ST. PETERSBURG – The until-recently highly secretive Wagner mercenary organization continued to grow its public profile on Friday as it opened a new headquarters and technology center in Russia’s second city. The glass-fronted multistory building in St. Petersburg will not only function as administrative hub for the military group, whose public profile has grown as…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the remaining civilian population should be evacuated from the city of Kherson in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine as all indicators suggested the battle for the strategically key city on the Dnipro River was imminent. “Now, of course, those who live in Kherson must be removed from the zone…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday that he had urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to use Beijing’s “influence” on Moscow to stop the war in Ukraine. “I told President [Xi] that it is important for China to use its influence on Russia,” Scholz said. “Russia must immediately stop the attacks under which the civilian…
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev marked Russian Unity Day on Friday with a blistering Telegram post in which he excoriated the West, Ukraine, and some of Russia’s erstwhile allies for a litany of percieved transgressions and betrayals. In a post entitled “Why our cause is just,” Medvedev used the occasion of Russian Unity Day –…
Draft-age men who left Russia in fear of being sent to fight in Ukraine are returning home after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an end to the country’s chaotic mobilization that swept hundreds of thousands into the Armed Forces. After the initial rush to get out of the country spurred by rumors of border closures,…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “energy terrorism” on Thursday night, after renewed strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure left some 4.5 million people without power. “Tonight, about 4.5 million consumers have been temporarily disconnected from energy consumption,” Zelensky said in his daily evening address. “The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy…