South African President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to the Union Buildings this week, the first such visit in 33 years. Vladimir Putin was so outraged by the visit, that he attacked Kyiv, forcing Zelensky to cut his trip short. Both presidents are in Donald Trump’s bad books, and now they are in Putin’s as well.
– Buffalo soldier, dreadlocked rasta
There was a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America
Stolen from Africa, brought to America
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival –
Threats, intimidation, bullying, dominance, might is right, violence. Autocrats and dictators can only rule by force. People love them because they fear them. Yes in some instances like MAGA, there seems to be a genuine love for Trump. Yet his followers have not fully experienced his wrath. Once his policies start to hurt them and they decide to turn on 47, things will change in a heartbeat. They will become the enemy, and he has no mercy for weaklings.
– The Kremlin fired 66 ballistic and cruise missiles, four plane-launched air-to-surface missiles, and 145 Shahed and decoy drones at Kyiv and four other regions of Ukraine overnight, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Kyiv reeled from the bombardment, which kept residents on edge for about 11 hours. Zelensky called the fatal attack ‘one of the most sophisticated, most brazen’ during Russia’s three-year invasion. – DM –
Putin’s unprovoked onslaught was half heartedly condemned by the same person that has treated Zelensky with utmost disrespect.
VLADIMIR, STOP! – Donald Trump has said he is ‘not happy’ that Vladimir Putin launched a deadly barrage of missile strikes on Kyiv overnight after talks to reach a peace deal failed. ‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,’ he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump urged his Russian counterpart:
‘Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!’
Russia attacked Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones overnight, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 70 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since last July and just as peace efforts are coming to a head. Trump’s frustration with Putin is growing as a US-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress.
Trump’s rare rebuke of Putin followed his criticism of Zelensky yesterday for saying Ukraine would not recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea – a longtime Kyiv stance.
‘This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia,’ Trump said in a social media post. Trump, who argued with Zelensky in a disastrous Oval Office meeting in March, said Crimea was lost years ago ‘and is not even a point of discussion.’
Trump yesterday accused Zelensky of ‘prolonging the killing field’ by refusing to give up territory and warned the Ukrainian president he can ‘have peace, or he can fight for another three years before losing the whole country’. – DM –
THE NAZI REGIME: Russia has warned Britain against deploying a ‘coalition of the willing’ in Ukraine, declaring it could lead to a nuclear World War Three. Putin hawk Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the powerful Russian security council and ex-defence minister, said Russia rejected Western boots on the ground in the war-torn country.
He also warned of Moscow’s readiness to both use nuclear weapons and restart atomic weapon tests in the Arctic for the first time since the Cold War, claiming Europe is secretly preparing for war against Russia by 2030.
The hardliner ranted: ‘What will these ‘peacekeepers’ protect in Ukraine?
‘The Nazi regime, marches and torchlight processions with symbols of SS divisions?
‘Support the persecution of Orthodox Christians?
‘Depriving the Russian-speaking population of the right to speak their native language, to preserve their own culture and traditions?
He spoke out ahead of an expected new visit by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff for ‘peace talks’ with Putin this week. Shoigu, 69, Russia’s longest serving senior politician, in office since 1991, before Putin’s emergence, alleged: ‘An undisguised campaign is unfolding in Europe to prepare for a military conflict with the Russian Federation.
He warned Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in case of aggression against it or ally Belarus, and was ‘closely following the military preparations of European countries’.
This was a reason the new nuclear-capable ‘wonder weapon’ Oreshnik had been deployed in Belarus, he said.
PRO-MOSCOW: He was cautious in believing a new era had begun with US-Russian relations amid Donald Trump’s alleged pro-Moscow stance on the war.
‘We welcome such an approach and are ready for reciprocal steps. Time will show whether the Americans are ready to resolve the existing systemic problems which require resolution.’
‘This is a difficult and long process. The history of our relations with the United States shows that we can trust only concrete actions rather than verbal statements.’
He refused to rule out new Russian nuclear tests. ‘Our position on this matter depends on the United States’ actions in this area,’ he told TASS.
‘Now, warranty periods for some types of their nuclear munitions are expiring and the development of new types of weapons is underway.
‘This may push Washington toward resuming nuclear tests. In such an event, Russia may follow their lead as a response step.’
The USSR conducted its last nuclear test on the Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya on October 24, 1990.
Following it, it unilaterally declared a moratorium on nuclear tests. Russia continues to observe it. In a period from 1949 to 1990, the Soviet Union conducted 715 nuclear tests.
Separately, Putin’s ex-premier Dmitry Medvedev – who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012 – made a nuclear threat against countries, including Britain, which adhere to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant on war crimes charges against the Kremlin dictator. – By OLIVIA ALLHUSEN and WILL STEWART for DM.
READY AND WILLING: Russia is ‘fully ready’ to detonate a nuclear bomb in the Arctic at ‘any moment’, it was revealed today as Vladimir Putin presses on with drills unseen since the Cold War.
Images obtained by the Middlebury Institute for International Studies last year showed an uptick in construction at the remote island location, RFE reported at the time.
A comparison of imagery from July 2021 and June 2023 showed large trucks, construction cranes, shipping containers and building supplies brought in to the settlement for its expansion.
UNITED RUSSIA: The warning came days after MP Andrei Kolesnik said Putin should authorise a nuclear bomb test as a warning to the West.
‘We need to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some testing ground,’ demanded Andrei Kolesnik, who represents the ruling United Russia party.
‘Nuclear tests are currently prohibited in our country. But maybe people should see what all this actually leads to, they should hear.
‘If we lift the moratorium, maybe humanity will think twice.’
Parliament speaker Vyachelsav Volodin warned today that in the event of strikes on Russian cities with Western missiles, ‘more powerful weapons are at the ready’ to hit back.
YARS: Russia today reinforced its preparations for nuclear war by staging drills involving giant Yars missile launchers in Ivanovo region.
Footage showed the hulking road-mobile missile systems “carrying out marches to a distance of up to 100 kilometres [62 miles] and are practicing deploying units simultaneously changing and equipping their field positions, camouflaging and guarding them,” said the Russian defence ministry.
The Yars missiles are currently the main ground-based component of the Russian strategic nuclear force. The Mach 25 missiles have a range of up to 7,500 miles, enabling a strike on the US.
Yars is due to be overtaken by Sarmat – or Satan-2, the largest missile in Putin’s nuclear arsenal, described as an “unstoppable” 208-ton intercontinental silo-launched 15,880mph rocket, the size of a 14-storey tower block.
At the beginning of August, Russian troops practiced installing dummy warheads onto launchers in another series of publicised nuclear weapons drills intended as a threat to the West over its support for Ukraine.
SATAN-2: – Putin said that the “invulnerable” silo-based weapon has been in development since 2001, following President George W. Bush’s decision to pull out of a 1972 U.S.-Soviet anti-ballistic missile treaty. Revealing the weapon, Putin addressed the U.S. and said he had warned Bush not to withdraw from the treaty. “You didn’t listen to our country then,” he said, “Listen to us now.”
The massive 220-ton weapon will replace the Cold War-era RS-36M Voyevoda missiles. The RS-28 Sarmat will reportedly carry a nuclear payload large enough to wipe out an area the size of Texas or France.
Putin said the missile “has practically no range restrictions,” though The Guardian cited state media reports detailing a range of around 6,800 miles. Regardless, the president claimed it can evade “even the most advanced missile defense systems,” such as those fielded by the U.S.
Traveling at Mach 10—around 16,000 m.p.h.—the RS-28 Sarmat can carry 10 to 15 warheads, all of which can target a different location. Putin’s announcement of the weapon was accompanied by an unsettling CGI video demonstrating its capabilities, in which nuclear warheads were shown falling on a region closely resembling the Tampa Bay area of Florida. – By David Brennan for Newsweek.
Apr 25, 2025 3:49:59 pm
