Posts

Ukrainian-Israeli Fraudster Sentenced for Multi-Million Dollar Fake Brokerage Scheme

/0 Comments/in , /by

Yaroslav Shilkloper, 50, a dual citizen of Ukraine and Israel, was sentenced today to four years in prison for his participation in a conspiracy that utilized a sophisticated phony brokerage-business to scam U.S. citizens out of millions of dollars. Shilkloper was also ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and $1.43 million in restitution to his victims.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Shilkloper and his co-conspirators defrauded victims in the United States of more than $3 million dollars by promising high rates of return on investments made through their “K6 Investing,” “Neotron Holding LTD.,” and “Goldex Technology” companies. As part of the scheme, the defendant provided access to a digital platform that allowed victims to see what they believed were real-time investment performance data. The victims’ money, however, was never invested, but instead diverted and laundered through a series of bank accounts in Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Czech Republic, and elsewhere, all controlled by Shilkloper and his co-conspirators. When victims attempted to withdraw their money, they were prevented from doing so, threatened with legal action, or manipulated into sending more money to the fraud ring.

Shilkloper is the first of three defendants charged in the case to be sentenced. He was extradited from Poland after being arrested there in 2023. Today’s U.S. forfeiture order adds to the $2.8 million already previously returned to the victims as a result of forfeiture proceedings against Shilkloper and co-conspirators in the Republic of Georgia.

Photo credit: Flickr

As US Runs Low On Missiles, Trump Wants To License Production To Ukraine

/0 Comments/in , /by

Despite dwindling U.S. stockpiles, President Donald Trump said that he wants to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptor missiles during his visit to Turkey on Wednesday.

Trump made the comments about Patriot missile licensing while talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their televised meeting at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. Patriot missile interceptors are in short supply as they have been continuously used in the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Iran War, according to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“A little birdie told me this, about the fact that we’ll give them [Ukraine] the right to make Patriots,” Trump said during his meeting with Zelenskyy. “We’ll show them how to do it. It’s very complex, actually … We’re gonna give a license to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool, right?”

“Demand for America’s Patriot missile has never been greater, reflecting its unmatched performance as the world’s most advanced, combat-proven integrated air and missile defense capability,” a Department of War official told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The Department of War remains committed to significantly accelerating and expanding Patriot production to meet this demand, and it continues to pursue industrial cooperation with allies and partners around the globe to seamlessly deliver this critical capability to the warfighter at speed and scale.”

“Today’s meeting sent several important strategic signals about Ukraine’s ongoing collaboration with our American partners. The readiness to cooperate on Patriot missile capabilities and move forward on drone deal reflects a shared understanding that our security cooperation is in the strategic interests of both countries,” Olga Stefanishyna, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, told the DCNF. “Strengthen[ing] defense cooperation through joint production, and licensing will accelerate delivery of essential weapons to deter threats and maintain U.S. global leadership in defense technology. At the same time, it will free up U.S. defense capacity to backfill and modernize U.S. forces while meeting urgent foreign demand.” (Read more from “As US Runs Low On Missiles, Trump Wants To License Production To Ukraine” HERE)

How Ukraine’s Drone War Could Drag World Into Nuclear War

/0 Comments/in , /by

The use of nuclear weapons is becoming increasingly likely as the Russian and Ukrainian militaries continue to blindly scramble up the escalation ladder through deep strikes into Russia, with alleged involvement from a NATO member country, military analysts warned on Monday.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has accused Latvia of planning to launch drones from its territory in direct attacks against the Russian Federation. Russia could attack Latvia if these plans became a reality, which could trigger a chain of events leading to the use of nuclear weapons, analysts said during a meeting at the Quincy Institute broadcast by CSPAN on Monday.

“There are proponents of, I guess we can call it ‘escalate to de-escalate,’ people like prominent Russian academic Sergei Karaganov, who believe Russia must drastically up the airstrike campaign against Ukraine, seriously consider the employment of low-yield nuclear weapons as a means of ending the war, and strike Western targets inside NATO,” Quincy Institute research fellow Mark Episkopos said during the meeting on Monday.

The Russian Embassy in Washington, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington and NATO did not respond to a request for comment.

When the Daily Caller News Foundation asked the panel about the potential for nuclear weapons use in Europe, analysts on the panel laid out two scenarios where the Russians would employ tactical nuclear weapons.

“We’ve had warnings throughout this war. If we provide HIMARS [missiles], the Russians will retaliate in some dangerous way, ATACMS [missiles], F-16s, etcetera, etcetera, and in each case, the Russians have not retaliated against the West directly, and so the impression is created that the Russians will never retaliate against the West directly. It’s just too dangerous for them to do so,” director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute George Beebe said during the panel. “The danger we’re facing is, there’s only one way we’ll know for sure. And that is, after the Russians retaliate directly.” (Read more from “How Ukraine’s Drone War Could Drag World Into Nuclear War” HERE)

New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified intelligence about a constellation of biological laboratories in Ukraine on Friday, four years after members of Congress and biodefense officials criticized her for expressing concerns about them.

The new documents reveal two dozen biological labs in Ukraine. The map reveals that a lab in Odessa, a city with a population of more than one million people, has a lab with stored biological weapons from the defunct Soviet Union biological weapons program. Viruses in storage include anthrax, tularemia, tuberculosis, Swine Fever, New Castles Disease, MERS, SARS, Marburg, Ebola, Lassa, the Plague, and Rickettsia, the documents show.

“Despite the obvious potential for catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have, politicians, so-called health professionals like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of U.S.-funded and supported biolabs, and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth,” Gabbard said in a statement. “ODNI will continue to work closely with partners across the government to identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain to end dangerous Gain-of-Function research that threatens the health and wellbeing of the American people and people around the world.”

Gabbard is pushing to declassify documents in the public interest in her final days in office, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported last week. Gabbard announced on May 22 that she would step down to care for her husband following his cancer diagnosis. Her last day is slated to be June 19. Trump announced on Thursday he had picked New York attorney and former SEC chairman Jay Clayton to replace her.

The Odessa lab and four others in Ukraine are biosafety level three labs (BSL-3), the second highest level of containment, which is usually reserved for virulent pathogens. (Read more from “New Declassified Docs Give Tulsi Gabbard Last Laugh On Ukrainian Biolabs” HERE)

Photo credit: Gaaage Skidmore via Flickr

Russian Drone Hits Apartment Building In NATO Member Country

/0 Comments/in , /by

Romania said a Russian drone crashed into an apartment building near its border with Ukraine on Friday, injuring civilians.

Romanian officials said the drone hit a residential building in Galati, a southeastern city near the Ukrainian border, according to a Romanian Ministry of National Defence press release. The drone appears to have veered off course and struck Romania during a series of attacks on Ukraine, Reuters reported.

“Russia’s reckless behaviour is a danger to us all,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on X. “They [Russia] continue to target civilians and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. And last night showed yet again that the implications of their illegal war of aggression don’t stop at the border.”

The drone hit the building during an overnight Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine, according to Romania’s Defense Ministry. The strike injured two civilians, including a woman and a child, while roughly 70 residents were evacuated, Reuters reported, citing local authorities.

Ukrainian drones have also fallen off target, landing or flying over or crashing in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the BBC reported. (Read more from “Russian Drone Hits Apartment Building In NATO Member Country” HERE)

Trump Announces New Ceasefire In Russia-Ukraine War

/0 Comments/in , /by

President Donald Trump announced that there will be a three-day ceasefire and prisoner swap in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump announced the ceasefire and prisoner swap on Friday in a Truth Social post, declaring it on May 9, 10 and 11 in recognition of Victory Day, a Russian state holiday. The holiday is also celebrated by Ukraine on May 8 and is known as “Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II.”

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump announced in the Truth Social post. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country.”

“This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by [Russian] President Vladimir Putin and [Ukrainian] President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” he added. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.” (Read more from “Trump Announces New Ceasefire In Russia-Ukraine War” HERE)

Russia blames Ukrainian naval drones as tanker sinks in Mediterranean

/0 Comments/in , /by

A Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has sunk in the Mediterranean between Libya and Malta after it was hit by explosions and a fire, Libyan port officials have said.

Russia accused Ukraine of targeting the Arctic Metagaz with “uncrewed sea drones” launched from the Libyan coast.

Ukraine’s SBU state security service has not commented on the allegation and the Libyan port authority said the cause of the fire was unclear.

The Libyans said the tanker was carrying about 62,000 tonnes of LNG before the blasts and that it sank about 130 nautical miles (240km) north of the Libyan port of Sirte.

Russia’s transport ministry said 30 Russians were aboard the Arctic Metagaz. Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said they were all found “safe and sound in a lifeboat” during a rescue operation by Malta’s armed forces. (Read more from “Russia blames Ukrainian naval drones as tanker sinks in Mediterranean” HERE)

Olympics Ban Ukrainian Athlete for Helmet Depicting Athletes Killed by Russia

/0 Comments/in , /by

Ukrainian skeleton pilot Vladyslav Heraskevych, 27, was banned from the 2026 Winter Olympics on Thursday, just minutes before his event was due to begin, because he insisted on wearing a helmet covered with images of athletes killed by Russia’s invasion of his country.

Heraskevych said he accepted the ban as the “price of our dignity,” but he insisted his helmet did not actually violate the rules set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and he noted that other athletes have been allowed to express political opinions at the Winter Games.

“U.S. figure skater, Canadian freeskier, Israeli skeleton athlete who is also here today, they didn’t face the same things,” he said. “So suddenly, just a Ukrainian athlete in this Olympic Games will be disqualified for this helmet.”

In an interview on Thursday after the IOC announced its decision, Heraskevych said he felt “emptiness” because he was banned over “an interpretation of the rules which I do not agree with.”

“I was at many funerals when I was in Ukraine and it’s a truly terrible tragedy that young people at such a young age were killed for nothing. Because of their sacrifice, we’re able to be here today, and I want to honor them, and I want to honor their families,” he said. (Read more from “Olympics Ban Ukrainian Athlete for Helmet Depicting Athletes Killed by Russia” HERE)

Zelensky Says U.S. Pushing for End to Ukraine War by June

/0 Comments/in , /by

The United States wants Ukraine and Russia to end their nearly four-year war by June, and has offered to host talks between the two sides in Florida next week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

US-led efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have stepped up a gear in recent weeks, but Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory.

Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of its neighbour, is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as part of any deal and has threatened to take it by force if talks fail.

But Ukraine says ceding ground will embolden Moscow and so it will not sign an agreement that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

“The United States has proposed for the first time that the two negotiating teams — Ukraine and Russia — meet in the United States, probably in Miami, in a week’s time,” Zelensky told reporters in comments made public early Saturday. (Read more from “Zelensky Says U.S. Pushing for End to Ukraine War by June” HERE)

Trump Scolds Ukraine After Russia Claims Putin Home Attacked, Zelensky Slams ‘Typical Lies’

/1 Comment/in , /by

President Trump directed a public rebuke at Ukraine Monday after Russia claimed that Kyiv had attacked one of Vladimir Putin’s official residences with 91 long-range drones overnight — despite Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissing the report as “typical Russian lies.”

Ahead of a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump initially told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort that “I don’t know about” the reported assault on the Kremlin tyrant’s home in the Novgorod region before adding “that would be too bad, that would not be good.”

The president then confirmed that his Russian counterpart had “told me about” the assault on a Monday morning phone call that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had described as “positive.”

“This is not the right time,” Trump said about the alleged drone incursion. “It’s one thing to be offensive, it’s another thing to attack his house. I was very angry about it.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed to reporters that all 91 drones had been shot down, and there were no immediate reports of other damage or casualties. (Read more from “Trump Scolds Ukraine After Russia Claims Putin Home Attacked, Zelensky Slams ‘Typical Lies’” HERE)