NATO Secretary General repeats Trump’s mockery of Russia
Rutte: A full day Russians were saying, we are not a paper tiger, we are a bear. Hey, if you are a bear, everybody will notice, so you don't have to explain that.
So probably they are not.
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Rutte on Russian drones in NATO airspace: We have trained and prepared for these situations. And our fighter jet pilots know exactly what to do.
If they feel they really have to take the danger down the plane, they can.
It was reckless, unacceptable from Russia.
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Rutte: In a short term, drones might be a problem.
It is not sustainable that you would take down 1000 or $2000 costing drones with missiles which cost you maybe half a million or a million dollars.
We are learning from the Ukrainians.
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Russia is reclaiming tsarist-era churches in Europe to run spies under cover.
In 2010 Moscow won control of Nice’s St. Nicholas Cathedral, and in April 2025 it took St. Nicholas & St. Alexandra. Both now operate under the Moscow Patriarchate - K. Kelaidis in Foreign Policy. 1/
Russian aristocrats financed these churches before 1917. After the revolution, White émigrés ran them.
In the 2000s the Kremlin filed lawsuits in French courts, citing tsarist leases. Judges accepted the claims, handing Moscow legal rights to the properties. 2/
In Nice, Russia pushed out the local Russian cultural group that ran the churches for 100 years.
Its president Alexis Obolensky said the Kremlin wants “to erase the idea there could be another Russia — more tolerant and open.” 3/
Stubb: Ukraine should retain not only its independence and sovereignty, but also its territorial integrity.
Finland will never legally accept any acquisition of Ukrainian territory for Russia, whether it's the Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya or Kherson. 1/
Stubb: Since Trump met Putin in Alaska, we've been working on security guarantees.
Responsibility is with Ukraine’s army, then Europe, then the U.S. Military construct is ready, next is political, but guarantees happen after the war. 2/
Stubb: Russia tests us on land with asylum seekers, at sea by cutting Baltic cables, and now with drones in Poland.
NATO responded with Baltic Sentry and Eastern Sentry. My advice as a Finn: stay calm, build deterrence, and when they continue, stay calm and deal with it. 3/
I don’t think Trump will give Tomahawks to Zelenskyy, but I hope he will.
The Telegraph: Zelenskyy asked Trump for Tomahawk missiles in a private UN meeting. Trump is positive. They can strike Moscow. 0/
They are needed less for strikes on Moscow than for strikes on Alabuga, where Russians produce en masse Shaheds, the greatest threat to Ukraine’s rear. 1/
Trump is open to Kyiv’s request for a long-range cruise missile that would bring Moscow within striking distance.
But Zelenskyy’s request does not mean Trump will approve supplying them. 2/
Q: Trump once said you had no cards. What changed?
Zelenskyy: His view of Putin. Trump saw Putin won’t bring him success. US society doesn’t respect or trust Putin, and that matters for any leader, especially a US president. Americans don’t believe Putin wants to end the war. 1/
Q: What was your reaction when you saw Trump’s Truth Social post yesterday? Were you surprised?
Zelenskyy: The face was happy. Yes, I was very surprised. At first I didn’t read it, then my team told me — I think President Trump understood me totally.
2/
Q: You met Trump yesterday. How did it go?
Zelenskyy: Much better than I expected. I’m happy he was well prepared on the battlefield situation. He saw Putin hasn’t won, with thousands of losses. It’s important he trusts us. My sense is he now understands Putin lied to him.
Q: What would you tell someone at the Kremlin — check the nearest bomb shelter?
Zelenskyy: They must know where bomb shelters are. If they don’t stop the war, they’ll need them. Ukraine will answer every day — if they attack us, we will respond.
1/
Q: Are you being denied a green light to use US long-range weapons inside Russia?
Zelenskyy: Give us long-range US weapons and we will use them — strike Russian military and energy targets (power grids, military nodes), not civilians. We’ll hit systems that fuel attacks.
2/
Q: Experts say retaking all territory by force is nearly impossible.
Zelenskyy: If we rely only on force we’ll pay heavy human losses. Land without people means nothing. This is about Ukraine’s independence and our people. We won’t trade our population for kilometers.
The biggest tragedy of Ukraine is children stolen by Russia! At an industrial scale.
Olena Zelenska for Times: Imagine knowing your child is somewhere and you can't find them. Abduction of Ukrainian children frightens me as a mother.
I talk about it to those ready to listen. 1/
Zelenska: Ukraine created the coalition Bring Back Ukraine. The UK is active, and experts work on action plans.
But Russia withholds information. Children return one by one, sometimes a dozen. Each case is dramatic, and the process remains too slow. 2/
Zelenska: I meet children and families only after counseling, when they are ready.
Mostly teenagers can speak. Often grandmothers lead the search. One grandmother brought back her grandson, but Russians took his mother during filtration, and he still waits for her. 3/