franchasng: Western countries should have pity on Ukraine and give them long range missiles, that is the only reason Russia is having upper hand against Ukraine.
Just imagine if Ukraine had the capability to produce their own locally made long range missiles like other European countries.
Delusional.
The US or Europe has no other long range missiles to give Ukraine other than Tomahawk and Sm-6 missiles.
Ukraine launched hundreds of Storm Shadow, French hammer missiles and Drones at Russia weeks ago? What was the outcome? Not a single impact.
This is just one instance, Ukraine fires these missiles deep into Russia every single day. Follow Ukranian telegram channels to see for yourself.
Do you understand how powerful Russia's electronic warfare systems are? They've rendered all western missiles and drones useless.
There's nothing left to give other than Nukes and Stealth Fighter Jets.
🇷🇺 Russia and 🇺🇦 Ukraine have exchanged more bodies of their war dead, according to a Kremlin aide, as part of an agreement reached during a second round of peace talks in Turkiye last month.
About 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been exchanged for the bodies of 19 Russian soldiers.
“Following the agreements reached in Istanbul, another 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers were handed over to Ukraine today,” Vladimir Medinsky, head of Russia’s delegation at the peace talks, said on Telegram on Thursday, adding that Ukraine handed over 19 slain Russian soldiers.
Exchanges of captured soldiers and the repatriation of remains have taken place regularly since the brief renewal of peace talks in Istanbul in May in what amounts to some of the only successful diplomacy between the two sides in their more than three-year war.
Medinsky posted photos on Thursday showing people in white medical suits lifting white body bags from the back of refrigerated trucks.
Russia plans to return the bodies of 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers, and this exchange marked the beginning of that process, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported.
During their direct meeting in Istanbul on June 2, Russia and Ukraine pledged to swap at least 1,000 soldiers on each side.
Negotiators from both sides also agreed to swap all severely wounded soldiers as well as all captured fighters under the age of 25.
But future talks to discuss a path to end the war have stalled as the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv has remained unchanged despite repeated pressure from United States President Donald Trump that Russia agree to a ceasefire.
At the talks, Russia outlined a list of hardline demands, including for Ukraine to cede more territory and to reject all forms of Western military support.
Kyiv dismissed them as unacceptable ultimatums and has questioned the point of further negotiations if Moscow is not willing to make concessions.
CodeTemplarr: Where is the video for Russian jet carnage by Ukraine writerNG?
Where is the video of the numerous F-16s shot down by Russia?
What about the dozens of airports, energy plants, bridges, aviation plants and heavy industries bombed by Russia this past week alone?
Since Ukraine carried out that attack, Russia have bombed hundreds of critical industries and infrastructures in Ukraine worth far more than the bombers.
A senior 🇺🇦 Ukrainian intelligence officer has been gunned down in broad daylight in Kyiv, officials have said.
The agent of the domestic Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was shot several times in a car park after being approached by an unidentified assailant who then fled the scene, footage circulated on social media shows.
The spy agency did not identify the victim, though Ukrainian media outlets have named him as Colonel Ivan Voronych.
The SBU is primarily concerned with internal security and counter-intelligence, akin to the UK's MI5. But since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, it has also played a prominent role in terrorist attacks and sabotage attacks inside Russia.
Sources within Ukraine's security services have previously told the media - including the BBC - that they were behind the killing of the high-ranking Russian Gen Igor Kirillov in December 2024.
Neither the SBU nor the Kyiv police gave a possible motive for the shooting.
The Ukrainian capital's police force said in a statement that officers arrived at the scene to find a man's body with a gunshot wound.
It said officers were working to identify the assailant and that "measures are being taken to detain him".
🇷🇺 Russian forces have seized control of a valuable lithium deposit in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, depriving the country of a critical asset that could have helped support a new economic partnership with the 🇺🇸 United States.
The deposit, just outside the Shevchenko village in western Donetsk, was captured in recent days, according to battlefield maps from independent groups tracking Russian advances through geolocated combat footage. Moscow’s troops seized it as part of their summer offensive, which has achieved steady gains across Donetsk.
Though relatively small — it covers only 100 acres — the deposit was seen by industry analysts as one of Ukraine’s most valuable because of its rich concentration of lithium, a mineral essential for manufacturing advanced technologies such as electric batteries. The United States has designated lithium as critical to its economy and national security.
The Trump administration has aimed to tap into Ukraine’s vast lithium reserves, some of Europe’s largest, through a recently signed landmark agreement granting it front-row access to the country’s mineral wealth.
But the capture of the Shevchenko deposit highlights a core challenge to the deal. The more territory Russian forces seize in Ukraine, the fewer resources Kyiv can offer to Washington.
“If Russian troops go further, capture more and more territory, they will control more and more mineral deposits,” said Mykhailo Zhernov, director of Critical Metals Corp, an American company that used to hold a license to exploit the Shevchenko deposit. “It’s an issue for this deal.”
Yuliia Svyrydenko, the Ukrainian economy minister, who signed the deal on behalf of her country, declined through a spokesman to comment on the capture of the deposit, which is the first to fall into Russian hands since the agreement was signed.
The deal establishes a joint U.S.-Ukrainian fund with priority rights to invest in mineral extraction projects in Ukraine. The United States has shown particular interest in tapping Ukraine’s minerals as a way to reduce reliance on China, which dominates global supply chains.
During negotiations over the deal, Ukrainian officials tried to secure more American military support, arguing that it was in the United States’ economic interest to help Ukraine push back Russian forces and retain control of valuable reserves. But Washington consistently refused to tie the minerals deal to additional military support.
Ukrainian officials see the deal as a pathway to securing long-term American support for their war-battered country. In an apparent effort to show the Trump administration that the deal could yield swift results, the Ukrainian government last week approved the first steps to open a large state-owned lithium deposit to private investment.
Ms. Svyrydenko said that site, known as the Dobra lithium field, could become the first project started under the deal. Several investors have already shown interest, including Critical Metals Corp, which, despite the loss of the Shevchenko deposit, remains eager to take part in the U.S.-Ukraine minerals partnership, Mr. Zhernov, the company’s director, said.
Still, industry analysts say the deal faces many hurdles, including complex licensing procedures and outdated geological surveys that cloud the true value of Ukraine’s subsoil.
But perhaps the greatest challenge is Russia’s continued advance on the battlefield.
Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s territory means it already controls many deposits of titanium, manganese and other critical minerals, as shown by a map compiled by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group. Moscow’s forces have also destroyed or captured some of Ukraine’s largest coal mines.
As Russian forces continue to push forward in the east, they are now getting closer to more deposits of titanium and other raw materials such as uranium.
