Tag - russia

 
 

RUSSIA

A billboard displays an ad for the German armed forces in Berlin on Wednesday. The advertising slogan reads: "Standing up for our democracy. Every morning."
WORLD / FOCUS
Aug 24, 2025
Germany is one step closer to reviving military conscription
A law headed for Cabinet approval on Wednesday seeks to boost Bundeswehr recruitment to help deter Russia and defend European allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a news conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 23, 2025
With no Ukraine peace deal, Trump again threatens Russia sanctions
U.S. President Donald Trump renewed the threat, if there is no progress toward a peaceful settlement in Ukraine in two weeks, amid frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, last week.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2025
Was Trump’s Russia-Ukraine summit doomed from the beginning?
Negotiations are doomed to fail if you neglect both reality and standard practices that must never be ignored.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin as they meet in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2025
Peace in Ukraine is within reach — if the world holds firm
Peace prospects swing with Trump’s erratic diplomacy. Allies, including Japan, need to stress unity and rule of law as they prepare to fill gaps and stabilize support for Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands during a news conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage, Alaska, last week.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2025
Doubts grow on Ukraine security plan as Russia demands role
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow should have a say in security arrangements for Ukraine, which could also involve Beijing.
A Ukrainian service member throws a grenade during training in the Donbas region, Ukraine, in April. Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas region, according to U.S. estimates and open-source data.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 22, 2025
Putin demands Ukraine give up Donbas, not join NATO and no Western troops: sources
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognized Ukrainian land as part of a deal.
A girl uses her smartphone as she walks her dog in Moscow on July 30.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025
Online behavior under scrutiny as Russia hunts 'extremists'
Internet users who search for web pages, books, artwork or music albums that the authorities deem extremist will be fined under new legislation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shake hands during a joint news conference following their meeting at the Chigi Palace in Rome on May 13.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025
Meloni offers plan to aid Ukraine in a day if Russia resumes war
The Italian prime minister is pushing for a proposal that amounts to a NATO-like collective defense clause, but doesn’t come with actual membership in the alliance.
Hiroyoshi Takizawa looks at pictures from his days in wartime Manchuria as a child during an interview in Nagano in June.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025
A life upended by wartime mass suicides
Hiroyoshi Takizawa's life in Manchuria was comfortable at first. But when the Soviet Union invaded, his father, fearing the worst, chose mass suicide.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires a self-propelled howitzer toward Russian troops near a front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 21, 2025
Russia says talks on Ukraine's security without Moscow are a 'road to nowhere'
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sounded the warning to the West as it scrambles to work out guarantees for Kyiv's future protection.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chiese President Xi Jinping in 2016. Modi has said he’s looking forward to meeting Xi during a visit China later this month — his first trip to the country in seven years.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 20, 2025
Modi hails China ties as Washington takes swipe at India's 'richest families'
New Delhi has been recalibrating its foreign policy more toward China and other BRICS group members after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to boost tariffs.
Local residents carry their belongings out of a heavily damaged residential building following a Russian strike in the town of Bilozerske, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Aug. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025
U.S. and European planners start to craft Ukraine security guarantee options
One option being considered is sending European forces to Ukraine but putting the U.S. in charge of their command and control.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Yury Slyusar, acting governor of the Rostov region, in Moscow on Monday. Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court for allegedly unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025
Switzerland and Austria say they would host ICC-wanted Putin for peace talks
Both countries have indicated they would give the Russian leader immunity in order to meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at a neutral location.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with top European leaders in the White House Library in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 20, 2025
Trump says no ground troops, but maybe air support, to back Ukraine peace deal
The path to peace remained uncertain as the U.S. and allies prepared to work out what military support for Kyiv might include.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Finnish President Alexander Stubb (right) look on as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with European leaders in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 19, 2025
Zelenskyy and his allies turn on charm to keep Trump’s favor
Anxious to avoid another disastrous meeting, the Ukrainian leader repeatedly thanked Trump and wore a black jacket and buttoned-up black dress shirt. He also brought backup.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, amid negotiations to end Russia's war in Ukraine, in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 19, 2025
Trump pushes Putin-Zelenskyy meeting after talks with both
The move suggested that the leaders of Ukraine and top European nations had succeeded in convincing Trump to maintain their approach to possible talks with the Russian president.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the media after a meeting in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 19, 2025
Ishiba says Japan considering role in security guarantees for Ukraine
The “coalition of the willing,” which groups 30 nations backing Ukraine that includes Japan, has been working for months to craft a comprehensive package of security guarantees.
Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump participate in a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 19, 2025
Well-mannered White House welcome for Ukraine leaves many questions
There were no immediate signs that any party had substantially changed their positions on land swaps, security guarantees or sanctions as ways of resolving the war in Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a signing ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, in 2018.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 19, 2025
Modi hails ‘friend’ Putin and boosts China ties in tilt from U.S.
The move is another sign the South Asian nation is tilting away from the U.S. in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2025
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
"Since we had been fighting Americans, it was beyond my imagination that Soviets launched an attack on us three days after the end of WWII," Takahashi said.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past