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Putin says Russia seized nearly 5,000 sq km of Ukraine, holds full strategic control

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Putin says Russia seized nearly 5,000 sq km of Ukraine, holds full strategic control


Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, October 7, 2025. — Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, October 7, 2025. — Reuters
  • Claims Russian forces now hold full strategic initiative on battlefield.
  • Says Ukrainian troops retreating “in all sectors” despite resistance.
  • Kyiv disputes claims, citing gains in Donetsk and Sumy regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian forces had captured almost 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles) of land in Ukraine in 2025 and that Moscow retained complete strategic initiative on the battlefield.

Putin, addressing a meeting with Russian top military commanders, said Ukrainian forces were retreating in all sectors of the front. He said Kyiv was trying to strike deep into Russian territory, but it would not help to change the situation in the more than 3 1/2-year-old war.

“At this time, the Russian armed forces fully hold the strategic initiative,” Putin told the meeting in northwestern Russia, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“This year, we have liberated nearly 5,000 square km of territory – 4,900 – and 212 localities.”

Ukrainian forces, he said, “are retreating throughout the line of combat contact, despite attempts at fierce resistance.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday reported the capture of two more villages along the front, which Ukraine’s top commander says now extends over 1,250 km (775 miles).

Ukrainian accounts of the situation on the front line say Kyiv’s forces have made gains in the Donetsk region, particularly near the town of Dobropillia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also said Ukrainian forces have regained ground in the border Sumy region, where Russia has established a foothold.

Russian Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of Russia’s armed forces, told the meeting of top commanders that Russian forces were “advancing in practically all directions.” Ukrainian forces, he said, were focused on slowing the Russian advance.

Gerasimov, overall commander of Russia’s war effort, said Moscow’s troops were moving on the key cities of Siversk and Kostyantynivka in the main theatre of the Donetsk region.

He said they were clearing Ukrainian forces from the city of Kupiansk, under Russian attack for months in Ukraine’s northeast, and were moving forward in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions further south. They were also progressing in setting up buffer zones in Sumy and Kharkiv regions in the north.

In his remarks to the meeting, Putin said Russia’s objectives remained the same as when he launched its “special military operation” in February 2022, saying it was aimed at “demilitarising and denazifying” its smaller neighbour.





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Netanyahu says he was successfully treated for prostate cancer

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Netanyahu says he was successfully treated for prostate cancer


Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Yom HaZikaron at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in occupied Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. — Reuters
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Yom HaZikaron at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in occupied Jerusalem, April 21, 2026. — Reuters
  • Netanyahu does not disclose when treatment occurred.
  • Delayed release of medical report by two months: Israeli PM.
  • Move aimed at preventing Iran from spreading “propaganda”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said that he had received successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, without specifying when the treatment took place.

In a statement on social media, as his annual medical report was released, Netanyahu, 76, said an early stage malignant tumor had been discovered during a routine checkup. He said “targeted treatment” had removed “the problem” and left no trace of it.

According to the medical report, which otherwise said the prime minister was in good health, Netanyahu was treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Neither the medical report nor Netanyahu said when the treatment occurred.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said that he had delayed the release of the medical report by two months to prevent Iran from spreading “false propaganda against Israel”.

In March, during the fighting with Iran, rumors that circulated on social media and aired on Iranian state media claimed that Netanyahu had died.

The Israeli leader recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe in March to refute the claims.

Netanyahu underwent surgery on his prostate in 2024 after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement. In 2023, he was fitted with a pacemaker. Elections are due to be held in Israel by October.





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Strategic Assertion or Legal Breach? Deconstructing India’s Indus Waters Doctrine

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Strategic Assertion or Legal Breach? Deconstructing India’s Indus Waters Doctrine



India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty under the pretext of security concerns constitutes a flagrant violation of international law , devoid of any legal basis within the Treaty framework. By invoking unsubstantiated claims surrounding the Pahalgam incident , India advances a dangerous doctrine that legitimizes treaty erosion and the coercive weaponisation of shared resources.

The Indus Waters Treaty is a binding bilateral instrument that contains no provision permitting unilateral suspension , reinterpretation, or conditional compliance, thereby rendering India’s decision to hold it in abeyance legally untenable and inconsistent with the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The attempt to justify this breach through allegations linked to the Pahalgam incident remains entirely unsubstantiated in international fora, exposing the claim as a politically motivated pretext rather than a lawful justification. By conflating disputed security narratives with treaty obligations, India not only undermines the integrity of a long-standing water-sharing regime but also sets a pernicious precedent that threatens the stability of transboundary agreements and the broader rules-based international order.

India’s unilateral move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance is not a policy shift, it is a shameless act of legal defiance , openly violating the most basic rule of international law; pacta sunt servanda.

The weaponization of a water-sharing treaty exposes the dangerous ideological imprint of the RSS mindset , where majoritarian extremism overrides legal commitments India’s attempt to justify its conduct through the Pahalgam incident collapses under scrutiny even after a year; no evidence, no accountability, no credibility, only a politically convenient narrative weaponized to rationalize treaty violations.

Dragging terrorism allegations into a binding water treaty is not strategy, it is blatant and reckless escalation , dismantling decades of carefully insulated cooperation and replacing it with instability and mistrust.

By sidestepping proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, India has revealed a pattern of selective legality , embracing international law when convenient and abandoning it when constrained. Moreover, India yet remains silent to the UN Special Rapporteurs queries even after 130 days.

The weaponisation of water by an upper riparian state is nothing short of hydro-political terrorism , targeting the economic and agricultural lifeline of millions and crossing the line from governance into coercion.

This conduct represents a shameful erosion of treaty sanctity , sending a chilling message to the world that binding agreements can be hollowed out by power politics and ideological rigidity.

Pakistan’s position remains unequivocal; treaties are not conditional favors but binding obligations, and no state has the authority to unilaterally rewrite or suspend them under the guise of security narratives.

The growing international concern surrounding India’s actions underscores a simple reality: Unilateralism is isolating, destabilizing, and fundamentally incompatible with a rules-based order.

At its core, this doctrine of “blood and water cannot flow together” is not a principle of justice, it is a dangerous precedent, legitimizing collective punishment and transforming a historic instrument of peace into a tool of strategic pressure.



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India rebukes Trump for sharing ‘hellhole’ remarks on birthright citizenship

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India rebukes Trump for sharing ‘hellhole’ remarks on birthright citizenship


US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour the historic Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, February 24, 2020. — Reuters
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tour the historic Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, February 24, 2020. — Reuters
  • Trump shares commentary on birthright citizenship on his social media.
  • Conservative talk show host called China, India ‘hellhole’ places.
  • India says inappropriate comments do not reflect reality of India-US ties.

India has dismissed as “uninformed” comments shared by US President Donald Trump that described the country as a “hellhole”, saying they were inappropriate and inconsistent with the strong relationship between the two countries.

The comments were made by conservative commentator Michael Savage in an episode of The Savage Nation talk radio show. Trump posted a transcript of the show on his Truth Social account on Thursday without any comments.

“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” Savage said, according to the transcript.

“That there’s almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today, which was not always the case. No, they’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors.”

Reuters could not immediately contact Savage.

Trump has issued a directive seeking to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, a move that has been challenged in the US Supreme Court. Earlier this month, he attended a hearing on the issue in a historic visit to the court.

India’s foreign ministry late on Thursday reacted strongly to the comments.

“The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said in a statement.

“They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests.”

The US embassy in New Delhi said: “The president has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.”

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

India’s main opposition Congress party called the “hellhole” remark “extremely insulting and anti-India. It hurts every Indian”.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take up this matter with the US President and register a strong objection,” the party said on X.

Indian government data shows nearly 5.5 million people of Indian origin live in the United States. Indian Americans and Chinese Americans are the two biggest groups of Asian origin in the US.

Trump and Modi enjoyed warm ties during Trump’s first term, but relations cooled after India was hit last year with some of the highest US tariffs, many of which were rolled back this year. India and the US are now working on a trade deal aimed at preventing any renewed increase in tariffs and boosting sales to each other.





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