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Russian Telegram channels report an attack of more than 750 drones on 15 Russia's regions between the evening of May 20 and the morning of May 23.
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Due to drone attacks, the airports of Vladimir, Kaluga, Kostroma, Tambov, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, as well as Moscow airports Vnukovo,

Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky temporarily stopped working.
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Trump tells European leaders Putin doesn’t want peace because he believes russia winning war in Ukraine, WSJ reports

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U.S. President Donald Trump told European leaders this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ready for peace in Ukraine because he believes he is winning the war, the Wall Street Journal reported on May 22, citing three undisclosed sources.

Trump's reported
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statement marked the first time he acknowledged to European leaders what they and #Kyiv have long maintained — the Kremlin has no intention of ending its full-scale war against #Ukraine️.

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Why is Trump behaving this way? It's clear that the hook is on his lip, and it's obvious that the Russians are pulling. And pulling hard. Interview with Bezsmertny
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Roman Petrovych Bezsmertny is a Ukrainian politician.

A brief biography of Roman Bezsmertny
Roman Bezsmertny was born in the Kyiv region on November 15, 1965.

Bezsmertnyi received his higher education at the Dragomanov National Pedagogical University. While still studying, he began working as a school teacher.

But already in 1994, Roman Bezsmertny began his political career - he was successfully elected as a People's Deputy of Ukraine and entered the second convocation of the Verkhovna Rada as a candidate from the Ukrainian Republican Party.
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He was one of the authors of the Ukrainian Constitution of 1996. He served in the Rada during the third, fourth, and fifth convocations

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⚡️'We don't want this anymore' — Russia rejects a ceasefire in Ukraine, Lavrov says.

Russia rejects a ceasefire in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 21.

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Russia rejects a ceasefire in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on May 21.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call
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on May 19 as Ukraine and its allies intensify efforts to end Russia's war. Putin rejected a ceasefire and instead insisted on negotiating a "memorandum regarding a potential future peace treaty."

Lavrov rejected the push to "have a truce and then we'll see," claiming that the "root causes" of Russia's war need to be resolved.

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18 hours in the making of a president: Inside Nicușor Dan’s election win

Romania’s new leader told POLITICO how he will approach international affairs and what he will do to rebuild trust in a democracy battered by corruption, economic strife and Russian meddling.
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It’s 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 18 — election day — and Nicușor Dan is trying to hold it together.

After months of campaigning in the country’s fraught presidential race, the independent mayor of Bucharest has just 12 hours left before he will learn his fate.

The morning air is cool in the yard outside School Number 4 in Făgăraș, Dan’s Transylvanian hometown. The sun breaks through, picking out streaks of snow on the tops of the mountains in the distance

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Today, the school Dan attended as a young boy is being used as a polling station, and he has chosen to come here with his long-term partner Mirabela Grădinaru to vote. At one point, the emotion of returning home and seeing his old neighbors and teachers threatens to overwhelm him.

“I was forcing myself not to,” Dan tells POLITICO afterward, laughing, as he mimes tears rolling down his face. “It was very emotional.”

Wearing a plain dark suit, white shirt and navy tie, he grips Grădinaru by the hand as they meet familiar faces and old friends on the playground. Several receive hugs.

Dan, 55, was born in the house next door to the school, a low-rise building painted apricot pink, with vines hanging over the garden to the side. His parents lived in the town for most of their lives, and Dan returned here for several months during the pandemic before winning his first term as mayor of Bucharest later in 2020.

With voting underway, POLITICO was granted exclusive access to Dan as he spent time with his family and closest aides away from the TV cameras on election day. These would be the last hours of calm before his life would be transformed forever. When the results rolled in on Sunday night, it became clear he had defied the odds and beaten the radical right-wing nationalist George Simion to take the presidency.

Dan’s victory was cheered in the halls of power across much of Europe, where many centrist politicians and officials had feared Simion would derail their mainstream agenda.

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#russia reiterates demands for Ukraine's surrender: ISW @TheStudyofWar ) explains what's behind the statements

#russia continues to deny at a high level the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government and constitution, as well as #Ukraine️'s sovereignty.

This demonstrates Moscow's disinterest in negotiations and any end to the war other than through #Kyiv's surrender.

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This, along with the Kremlin's constant repetition of maximalist demands on Ukraine, belies the alleged "readiness" of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to establish peace, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Following another phone call between US President @realDonaldTrump Trump and Putin on May 19, senior Russian officials continued to deny the legitimacy of Ukraine's president, government, and constitution, as well as Ukraine's sovereignty - despite the Russian dictator himself feigning interest in peace talks to end the war.

This time, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, spoke at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum on May 20 with the usual Kremlin narratives.

According to him, there are currently no officials in Ukraine authorized to conclude a peace agreement with Russia - and the aggressor is going to determine those who are "authorized" to do so, based on their own interpretations of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Medvedev also questioned Ukraine's sovereignty and stated that Ukraine is a "failed state," and the "lack of legitimacy" of Ukrainian government officials, according to the Russian official, raises "serious questions" about who Russia can negotiate with during future peace talks.

With these statements, analysts believe, Medvedev overturned Putin's attempts to feign interest in achieving peace.

"Medvedev's statements directly contradict Putin's reported agreement with US President Donald Trump to immediately begin bilateral talks with Ukraine. They indicate that Russia is not really interested in engaging with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian government officials who are key to bilateral talks to end the war," the material states.

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F-16 in the highest risk zone: fighters are not immortal, but we are forming a new model of war. Interview with aviation expert Khrapchinsky

(Anatoliy Khrapchynskyi is a Ukrainian aviation expert, former officer of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.)
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Ukrainian aviation in wartime
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operates in the highest risk zone, and no aircraft, even the most high-tech, is "immortal" and has "immunity" from enemy air defenses, tactical errors, or simply random factors.

This explains the cases of aircraft losses, which sometimes, unfortunately, occur.

- However, now we can say that another stage has come in the war, when it is not just about waiting for equipment supplies, but about its tactical and strategic use.

#Ukraine️ is fighting for parity in the sky every day and is forming a new model of war.

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The Russian invaders have resorted to new tricks: what new things have they come up with for the residents of the occupied part of Ukraine?

In the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine, the Russian invaders are doing everything they can to establish maximum control over local residents. With special attention paid to families with children.

At the same time, they are now severely limiting the number of Ukrainians who are allowed to return home, at least for a certain period of time

There is no logic – only terror

The fact that the occupiers have a bad causal relationship has been known for a long time (let's remember the "reasons" for the war against Ukraine).

- No changes for the better are happening now.
Moreover, the actions of the invaders are becoming even more sophisticated and illogical - and this is clearly visible from what is happening in the occupied territory. 2/
One of the latest "innovations" introduced by the occupation authorities concerns schoolchildren.

- From now on, in order for a child to attend school, a statement from both parents is required - regardless of which of them is where and whether they live together.

The Center for National Resistance believes that this was done to force people to return to temporarily occupied territories.
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"The goal is obvious: to drag as many people as possible into TOT, to filter, intimidate, and recruit," the Central Intelligence Agency says.

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ANALYSIS: How Well Understood Is Ukraine in the West?
For centuries, #Ukraine️ has been viewed by the West as a sub-category of Russia. Only now is the West realizing what a fatal misunderstanding this is – and how Moscow is taking advantage of it.
By:
@DVKirichenko

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Now in the fourth year of its full-scale resistance, Ukraine continues to defy the assumptions of a Western world that, in February 2022, largely expected its rapid collapse. Ukraine’s belief in freedom runs deep in its history.

The national poet Taras Shevchenko believed in the unifying power of the struggle for freedom among Ukrainians.

His writings “inspired Ukrainians to dream of freedom while angering Russian official censors.”
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This spirit was rooted in the legacy of the Cossacks, who built a tradition of self-rule and resistance to foreign domination.

Yet while both the West and Russia have long believed they “know” Ukraine, both have consistently misjudged its resilience.

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ISW. @TheStudyofWar explained what the #Kremlin is preparing the #russians for with statements about negotiations in Istanbul

The Kremlin has sent Russian media "methods" with recommendations for covering the talks between Ukraine and Russia in #Istanbul.

The main message is that they are supposedly a

"continuation of the interrupted talks" in Turkey in the spring of 2022".

Russia, like three years ago, continues to make demands on Ukraine that are tantamount to the capitulation of our state, which indicates Moscow's unwillingness to end the war and that the chances of success in these negotiations are low.

How the Kremlin recommends talking about "negotiations" and what these demands actually indicate, was analyzed by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
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The opposition Russian publication Meduza reported the day before, on May 15, that Russian media outlets had received a "manual" from the Kremlin with instructions on how to cover the talks in Istanbul

Even before the talks began, the Kremlin administration sent out manuals to the media it controlled, clearly outlining how to interpret the events in Istanbul. The main goal was not to inform, but to create a pre-justified fiasco.

As Meduza has learned , the propaganda media have received clear instructions from the Kremlin administration on how to "correctly" cover the talks in Istanbul. This is not about objective reporting, but about another act of mass disinformation.
meduza.io/feature/2025/0…

In a leaked document obtained by journalists, Kremlin officials emphasize the need to convince Russians that Putin's delegation is acting "independently" and not subject to any external pressure.

In particular, the participation of Vladimir Medinsky, a faithful executor of the dictator's will, is presented as a "logical continuation" of his role in the failed 2022 negotiations

The instructions cynically keep silent about any specific positions that the Russian Federation will take to the meeting with Ukrainian representatives.

- Obviously, not because of secrecy, but because of the complete lack of real intentions to negotiate.

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Diplomatic and espionage scandal: how @PM_ViktorOrban is preparing to "take control" of #Transcarpathia and for what tragedy #Hungary should apologize to #Ukrainians
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The difficult relations between Ukraine and Hungary have become even more tense. For the first time in the history of Ukraine, the SBU has exposed a Hungarian military intelligence agent network that was spying against our state.

One of the main goals of the detainees was to understand the mood of the residents of Transcarpathia if the Hungarian military entered the region

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⚡️Despite growth claims, Russia’s war economy shows deep risks, @Reuters reports.

"Contrary to Kremlin narratives, time is not on Russia’s side," reads a new report from the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE).
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While the Kremlin continues to project economic strength—citing GDP growth of 4.3% in 2024—SITE researchers warned that the apparent resilience is misleading.
kyivindependent.com/putin-to-annou…

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Stephen Miller: The Extremist Hiding in Plain Sight
The unelected architect behind Trump’s most brutal and racially driven policies.
Don Knight

Stephen Miller has shaped some of the most inhumane U.S. policies in modern history, quietly operating behind the scenes to avoid backlash.

This article explores the history, mindset, and methods of the unelected extremist subtly pulling the strings inside Trump’s inner circle. 2/
Most Americans don’t know much about Miller, and that’s exactly how he likes it.

But make no mistake: he’s one of the most dangerous and influential figures in modern #American politics, and the ideological engine behind some of the cruelest, most destructive policies to ever come out of the White House.

And if you want to understand who he really is, you have to start at the beginning—before the suits, before the power, when his obsession with cruelty first took root.

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Slovak Prime Minister Fico force to fly around the houses on his way to Moscow

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was forced to take the long way round on his trip to Moscow to attend Russia’s Victory Parade on Red Square on May 9.

His plans to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to attend the annual parade that this year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII got the kybosh after #Lithuania, #Latvia, and #Poland all closed their airspace to his official aircraft, ignoring an agreement that should have given him automatic permission to cross their airspace.

Flying over #Ukraine, another shorter route, is also not possible as it has closed its airspace since 2022 due to Russia's invasion
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Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago, the EU banned all EU members from attending any public events in #Russia.

Fico has chosen to ignore the boycott as Slovakia remains dependent on Russian gas and Fico is a vocal critic of Brussels support of Ukraine and its plans to allow it to join the EU.

Fico’s plane took off in the afternoon of May 8 and will fly over Turkey and Azerbaijan before entering the Russian Federation via the southern republic of Dagestan, before flying north to Moscow where it is expected to arrive at 9:30pm local time.

A visibly furious Fico released a videoed public statement complaining the Baltics and Poland’s decision to cancel Slovakia’s overflight rights had screwed up his schedule and meant that he would make it on time for a slew of official meetings that had been prearranged. "This is exceptionally complicating our schedule...,"he said. The decisions were a "strange demonstration of sovereignty," he added

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Germany has transferred a new package of military aid to Ukraine: what will the Armed Forces of Ukraine receive?
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Germany continues to provide Ukraine with weapons and equipment from its own reserves and through financing industrial supplies.


In total, approximately 28 billion euros in military assistance has already been allocated or is plannedobozrevatel.com/ukr/location/g…

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"We didn't just shoot down a plane - we opened a new niche": aviation expert Khrapchinsky explained the destruction of enemy Su-30s

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The Main Intelligence Directorate destroyed two #Russian Su-30 fighters in the Black Sea at once .
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In fact, the destruction of enemy aircraft is nothing new. Last year alone, #Ukrainian defenders "minused" more than 80 #Russian planes and helicopters.

But the uniqueness of this situation is that naval drones were used for the strike, which served as a platform for American AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.

- And this is where #Ukrainian know-how lies, because naval drones are a priori designed to strike ships, not aircraft

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Ukraine and the US signed an agreement on minerals: what is known

Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko showed a photo of the signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.

The agreement still needs to be ratified by the Verkhovna Rada - without this, the agreement will not be implemented

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Ukraine and the United States have signed an agreement on minerals .
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It provides for the creation of a joint investment fund, which will be replenished from the development of Ukrainian subsoil.

According to the updated text of the agreement, Ukraine retains ownership of all subsoil and does not have to repay old "debts" .

The agreement complies with the Ukrainian Constitution and does not change the European integration course.
- However, the document still needs to be ratified by the Verkhovna Rada - without this, the agreement will not be implemented

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"Tanks or pensions": The Economist wrote about Putin's dilemma that could change the course of the war

Russia's economy , which until recently showed signs of stability, is rapidly losing ground under the influence of internal and external factors.

- The Goldman Sachs High-Frequency Index shows a sharp slowdown in Russia's annual economic growth from about 5% at the end of last year to almost zero
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The Russian government, despite the caution of official statements, acknowledges the existence of problems . In early April, the central bank stated that recently "a number of sectors have recorded a decline in production due to a sharp drop in demand."

According to the publication, after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, economists predicted a drop in Russia's annual GDP of up to 15%. In fact, that year there was a decrease of 1.4%, and in the following years there was a growth of 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.

Journalists identified three main reasons for the slowdown in annual economic growth in Russia

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ISW explained what is behind Putin's statement about a "truce" on May 9 and what the Kremlin is seeking

obozrevatel.com/ukr/politics-n… 2/
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin continues to refuse any ceasefire against Ukraine except on terms that facilitate his military efforts.

So his announcement of yet another unilateral “truce” – this time in honor of the Soviet and Russian military holiday of May 9 – is yet another attempt by the Kremlin
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- to hold legitimate negotiations hostage in order to secure further concessions from Kyiv and Washington.

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Putin would like to cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea, but found himself in a hopeless situation: interview with Seleznev 2/
The activation of the Russian occupation army in the Pokrovsky
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and Kramatorsk
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directions may be associated with the transfer of reserves released in the Kursk region ,
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and is largely related to the enemy's plans to completely occupy the Donetsk region by May 9

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Fact check: It wasn’t ‘in jest.’ Here are 53 times Trump said he’d end Ukraine war within 24 hours or before taking office

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When President Donald Trump was reminded in an interview with Time magazine


- this week that he had said he would end the Russian war on Ukraine on “day one,” he claimed he hadn’t been speaking literally or seriouslytime.com/7280114/donald…