The Biden administration on Thursday announced $500 million in additional military aid for Ukraine as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is getting desperate after nearly 3 years of war.

The Cabinet minister also suggested that Donald Trump’s timetable for a peace deal was slipping towards Easter

If Ukraine falls, it will be hard to spin as anything but a debacle for the United States, and for its president.

Russia's invasion, which began in February 2022, has also been a source of religious controversy within the Eastern Orthodox Church and has driven a split among believers in both Russia and Ukraine.Vi

The Ukrainian president told podcaster Lex Fridman that without security guarantees for Ukraine, Putin "will destroy everything."

With soaring inflation and the ruble dropping to one of its lowest levels against the dollar since President Vladimir Putin launched his war in Ukraine, this year Russians will have to pay more for the dish, which is traditionally served alongside caviar and tangerines, before the New Year is toasted in.

US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin wanted to meet and that a rendezvous between the pair was being arranged.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the incoming US president claimed talks with Russia over the Ukraine war were in the works - and shared his thoughts on a friendly exchange with political rival Barack Obama on Thursday.

"He wants to meet. And we're setting it up," Trump said of the Russian leader before a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He did not offer a timeline for the meeting.

Ahead of Trump's inauguration on January 20, the President-elect has said he is planning a meeting with Russia's leader, which the Kremlin has denied.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday says preparations are already underway for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said the pair would discuss the war in Ukraine.