MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin (pictured) intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by Donald Trump’s threats of tougher sanctions, and his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance,

He believes Russia’s economy and its military are strong enough to weather any additional Western measures. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

President Trump is openly voicing his frustration with Vladimir Putin as Russia intensifies attacks while the U.S. tries to broker peace.

THE Kremlin has mocked Trump’s 50-day deadline to strike a peace deal – and may demand even more Ukrainian territory instead of laying down arms. Putin will keep terrorising Ukrainian

The United Nations insisted on Tuesday that any peace talks on Russia's war in Ukraine must include full accountability for the conflict's litany of violations, following the deadliest month for civilians since May 2022.

Volker Turk’s appeal comes the day after US President Donald Trump warned Moscow that it would face significant new economic sanctions if the war was not ended within 50 days

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Wednesday that countries such as Brazil, China and India could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia. Rutte made the comment while meeting with senators in the US Congress the day after President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened "biting" secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days.

In an abrupt break from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, Trump's administration has cast the war as a deadly proxy conflict between Russia and the United States, withdrawn support for Ukraine joining NATO and floated the idea of recognising Russia's annexation of Crimea.

Russia pounded four Ukrainian cities overnight into Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said. The latest bombardment in Russia’s escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept.