CNN
3h ·
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says officials held talks with the United States, with the island facing an economic crisis and intense pressure from Donald Trump. https://cnn.it/3PfTlUD
MASTERBAKER All things Politics thread
- Thread starter MASTERBAKER
- Start date
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says officials held talks with the United States, with the island facing an economic crisis and intense pressure from Donald Trump. https://cnn.it/3PfTlUD
Steven M Jackson
Take notice of his shirt
!!! He’s not dressed up in fatigues ? This will be easy resolution at the negotiating table. It’s a wrap
Take notice of his shirt
BREAKING: How Commando Raid Could SEIZE Iran's Prized Nuclear Stockpile | TBN Israel
MeidasTouch
10m ·TRUMP HINTS AT U.S. SURRENDER?! Trump just posted what reads less like a victory lap—and more like a quiet admission of retreat.
In a lengthy statement, Trump claims the U.S. is “very close to meeting our objectives” in Iran and begins outlining a wind-down of military operations. But read between the lines: after days of escalating conflict, global instability, and conflicting messaging from his own administration, this sounds a lot like an attempt to declare victory and exit.
He lays out sweeping goals—destroying Iran’s military capabilities, eliminating its forces, and preventing nuclear development—while simultaneously signaling that other nations will now take over securing the Strait of Hormuz. In other words, the U.S. steps back.
After launching strikes, denying involvement, and facing backlash at home and abroad, Trump now appears to be searching for an off-ramp.
Calling it “mission accomplished” doesn’t change the reality on the ground.
Shawn Ryan Show ·
Follow
March 21 at 2:01 PM ·“They sent him a zoomed-in, scaled map of a facility that was in the middle of the desert. What the U.S. said was that there was some type of air purification system on the roof, a truck with a missile on it, and a sentry outside the building. What his team came up with was that the air purification system was an air conditioning unit, the truck was a water truck refueling the system, and the sentry was just a guy taking a piss on the side of the building. They got this information back, they totally discarded it, and presented the previous version. The point being, we went to war for weapons of mass destruction that were never there.”
MeidasTouch
1h ·
BREAKING: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is now threatening to target 18 major U.S. companies in the region—including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Tesla, Nvidia, and Boeing—if the U.S. continues what it calls “targeted assassinations” of Iranian leaders, with the warning set to take effect April 1.
The list spans some of the most critical pillars of the U.S. economy: Big Tech, defense contractors, and even financial institutions like J.P. Morgan. This marks another major escalation, shifting from direct military confrontation to potential economic and cyber warfare targeting American corporations and infrastructure.
This is a signal that the conflict is expanding beyond the battlefield and into global markets, supply chains, and everyday technology Americans rely on.
The full list of 18 US technology companies that Iran is threatening to target is below:
1. Cisco
2. HP
3. Intel
4. Oracle
5. Microsoft
6. Apple
7. Google
8. Meta
9. IBM
10. Dell
11. Palantir
12. Nvidia
13. J.P. Morgan
14. Tesla
15. General Electric
16. Spire Solutions
17. G42
18. Boeing
Rockaway Primetime Reporting
This is horrible. Are we going to nuke them? BREAKING: Trump says 'we're blowing up the whole country' if no Iran deal in 48 hours
President Donald Trump said Sunday that if no peace deal is reached with Iran in the next 48 hours, "we're blowing up the entire country."
The president made the threat Sunday to ABC News' senior political correspondent Rachel Scott in response to a question regarding whether his previously stated timeline of two to three weeks for a deal was still accurate.
Concerns have been raised about targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran and the consequences that could bring.
"It should be days, not weeks," Trump said, adding that Iran "has been decimated, decimated. And every day is going to get worse."
"Every day they're gonna have to build more bridges, and they're gonna have to build more power plants and more everything else," the president said. "There's been no country that's ever taken a pounding like that."
Trump said Iran had 48 hours to agree to a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz or make peace.
"If it happens, it happens. And if it doesn't, we're blowing up the whole country. We're blowing up, as I said, it's going to be bridge day and it's going to be power plant day in the country of Iran."
The president was apparently referring to an ultimatum he posted Sunday on his social media platform for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Having already extended his deadline to open the strait twice, Trump warned the Iranian government that if it doesn't fully open the critical maritime passageway for oil and trade by Tuesday, "you'll be living in Hell."
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" Trump wrote in the profanity-laced post. He warned Tehran that if it fails to open the strait, "you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!"
On March 26, Trump extended an ultimatum a second time in the same week for Iran to completely open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping traffic, saying peace talks "are going very well." In the post, Trump said that upon a request from the Iranian government, he was "pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 days."
Trump extended the deadline for Iran to comply to Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Fox News reported Sunday that Trump said in a telephone interview that he thinks a deal with Iran will come by Monday, and that if Iran fails to make a deal, he is "considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil."
But in his phone interview later Sunday with ABC News' Rachel Scott, Trump pushed back on that characterization, saying "there could be a deal, and there could also not be a deal. I don't know. I have no idea what these people, they're getting the s--- beat out of them, and that's, that's all I can tell you. There's been no country that's ever taken a pounding like that."
The president also said "very little" will be off limits if no deal is made.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, responded to Trump’s threats in a post on X.
“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game," the post further said.
The U.S. has sent Iran a 15-point proposal for ending the conflict. The negotiations are being mediated by the Pakistani government.
On March 25, Iran's English-language state media, Press TV, quoted an Iranian official saying Iran has rejected the proposal after regime officials denied negotiations were happening. In a separate interview on the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV that "Iran's power is the Hormuz Strait."
"I also want to say here that, from our point of view, the Hormuz Strait is not completely closed; it is closed only to our natural enemies," Araghchi said after Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in a March 22 letter to the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization that the Strait of Hormuz is open to "non-hostile" vessels.
In the letter, the Iranians define "non-hostile" ships as those from countries that "neither participate nor support acts of aggression against Iran" posed by the United States and Israel.
"We are in a wartime situation; the region is a war zone," Araghchi said. "There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass, but it is free for the rest."
In a social media post on Saturday, Araghchi said, "We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad. What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us."
UN says 20,000 seafarers stranded due to Strait of Hormuz closure, despite Iran claiming it's open
During a March 26 cabinet meeting, Trump claimed that Iran is "begging to make a deal" to end the conflict.
Trump said at the cabinet meeting that Iran had made good on a promise to allow 10 oil tankers operating under the flag of Pakistan to pass through the strait as a "present." He said the gesture communicated to him "that we're dealing with the right people" in the peace negotiations.
While Iran has allowed other ships from countries it says are friendly to Iran to pass through the strait, it has attacked ships from countries it considers hostile.
Why are your gas prices rising if the US barely imports any oil from the Strait of Hormuz?
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's military wing, said on Saturday that it hit an Israeli-linked container ship, the MSC Ishyka, with a drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Neither Israel nor the U.S. has yet publicly confirmed the attack.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday night, Trump declared that Iran is no longer a threat to the U.S. and the war in Iran is "nearing completion." In the speech, the president promised to hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks.
"We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong," Trump said.
In response, Araghchi issued a social media post on Thursday, saying, "There's one striking difference between the present and the Stone Age: there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then."
Araghchi added, "Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?"
Politics
Ryan King
Published April 12, 2026, 2:40 p.m. ET
388 Comments
WASHINGTON — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that his island nation is bracing for an attack from the US and declared that he is willing to die resisting President Trump.
Since last December, the US has imposed a blockade around Venezuela as part of its Operation Southern Spear effort, and used that to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, which has since plunged further into an energy crisis.
“I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the US to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,” Díaz-Canel told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, per a translation.
President Trump has mounted an aggressive pressure campaign against Cuba.AFP via Getty Images
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘dying for the homeland is to live.’”
The Trump administration has privately signaled to Cuba’s communist government that Díaz-Canel must go, the New York Times reported.
“I have no fear. I am willing to give my life for the revolution,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t like that to be the attitude of the US government.”
Cuba has endured an increase in blackouts in recent weeks as concerns flare that its food supplies are running dangerously low. Experts have noted that many of those issues predated the blockade, but have acknowledged that it has gotten worse since the US cut off crude exports to Cuba.
“We have the accumulated effects of the blockades, plus the effect of the tightening of the blockade, and now the effects are caused by this energy blockade. And I can say this responsibly to you, this is not the fault of the Cuban government,” Díaz-Canel said.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared that he’s willing to die fighting for his country if the US attacks Cuba.AFP via Getty Images
“We conduct very self-critical analysis and assessments of our reality, and we’re trying to constantly transform and change what we do in order to improve what we do.”
Díaz-Canel called the prospect of cutting a deal with the US “very difficult” and pointed to the strikes against Iran during negotiations over its nuclear program as evidence that America can’t be trusted.
The US has demanded that Cuba release its political prisoners, allow multi-party elections and permit a free press.
388
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The Cuban leader denied receiving those demands and emphasized that fundamental reforms to his country’s government “are not under negotiations.”
Cuba has faced widespread protests and riots due to the growing energy and food crisis, prompting a brutal crackdown from its repressive government.
Cuba president talks tough about Trump as nation braces for US attack: ‘If we need to die, we’ll die’
ByRyan King
Published April 12, 2026, 2:40 p.m. ET
388 Comments
WASHINGTON — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that his island nation is bracing for an attack from the US and declared that he is willing to die resisting President Trump.
Since last December, the US has imposed a blockade around Venezuela as part of its Operation Southern Spear effort, and used that to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, which has since plunged further into an energy crisis.
“I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the US to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,” Díaz-Canel told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, per a translation.
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘dying for the homeland is to live.’”
The Trump administration has privately signaled to Cuba’s communist government that Díaz-Canel must go, the New York Times reported.
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Díaz-Canel, the first pol outside the Castro family to lead the island nation since the Cuban Revolution, has refused to step aside.“I have no fear. I am willing to give my life for the revolution,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t like that to be the attitude of the US government.”
Cuba has endured an increase in blackouts in recent weeks as concerns flare that its food supplies are running dangerously low. Experts have noted that many of those issues predated the blockade, but have acknowledged that it has gotten worse since the US cut off crude exports to Cuba.
“We have the accumulated effects of the blockades, plus the effect of the tightening of the blockade, and now the effects are caused by this energy blockade. And I can say this responsibly to you, this is not the fault of the Cuban government,” Díaz-Canel said.
“We conduct very self-critical analysis and assessments of our reality, and we’re trying to constantly transform and change what we do in order to improve what we do.”
Díaz-Canel called the prospect of cutting a deal with the US “very difficult” and pointed to the strikes against Iran during negotiations over its nuclear program as evidence that America can’t be trusted.
The US has demanded that Cuba release its political prisoners, allow multi-party elections and permit a free press.
388
What do you think? Post a comment.
The Cuban leader denied receiving those demands and emphasized that fundamental reforms to his country’s government “are not under negotiations.”
Cuba has faced widespread protests and riots due to the growing energy and food crisis, prompting a brutal crackdown from its repressive government.
The New York Times
12h ·After halting a U.S. resettlement program for Afghans who helped the American war effort against the Taliban, President Trump is in talks to send as many as 1,100 of them to the Democratic Republic of Congo, an aid worker briefed on the plan said Tuesday.
This photo, released by the U.S. Army in 2021, shows Afghans being processed at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, where many have been living in limbo for over a year now. The aid worker said that the Afghans would be given a choice between returning to live under the Taliban or being sent to Congo, which is suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. https://nyti.ms/4cI8HJO
Stefanie Nelson
Why shouldn’t we take in this relatively small number of people who helped us, at risk of their own lives? What do you think they’ll do if they live in the US, help Americans here?
Why shouldn’t we take in this relatively small number of people who helped us, at risk of their own lives? What do you think they’ll do if they live in the US, help Americans here?
It’s True… I’m Running For Office.
United Arab Emirates says it will leave oil cartel OPEC effective May 1
The UAE had been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971.
Photo by: Altaf Qadri/AP
FILE - Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026.
By: AP via Scripps News Group
Posted 8:54 AM, Apr 28, 2026
The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective May 1, a move rumored for some time as the Emirates chaffed under production restrictions and increasingly had frostier relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The UAE had been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971.
But the UAE has been increasingly trying to leverage its own foreign policy in the Middle East that has contradicted some positions of Riyadh over time — particularly as Saudi Arabia began to directly challenge the Emirates in trying to draw foreign investments as the kingdom opened up under assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The UAE made the announcement via its state-run WAM news agency.
"This decision reflects the UAE's long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets," the UAE said.
"Following its exit, the UAE will continue to act responsibly, bringing additional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions," the country added.
Saudi Arabia has long been considered a heavyweight of OPEC, an oil cartel based in Vienna that has seen some of its market power wane as the United States increased its production of crude oil in recent years.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have increasingly competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area. The two countries had joined in together in a coalition to fight against Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. However, that coalition broke down into recriminations in late December, when Saudi Arabia bombed what it described as a weapons shipment bound for Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE.
Saudi broadcasters long based in Dubai, the economic hub of the UAE, have pulled back to the kingdom in recent months as well as the tensions rose.
John Smith
More WINNING!!!
Environment
Ben Cost
Published April 29, 2026, 2:39 p.m. ET
A recent study found that the Appalachian Mountains could be home to a $65 billion dollar cache of lithium that could power our devices for 328 years.fowler5338 - stock.adobe.com
They’ve hit the mother lode.
We may no longer need to rely on foreign batteries to power our electronics. Geologists have announced that the Appalachian Mountains could be hiding a sprawling multi-billion-dollar cache of lithium that could last the US hundreds of years.
“This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs,” declared US Geological Survey Director Ned Mamula in a statement.
According to a map by the institution, this East Coast mountain range houses around 2.5 metric tons of this battery precursor, most of which is concentrated in the Carolinas, Maine and New Hampshire. Total value: around $64.4B dollars.
“The high heat and pressure during the mountain-building caused some of the deeper crustal rocks to melt, and some of these magmas were rich in lithium,” explained USGS while explaining why the region is so rich in the resource.Tuna salmon – stock.adobe.com
Per Bloomberg, the US imports nearly half of its consumption of lithium, which powers lithium-ion batteries that are used for everything from iPhones to vehicles and even aerospace alloys.
It could also fuel 500 billion cellphones, the equivalent of 60 devices for every person on Earth.
All told, this haul is enough to replace 328 years of imports at least year’s level, providing “a major contribution to U.S. mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly,” said Mamula.
The amount of lithium under the mountains could last us for over 300 years, per the study.USGS
To determine the amount of lithium in the hills, the USGS scientists employed “geologic maps, tectonic history, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys, and records of mineral occurrences,” per the release.
By conducting simulations using a global dataset for lithium pegmatites (a highly valuable coarse igneous rock), they were able to estimate how many untapped lithium deposits there were in the study area.
This allowed them to extrapolate how much of the mineral resource they held. In total, the team identified 18 different lithium-rich districts across the region.
Why do the Appalachians harbor such a treasure trove of this invaluable mineral?
The USGS explained that these pegmatites in the northern Appalachians formed from the same geologic forces that “built the mountains more than 250 million years ago.”
“The high heat and pressure during the mountain-building caused some of the deeper crustal rocks to melt, and some of these magmas were rich in lithium,” they explained. “Because of their immense age, lithium-rich rocks formed during ancient tectonic collisions, when continents slammed together to create the supercontinent Pangea.”
This gold, er, lithium mine is crucial given that the world production “capacity for lithium will double by 2029, driven by increasing demand,” per the statement.
Australia currently leads the charge when it comes to lithium production, supplying nearly half the global supply in 2024.
Following close behind is China, which also accounts for the majority of lithium refining and consumption.
This latest discovery has the potential to reshuffle the list. “The US was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago, and this research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence,” declared Mamula.
$65B lithium mother lode hidden beneath Appalachian Mountains could supply US with power for centuries
ByBen Cost
Published April 29, 2026, 2:39 p.m. ET
They’ve hit the mother lode.
We may no longer need to rely on foreign batteries to power our electronics. Geologists have announced that the Appalachian Mountains could be hiding a sprawling multi-billion-dollar cache of lithium that could last the US hundreds of years.
“This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation’s growing needs,” declared US Geological Survey Director Ned Mamula in a statement.
According to a map by the institution, this East Coast mountain range houses around 2.5 metric tons of this battery precursor, most of which is concentrated in the Carolinas, Maine and New Hampshire. Total value: around $64.4B dollars.
Per Bloomberg, the US imports nearly half of its consumption of lithium, which powers lithium-ion batteries that are used for everything from iPhones to vehicles and even aerospace alloys.
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With this recent mineral motherlode, USGS officials estimate that we could supply 1.6 million grid-scale batteries — enough to power 130 million electric vehicles or supply 180 billion laptops for a collective thousands of years of global use.It could also fuel 500 billion cellphones, the equivalent of 60 devices for every person on Earth.
All told, this haul is enough to replace 328 years of imports at least year’s level, providing “a major contribution to U.S. mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly,” said Mamula.
To determine the amount of lithium in the hills, the USGS scientists employed “geologic maps, tectonic history, geochemical sampling, geophysical surveys, and records of mineral occurrences,” per the release.
By conducting simulations using a global dataset for lithium pegmatites (a highly valuable coarse igneous rock), they were able to estimate how many untapped lithium deposits there were in the study area.
This allowed them to extrapolate how much of the mineral resource they held. In total, the team identified 18 different lithium-rich districts across the region.
See Also
Inside NASA’s mission to probe ‘golden’ asteroid
Why do the Appalachians harbor such a treasure trove of this invaluable mineral?
The USGS explained that these pegmatites in the northern Appalachians formed from the same geologic forces that “built the mountains more than 250 million years ago.”
“The high heat and pressure during the mountain-building caused some of the deeper crustal rocks to melt, and some of these magmas were rich in lithium,” they explained. “Because of their immense age, lithium-rich rocks formed during ancient tectonic collisions, when continents slammed together to create the supercontinent Pangea.”
This gold, er, lithium mine is crucial given that the world production “capacity for lithium will double by 2029, driven by increasing demand,” per the statement.
Australia currently leads the charge when it comes to lithium production, supplying nearly half the global supply in 2024.
Following close behind is China, which also accounts for the majority of lithium refining and consumption.
This latest discovery has the potential to reshuffle the list. “The US was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago, and this research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence,” declared Mamula.
Barack Obama
9h ·Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.
The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers - not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.
BREAKING: U.S. Draws Iran Strike Plan As Regime REJECTS Demands; Hormuz Crisis SPIRALS | TBN Israel
MeidasTouch
17m ·
Zelenskyy proposed a direct leader-to-leader meeting, a full ceasefire, and an all-for-all prisoner exchange, while warning Putin: "When Russia grows tired, change comes."
HERE IS THE FULL LETTER:
Open Letter
To the President of the Russian Federation
From the President of Ukraine
When you came to power in Russia more than 26 years ago, many people in Ukraine viewed you positively. That is how it was. But that is now in the past.
Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers. As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.
For 26 years, your time in power has completely changed the agenda of relations between Ukraine and Russia. From discussions about trade and other civilian matters, our nations have moved to talking almost exclusively about strikes and losses.
You have spent nearly half of your 26 years in power in Russia waging war against Ukraine.
Whatever you may say about NATO, geopolitics, or the Russian language, this war is your personal choice — a war without a real cause. That is how history will remember it.
Those years could have been very different.
We often hear that you are comfortable with this war. Of course, not in those cases when it comes to the security of your residence in Valdai or your parade in Moscow. Your own life is valuable to you.
But now we can all see that Russians are finally becoming less comfortable with this reality — with the fact that the war is bringing more and more negative consequences to Russia.
They do not like our drones and missiles.
They do not like gasoline shortages and constantly rising prices.
They do not like constant restrictions.
They do not like your intention to launch a second wave of mobilization in order to expand the war into another direction in Ukraine or to use it against other countries neighboring Russia.
They do not like the fact that there is no end in sight to your war.
Yes, you can still force Russians to exist this way. But your resources are shrinking significantly.
You will not have enough money or political capital to keep buying the loyalty of Russians the way you have for the past 26 years.
And we will do everything we can to ensure that the world helps bring that moment closer.
As you yourself like to say, “we need to run the numbers.”
Yesterday, I received a report on the losses of your army on the front in Ukraine during May. Once again, the number exceeded 30,000 Russian soldiers killed and seriously wounded. We have been maintaining that level month after month, and we have video confirmation of every one of your losses — these are not empty claims.
We know that 63 percent of your battlefield losses are killed, while only 37 percent are wounded. In the 21st century, no army can afford such a ratio. And the share of those killed will continue to grow.
It is not as if we in Ukraine are concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers after everything your war has brought to our country.
But I do care about Ukrainians.
We are losing our people, and every loss is painful to us. Even when the ratio of Ukrainian losses to Russian losses is one to five or one to six, it still matters greatly.
It also matters that you regularly postpone, every few months, your own deadlines for capturing our regions — especially the Donetsk region. And you will not capture it this year either.
But we in Ukraine do not want a permanent war. We know very well that life without war is infinitely better. And we want to achieve that.
I am convinced that the majority of Russians would respond positively to this as well — and you know it.
Many did not believe that Ukraine would be able to hold out for so long. You did not believe it. And those who advised you did not believe it either. That was a mistake.
You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine, and you did not foresee that things would go this far. Yet here we all are — in the fifth year of this full-scale war.
Do not be afraid to take the path out of this war. That is the main thing that is required of you now.
Ukraine has preserved its independence. And it will preserve it. Despite all predictions to the contrary.
We have united many around the world to stand with Ukraine and against you. We found the weapons and the financing we needed.
We receive support. You receive sanctions. And this will continue until there is justice for Ukraine — the justice we seek and the justice that can be achieved.
We will not allow those who are trying to convince you that sanctions against Russia will be significantly eased, and that support for Ukraine will be significantly reduced, without any meaningful change in your position toward Ukraine, to succeed. The example of Orban shows how those who choose to help Russia in its war against us end in disgrace.
Ukraine has endured harsh winters while you tried to destroy our energy system. We held firm — and even in darkness, the resilience of Ukrainians remained intact.
We brought the war onto your territory, and you would not have been able to cope with it without North Korea’s help. You are the first ruler of Russia to turn to Pyongyang for assistance.
And today you are fully dependent on China — also for the first time in Russia’s history.
You believed Ukrainians would not have the strength to defend themselves. Yet today, our people are helping our partners in the Middle East and the Gulf build their own defenses.
You hoped for internal unrest in Ukraine. Instead, it was your own military formations that staged a mutiny against you. June 23 will mark another anniversary of that event, and silence will not erase this fact from history.
And now it is you whom your own officials, businessmen, and propagandists look at with obvious fatigue. The world can see it.
The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia — even among those in the wider world who help you bypass sanctions and keep your economy afloat.
You cannot fail to notice it. After 26 years in power, age is beginning to take its toll. And with time, the fatigue with you will only grow.
We have seen intelligence reports showing that you are now considering plans to continue the war into 2027 and 2028. We also know that you hope ballistic missiles will achieve for you what everything else has failed to achieve. You want to draw Belarus even deeper into this war, and we are now forced to prepare for that as well. We see that you are trying to orchestrate something around Transnistria. Your propagandists threaten, in one way or another, every country neighboring Russia. Do you really want to go through all of this?
The choice is yours now.
Enough of war.
Ukraine proposes to end this war.
This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited.
We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention.
Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you.
I am proposing a meeting.
Everyone heard your representatives, smiling, say that I could supposedly come to Moscow. But after these 26 years, there is nothing for a Ukrainian leader to do in your capital — just as there is nothing for a Russian leader to do in Kyiv.
There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting.
It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be.
I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting.
We have heard that you were promised in Alaska the resolution of certain issues concerning Ukraine and Europe. But you can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage.
Other agreed participants could join the bilateral track to be established between us.
Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors.
We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation.
We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world.
We’ve already experienced many agreements with Russia, including the Minsk agreements, that ultimately failed. That is why we must first find direct answers between us to the questions that remain, and not hide from difficult issues behind formulas, technical working groups, or endless time lost in shuttle diplomacy.
Your war has permanently set Ukraine and Russia apart.
The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin.
Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want.
You know that the United States has the capability to monitor a ceasefire along the line where hostilities stop.
Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war.
Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war.
We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us.
If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us.
But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes.
We can work toward that fatigue.
You can stop your war.
Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by this war.
Glory to Ukraine!
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