YouTube bans prominent Zelensky critic
RT | August 9, 2025
YouTube has removed the 2-million-subscriber account of exiled Ukrainian Journalist of the Year Diana Panchenko, a fierce critic of Vladimir Zelensky.
In 2023, Kiev imposed personal sanctions on the former TV presenter and started criminal proceedings against her for her alleged anti-Ukrainian reporting.
Panchenko has long criticized Zelensky for rampant corruption in Ukraine, as well as his clampdown on freedom of speech. She has also condemned Kiev’s military actions in Donbass since 2014, and later accused the former actor of dragging the nation into a “forever war.”
“Diana Panchenko @Panchenko_X is one of the most famous women in Ukraine, former Journalist of the Year and opponent of the grossly corrupt Zelensky regime,” Irish journalist Chay Bowes wrote on X on Friday.
“YouTube just banned her and erased her account. She had 2 million followers,” he wrote. “The most dangerous weapon is Truth.”
Panchenko’s YouTube account is deleted as of the time of writing, but an archived snapshot shows that at least 2.09 million people subscribed to her channel as of last month.
Youtube, which is owned by Google, has extensively cracked down on and banned Russian media channels, as well as large pro-Moscow private accounts since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
Panchenko has also routinely criticized Kiev’s crackdown on alternative narratives in Ukraine.
Soon after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Zelensky shut down multiple television channels associated with his political opposition and consolidated some of the country’s largest networks into a single 24/7 broadcast called the United News TV Telemarathon.
US has made ‘acceptable offer’ – Kremlin aide
RT | August 7, 2025
Russia has received an “acceptable” offer from the US on settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, following a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov commented on the talks between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Moscow had received a “proposal from the Americans” which it is ready to consider, without providing further details.
Ushakov also noted that Russia and the US have topics to discuss, while agreeing with the view of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier described the talks as “a good day.” Rubio had added that “we still have a ways to go, but we’re certainly closer [to peace] today than we were yesterday – when we weren’t close at all.”
The Kremlin aide earlier called the Putin-Witkoff meeting “business-like and constructive,” adding that “Russian-American ties could develop according to a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario,” as compared to the long-running tensions over Ukraine.
He also revealed that Putin could meet Trump as soon as next week. The Russian president later suggested that the United Arab Emirates could potentially host the summit.
Hungary’s Top Diplomat Hits Out at EU Colleagues ‘Big Lie’ Narrative on Ukraine Aid
Sputnik – 06.08.2025
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Wednesday called out the “big lie” of fellow top diplomats of EU member states when they are trying to portray the assistance to Ukraine as a moral obligation, claiming that Kiev is allegedly defending their countries from Russia.
“We have been hearing for three and a half years that Ukrainians are defending Europe, but this is a big lie. Ukrainians do not defend us because no one attacked us … They [EU foreign ministers] are trying to create a sense of guilt, in which we are supposed to perceive the need to support Ukraine as some kind of our spiritual duty. But this is not true, Ukraine does not defend us,” Szijjarto told Hungarian podcast Harcosok Oraja (Warriors’ Hour).
Every meeting of EU foreign ministers starts with a speech by the top Ukrainian diplomat, who lists his demands and complains that European supplies of money and weapons are insufficient and too slow, Szijjarto said.
“And then there is a self-condemnation match. My EU colleagues say that we are doing too little and must do more, that we are slow, we are weak, we are bad, because we must provide a much more active support for Ukraine,” the minister said.
Szijjarto added that he personally, at such moments, mentally calculated how many hundreds of billions of euros in money, weapons and “who knows what else” has Brussels already sent to Ukraine, and how they had destroyed the European economy and competitiveness, but even that does not seem to be enough.
In December 2024, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the EU and the US had spent a combined 310 billion euros ($360 billion) on Ukraine, which he called a “horrific” sum that would have “worked miracles” if invested in the European economy. Instead, the money “went down the drain,” he said, warning the West that it is making a grave mistake in Ukraine that will come at a high price.
Moscow lists countries whose citizens took part in Ukrainian incursion into Russia
RT | August 5, 2025
Foreign nationals from over ten countries took part in Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, according to the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Aleksandr Bastrykin.
Bastrykin told the media on the eve of the anniversary of the incursion that investigators identified individuals from Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Georgia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Sweden, the UK, and other nations as having fought alongside Ukrainian troops in the Western-supported raid.
Russian forces fully repelled the incursion in April, claiming that the attackers suffered around 76,000 casualties during the fighting, in which Ukrainian troops employed Western-supplied heavy weaponry.
Bastrykin said 331 civilians were killed and another 553 injured due to Ukraine’s actions in Kursk Region. The Investigative Committee has opened over 600 criminal cases related to the incursion, with around a third already referred for trial.
Moscow maintains that the incursion was an example of Kiev’s use of terrorist tactics, citing claims by captured soldiers that they were encouraged to use violence against civilians. Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that part of the goal was to apply pressure on the Russian public.
He detailed a range of alleged abuses, from a case in which unarmed civilians were beaten to death, to occurrences in which US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems were fired at civilian targets which Kiev allegedly knew held no military value.
Since the escalation of the conflict with Russia in 2022, Kiev has called on foreign nationals with military experience to join its armed forces, passing legislation to accommodate them. Moscow does not recognize the fighters as lawful combatants, classifying them instead as mercenaries subject to prosecution.
In May, Bastrykin reported that the Russian authorities charged 902 people with acting as mercenaries under Ukraine’s command; 97 individuals from 26 different countries have been convicted.
Civilian Executions by Retreating Ukrainian Forces Not Uncommon – Russian Official
Sputnik – 05.08.2025
LUGANSK – Reports of Ukrainian forces executing civilians during army retreats are not uncommon, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large on the crimes committed by Kiev, Rodion Miroshnik, told Sputnik on Tuesday while commenting on an executed civilian’s body discovered near the city of Krasnoarmeysk.
“Unfortunately, such incidents [executions of civilians by the Ukrainian armed forces] are not uncommon. We have plenty of documented evidence from Avdeyevka, Chasov Yar, Dzerzhinsk, and Selidovo. When Ukraine classifies people who do not want to evacuate deep into Ukrainian territory as ‘waiters’, strangers, ‘separatists’ and carries out purges of the civilian population,” Miroshnik said.
Most of these cases are similar to each other and have a number of characteristic features, the official said, adding that victims are typically found with restrained limbs and visible close-range gunshot wounds on their bodies. These discoveries follow Ukrainian troops’ retreat from populated areas, he added.
“The terrible discovery near Krasnoarmeysk only confirms the system that exists or is generated by the Ukrainian political regime. They [Ukrainian authorities] seem to sort their own civilians into categories, evacuating supporters of the regime while targeting those choosing to remain on their own land. This is a policy generated by [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, his entourage and the political regime that is today a military dictatorship on the territory of Ukraine,” Miroshnik said.
The official emphasized that international awareness is critical regarding Ukraine’s treatment of civilians, as reports indicate severe division between handling of Zelenskyy’s supporters and dissenters, with the latter facing lethal violence.
Daniel Davis: Trump’s Threats Against Russia Backfire
Glenn Diesen | August 2, 2025
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis is a 4x combat veteran and the host of the Daniel Davis Deep Dive YouTube channel. Lt. Col. Davis argues that Trump’s ultimatum is hardening the Russian position as the prospect of a peaceful settlement collapses. Sanctions have been exhausted, and there are no more weapons that can be sent that will significantly impact the battlefield. When the frontlines collapse in Ukraine, Trump may get desperate and act dangerously.
China hits back at US smears on arms supplies to Ukraine at UN Security Council
Global Times | August 1, 2025
China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN Geng Shuang spoke at a UN Security Council meeting on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine on Thursday local time, refuting accusations made by the US representative against China.
Recently, Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of direct negotiations and reached a number of agreements on humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchanges, making positive progress. At the same time, however, the crisis continues, with no signs of the war coming to an end. A large volume of weapons and ammunition continues to flow into the battlefield, causing new casualties and damage to infrastructure, Geng noted.
What is particularly concerning is that the types and scope of weapons entering the battlefield are expanding, with their lethality and destructiveness constantly increasing, Geng said. Recent reports indicate that both sides have deployed combat robots, further highlighting that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is increasingly becoming a testing ground for new types of weaponry. This suggests that the nature of warfare could undergo dangerous changes, he added.
“I would like to reiterate that while weapons may win wars, they cannot bring lasting peace. The reckless transfer of arms to the battlefield will only intensify the conflict, prolong the fighting, increase the risk of proliferation, and inflict more casualties and suffering on people in both the conflict zone and the broader region,” Geng said.
The Chinese diplomat pointed out that the urgent priority now is for both parties to work together to de-escalate the battlefield situation as soon as possible, maintain the momentum of dialogue and negotiation, continue building consensus, and ultimately reach a comprehensive, durable, and binding peace agreement.
In response to US representative’s false narratives and malicious smearing of China on the issue, Geng said “this is completely unacceptable,” saying that he responded to such accusations on multiple occasions in past meetings. “Since the US insists on repeating the same rhetoric, I find it necessary to set the record straight once again,” Geng said.
First, China is not the creator of the Ukraine crisis, nor is it a party to the conflict. China has never provided lethal weapons to any party involved in the conflict. We have always strictly controlled the export of dual-use items, including drones, the Chinese diplomat said.
Second, the UN Security Council has not imposed sanctions on any party to the conflict. China maintains normal trade relations with both Russia and Ukraine, in full compliance with international law and without breaching any international obligations, he said.
China’s legitimate and lawful rights and interests must not be infringed upon. “In fact, the US itself continues to engage in trade with Russia to this day. Why should it be acceptable for the US to do so, but not for others? Isn’t this ‘only allowing oneself to set fires while forbidding others from lighting lamps?’” Geng asked.
Third, the Ukraine crisis is currently at a critical juncture, with a genuine prospect for a political resolution. The US cannot on the one hand ask China to play a constructive role in ending the war, while on the other hand continuously smear and pressure China, he said, urging the US to stop playing the blame game and scapegoating others, and instead contribute positively to efforts for a ceasefire, de-escalation, and the promotion of dialogue and negotiation.
The Chinese diplomat emphasized that China maintains normal economic and trade relations with both Russia and Ukraine – this does not violate international law, nor does it breach any international obligations. “The US itself continues to conduct trade with Russia, so why should China be prohibited from doing the same?” he said.
“It is the US that repeatedly engages in smearing, slandering, and attacking other countries in the UN Security Council chamber. Does the US not recognize how different its behavior is from that of other Council members?” Geng asked.
What the resolution of the Ukraine crisis requires is unity and cooperation, not division and confrontation. Once again, we urge the US to stop its baseless accusations and scapegoating, to invest more in diplomatic efforts, and to contribute genuinely to promoting a ceasefire, de-escalating the conflict, and advancing peace talks, the Geng said.
US and UK behind cyberattack on Aeroflot – Russian MP
RT | July 31, 2025
US and UK intelligence services were behind this week’s major cyberattack that disrupted operations at Aeroflot and other Russian companies earlier this week, a senior Russian lawmaker has claimed.
Andrey Svintsov, the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, has said the attack is part of a coordinated campaign by Western powers to damage the Russian economy after failing to achieve their objectives through military means and sanctions.
Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, was forced to cancel or delay dozens of flights on July 28 after pro-Ukrainian hacker groups claimed to have crippled the airline’s internal IT systems. The cyberattack also disrupted airport operations and affected other companies, including a nationwide pharmacy chain.
”These are not isolated hackers, but a planned action by American and British intelligence agencies,” Svintsov told Russian outlet Abzats. He described the campaign as a “systematic effort that is being carried out against Russia,” suggesting that it’s a sign of desperation by the country’s adversaries.
”This is a systematic approach by our Western enemies, who have failed to defeat Russia on the battlefield. They are moving to weaken the economic potential, since sanctions are not helping,” Svintsov said. He warned that cyber sabotage could continue until Russia achieves victory in the Ukraine conflict.
In May, Defense Secretary John Healey said the UK would significantly increase cyber operations against Russia and China. He confirmed the creation of a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command, adding that “the keyboard is now a weapon of war.”
The Kremlin has urged Russian businesses to replace foreign-made software and hardware to reduce exposure to cyber threats. Last month, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to accelerate import substitution.
Hacker groups Silent Crow and Cyberpartisans BY have claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack on Aeroflot. They claim to have been inside the airline’s corporate network for over a year, stealing more than 20 terabytes of data and destroying around 7,000 servers.
Communications regulator Roskomnadzor said the data leaks have not been confirmed. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has confirmed the cyberattack and opened a criminal case.
Kicking the peace can down the road
In discussion with Glenn Diesen
Ian Proud | July 28, 2025
Nice to catch up with Glenn Diesen to discuss recent developments, including my article on Trump’s 50-day ultimatum to Putin, which has now been reduced to 10-12 days, whatever that means. I continue to judge that the threat of secondary sanctions against Russia’s trading partners will have a greater impact on the US than on China, India or any other country that does business with Russia.
Meanwhile, Zelensky’s short-lived attempt to shut down anti-corruption organisations closing in on his cronies has been a big wake up call, not just for European political leaders and journalists, but more importantly, citizens.
Faced with admitting defeat in Ukraine and throwing Zelensky under the bus and continuing with an ineffective foreign policy towards Russia, I judge that Starmer, VdL and others will keep kicking the peace can down the road.
Yet every day the war continues, Ukraine loses more ground and more lives on the battlefield, and slides further towards the status of a failed state. My optimism remains low that the war will end in 2025.
The US Is Buying Ukraine 33,000 Modules to Create AI-Powered Drones
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | July 28, 2025
Ukraine will soon receive tens of thousands of drone modules powered by artificial intelligence and resistant to electronic warfare.
According to the Financial Times, the Department of Defense is funding the sale. The drone kits are produced by the US-German software company Auterion. Chief executive Lorenz Meier said the firm received a $50 million contract from the Pentagon for the order.
Meier said Auterion would complete the delivery of Skynode S modules to Ukraine by the end of the year. He explained the modules are “strike kits” that allow the drone to operate autonomously. Meier referred to the system as the “next evolution in warfare.”
“What we are providing is leapfrogging what’s on the battlefield right now, which is to go to AI-based targeting and swarming,” he added. Auterion claims drones equipped with the module can hit targets one kilometer away.
Drones have become a pivotal weapon in the Ukraine war. Russia is firing hundreds of drones into Ukraine most nights. Ukrainian President Zelensky has rolled out a plan to build thousands of interceptor drones to combat the Russian salvos.
Pentagon Eyes Ukraine as Drone Testing Ground After Alaska Failures
Sputnik – 28.07.2025
WASHINGTON – The US Department of Defense (DOD) views Ukraine to be a potential polygon for drone testing after it ran into difficulties during the June trials in Alaska, Defense News reported, citing sources in Pentagon.
Earlier this summer, five US companies underwent drone testing in Alaska to see if their prototypes were able to withstand GPS disruption and if they were ready to transition to the military services.
“Providing an opportunity for these companies to assess their products in a contested environment against a notional threat is really valuable, one, for the DOD to assess their product in that way. But it’s also important for the companies to see where they’re succeeding or where they’re falling short so they can make tweaks and have a better product,” one of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) officials told Defense News.
Commercial companies, especially small ones, do not have access to test spaces that are similar to field conditions, so the Pentagon needs to provide such conditions if it wants to achieve new technologies fast and efficiently, the report said.
“If we want to succeed, we have to embed engineers with warfighters, and we have to be out in the field testing. We have to do it all the time,” DIU’s Trent Emeneker was quoted as saying by Defense News.
To solve this issue, Emeneker proposed testing drones on the Ukrainian front lines, adding that “there’s no better place in the world” to do it. However, according to the report, it is difficult for the Department of Defense to officially send start-ups to Ukraine for in-country testing after US President Donald Trump assumed office, and the political tension between the current administration and the Ukrainian government increased.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump on the supply of Ukrainian-made drones worth $10-30 billion to the United States.
FT hit job on Zelensky is a clue as to Trump’s thinking
By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | July 25, 2025
It’s finally happened. After months of pundits wondering when would the moment come when western media would finally take a clear and decisive stand against Ukraine’s venal president, it has finally happened – and by the most ardent pro-EU broadsheet to note. The all-out hit piece on Zelensky recently by the Financial Times should indicate that something is about to happen in Ukraine and it will probably involve the president either having his own Ceausescu moment or simply fleeing the country. How long has he got?
Legacy media always likes to be on the right side of history and for the FT to come out like this with the piece that they’ve written must be ominous. It was published at the same time as the British conservative political chronicle The Spectator did much the same thing. Timing seems to be worth noting given that a few days beforehand unconfirmed ‘reports’ on social media were claiming that Trump had indicated to Zelensky that he needs to step down with even suggestions of who would take his role. It also comes amidst a series of reports which show that Zelensky’s panicking has reached an all-time high with the recent arrest of the of the anti-corruption activist Shabunin. Interestingly, that same day, ex-Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov was also targeted. In both raids at their homes, armed men showed no warrants and blocked lawyers from attending the searches, it is claimed. The arrest of the anti-graft campaigner is significant as is the take of the FT itself: The article says: “A crackdown on the country’s most famous anti-corruption crusader can’t be happening without at least the silent approval from President Zelenskyy, if not active permission,” it explains.
The significance and timing of the FT piece should not be underestimated. It’s not simply that on the battlefield itself that the Russians are advancing and that it becomes more openly accepted that the Ukrainians simply don’t have the men to fight this war, but more about Zelensky himself who is beginning to be portrayed as a dictator now clinging onto power and using all of the vestiges of martial law to crack down on even the faintest trace of dissent. Ukraine is now a totalitarian state with the level of Zelensky’s paranoia now starting to become widely known and discussed. The FT, one of those media giants which largely supported Zelensky and which barely considered elements of his brutal measures worth even reporting, such as the appalling murder of U.S. blogger Gonzalo Lira, is now reporting on even campaigners merely being roughed up by Zelensky’s henchmen – a considerable U-turn and worth noting is the detail it goes into with its zeal. Indeed, it has been the FT which has chosen not to cover a number of stories since the beginning of the war which many would argue created a positive aura around Zelensky which can be noted even as recently as in May when a key opponent of Zelensky was assassinated in broad daylight by a gunman in front of the victim’s children’s school in Madrid. In this case, the murder of Andriy Portnov was covered, but he was portrayed as a criminal “wanted in Kiev for treason”.
The FT’s support of Zelensky is over, we can assume.
It noted that “Shabunin and Kubrakov labelled the recent raids as politically motivated, adding that the SBU had presented no court-issued warrants and would not allow time for their lawyers to be present for the searches”.
Vitaliy Shabunin even is quoted in the article as explaining what the stunt was supposed to achieve. He told the paper, “Zelenskyy is using my case to send a message to two groups that could pose a threat to him. The message is this: if I can go after Shabunin publicly — under the scrutiny of the media and despite public support — then I can go after any one of you”.
The FT goes even further in its analysis of the situation and could even be assessed of being a catalyst to a revolution in the making.
“This is a straight-up, Russian-style scenario of dividing society, which could lead to protests in the streets”, Oleksandra Ustinova MP was quoted in the piece as saying.
The author suggests that the West has little interest any more in keeping up any pretence up that Ukraine is some sort of western democratic country which has had to give up on some of its democratic tenets. This apathy, it claims, is responsible for Zelensky now pushing his authoritarian, brutal control to new levels.
A western diplomat in Kiev who has worked closely with Ukraine’s civil society said the cases of Shabunin and Kubrakov “aren’t isolated events”.
“There’s a sense inside Ukraine’s presidential office that the west and especially the U.S. has shifted its focus,” the diplomat said. “That rule of law and good governance no longer matter as much.” With U.S. attention elsewhere, Zelensky is testing how far he can go, the FT claims, but doesn’t say that this is because he is in his last days and believes he can stay in power if he cracks down even further against those who could potentially pose a threat to him or even question his strategy. The recent dispatch of anti-aircraft missiles from Trump is not expected to do anything as the gesture represents way too little, way too late for it to have any impact. The corner that Trump is backing himself into with this 50-day deadline with Putin is more likely going to result in the man child in the Oval office looking for an easy victim which can distract voters away from the real story of him having to back down from the outlandish threats he has made to Putin.
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15 Saudi ‘hijackers’ were CIA agents working for US: Scholar
Press TV – April 13, 2016
Fifteen of the 9/11 “hijackers” from Saudi Arabia were CIA agents working for the United States government, which was seeking to destroy the Middle East for Israel and to double the American military budget, says Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003…. continue
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