring Russia to the table through further pressure from this group of countries.”

Starmer also said a peace deal should happen soon, noting: “It means increasing the economic pressure on Russia, accelerating new tougher sanctions, bearing down on Russia’s energy revenues, and working together to make this pressure count.”

French president Emmanuel Macron told a press conference that they “unanimously” agreed sanctions should not be lifted against Russia until “peace has clearly been established”.

Similarly, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said stopping sanctions would be a “serious mistake”.

He added: “It makes no sense to end the sanctions until peace has actually been achieved, and unfortunately we are still a long way from that, as you can see.”

The US announced this week that both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end fighting in the Black Sea.

But Moscow later said it would only implement the deal if some sanctions imposed on Russian banks and exports are lifted.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio then told reporters the US is “going to evaluate” Russia’s terms.

The Trump official said they will be “sitting down, going through proposals, getting their impressions of the conversations, so we can more fully understand what the Russian position is, or what their ask is in exchange.”

The remark was a U-turn from just three weeks ago, when Trump used the threat of further sanctions to pressure Russia to the negotiation table.

Starmer set up the “coalition of the willing” earlier this month after the Trump administration signalled it wanted a quick resolution to the Ukraine war, even if that meant settling on Putin’s terms.

Starmer told the press on Thursday that the coalition has a “consensus” now which is “stronger and broader than it’s ever been”.

He said military chiefs from the UK, France and Germany will meet with their counterparts from other nations to look at how they could put British boots on the ground in Ukraine to deter further Russian aggression in the event of a peace deal.

But he reiterated that “this will require the engagement and support of the United States”.

Starmer also dismissed Russia’s warnings against triggering a direct conflict with Nato, saying: “In terms of what Russia says, we know what Russia wants, it wants a defenceless Ukraine.

“So it doesn’t surprise me that Russia is saying that their position is Ukraine shouldn’t have any capability of its own, or any assistance or help from anybody else, that rather gives away their opening stance on this and that can’t guide us in our response.”

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy Defends His Stance During Oval Office Clash With Trump

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is speaking about his historic Oval Office clash with US President Donald Trump, defending his decision to speak up for his country at a critical juncture in its war against Russia.

The two leaders sparred inside the White House in front of the whole world last month with Trump accusing his Ukrainian counterpart of “gambling with World War III” for arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t be trusted. The episode led to a temporary pause in US aid and intelligence sharing with the country.

In an interview with Time released on Monday, Zelenskyy addressed the fact that Ukrainians rallied around him after his tense exchange with Trump rather than blame him for the diplomatic failure three years into the war.

Zelenskyy explained that Ukrainians “are very emotional, and when it comes to our sense of dignity, freedom, democracy, our people rise up and unite,” noting that his country expected the Trump administration to show that the U.S. still sees Kyiv as an ally.

“But in that moment there was the sense of not being allies, or not taking the position of an ally,” he said. “In that conversation, I was defending the dignity of Ukraine.”

At the infamous White House meeting, the Ukrainian leader said he planned to gift Trump the championship belt of heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk. However, Zelenskyy chose to start out by showing Trump images depicting how badly Russia has treated Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“That’s tough stuff,” Trump said looking at the photos.

In his interview with Time, Zelenskyy defended his choice to give Trump the images, adding that he was hoping to appeal to the president’s humanity.

“What I wanted to show were my values,” Zelenskyy said. “But then, well, the conversation went in another direction.”

After the meeting went off the rails, Zelenskyy left the White House early and never got the chance to give Trump the belt. However, Time reported that a White House staffer found the gift in the Oval Office and placed it in Trump’s dining room.

Since then, Russia and Ukraine have agreed in principle to a limited ceasefire after Putin rejected a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire which was approved by Kyiv. A US delegation on Monday met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia a day after holding a separate meeting with their Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the implementation of that agreement.

Meanwhile, White House envoy Steve Witkoff told Tucker Carlson Putin “has got huge respect” for Trump, suggesting that Zelenskyy made a mistake by crossing Trump when he visited the White House.

“You saw what happened in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy and the president, right?” Witkoff said in an interview released on Friday. “Disrespecting him is not a healthy way to have a good relationship.”

“Hopefully we’ll chalk it up to a misunderstanding and we’ll get to a peace solution here,” he continued.

Zelenskyy also spoke out against granting Moscow major concessions with no reciprocation, citing Trump’s previous statement that Russia should rejoin the Group of 7 following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“That’s a big compromise,” Zelensky told Time. “Imagine releasing Hitler from his political isolation.”

Read the full Time interview here.

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Trump’s Envoy Had An Eyebrow-Raising Reply To Claims Putin Already Breached Ceasefire Plan

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Donald Trump’s envoy has dismissed claims from Ukraine that Vladimir Putin had already breached terms of a partial ceasefire deal overnight.

The US president said on Tuesday that he had managed to persuade his Russian counterpart to agree to halt all strikes on “energy and infrastructure” in Ukraine for 30 days, in what he described as a major step towards peace.

But the Kremlin’s readout of the call was worded slightly differently, saying Moscow had only agreed to a temporary ceasefire on “energy infrastructure”.

Hours later, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there had been direct strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine yet again.

European leaders quickly condemned Russia for breaching the terms of the agreement already, but it seems the White House was not so worried.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, told Bloomberg TV he had it on “good information” that Putin had told Russian forces not to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure within 10 minutes of his call to Trump.

Witkoff said: “Putin issued an order within 10 minutes of his call with the president directing Russian forces not to be attacking any Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

“Any attacks that happened last night would have happened before that order was given.

“In fact, the Russians tell me this morning that seven of their drones were on their way when President Putin issued his order and they were shot down by Russian forces.”

He continued: “So I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith. He said that he was going to be operating in good faith to the President yesterday, and I take him at his word.”

Russia has also accused Ukraine of breaching the truce, saying its defence ministry destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Witkoff then praised the relationship between Putin and Trump, saying he expected to pair to meet soon.

He said: “You know, I can’t speak for them, but my best bet would be that it’s likely to happen. They have a great rapport together. They had a great rapport in the first Trump administration.

“It was on display yesterday. This was really a very positive, very proactive, outcome oriented call, and that’s who President Trump is. He’s there to get to the goal line. And we did a we went a long way yesterday to doing that.”

The envoy’s comments come as Trump and Zelenskyy were having a scheduled phone call about ending the Ukraine war on Wednesday.

Their relationship has been far less “positive” than Trump and Putin’s, especially after the US president chastised Zelenskyy in the Oval Office over his supposed lack of gratitude for America’s support throughout the war.

Trump even withheld military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine until Kyiv agreed to a 30-day ceasefire and a mineral-sharing deal with the States as a form of repayment for wartime support.

Although Putin ordered the full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump has not asked the aggressor to make any concessions in the name of peace.

But Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz has suggested Ukraine may have to do “some type of territory-for-future-security guarantees” for the country’s future – and a “permanent pathway into Nato is incredibly unlikely”.

Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to advance in eastern Ukraine.

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Putin Seems To Ignore Trump Threat And Causes One Of 2025’s Deadliest Days For Civilians In Ukraine

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Vladimir Putin appeared to ignore Donald Trump’s threat to impose sanctions on Russia on Friday and launched deadly attacks across Ukraine.

The US president told the Russian leader to stop “pounding” Ukraine or face serious sanctions last week, after weeks of not applying any pressure to Moscow.

However, the UN has since said Friday was one of the deadliest days for civilians this year after 21 people were killed in Ukraine.

A further 81 people were injured, 79 of whom were in territory controlled by Ukraine.

The UN also found casualty numbers in Ukraine overall for 2025 remain higher than they were in 2024.

The attacks unfolded even as Trump was telling reporters in the White House that Putin “holds all the cards” – and that Russia is “easier to deal with” than Ukraine on Friday.

It’s worth remembering that Russia invaded Ukraine in a land grab in 2022.

But, Trump said Kyiv has to “get on the ball and get the job done” when it comes to a peace agreement, adding: “I have to know that [Ukraine] want to settle – if they don’t want to settle, we’re out of there.

“They’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine… I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.”

And, despite the ongoing bombardments, Trump then said he thinks Putin wants peace, and “I think he’s doing what anyone else would do”.

He claimed: “I think both parties want to settle. I think we are going to get it settled.”

This also comes after Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg said Ukraine brought the US’s pause in intelligence sharing and military aid “on themselves.”

Speaking on Thursday, Kellogg said: “Very candidly, they brought it on themselves, the Ukrainians.

“I think the best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose. You got their attention, and it’s very significant, obviously, because of the support that we give.”

“We’re going to end this war, and this is one way to make sure you understand we’re serious about it.

“So is it hard, of course it is, but it’s not like they didn’t know this was coming. They got fair warning it was coming.”

Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN on Friday that Putin is continuing his attacks on Ukraine because he knows the threat from Trump was “totally hollow”.

″[Trump] did it simply to show some kind of balance given the things he had said about Zelenskyy and Ukrainians,” Bolton said, alluding to the US president’s baseless attacks on the Ukrainian president.

Trump, as he aligns more closely with Moscow, has falsely called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”, claimed he is ungrateful for the US’s support during the war and blamed Kyiv for starting the war.

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UK Ambassador Joins Dozens Who Reveal What They Really Think Of Russia With 1 Clear Move

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The UK’s ambassador to the United Nations walked out of the room when Russia’s delegate was addressing its Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

Simon Manley joined dozens of other ambassadors in protesting Vladimir Putin’s representative’s speech during a session which was meant to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Manley, who walked out of the room as soon as the speech started, later explained that their actions came down to Kyiv’s exclusion from early peace talks between Russia and the US last week in Saudi Arabia.

According to Reuters, the delegate said: “Our support for Ukraine is iron-clad. We want to see a just and enduring peace in line with the UN charter. Ukraine has to be at the negotiating table.”

Speaking outside the room where Russia’s ambassador was speaking, France’s Jerome Bonnafont said: “If we let slide what happened with Ukraine without reacting…we would open the door to a disintegration of fundamental principles on which the UN was founded.”

The Washington delegate did not join those protesting because they had not turned up to the session at all, following US president Donald Trump’s decision to pull the States out of the Human Rights Council earlier this month.

Speaking to those still in the room, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergey Vershinin bizarrely accused Ukraine of a “flagrant violation of fundamental human rights”.

“Securing human rights and freedoms is incompatible with double standards,” he added, claiming Kyiv was guilty of Russophobia.

Actually, there is an international arrest warrant out for the Russian president over his alleged war crimes including the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

Ukraine’s deputy foreign affairs minister Mariana Betsa then slammed Moscow for violating international law, adding: “The aggressor should be punished, aggression should not be rewarded.”

This incident comes after the US voted with Russia twice at the UN security council this week.

The States first voted against a European-drafted resolution condemning Russia’s war on Ukraine, joining Russia, North Korea and Belarus who opposed the resolution.

The States then put forward a different resolution which takes a neutral stance on the conflict, and includes no criticism of Russia.

Since his re-election, Trump has turned US policy towards Ukraine completely on its head.

While pushing for a quick end to the war, the US president is much more sympathetic towards Vladimir Putin than his predecessor Joe Biden.

He has signalled Ukraine may have to cede occupied territory to Russia in exchange for peace, while also blaming Kyiv for starting the war and falsely calling the country’s democratically elected president a dictator.

Meanwhile, prime minister Keir Starmer is in Washington DC today, trying to secure “security guarantees” from Trump for Europe – although Trump has already rejected the idea.

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Starmer Accused of ‘Betraying World’s Most Vulnerable Children’ As He Slashes International Aid

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Keir Starmer has been severely criticised after announcing he is cutting the UK’s foreign aid budget to boost defence spending.

The prime minister declared he would now be increasing the defence budget from its current rate of 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% by 2027, three years earlier than planned.

It comes after Donald Trump said Europe could no longer lean on the US for military protection.

The US president is also triggering wider security concerns as he seems to be giving in to Vladimir Putin’s demands just to end the Ukraine war.

But Starmer confirmed he would be reducing the amount spent on international aid from 0.5% of GDP to 0.3% to pay for this bump in defence.

The prime minister said he was not “happy” to make this announcement, but noted that “at times like these the defence and security of the British people must always come first”.

Labour MP Sarah Champion, chair of the Commons international development committee, said: “I urge the prime minister to rethink today’s announcement. Cutting the aid budget to fund defence spending is a false economy that will only make the world less safe.

“The prime minister said today that he was ‘proud’ of the UK’s pioneering work on overseas development. I am bitterly disappointed to see the Government abandon this agenda, not only pulling the rug from under some of the world’s most vulnerable people but endangering our long-term security.”

Charities also hit out at the prime minister, calling the decision “reckless” and “short-sighted”.

The CEO of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development, Romilly Greenhill said: “This is a short-sighted and appalling move by both the PM and Treasury.

“Slashing the already diminished UK aid budget to fund an uplift in defence is a reckless decision that will have devastating consequences for millions of marginalised people worldwide.”

She claimed Britain was “following in the US’s footsteps” and that undermine the UK’s global goals as well as weaken its national security interests.

The announcement comes as less than 48 hours before Starmer is due to meet Trump in Washington.

The US president has been calling for Nato member states in particular to hike their defence spending, even claiming it should be hiked to 5%.

Greenhill continued: “Tragically, this cut is even deeper than the last Conservative government’s and will destroy this Labour government’s reputation, tearing to shreds their previous manifesto commitments to rebuild the UK’s international reputation as a reliable global partner.”

Save the Children UK’s CEO, Moazzam Malik, also slammed the news, writing on X: “We are stunned by this decision to cut the aid budget in order to increase military spending. It is a betrayal of the world’s most vulnerable children and the UK’s national interest.”

He said this “signals a withdrawal from efforts to tackle climate change, global poverty and inequality and conflict and humanitarian needs”.

He warned it would damage efforts to address global health, and warned it would “add to economic instability internationally”.

“The impacts will have direct consequences for children and families in the UK as well as around the world.”

Malik continued: “Other countries will watch the UK’s decision and are likely to follow suit in reducing commitments to international collaboration.

“It will undermine aspirations to build a ‘rules based order’ that is so essential for the UK’s long-term security and prosperity. It will make the world a more dangerous place for children now and in the future.”

Malik also pointed out that the move overshadows Starmer’s own promises to defend Ukraine.

“Earlier this week, the prime minister promised to ‘stand with Ukraine’. Now he’s serving notice on the support needed by the country’s children, who have been forced from their homes, seen their schools bombed and lived in fear for three years,” the Save the Children CEO said.

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A statement from our CEO @MoazzamTMalik on the news that the government is cutting the UK aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending:

“We are stunned by this decision to cut the aid budget in order to increase military spending. It is a betrayal of the world’s most… pic.twitter.com/Rk2PA56Ljd

— Save the Children UK (@savechildrenuk) February 25, 2025

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A statement from our CEO @MoazzamTMalik on the news that the government is cutting the UK aid budget to fund an increase in defence spending:

“We are stunned by this decision to cut the aid budget in order to increase military spending. It is a betrayal of the world’s most… pic.twitter.com/Rk2PA56Ljd

— Save the Children UK (@savechildrenuk) February 25, 2025

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