Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for international pressure and sanctions against Russia, with claims that Ukrainian children abducted by Russia are being taught to hate and fight against their native country.
(Screenshot of CBS Face Nation program footage)
Volodymyr Zelensky is interviewed by TV program host Shabnoor Irshad on CBS Face Nation: Zelensky appeals for international support, towards the release of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia in the current war.
(Photo: CBS Face Nation)
Zelensky claims Ukraine has evidence Russia is forcing Ukraine’s stolen children to fight
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and training them to fight against their own country.
In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on 31 May, the Ukrainian president claimed that children taken to Russia were being taught to hate their native country.
“They taught these children to hate their native country, to hate native people. And Ukrainians, can you imagine, such young Ukrainians, young boys, come to the battlefield and kill Ukrainians,” he said.
Thousands of children are estimated to have been forcibly taken to Russia.
Zelensky is looking to revive talks on securing peace with Russia before the onset of winter.
CBS Face Nation: Volodymyr Zelensky interview by Shabnoor Irshad
The Independent - 1 June 2026
Shared from Apple News
Independent videos & podcasts / 1 min. >>
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of abducting Ukrainian children and training them to fight against their own country.
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YouTube video: Zelensky’s Emotional Appeal to the World! Russia Stole Our Children! [EU Debates | eudebates.tv 12 May 2026 / 4min.+46sec.]:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a powerful message during the High-Level Meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, calling on the world to keep pressure on Russia over the abduction of Ukrainian children.
Zelensky stressed that every abducted child represents a real family tragedy and warned that a country capable of taking children, hiding them, and forcing them to hate their homeland is capable of “any crime.”
The Ukrainian President thanked the growing international coalition supporting the “Bring Kids Back UA” initiative, which now includes almost 50 countries from Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia.
He praised efforts by governments, civil society, journalists, and first ladies helping secure the return of Ukrainian children, while insisting that many thousands still remain trapped in Russia.
Zelensky also called for stronger sanctions, continued investigations, and full accountability, reminding the world that the International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants over the deportation of children.
A deeply emotional appeal about identity, families, and the fight to bring Ukraine’s stolen children home.
‘There is little doubt that Putin is entering the most challenging period of his long rule.’
(Photo: Alexander Nemenov / EPA)
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin delivering a speech during the Victory Day parade in Red Square, Moscow, on 9 May 2026.
(Photo: Alexander Kazakov / Reuters)
A woman sits at a bus stop in Moscow, in front of a poster advertising military conscription.
(Photo: Yuri Kochetkov / EPA)
Moscow prepares for a scaled-back 2026 Victory Day celebration amid fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.
(Photo: Maxim Shipenkov / EPA)
A photograph posted on the Telegram channel of a regional governor, Andrey Vorobyov, on 17 May shows a burning building after an air attack at an undisclosed location in the Moscow region, amid the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Police speak with a man and a woman carrying a paper map, symbolising the loss of access to phone navigation during internet shutdowns, during a protest in St Petersburg against internet restrictions in Russia.
(Photo: Andrei Bok / Sopa Images / Shutterstock)
Police detain an activist during a demonstration against internet limitations, in front of the Russian parliament in 2025.
(Photo: AP)
Sergei Shoigu has served as Russia’s secretary of the Security Council since 2024. In this photo, he looks on during the Victory Day parade on 9 May 2026 in Moscow.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Vladimir Putin flanked by his security detail in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in December 2025.
(Photo: Anadolu / Getty Images)
‘There is profound disappointment in him’: mood in Russia turns against Putin
Increasingly isolated president is determined to press on with Ukraine war, say well-placed sources, despite ailing economy
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin pulled up to a hotel in central Moscow earlier in May in a Russian-made SUV, dressed casually in jeans and a light jacket. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he walked unhurriedly into the lobby and embraced his former schoolteacher Vera Gurevich, who kissed him on both cheeks.
He then helped Gurevich into his car and drove her to dinner at the Kremlin.
It came just a day after several western media outlets, citing a European intelligence report, claimed Putin had spent weeks hiding in an underground bunker, gripped by fears of assassination or even a coup.
The televised meeting was carefully crafted to reinforce a very different image of the Russian leader, one which he has refined over 25 years in power: the approachable, confident president, a man of the people casually dropping in on an old teacher.
But while fears of an imminent coup are exaggerated, there is little doubt that Putin is entering the most challenging period of his long rule. Interviews with several people in the orbit of the Russian leader, as well as sources in the Russian business world and western intelligence officials, paint a picture of an isolated leader surrounded by an elite that is becoming rapidly disillusioned, both with the faltering war in Ukraine and the economic downturn at home.
By Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker
The Guardian - 24 May 2026
Increasingly isolated president is determined to press on with Ukraine war, say well-placed sources, despite ailing economy
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YouTube video - Kremlin releases video: Vladimir Putin Personally Drives To Moscow Hotel To Pick Up Former Teacher For Dinner [APT 12 May 2026 / 3 min.]:
Vladimir Putin made a rare and emotional personal gesture by inviting his former school teacher, Vera Dmitrievna, to Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations and personally escorting her to a special dinner at the Kremlin. The Russian president welcomed his former teacher as an honored guest for several days in the capital following the Victory Day parade.
Reports said a cultural program was arranged for Vera Dmitrievna during her stay in Moscow before Putin personally picked her up from her hotel for the Kremlin dinner. The touching reunion quickly drew attention online, highlighting a more personal side of the Russian leader amid ongoing global tensions surrounding Russia.
The event comes as Moscow continues high-profile Victory Day commemorations attended by Russian officials and foreign guests. Watch the latest visuals from the Kremlin and Putin’s special meeting with the teacher who once guided him during his school years.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said Itamar Ben-Gvir's treatment of flotilla activists was "not in line with Israel's values and norms" but he did not believe that disciplinary action against Minister Ben-Gvir was required.
(Photo: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
Itamar Ben-Gvir released footage on Wednesday in which he is seen taunting detained activists from an international flotilla that was attempting to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza which was intercepted by the Israel Defence Force in international waters.
(Photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)
Israel misses the point and consequences of its actions in wake of flotilla outcry
The undoubted horrors of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 were greeted with shock, anger and grief. But as the sheer scale of Israel's response in Gaza continued to grow — the scale of the killing, the extent of the destruction, the apparent targeting of aid workers and journalists — the moral "balance" was repeatedly challenged and rebalanced.
Defenders of the actions of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defence Force would insist that any criticism was blind to what Hamas had done.
In the past couple of weeks, there has been a new battleground of accusations and counter-accusations.
This week, the issue of the treatment of prisoners held by Israel has been on display after the IDF detained more than 400 members of an international flotilla seeking to take aid to Gaza.
Far-right Israeli minister for national security Itamar Ben-Gvir released footage on Wednesday in which he is seen taunting activists from the Gaza aid flotilla intercepted by Israel, which immediately sparked an international outcry.
What seems lost, particularly in Israel, is the significance of its actions, as compared to the way its actions are seen.
By Laura Tingle - ABC Global Affairs Editor
ABC News - 23 May 2026
In the wake of an outcry over its treatment of detained activists, Israel has focused on messaging as its actions undermine its support from
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(Cartoon text: ‘We call on the Israeli government not to treat the Sumud flotilla activists the way they treat Palestinians … ‘)
This cartoon depicts Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong addressing the issue of the Sumud flotilla activists being captured, detained and treated disgracefully by the Israel Defence Force.
Cartoon by Cathy Wilcox - Nine newspapers 22 May 2026
Cathy Wilcox - Political Cartoons Australia | Facebook:
Facebook
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(Cartoon text: ‘One is hell-bent on further damaging Israel’s reputation and the other is trying to deliver aid to Gaza … ‘)
This cartoon depicts two people watching a split-screen TV news report on Global Sumud flotilla activists being taunted by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir while the activists are held in detention by the Israel Defence Force.
Cartoon by Fiona Katauskas - The Guardian 21 May 2026
Who is undermining Israel’s integrity? It’s not the flotilla activists
Some of Israel’s own politicians aren’t aiding their cause.
Opinion by Fiona Katauskas
The Guardian - 21 May 2026
Some of their own politicians aren’t aiding their cause
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YouTube video - ABC TV 7.30 program: Israel's ambassador to Australia condemns actions of Itamar Ben-Gvir | Interview by Sarah Ferguson [ABC TV 21 May 2026 / 18 min.+27sec.]:
Eleven Australians are among a group of activists who were part of a protest flotilla against Israel's occupation of Gaza. Intercepted at sea on Monday, they were transferred to a port in southern Israel.
Today Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting the detainees.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has condemned the clip and the treatment of the detainees.
7.30’s Sarah Ferguson interviews Israel's ambassador to Australia, Dr Hillel Newman.
Sarah also interviews Chris O'Connor, the father of Australian detainee Neve O'Connor.
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Itamar Ben-Gvir's video has prompted backlash from foreign governments and his own.
(Photo supplied: Office Of Itamar Ben Gvir / Handout)
Video footage circulated online earlier this month showed Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrating his 50th birthday with a cake decorated with a noose.
(Photo supplied)
Last year, Ben-Gvir released a video of him berating high-profile Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti.
(Photo: Itamar Ben-Gvir / Telegram)
Itamar Ben-Gvir (left) and Bezalel Smotrich (right) have both been sanctioned by Australia.
(Photo: Abir Sultan / Reuters)
Despite widespread international criticism and witness testimony alleging that the Israel Defense Force used violence, sexual humiliation and other abuse during the capture and detention of the Sumud flotilla activists, the Israel government has issued an official statement in denial of any such mistreatment.
(Photo: ABC News / Israel Govt. media release)
Israeli minister's taunting of activists no surprise to those following his career
Since the start of this week, the Israeli government has used every one of its platforms to denounce the activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla as "provocateurs" engaging in a stunt, as they tried and failed to break its almost two-decade-long maritime blockade of Gaza.
It's somewhat ironic that a stunt from within its own ranks, described as "despicable" by the US ambassador to Israel, is now giving those activists video evidence of the very thing they accuse Israel of: engaging in cruel and dehumanising practices.
Although perhaps it was inevitable.
For anyone who takes even a glimpse at Itamar Ben-Gvir's behaviour, nothing about his actions toward the activists is out of character.
World leaders have lashed the Israeli national security minister for a video taunting some of the more than 400 activists the Israeli military brought to the country's Ashdod Port, after detaining them in international waters.
"I think all Australians are appalled to see that footage of an Israeli government minister treating Australians, who are currently in detention in Israel, with such demeaning conduct," Australian environment minister Murray Watt said today.
The condemnation has come from within the Israeli government's own ranks, too, including no less than Benjamin Netanyahu himself.
But it's the Israeli prime minister who has allowed this behaviour to percolate — after all, he handed responsibility for the nation's police and prison services to a man with multiple criminal convictions, including support for a terrorist organisation, to shore up his own political standing.
By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran
ABC News - 21 May 2026
Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned a video of his national security minister taunting activists, including Australians, who have been detained
President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One after speaking to reporters on May 20, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
(Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
The Truth About Donald Trump’s Sanity
President Donald Trump has labeled numerous Americans — from Republican lawmakers to patriotic policy experts — as “stupid” and even “treasonous.”
Such behavior has led many to question Trump’s sanity and to offer the President some labels in turn, including “unhinged,” “lunatic,” and “clearly insane.”
It is easy to understand why Trump’s erratic actions and head-spinning reversals have raised questions about his mental health. For instance, on social media, Trump posts manic and divisive conspiracy theories, false allegations, and insults against his adversaries. Some former associates and partisan rivals even suggest Trump has experienced a pronounced cognitive and emotional decline.
But as a long-standing critic of Donald Trump’s leadership impact, and as someone who has known him for over 30 years, I assert that he is no “crazier” than he ever was. Trump’s penchant for exaggeration, self-promotion, and misrepresentation is hardly new.
By Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Time magazine - 20 May 2026
Shared from Apple News
President Donald Trump has labeled numerous Americans—from Republican lawmakers to patriotic policy experts—as “stupid” and even “treasonous
Ukraine’s Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov is a revered figure among those who have served with him.
(Photo: Julia Veber / Babel.UA / Global Images Ukraine / Getty Images)
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made Kyrylo Budanov his chief of staff in January.
(Photo: Julia Veber / Babel.UA / Global Images Ukraine / Getty Images)
Rescue teams work through the rubble of an apartment block in Kyiv after a Russian strike, on Thursday.
(Photo: Roman Pilipey / AFP / Getty Images)
Survivors of the overnight bombardment of the Ukraine capital, Kyiv. Russia launched over 1,500 drones at Ukraine in the space of 48 hours.
(Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka / AP)
In 2023 General Budanov’s wife, Marianna Budanova, was poisoned with heavy metals, along with several intelligence officers, in what Kyiv believes was a Russian operation targeting Budanov’s inner circle.
(Photo: Reuters)
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s former defence minister, left, with Kyrylo Budanov and U.S. President Trump.
(Photo: Reuters)
Andriy Yermak (Budanov’s predecessor) was charged on Monday with money laundering as part of a corruption inquiry that has shaken confidence in Zelensky’s government.
(Photo: Alina Smutko / Reuters)
Can this man end war in Ukraine? The peacemaker Putin wants dead
Carrying a holstered sidearm, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff tells The Times that he’s a marked man. Yet Kyrylo Budanov is still giving peace a chance.
Kyrylo Budanov, President Zelensky’s chief of staff, has revealed that the Kremlin is trying to assassinate him even as he leads peace talks with Moscow.
Lieutenant General Budanov served as the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, the HUR, from August 2020 to January this year, when he was appointed head of the presidential office. He is said to have survived at least ten attempts on his life during that period.
As part of his new role, he has become Ukraine’s main negotiator with Russia, spearheading the diplomatic effort to end the war while simultaneously developing Kyiv’s long-term defence strategy.
A career intelligence officer credited with planning and participating in some of the Ukrainian armed forces’ most spectacular special operations, he is the recipient of the Hero of Ukraine award, the country’s highest military honour. He enjoys close relations with the CIA.
It was therefore “absolutely normal” that the Kremlin was still trying to kill him, Budanov said in his first interview with British media since taking up his new role.
There are extensive security measures in place at the presidential office, yet he met The Times carrying a holstered sidearm. Despite the constant threat to his life, Budanov believes the peace process will bring the war to a conclusion.
“I do not have to trust anyone, I have to achieve a result,” he said. “Any ways, forms and methods of work are good if they produce that result. I don’t engage in matters I don’t believe in … I believe in the negotiation process … [its] completion and the result.”
By Maxim Tucker, Kyiv
The Times - May 15, 2026
Shared from Apple News
Kyrylo Budanov, President Zelensky’s chief of staff, has revealed that the Kremlin is trying to assassinate him even as he leads peace talks
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YouTube video - Can This Man End the War in Ukraine? | Kyrylo Budanov Interview [Times News 15 May 2026 / 5min.+35sec.]:
The man Vladimir Putin wants dead is now trying to negotiate peace with Russia.
The Times foreign correspondent Maxim Tucker interviews Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s former intelligence chief and now President Zelensky’s chief of staff. Budanov discusses assassination attempts, back-channel prisoner exchanges, Russia’s nuclear threats and why he believes negotiations can still end the war.
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YouTube video - Belief In The Peace Process - Maxim Tucker in conversation with Ayesha Hazarika about his interview of Ukraine Negotiator, Kyrylo Budanov [Times News 15 May 2026 / 8min.+20sec.]:
Maxim Tucker in conversation with Ayesha Hazarika on Times Radio, 15 May, 2026 about Ukraine Negotiator, Kyrylo Budanov.
“He said he did believe in the peace process; it’s just a question of whether Ukraine is able to apply enough pressure.”
Despite Russia “routinely attacking Ukraine”, Ukrainian negotiator Kyrylo Budanov still has faith that the peace process can bring Putin to the table, says The Times’s Maxim Tucker.
Anatolii Prokhorenko, 12, disabled a Russian fiber-optic drone last month that was heading toward his younger siblings and other children at their house in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region.
(Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk / For The Washington Post)
Anatolii with his parents and four younger siblings.
(Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk / For The Washington Post)
Anatolii displays an image of an FPV drone similar to the one he disabled.
(Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk / For The Washington Post)
A soldier works at a field drone storage facility last month in Sumy, Ukraine.
(Photo: Ed Ram / For The Washington Post)
An engineer at a production facility in eastern Ukraine shows how a fiber-optic cable unspools from a drone.
(Photo: Ed Ram / For The Washington Post)
Anatolii and his father, Volodymyr Poltoratskyi, talk in their relatives’ apartment. The family recently moved to the regional capital, two hours south.
(Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk / For The Washington Post)
Anatolii holds the fiber-optic cable he saved from the Russian FPV drone that he disabled.
(Photo: Oksana Parafeniuk / For The Washington Post)
In northern Ukraine, it was boy vs. Russian drone. The boy won.
A soldier taught a 12-year-old how to disable the fiber-optic drones that Russia has been using to hunt Ukrainian civilians in a campaign the U.N. has labeled a war crime.
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine — On a cool evening last month, 12-year-old Anatolii Prokhorenko was up in a pear tree, cutting off a damaged branch for a neighbor, when he heard the buzz of a drone.
That sound often means death in Ukraine, and not just for soldiers on the front lines. Increasingly, civilians are tracked, chased and attacked by small, commercially available drones equipped with cameras, rigged with explosives and steered by fingers-on-joysticks a dozen miles away.
Ukrainians, darkly, have dubbed this Xbox-inflected hunting of civilians as Russia’s “human safari” — a terror campaign that started in the once-occupied southern city of Kherson. In recent months, it has evolved with new technology and spread to border areas around the country.
Anatolii knew it had recently reached the small farming village where he and his family live in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, seven miles from the Russian border. Tractors, like the one his father frequently drove, had been hit in the fields. In March, a drone blew up a car next to a shop. Another had exploded on Anatolii’s street just the day before.
Now, the one he spotted was heading right for his house.
By Steve Hendrix and Kostiantyn Khudov
The Washington Post - May 15, 2026
Shared from Apple News
A soldier taught a 12-year-old how to disable the fiber-optic drones that Russia has been using to hunt Ukrainian civilians in a campaign th
Russian President Vladimir Putin's military launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but the ongoing war has resulted in minimal territorial or political change.
Now in its fifth year, this war is estimated to have caused over 2.3 million deaths, extensive injuries, disabilities and trauma, depleted economic resources and decimated social cohesion on all sides.
(Photo: Sergey Guneev / Sputnik)
Ukraine says Russia has recruited at least 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries.
(Photo: Yulia Morozova / Reuters)
Russian military recruitment advertisements typically promise foreigners assignment as "non-assault" troops. Similar adverts circulating across Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Kyrgystan, Africa, India and other countries offer people safe and secure employment with the Russian military.
(Photo supplied: OpenMinds / VKontakte)
A group of volunteers who joined the Russian armed forces under military contract.
(Photo: Chingis Kondarov / Reuters)
North Korean soldiers have fought alongside Russian forces against Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry has recruited upwards of 180,000 convicts to fight in Ukraine since 2022 — in a deal that indentures convicts to military service in lieu of serving their prison sentences, on the pretext of effectually ‘earning’ their freedom.
This scheme is promoted by Putin’s regime as a ‘second chance’ in life for convicts, but many thousands of those who have participated, have either lost their lives in battle, been left permanently maimed or suffered serious injury and trauma.
(Photo: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters)
Foreigners recruited by Russia end up in ‘Moscow meat grinder’
Russia has ramped up its recruitment of foreign fighters through a targeted social media campaign, offering citizenship and money to those who join its fight.
The promise of roles away from the front line are aimed at enticing people to sign up, but experts say it is "deception".
Sascha Bachmann, a professor in law and security at the University of Canberra, said the promise of safe service was "not true".
"Russia is trying to close a manpower gap. They sign people up for a promised non-combat role but they then end up as part of Moscow's meat grinder," he said.
Several countries have asked Russia to stop recruiting their citizens, but the social media adverts continue.
By Lewis Wiseman
ABC News - 8 December 2025
Through a targeted social media campaign, Russia is offering citizenship and money to foreigners who join its fight in Ukraine, but experts
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Russian military recruitment posts circulating on Chinese social media encourage 'real men' to join Vladimir Putin's army
In the world of Chinese social media, you don't have to look far to find them. Russian military recruitment advertisements are being circulated on accounts with tens of thousands of followers.
By Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and Riley Stuart in London, and Xin-yun Wu in Taipei
ABC News - 14 April 2025
In the world of Chinese social media, you don't have to look far to find them — posts encouraging people to join the Russian army are being
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Evans Kibet says he went to Russia to compete in an athletics event but was tricked into joining Russia's military and ended up on the front lines in Ukraine. Evans is currently being held in Ukraine as a prisoner of war and has no idea when he will be released.
(Photo: Daniel Pannett / ABC News)
Conditions inside the prison are basic. Inmates spend most of their time in their cells.
(Photo: Daniel Pannett / ABC News)
Evans Kibet was a middle-distance runner in his native Kenya.
(Photo: Daniel Pannett / ABC News)
Ukraine uses five separate locations to house prisoners of war it has captured. Ukrainian officials have not yet said when foreign fighters it has captured might be released.
(Photo: Daniel Pannett / ABC News)
'I was tricked': African athlete lured to Russia for work, ends up on front lines of Ukraine war
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has "no need" for foreign fighters, but Ukraine estimates more than 18,000 foreigners are in Russia's ranks.
South Korea's spy agency believes North Korea sent 10,000-12,000 of its soldiers to fight for Russia in 2024.
Dr Joseph Seigle, a director of the Washington-based Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, said the Kremlin was increasingly looking to Africa to help its war effort.
It's also using the dire economic situations in many African countries as an opportunity to lure in vulnerable men, desperate to support their families.
One of them is Evans Kinet, 36, from Kenya, currently being held in Ukraine as a prisoner of war after being caught on the front line in a Russian uniform.
But he told the ABC he is not a soldier. Evans says he's an athlete who has been the victim of a scam in which he was lured to Russia under the pretence of participating in a sports event. Instead, he was tricked into signing a Russian-language contract that indentured him to military service for Russia, had his passport confiscated and was thrust into frontline battle against Ukraine.
"I was tricked … I didn't know what I was doing," Evans said.
He was not the first African man Ukrainian forces had found on the front line.
Ukraine's foreign ministry says 1,436 Africans from 36 countries on the continent are in Russia's ranks.
"We have dozens and dozens of non-Russians in the camp. We don't know the exact number but there are a lot here," said Peter Yatsenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine's prisoners of war camps.
"Almost all of them say they were tricked by Russian agents, although some have acknowledged that they were mercenaries and had volunteered to fight for Russia, but many were unaware of the dire conditions on the front line in this bloody war," he said.
By Europe correspondent Elias Clure and Daniel Pannett in Western Ukraine
ABC News - 14 December 2025
Vladimir Putin says Russia has "no need" to recruit foreign fighters to bolster its invasion of Ukraine, but inside this prisoner of war cam
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The result is the deadliest conflict on European soil since WW2 and war crimes are being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
While the devastation and suffering of the Ukrainians have been widely documented, images of the Russian reality remain scarce.
Filmed without official permission, this documentary offers a rare glimpse into the lives of soldiers within one Russian battalion.
YouTube video >> Russians at War documentary film by Anastasia Trofimova [Raja Pictures & Films à Cinq 2024 / 2hr.8min.50sec.]:
Without authorization, filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova embeds in a Russian Army battalion fighting in Ukraine. Gaining rare access, she captures a conflict that shatters families, history, and identity. Her raw, frontline footage reveals disillusioned soldiers questioning their military purpose — yet also uncovering depths of human connection and meaning amongst the carnage.
Premiering at Venice Biennale and TIFF 2024, Russians at War is among the most incisive and challenging documentaries of the war.
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Related reference link >>
Russians at War website:
https://www.russiansatwar.com
This site accompanies the streaming release of Russians at War, offering context on the film’s goals, production, and the global debate it sparked after its 2024 festival premieres.
Ex-service members who have spoken out against war have been accused of being weak and cowardly.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons / Bianca De Marchi AAP)
Hugo Throssell, on right, at Wandsworth Hospital recovering from wounds received at Gallipoli.
(Photo: Australian War Memorial)
Writer, Martin Boyd
Martin Boyd enlisted for the war after hearing some of his friends had died at Gallipoli. He drew on his war experience to write a novel, When Blackbirds Sing (1962). Protagonist Dominic goes to war to fulfil his “purpose” of killing his enemy, but becomes haunted by the humanity in the eyes of a young German soldier he shot. After being bayoneted himself, Dominic writes to his benefactor, “I have taken off my uniform and shall not wear it again”. He explores the immorality of the war, arguing he would fight for his friends and home if anyone threatened them.
But they are not threatened, except by our own government.
When he returns to Australia, Dominic receives his war medals and throws them in a dam.
(Photo: State Library of Victoria)
Fred Farrall challenged the increasingly jingoistic messaging around Anzac Day.
The concept of ‘mateship’ – a core component of the Anzac legend – stemmed from the socialist tendencies and solidarity among working-class soldiers against their military leaders, who treated them like pawns on a chessboard.
Fred Farrall, who fought in Egypt and then on the Western Front, described his fellow soldiers pelting visiting generals with fistfuls of dirt after losing most of their battalion.
(Photo: Darge Photographic Company / Australian War Memorial)
Between 1936 and 1939, 60 Australians are known to have travelled to Spain, in the International Brigades Against Fascism. At least five of them were returned servicemen, who had “returned to a life of union and political agitation”.
Anti-Vietnam War demonstrators protest outside Central Police Court, Liverpool Street, Sydney, 1965.
(Photo: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy SEARCH Foundation, CC BY)
Terry Burstall (middle) at Long Tan, Vietnam.
Terry Burstall, a veteran of the battle of Long Tan, reflected in his memoir that it was hard for soldiers to speak out against the war, because it would upset those who had lost their loved ones.
‘When you lose a son or husband in a war, there has to be at least a Cause - he died for his country, or defending our freedom, or something. In Vietnam none of these rationales could be used.’
(Photo: Australian War Memorial)
Vietnam veterans against the war, including Ron Kovic, and other anti-war activists, protest war in Miami, Florida in 1972.
(Photo: AAP)
Anti Gulf War protestors on the lawns of Parliament House Canberra January, 1991.
(Photo: National Archives of Australia / AAP)
Gulf war veterans Brett Jones & Magnus Mansie display their medals before they returned them in opposition to a war against Iraq in Canberra.
(Photo: Alan Porritt / AAP)
‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti‑war veterans?
“I have seen enough of the horrors of war, and want peace. War has made me a socialist and a pacifist,” announced Gallipoli veteran and Victoria Cross winner, Hugo Throssell, on Peace Day in 1919.
Throssell was shot in the neck on Hill 60 at Gallipoli in 1915 and nearly died from surgical complications. He returned to the frontlines in Egypt in 1917. There, he was reunited with – then lost – his brother Eric, who was killed in action.
Throssell wrote to his wife, Katharine Susannah Prichard, of searching for Eric in battle in vain, “crawling across the battlefield, still under enemy fire”. After the war, he reflected on the “colossal profits” made in war, concluding that while it was possible for men “to profit by war, we will always have war” and advocating for society’s reorganisation “for the wellbeing of the community as a whole”.
However, Throssell’s anti-war views, derived from his firsthand knowledge of war and its consequences, were largely ignored.
This pattern repeats across Australian history, from the first world war to the War on Terror. In every war, there have been a number of soldiers and veterans who turned against it. Some became pacifists, while others acknowledged the necessity of war in rare instances. They drew on their war experience to caution restraint, urging war-makers to reflect on Australian values and interests before committing Australian lives overseas.
Yet these radical veterans’ voices are excluded from veterans’ organisations, diminished in the media and ignored by cultural institutions. These critical perspectives could nuance Australia’s understanding of its war history and inform its involvement in future wars. But they have been siloed off.
I am one of a group of historians working on the Challenging Anzac project, exploring the stories and experiences of service members and veterans across history who contradict Australia’s war mythology. Our research reveals a longstanding reluctance in Australia to acknowledge and honour the anti-war feeling among our soldiers and veterans.
Friday Essay by Mia Martin Hobbs
The Conversation - April 24, 2025
From the first world war to the invasion of Iraq, left-wing soldiers have questioned our involvement in wars. Yet we rarely hear these disse
Vyvanse is one of the medications commonly prescribed for ADHD.
(Photo: ABC TV Four Corners)
Experts at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have analysed data exclusively for Four Corners that, for the first time, paints a detailed picture of ADHD diagnoses nationally.
This chart shows just how spectacular that rise has been.
(Chart image: ABC News / Source: ABS PLIDA and UNSW)
Nationally, 2.36 per cent of adults aged between 20 and 65 have filled a script for ADHD medication at least once in the 2025 financial year.
In isolation, that percentage may not seem remarkable, particularly when experts say the actual prevalence — or rate — of ADHD in adults is between 2.5 and 3 per cent.
Hidden in this data is a much more dramatic — and potentially disturbing — story.
You can see it in the map above, where the darker the colour is, the more people are filling ADHD prescriptions. The enormous variation is striking.
(Map image: ABC News / Source: ABS PLIDA and UNSW / Map data: PSMA Australia Limited)
Attention Deficit — ADHD rates in adults are skyrocketing but by how much depends where you live
A quiet phenomenon has been unfolding across Australia — a sharp rise in adults being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Social media would have you believe ADHD is everywhere, but the reality is more complex.
In some parts of Australia, ADHD prescribing is far above what experts expect to see, while in others, it appears that the condition is barely being diagnosed.
Experts at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have analysed data exclusively for Four Corners that, for the first time, paints a detailed picture of ADHD diagnoses nationally.
By Norman Swan, Inga Ting, Amy Donaldson and Amy Greenbank
ABC TV Four Corners
ABC News - 20 April 2026
ADHD diagnoses in adults have exploded across Australia since 2017. For the first time, we have the data that shows where it is — and isn't
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Related video link >>
YouTube video >> ABC Four Corners documentary Attention Deficit - Investigating what’s behind the rise in ADHD [ABC TV 21 April 2026 / 46min.+11sec.]:
ABC TV Four Corners program Attention Deficit unveils Australia’s first comprehensive national map of adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), revealing stark differences by location.
ADHD diagnoses in Australian adults have risen dramatically over the past eight years, especially in women.
Data for each state and territory reveal which neighbourhoods are the hotspots. The findings are not what you’d expect.
Dr Norman Swan and the team drill down into the new figures and discover which is Australia’s ADHD capital. Treatment rates there far exceed what experts say is the actual prevalence of the condition.
At the same time, large parts of Australia are what could be considered ADHD deserts, where up to 90% of adults who might have the condition are being left undiagnosed and untreated with potential consequences for their future.
Attention Deficit asks how Australia ended up with such extremes, what harm is being done from both missed and misdiagnosis, why the system is failing and whether proposed remedies are likely to work.
SHŌDA Kōhō (庄田耕峯, ca. 1871-1946) was a Japanese artist associated with the shin-hanga (‘New Prints’) art movement in Japan during the early 20th century. This movement blended traditional Japanese styles with Western artistic elements, and its imagery featured nature, landscapes, women and an emerging modern sensibility, particularly as inspired by Impressionism.
