Russia’s abandonment of the Assad regime to marshal more resources for the fight against Ukraine vividly illustrates that Putin is ready to sacrifice everything for total victory in the war. Although Putin tries to portray himself as a realist, he has become consumed with Ukraine, to the exclusion of almost all other foreign policy imperatives.

Ukraine has claimed to have struck a Russian industrial facility producing fuel for missiles, as Moscow says it has foiled several assassination plots on senior officers.Kyiv said on Thursday that its air force had had carried out a strike in Russia’s Rostov region on a factory which was used to produce solid fuel for ballistic missiles used in attacks on Ukraine.

Former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty says that Vladimir Putin spinning Russia’s withdrawal from Syria as a victory could be a preview of how he will frame any possible ceasefire with Ukraine.

The Ursa Major ship went down after an explosion in the engine room, Russia's foreign ministry said.

The transfer marks the end of an era when Russia played an arguably oversized role in determining which countries could operate in Syria’s contested airspace.

With Russia’s diminished influence in Syria, Ukraine calls on Israel to reconsider its stance and provide essential defensive weapons and technology.

Concurrently, marine traffic monitors show a Vladivostok-bound cargo ship, Ursa Major, previously registered as Sparta III and visually matching the picture published by HUR, moving at a very low speed of little over 1 knot in the open sea between Spain and Algeria.

Although Putin tries to portray himself as a realist, he has become consumed with Ukraine, to the exclusion of almost all other foreign policy imperatives,” the publication states. When Putin deployed troops to Syria,

Although Russia has managed to avoid an economic collapse, its war with Ukraine and military involvement in Syria have negatively affected its economy.

Ukraine, like the United States, is a volunteer society, and immediately after the war, groups sprang up around the country to bring supplies to villages and towns under shelling and help or shelter those who wanted to evacuate. The TrustChain has drawn on such groups.

The Russian leader sought to project strength and ease at his annual news conference and call-in show Thursday.