RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ex-German leader reveals why Russia-Ukraine negotiations failed Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has argued in a newspaper interview that the US government didn’t “allow” any compromises that could have brought an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict just weeks after Moscow’s military offensive began in February 2022. Speaking in an interview published by Germany’s Berliner Zeitungnewspaper on Friday, Schroeder said he was asked to help mediate the March 2022 peace negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Istanbul. He said that although representatives of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky were open to making concessions on such key issues as renouncing…

Israel says two Americans held hostage by Hamas, a mother and daughter, have been released Hamas on Friday freed an American woman and her teenage daughter who had been held hostage in Gaza, Israel said, the first such release from among the roughly 200 people the militant group abducted from Israel during its Oct. 7 rampage. Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, were out of the Gaza Strip and in the hands of the Israeli military, an army spokesman said. Hamas said it released them for humanitarian reasons in an agreement with the Qatari government. The release comes amid…

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Russian forces destroy 500 combat aircraft in Ukraine operation, top brass reports Russian forces have destroyed 500 Ukrainian combat aircraft and more than 250 helicopters since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday. "In all, the following targets have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation: 500 aircraft, 252 helicopters, 8,104 unmanned aerial vehicles, 441 surface-to-air missile systems, 12,778 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,165 multiple rocket launchers, 6,837 field artillery guns and mortars and 14,463 special military motor vehicles," the ministry said in a statement.…

The so called 'nuclear briefcase' that accompanies Russian President Vladimir Putin was caught on camera on Wednesday (Oct 18) as the president headed to a meeting after his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The briefcase can be used to order a nuclear strike by the Russian president. The nuclear briefcase is rarely filmed. After his meeting with Xi, as Putin walked to another meeting, he was surrounded by security officers and was followed by two Russian naval officers in uniform. Each of these officers carried a briefcase. One of these was the actual nuclear briefcase. The briefcase is traditionally…