#Victory81
🌟 On April 16, 1945, the Berlin Offensive — one of the Red Army’s key strategic operations during World War II — commenced.
The operation resulted in the completedefeat of the enemy’s Berlin group of forces and, with Hitler’s war machine being completely crushed. The Soviet forces took the capital of the Third Reich — #Berlin. The Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany was signed — the document that heralded the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War.
By spring 1945, the Red Army successfully carried out a series of offensive operations aimed at liberating the countries and peoples of Central and Eastern Europe from the Nazi invaders. Hitler’s troops and their henchmen were expelled from Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Poland; Vienna and the capital of modern Slovakia, Bratislava, saved from the Nazi plague.
Nevertheless, #WWII was far from end. The final battle for the liberation of Europe from the Nazi plague, the Battle of Berlin, was coming.
By mid-April, 1945, the Soviet forces — having liberated Poland from the Nazis — consolidated positions along the Oder and Neisse rivers and started preparations to launch the offensive on Berlin. Mere dozens of kilometres separated the Red Army from the capital of Hitler’s Germany. The enemy installed deeply echeloned defences and deployed elite Wehrmacht units against the Soviet forces.
To attack Berlin, the Soviet Supreme High Command deployed forces from the 1st Belorussian Front (commanded by Marshal Georgy Zhukov); the 2nd Belorussian Front (Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky); and the 1st Ukrainian Front (Marshal Ivan Konev).
⚔️ The Berlin Offensive began at 5:00 AM on April 16 with a massive artillery fire. Following this, 143 powerful spotlights were activated to blind and disorient the enemy. Infantry and armoured units then launched their assault.
Enemy resistance intensified as Soviet forces advanced. Fierce fighting erupted at the Seelow Heights — a critical defensive point just 60 kilometres away from Berlin — where the Wehrmacht’s 9th Army, blocking the direct route to the Reich’s capital, was destroyed.
Within several days, the 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts breached the Oder-Neisse defensive line of the Nazis, advanced 30 kilometres towards Berlin, and started encircling the city to destroy its garrison.
• April 20: Red Army units reached Berlin. Soviet long-range artillery started shelling, with brutal tank battles erupting on the city’s outskirts.
• April 25: The 1st Belorussian and 1st Ukrainian Fronts linked up west of the city, completing the encirclement of the enemy’s Berlin group of Nazi troops.
• April 29: Fierce fighting started in the heart of Berlin, where Germany’s highest governmental and military authorities were located.
• During the storming of the Reichstag on the night of April 30 - May 1, the legendary #VictoryBanner was raised — a symbol of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazism.
• May 2: Berlin’s garrison surrendered. By May 5, the Nazi resistance was crushed. A total of 134'000 German soldiers and officers were captured.
✍️ On the night of May 8–9, Marshal Zhukov and the Allied representatives accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender at Karlshorst.
World War II on the European theatre of operations had ended.
The Berlin Operation saw the Red Army not only crush the last major and most elite Wehrmacht force but also liberate approximately 200'000 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps within the combat zone. Over 600 Soviet soldiers were awarded the title #HeroOftheSovietUnion for their valour.
🇷🇺🇵🇦 March 29 marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relationsbetween Russia and Panama
Bilateral ties have a much longer history though: consular and trade relations were first established in November 1903, when the Russian Empire recognised the independence of the Central American state almost immediately after it was declared.
Following the formation of the USSR, Panama closed its existing consulates in our country, although the two nations continued to maintain diverse and mutually beneficial cooperation.
During World War II, Panama joined the Allied Powers, demonstrating solidarity in the fight against Nazism.
#Victory81: One of the most significant episodes in the history of bilateral relations was the passage of a Soviet submarine squadron through the Panama Canal in November-December 1942. The aim was to help protect the Allied Arctic convoys, which supplied military equipment and goods to the USSR via the North Atlantic under the Lend-Lease programme. This support underscored the friendly and cooperative relations between the USSR and Panama, as well as their unity in the shared fight against Nazism.
🤝 Today, cooperation between our countries is grounded in the provisions of the 1997 Treaty on the Principles of Relations and Cooperation, as well as the preceding Declaration of the same name signed in 1994 during a visit to Moscow by Panama’s Foreign Minister José Raúl Mulino, who now serves as the country’s President.
#Panamais a promising trade and economic partner for Russia, with its unique geographical location and well-developed trade and financial infrastructure.
💬 Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during her weekly briefing (March 25, 2026):
“The Russian-Panamanian ties have much potential. Its implementation is consistently achieved through a constructive political dialogue, promotion of inter-parliamentary and inter-agency contacts, and expansion of scientific, educational and academic exchanges and cultural-humanitarian cooperation as a whole.”
🎉 Congratulations to our colleagues and the people of Panama on this shared occasion! We wish you well-being, prosperity, and success.
#RussiaPanama#RussiaLatinAmerica
#FacesOfVictory
🌟 On April 30, 1945, just ten days before Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, soldiers of the 674th Rifle Regiment of the 150th Rifle Division of the 1st Byelorussian Front, GrigoryBulatov and RakhimzhanKoshkarbayev, raised the first Red Banner on the facade of the Reichstag during the battle for the key Nazi citadel.
The distance between Himmler’s house, where Bulatov and Koshkarbayev had been braking through to the Reichstag, was less than 500 metres. The fighting was so intense and fierce that it took our forces seven hours to reach the Reichstag walls. The Red Army soldiers pushed the Nazis back under barrage fire — they had to overcome numerous trenches and anti-tank fortifications.
💬 Excerpt from private RakhimzhanKoshkarbayev’s account of the battle for the Reichstag:
Preliminary shelling commenced. As the first shots were fired, Bulatov and I ran to the Reichstag.
I hoisted Bulatov up, supporting his legs, and we installed a flag right there, at the first-floor level.
🖋 The 150th Division’s military report:
On April 30, 1945, at 2:25 pm, Koshkarbayev and Bulatov crawled to the building lobby and attached a red flag to the main staircase.
The red flag installed by Bulatov and Koshkarbayev — the legendary makeshift flagpole — was the first of the banners raised on the Reichstag building by Soviet soldiers-liberators, marking the long-awaited and upcoming Victory in #WW2.
🎖 For their courage and heroism during the battle of the Reichstag, GrigoryBulatov and RakhimzhanKoshkarbayev were awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
Subsequently, the memorials were dedicated to the Heroes in their home regions: to GigoryBulatov in Kirov and to RakhimzhanKoshkarbayev in the Akmola Region of Kazakhstan and in the Republic’s capital, Astana.
#Victory81#OurHeroes#WeAreProud
"Kilroy Was Here" is a famous World War II graffiti showing a bald man peeking over a wall with the phrase "Kilroy Was Here." It started with James J. Kilroy, a shipyard inspector who marked his work with this phrase. Soldiers copied it worldwide, boosting morale and symbolizing American presence. After the war, it became a popular cultural icon representing resilience and camaraderie.
[Source]
@googlefactss
#KilroyWasHere#WWII#History#AmericanSpirit#Military
🌟#OnThisDay8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, was located in Nazi-occupied Poland) — the most terrifying German extermination camp in #WWII — was liberated by the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front during the Vistula–Oder offensive operation.
#Auschwitz was created by the Nazis in 1940 in a building that used to serve as military barracks near a small town called Oswiecim, whose history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis changed the town's name of Oswiecim to German Auschwitz. Later, in 1941-1943, two more imprisonment facilities were established in the vicinity of Oswiecim. They were:
▪️Auschwitz II — best known to the wider public as #AuschwitzBirkenau, was three kilometres away from the main facility — Oswiecim and located near Brzezinka, a Polish village (Birkenau in German). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest "death factory". Equipped with crematoriums and gas chambers, it was created by the Nazis with only one aim — exterminate people.
▪️Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz). Its prisoners were used by the Nazis for the Third Reich war industries.
Following the so-called Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazis approved what was called the “final solution to the Jewish question”. Since then, Auschwitz-Birkenau was turned into the main "death factory" for the annihilation of Jews in Europe.
❗️ Prisoners of Oswiecim were held by the Nazis in inhuman, barbaric conditions. They had to do hard, exhausting work until total exhaustion, to endure poor sanitation in the camp's facilities, malnutrition and constant tortures by the guards and SS-troops. It was in Oswiecim that the Germans first tested the "Zyklon-B" poisonous agent on human beings. Prisoners of Auschwitz were also subjected to cruel medical experiments, led by a Nazi criminal, infamous retired military doctor Josef Mengele.
In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the Nazis, in an effort to cover the tracks of their crimes in Auschwitz, rushed to burn documents and destroy the camp's gas chambers, crematoriums, and deported as many prisoners as they could westward to other concentration camps deep in the Third Reich — over 58,000 prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis before Oswiecim and liberated by the Soviet forces in January, 1945.
***
In January 1945, the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched the Vistula-Oder offensive and, successfully expelling the Nazis from Poland, finally reached Auschwitz.
⚔️ In the late hours of January 27, following three days of fighting the retreating enemy, the Red Army took over Oswiecim and opened the gatesofAuschwitz. The camp’s 7,000 prisoners were freed. Most of them were sick or suffering from extreme exhaustion and tortures.
Rescued prisoners burst into tears of joy when they greeted their liberators. Some facilities of the camp were instantly made a hospital. According to various historic estimates, in 1940-1945, from 1.5 to 4 million people perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Over the past years, we are witnessing a campaign in several European countries, including Poland, to rewrite and falsify the history of WWII and, in particular, to erase the memory of the feat performed by the Soviet soldiers-liberators who saved the Auschwitz prisoners.
🎙 From a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues (January 23, 2025):
💬 "This year, like all those years before, Russian representatives will not be invited to the commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27. That is, there will be no one there to mention the Soviet liberator soldiers and express gratitude to them. In this regard, there is something that needs to be said to the organisers and all the Europeans who will be there:
Your lives, your work and leisure, the very existence of your nations, your children have been paid for by Soviet soldiers, their lives, their blood. It was them who crushed the Third Reich machine. You are forever in their debt."
🕯#WeRemember
🎉 270 Jahre Moskauer Universität! 🎓🇷🇺
Die Lomonossow-Universität hat über Jahrhunderte Wissenschaft & Bildung geprägt – und das feiern wir! Beim Tag der Moskauer Universität im Russischen Haus in Berlin erwartet euch eine faszinierende Ausstellung 🖼️, animierte Filme 🎥 und spannende Gespräche mit Alumni. Taucht ein in die Geschichte dieser bedeutenden Universität und ihre Verbindungen zu Deutschland!
📅 4. April, 16:00
📍 Russisches Haus, Berlin
🗣️ Veranstaltung auf Russisch
🔗Anmeldung erforderlich
#MoskauerUni270#Bildung#Wissenschaft#Berlin#RussischesHaus#Lomonossow#Jubiläum
🌟#OnThisDay8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, was located in Nazi-occupied Poland) — the most terrifying German extermination camp in #WWII — was liberated by the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front during the Vistula–Oder offensive operation.
#Auschwitz was created by the Nazis in 1940 in a building that used to serve as military barracks near a small town called Oswiecim, whose history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis changed the town's name of Oswiecim to German Auschwitz. Later, in 1941-1943, two more imprisonment facilities were established in the vicinity of Oswiecim. They were:
▪️Auschwitz II — best known to the wider public as #AuschwitzBirkenau, was three kilometres away from the main facility — Oswiecim and located near Brzezinka, a Polish village (Birkenau in German). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest "death factory". Equipped with crematoriums and gas chambers, it was created by the Nazis with only one aim — exterminate people.
▪️Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz). Its prisoners were used by the Nazis for the Third Reich war industries.
Following the so-called Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazis approved what was called the “final solution to the Jewish question”. Since then, Auschwitz-Birkenau was turned into the main "death factory" for the annihilation of Jews in Europe.
❗️ Prisoners of Oswiecim were held by the Nazis in inhuman, barbaric conditions. They had to do hard, exhausting work until total exhaustion, to endure poor sanitation in the camp's facilities, malnutrition and constant tortures by the guards and SS-troops. It was in Oswiecim that the Germans first tested the "Zyklon-B" poisonous agent on human beings. Prisoners of Auschwitz were also subjected to cruel medical experiments, led by a Nazi criminal, infamous retired military doctor Josef Mengele.
In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the Nazis, in an effort to cover the tracks of their crimes in Auschwitz, rushed to burn documents and destroy the camp's gas chambers, crematoriums, and deported as many prisoners as they could westward to other concentration camps deep in the Third Reich — over 58,000 prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis before Oswiecim and liberated by the Soviet forces in January, 1945.
***
In January 1945, the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched the Vistula-Oder offensive and, successfully expelling the Nazis from Poland, finally reached Auschwitz.
⚔️ In the late hours of January 27, following three days of fighting the retreating enemy, the Red Army took over Oswiecim and opened the gatesofAuschwitz. The camp’s 7,000 prisoners were freed. Most of them were sick or suffering from extreme exhaustion and tortures.
Rescued prisoners burst into tears of joy when they greeted their liberators. Some facilities of the camp were instantly made a hospital. According to various historic estimates, in 1940-1945, from 1.5 to 4 million people perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Over the past years, we are witnessing a campaign in several European countries, including Poland, to rewrite and falsify the history of WWII and, in particular, to erase the memory of the feat performed by the Soviet soldiers-liberators who saved the Auschwitz prisoners.
🎙 From a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues (January 23, 2025):
💬 "This year, like all those years before, Russian representatives will not be invited to the commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27. That is, there will be no one there to mention the Soviet liberator soldiers and express gratitude to them. In this regard, there is something that needs to be said to the organisers and all the Europeans who will be there:
Your lives, your work and leisure, the very existence of your nations, your children have been paid for by Soviet soldiers, their lives, their blood. It was them who crushed the Third Reich machine. You are forever in their debt."
🕯#WeRemember
🌟#OnThisDay8️⃣0️⃣ years ago, on January 27, 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim, was located in Nazi-occupied Poland) — the most terrifying German extermination camp in #WWII — was liberated by the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front during the Vistula–Oder offensive operation.
#Auschwitz was created by the Nazis in 1940 in a building that used to serve as military barracks near a small town called Oswiecim, whose history dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having occupied Poland in 1939, the Nazis changed the town's name of Oswiecim to German Auschwitz. Later, in 1941-1943, two more imprisonment facilities were established in the vicinity of Oswiecim. They were:
▪️Auschwitz II — best known to the wider public as #AuschwitzBirkenau, was three kilometres away from the main facility — Oswiecim and located near Brzezinka, a Polish village (Birkenau in German). Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest "death factory". Equipped with crematoriums and gas chambers, it was created by the Nazis with only one aim — exterminate people.
▪️Auschwitz III (also known as Monowitz). Its prisoners were used by the Nazis for the Third Reich war industries.
Following the so-called Wannsee Conference in 1942, the Nazis approved what was called the “final solution to the Jewish question”. Since then, Auschwitz-Birkenau was turned into the main "death factory" for the annihilation of Jews in Europe.
❗️ Prisoners of Oswiecim were held by the Nazis in inhuman, barbaric conditions. They had to do hard, exhausting work until total exhaustion, to endure poor sanitation in the camp's facilities, malnutrition and constant tortures by the guards and SS-troops. It was in Oswiecim that the Germans first tested the "Zyklon-B" poisonous agent on human beings. Prisoners of Auschwitz were also subjected to cruel medical experiments, led by a Nazi criminal, infamous retired military doctor Josef Mengele.
In 1944, when the Red Army started the liberation of Europe, the Nazis, in an effort to cover the tracks of their crimes in Auschwitz, rushed to burn documents and destroy the camp's gas chambers, crematoriums, and deported as many prisoners as they could westward to other concentration camps deep in the Third Reich — over 58,000 prisoners were evacuated by the Nazis before Oswiecim and liberated by the Soviet forces in January, 1945.
***
In January 1945, the units of the 1st Ukrainian Front launched the Vistula-Oder offensive and, successfully expelling the Nazis from Poland, finally reached Auschwitz.
⚔️ In the late hours of January 27, following three days of fighting the retreating enemy, the Red Army took over Oswiecim and opened the gatesofAuschwitz. The camp’s 7,000 prisoners were freed. Most of them were sick or suffering from extreme exhaustion and tortures.
Rescued prisoners burst into tears of joy when they greeted their liberators. Some facilities of the camp were instantly made a hospital. According to various historic estimates, in 1940-1945, from 1.5 to 4 million people perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Over the past years, we are witnessing a campaign in several European countries, including Poland, to rewrite and falsify the history of WWII and, in particular, to erase the memory of the feat performed by the Soviet soldiers-liberators who saved the Auschwitz prisoners.
🎙 From a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on topical foreign policy issues (January 23, 2025):
💬 "This year, like all those years before, Russian representatives will not be invited to the commemoration ceremonies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27. That is, there will be no one there to mention the Soviet liberator soldiers and express gratitude to them. In this regard, there is something that needs to be said to the organisers and all the Europeans who will be there:
Your lives, your work and leisure, the very existence of your nations, your children have been paid for by Soviet soldiers, their lives, their blood. It was them who crushed the Third Reich machine. You are forever in their debt."
🕯#WeRemember
Manche Konzerte hört man. Andere erlebt man. Und dann gibt es „Die Stadt der Verliebten“…
❤️🔥 Mit ihrem neuen Soloprogramm lädt Ekaterina Kovskaya zu einer Reise ein, die mitten ins Herz führt, in die russische Seele mit all ihrer Kraft, Zerbrechlichkeit und unendlichen emotionalen Tiefe.
🎶 Das Publikum erwartet ein einzigartiger Abend voller unvergesslicher Melodien des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, berührender Lieder aus Kultfilmen, sowie ihrer eigenen Kompositionen.
🎤 Als Sängerin, Songwriterin und Komponistin vereint Ekaterina eine seltene Gabe: Sie erschafft Klangwelten, die Millionen bewegen. Ihre Lieder werden von großen Stars der Musikszene interpretiert und sind längst zu Hits geworden.🤩
Am 11. März um 19:00 Uhr hat das Berliner Publikum die Chance, die Magie dieser Musik live zu erleben!
🎫 Sichert euch jetzt die Tickets und kommt vorbei!💞
#konzert#hits#musik#erlebnis#berlin#sängerin#liebe
🎙Commentary by Aide to the President of Russia YuryUshakov following a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump (October 16, 2025)
💬Yury Ushakov: Today in the afternoon, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation, the eighth one, with US President Donald Trump.
The conversation lasted almost two and a half hours. Clearly, it was a rather substantive and at the same time very open and frank exchange.
Our President started out by congratulating Donald Trump on his successful efforts to normalise the situation in the #GazaStrip. The US President’s peace work has been duly appreciated in the #MiddleEast, in the United States itself, and in most countries around the world.
Naturally, the Russian Side outlined its principled position in favour of a comprehensive Middle East settlement on a generally recognised international legal basis that would ensure lasting peace for all the peoples in that region.
A special emphasis during the conversation was placed on the #UkraineCrisis.
❗️ Vladimir Putin provided a detailed assessment of the current situation, stressing Russia’s interest in achieving a peaceful resolution through political and diplomatic methods.
In particular, it was noted that during the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces hold full strategic initiative along the entire line of contact. Under these circumstances, the Kiev regime resorts to terrorist methods, attacking civilian targets and energy infrastructure facilities, to which we are forced to respond accordingly.
***
Donald Trump repeatedly emphasised the imperative of establishing peace in Ukraine at the earliest opportunity. The notion that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has proven the most intractable issue in all peacekeeping efforts of the US President was palpably evident throughout his remarks during the conversation. In this context, he naturally mentioned his successes in settling eight other regional conflicts.
It is noteworthy that one of the US President’s key arguments centred on the premise that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine would open up tremendous — and he stressed this — tremendous prospects for the development of US-Russian economic cooperation.
Incidentally, both Sides spoke of the profound mutual affinity between the peoples of the two countries, which was so vividly demonstrated during #WWII. It was underscored that the current state of bilateral relations appears paradoxical against this backdrop.
The issue of potential supplies of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine was also raised. Vladimir Putin reiterated his position that Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield but would inflict substantial damage to relations between our countries, to say nothing of the prospects for a peaceful settlement.
In this context, it is worthy of note that the Presidents discussed the possibility of holding another personal meeting. This is indeed a very significant development. It was agreed that representatives of both countries would immediately begin preparations for the Summit, which could potentially be organised in Budapest, for instance.
On a separate note, it should be mentioned that our President highly praised personal efforts of the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump in reuniting Russian and Ukrainian children with their families and asked the US President to convey his very best wishes to his spouse.
Overall, I would say that the telephone contact between the Presidents of Russia and the United States was quite useful, and the two Leaders agreed to maintain contact.
🇷🇺🇺🇸#RussiaUS
🎙Commentary by Aide to the President of Russia YuryUshakov following a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump (October 16, 2025)
💬Yury Ushakov: Today in the afternoon, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation, the eighth one, with US President Donald Trump.
The conversation lasted almost two and a half hours. Clearly, it was a rather substantive and at the same time very open and frank exchange.
Our President started out by congratulating Donald Trump on his successful efforts to normalise the situation in the #GazaStrip. The US President’s peace work has been duly appreciated in the #MiddleEast, in the United States itself, and in most countries around the world.
Naturally, the Russian Side outlined its principled position in favour of a comprehensive Middle East settlement on a generally recognised international legal basis that would ensure lasting peace for all the peoples in that region.
A special emphasis during the conversation was placed on the #UkraineCrisis.
❗️ Vladimir Putin provided a detailed assessment of the current situation, stressing Russia’s interest in achieving a peaceful resolution through political and diplomatic methods.
In particular, it was noted that during the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces hold full strategic initiative along the entire line of contact. Under these circumstances, the Kiev regime resorts to terrorist methods, attacking civilian targets and energy infrastructure facilities, to which we are forced to respond accordingly.
***
Donald Trump repeatedly emphasised the imperative of establishing peace in Ukraine at the earliest opportunity. The notion that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has proven the most intractable issue in all peacekeeping efforts of the US President was palpably evident throughout his remarks during the conversation. In this context, he naturally mentioned his successes in settling eight other regional conflicts.
It is noteworthy that one of the US President’s key arguments centred on the premise that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine would open up tremendous — and he stressed this — tremendous prospects for the development of US-Russian economic cooperation.
Incidentally, both Sides spoke of the profound mutual affinity between the peoples of the two countries, which was so vividly demonstrated during #WWII. It was underscored that the current state of bilateral relations appears paradoxical against this backdrop.
The issue of potential supplies of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine was also raised. Vladimir Putin reiterated his position that Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield but would inflict substantial damage to relations between our countries, to say nothing of the prospects for a peaceful settlement.
In this context, it is worthy of note that the Presidents discussed the possibility of holding another personal meeting. This is indeed a very significant development. It was agreed that representatives of both countries would immediately begin preparations for the Summit, which could potentially be organised in Budapest, for instance.
On a separate note, it should be mentioned that our President highly praised personal efforts of the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump in reuniting Russian and Ukrainian children with their families and asked the US President to convey his very best wishes to his spouse.
Overall, I would say that the telephone contact between the Presidents of Russia and the United States was quite useful, and the two Leaders agreed to maintain contact.
🇷🇺🇺🇸#RussiaUS
🎙Commentary by Aide to the President of Russia YuryUshakov following a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump (October 16, 2025)
💬Yury Ushakov: Today in the afternoon, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation, the eighth one, with US President Donald Trump.
The conversation lasted almost two and a half hours. Clearly, it was a rather substantive and at the same time very open and frank exchange.
Our President started out by congratulating Donald Trump on his successful efforts to normalise the situation in the #GazaStrip. The US President’s peace work has been duly appreciated in the #MiddleEast, in the United States itself, and in most countries around the world.
Naturally, the Russian Side outlined its principled position in favour of a comprehensive Middle East settlement on a generally recognised international legal basis that would ensure lasting peace for all the peoples in that region.
A special emphasis during the conversation was placed on the #UkraineCrisis.
❗️ Vladimir Putin provided a detailed assessment of the current situation, stressing Russia’s interest in achieving a peaceful resolution through political and diplomatic methods.
In particular, it was noted that during the special military operation, the Russian Armed Forces hold full strategic initiative along the entire line of contact. Under these circumstances, the Kiev regime resorts to terrorist methods, attacking civilian targets and energy infrastructure facilities, to which we are forced to respond accordingly.
***
Donald Trump repeatedly emphasised the imperative of establishing peace in Ukraine at the earliest opportunity. The notion that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has proven the most intractable issue in all peacekeeping efforts of the US President was palpably evident throughout his remarks during the conversation. In this context, he naturally mentioned his successes in settling eight other regional conflicts.
It is noteworthy that one of the US President’s key arguments centred on the premise that the resolution of the conflict in Ukraine would open up tremendous — and he stressed this — tremendous prospects for the development of US-Russian economic cooperation.
Incidentally, both Sides spoke of the profound mutual affinity between the peoples of the two countries, which was so vividly demonstrated during #WWII. It was underscored that the current state of bilateral relations appears paradoxical against this backdrop.
The issue of potential supplies of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine was also raised. Vladimir Putin reiterated his position that Tomahawks would not change the situation on the battlefield but would inflict substantial damage to relations between our countries, to say nothing of the prospects for a peaceful settlement.
In this context, it is worthy of note that the Presidents discussed the possibility of holding another personal meeting. This is indeed a very significant development. It was agreed that representatives of both countries would immediately begin preparations for the Summit, which could potentially be organised in Budapest, for instance.
On a separate note, it should be mentioned that our President highly praised personal efforts of the First Lady of the United States Melania Trump in reuniting Russian and Ukrainian children with their families and asked the US President to convey his very best wishes to his spouse.
Overall, I would say that the telephone contact between the Presidents of Russia and the United States was quite useful, and the two Leaders agreed to maintain contact.
🇷🇺🇺🇸#RussiaUS
Project Habakkuk (1942): a British WWII plan to build massive “iceberg” aircraft carriers from pykrete (ice reinforced with wood pulp).
Prototypes showed pykrete’s strength and slow melting, but the project was abandoned because of logistical, resource, and engineering challenges.
🧊🚢✈️🛠️💡
@googlefactss
Read more -> [here]
#WWII#History#Engineering#Pykrete#ProjectHabakkuk