HELSINKI, May 15 (Reuters) – Finland said on Friday suspected drone activity in the skies above the country’s capital region no longer posed a threat and that the situation was returning to normal as Helsinki’s airport reopened. Finland and the nearby Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have seen a string of recent incidents…
Russia on Tuesday test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile as part of efforts to modernize the country’s nuclear forces, a launch hailed by President Vladimir Putin just days after his claim that the fighting in Ukraine is nearing an end. Putin said that the nuclear-armed Sarmat missile would enter combat service at the end of…
MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that many positive things were being said about the enormous potential of U.S.-Russia relations, but that in reality “nothing is happening”. After winning the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump re-established U.S. dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has repeatedly promised…
BISHKEK, May 12 (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan authorities have charged eight people, including powerful ex-security chief Kamchybek Tashiev, with plotting to seize power from President Sadyr Japarov, who has consolidated power in the historically volatile central Asian country. Tashiev had ruled the former Soviet republic of 7 million in a de facto tandem with Japarov since…
By Andrew Gray and Lili Bayer BRUSSELS, May 11 (Reuters) – European governments on Monday rejected suggestion by Russian President Vladimir Putin that German former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could represent them in possible future talks with Moscow on the continent’s security. Putin said on Saturday he believed the war in Ukraine was coming to an…
KYIV, May 11 (Reuters) – Nearly 20 countries are interested in drone deals with Ukraine and four agreements have already been signed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday. Since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, Zelenskiy has managed to leverage Ukraine’s expertise in drone warfare into a series of successful diplomatic…
May 11 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military and regional officials on Monday reported Russian drone strikes and battlefield clashes over the past 24 hours, despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Ukraine and Russia agreed on Friday to a ceasefire from May 9 to May 11 as part of a U.S.-led push for peace under President Donald Trump to…
By Nayera Abdallah, Elwely Elwelly and Idrees Ali DUBAI/WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s swift rejection of Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal sent oil prices surging higher on Monday amid concerns the 10-week-old conflict will drag on, keeping shipping through the Strait of Hormuz paralyzed. Days after the U.S. floated an…
MOSCOW, May 10 (Reuters) – Russia accused Armenia on Sunday of providing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with “a platform for anti-Russian remarks”, in a further sign of a chill in relations between traditional allies Moscow and Yerevan. On a visit to Yerevan last week, Zelenskiy said Russia feared “drones may buzz over Red Square” in…
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, May 9 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter…