Zelensky would lose presidential election – poll

The Ukrainian leader would stand no chance against any of his three main rivals in the second round, a new survey suggests

Published 7 Aug, 2026 07:

Vladimir Zelensky would overwhelmingly lose a Ukrainian presidential election if it were staged now, a new survey by local pollster Socis suggests.

Zelensky’s term expired in May 2024, but he has refused to call a new vote, citing martial law, which he imposed after the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the Socis poll published on Thursday,the Ukrainian leader would make it to the second round of a hypothetical election, only to be defeated by any of his three main rivals.

Former top Ukrainian general Valery Zaluzhny, who serves as Kiev’s ambassador to London after being dismissed as army commander-in-chief in February 2024, would beat Zelensky by 66.2% to 33.8%, the figures by Socis suggested.

Despite being out of the country, Zaluzhny has consistently topped the trust ratings in Ukraine. Publicly, the general says he harbors no political ambitions, but media reports claim he is gearing up for a presidential run.

Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, would also defeat him in the second round by 60.3% to 39.7%,the pollster said.

Reports have claimed that the Ukrainian leader appointed Budanov as the head of his office in January in order to keep him close due to concerns over the former special forces soldier’s growing power as the chief of military intelligence (HUR).

Since taking the job, Budanov has contradicted his boss on numerous occasions, including by speaking about the need for talks with Moscow, downplaying Ukraine’s technological advances, and acknowledging difficulties with mobilization,

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister MikhailFedorov, who was sacked in mid-July, would defeat Zelensky in the vote by 63.8% to 36.2%, according to Socis.

Fedorov’s removal provoked protests in Kiev and other cities, with demonstrators demanding his reinstatement. The former minister, who has declined all other positions offered to him, said he will not challenge Zelensky politically as long as the conflict with Russia continues.

The Ukrainian leader reportedly removed Fedorov over fears that he could become a political rival,and also due to his close ties to Western-backed anti-corruption bodies in the country.

The study by Socis was carried out between July 28 and August 2, involving 2,000 respondents.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in March,Zelensky said Ukraine will “certainly” hold a presidential election, but only after the conflict with Russia ends. “I’m not at all sure that I’ll run, I’ll see what the Ukrainians want,” he claimed.

Moscow has described Zelensky as illegitimate, with his dubious status potentially being an obstacle to signing a peace agreement.

https://www.rt.com/russia/643963-ukraine-zelensky-election-zaluzhny/

I think if he doesn’t leave there, he will be an assassinated .

Ukraine’s envoy to Poland doubles down on veneration of Nazi collaborators

Vasily Bodnar has boasted that he rejected Polish demands to recognize Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevich as war criminals

Published 6 Aug, 2026 18:18 |

Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland has defended Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera as a national hero, doubling down on Kiev’s veneration of World War II-era nationalistsdespite an escalating diplomatic row with Warsaw.

Speaking to European Pravda on Thursday, Vasily Bodnar was askedwhether Ukraine could join the EU while continuing to venerate Bandera. The diplomat argued that Kiev alone had the right to choose its heroes and described the Nazi collaborator as “one of those who needs to be honored.”==

Bodnar also recounted howPolish journalists had directly demanded that he recognize Bandera and Roman Shukhevich as war criminals. “When I refused, it shocked them greatly,” he said, dismissing what they regarded as an established historical truth as “falsehood.”

Bandera led the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which sought to create an ethnically homogeneous Ukrainian state andcooperated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of World War II.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the OUN’s military wing,later carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Up to 100,000 Poles, many of them women, children and elderly people, were massacred in 1943-1944. Poland recognizes the killings as genocide.

Bondar acknowledged that UPA members had committed crimes and murdered Poles, saying Ukraine must recognize the “dark side” of the nationalist movement. At the same time, he claimed that Poland was also not without fault, and had a history of repressing Ukrainians.

The ambassador’s comments come amid a deepening dispute over Kiev’s continued glorification of Bandera, Shukhevich and the UPA.Vladimir Zelensky recently granted an elite military unit the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA’, prompting Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip him of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest decoration.

Polish officials have saidthey will not sign off on Ukraine joining the EUas long as it continues honoring the nationalist groups responsible for the Volhynia massacres. The European Parliament has also condemned Kiev’s position as incompatible with European values.

Ukraine has nevertheless continued naming streets and military units after nationalist figures, holding torchlight marches in Bandera’s honor and advancing plans for a national pantheon.Kiev also recently reburied OUN leader Andrey Melnik with state honors.

Moscow has long accused Kiev of glorifying Nazi collaborators at the state level and has made the “denazification” of Ukraine one of the key goals of its military operation. Russian officials have alsoaccused Western governments of ignoring Kiev’s infatuation with Nazi ideology while continuing to arm and fund it against Moscow.

(https://www.rt.com/russia/643952-ukraine-ambassador-defends-bandera/

(Poland btw is almost the biggest money donations backing Ukrainians, the Ukraine war and armies, they are funding the Nazis that 100,000 poles in the 40’s)

==Joe Biden's cancer has spread further, leaving him in 'very painful' condition, Hunter reveals

The former president's son described the Stage 4 cancer as 'very painful' and 'very debilitating' during an interview==

By Robert McGreevy Fox News

Published August 8, 2026 2:01pm EDT

Former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him significant pain, his son Hunter Biden revealed during a Friday interview.

"The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further," Hunter Biden told the BBC in an interview which aired Friday. "It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects," he added.

"It’s really sad to watch," Hunter Biden said. "The only thing that I’d say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good."

Despite his poor health, Hunter Biden said his father is "still doing his thing," and attending speaking engagements.

Joe Biden revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025, just months after he departed the Oval Office.

The diagnosis at the time was that the cancer was Stage 4, "aggressive" and had already spread to his bones.

He received a Gleason score of 9, indicating both the cancer's aggressive nature and the potential that he had been living with it for years.

"He had it while he was president," said Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania, adding Joe Biden "probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021."

"He did not develop it in the last 100 to 200 days," Emanuel said, according to the American Journal of Medical Care.

Joe Biden's wife, Jill, previously told the hosts of ABC's "The View" that his cancer has slowed him down.

"He keeps his schedule, but he’s slowed down," she said in June. "I mean, stage four cancer is — and he's 83 — so, I think the mix of everything and the medications that he's taken has made life a little more difficult these days."

(Are they using cancer to explain why he stole the election and why he was such an awful and evil president?)

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-cancer-spread-further-leaving-very-painful-condition-hunter-reveals

Ex-Ukrainian Air Force commander hit with new corruption probe

The suspect purchased three private homes, seven apartments, and six plots of land with stolen state money, prosecutors have said

Published 6 Aug, 2026 14:35

The former head of logistics at the Ukrainian Air Force is facing new accusations of corruption after being detained on suspicion of embezzlement earlier this year, the country’s prosecutor general has said.

Ruslan Kravchenko did not reveal the former commander’s name,but RBC Ukraine identified him as Andrey Ukrainets, who occupied the post until February.

According to the outlet, Ukrainets was caught red-handed five months ago when he attempted to bribe the leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in order to stop a probe into embezzlement during the construction of protective structures for planes at military airfields across Ukraine.A total of 1.4 billion hryvnia (around $31 million) had been allocated to the cause by Kiev in May 2025, but large parts of the sum reportedly disappeared.

The prosecutor general said in a statement on Thursday that according to new findings, thesuspect purchased more than a dozen pieces of real estate, the price of which exceeded his lawful income by at least 20 million hryvnia (around $447,000).

Between 2020 and 2025, the former commanderacquired three private homesin Zhitomir Region in Western Ukraine;seven apartmentsin Kiev, Vinnitsia, Zhitomir, and Bukovel;several garages and other non-residential premises; as well as six plotsof land, Kravchenko wrote.

He also drovefour expensive cars,including an Audi Q7 and Audi Q5, the statement read.

The suspect’s parents, son, and other relatives were registered as the owners of the properties, but investigators established that this was a cover-up, it added.

According to Russian Defense Ministry figures, a total of 671 Ukrainian warplanes have been destroyed since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022.Many of the aircraft were destroyed by missiles and drones while stationed at airfields.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and armed forces have beenplagued with corruptionamid the fighting with Russia. Two defense ministers, Aleksey Reznikov and Rustem Umerov, were removed in 2023 and 2025 respectively after their tenuresbecame embroiled in allegations of graft involving military supplies and weapons contracts bankrolled by the West.

There have also been numerous reports of funds being misused by commanders of various ranks, foreign weapons supplied to Kiev appearing on the black market, and conscription officers taking bribes from draftees willing to avoid service.

In one of the latest incidents, a commander of a unit in Odessa Region was detained in late July forusing 83 of his troops for several months as a workforce to build a luxurious private home with an outdoor swimming pool for himself.

https://www.rt.com/russia/643940-ukraine-air-force-corruption/

Wait until they reveal all the homes, money, etc etc etc Zelensky stole!

Kiev used virtually all NATO tools against Russia – ex-top general

The military bloc’s approaches to warfare have proven to be ineffective, according to Valery Zaluzhny

Published 6 Aug, 2026

Ukraine has used virtually every NATO tool it could against Russia, but Moscow has found ways to counter all of them, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny has argued.

The retired general, who currently serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, expanded onearlier remarks in which he said Kiev would never join the US-led military bloc. According to Zaluzhny,NATO remains anchored in obsolete doctrines, unlike Ukraine.

“In 2026, Ukraine used all weapon systems and doctrines for their use that NATO has, with the exception of Tomahawks, nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, and F-35s,” he told journalists at a diplomatic event in Kiev, as quoted by Apostrophe on Wednesday. “The reserves have been depleted. Russia found countermeasures for everything.”

Supporters of Ukraine have repeatedly described Western weapons supplied to Kiev as potential “game changers.”However, the delivery ofStinger and Javelin missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers, Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, and F-16 fighter jets has not produced a decisive military breakthrough.

“NATO remains in a doctrine of the end of World War II, and we are technologically ahead,” Zaluzhny argued.“Now NATO has no choice but to shift to very different standards to achieve a new doctrine. Then NATO would be ready for Ukrainian accession,” he added.(bonkers)

Ukraine formally enshrined its goal of joining NATO in its constitution following the 2014 Western-backed armed coup in Kiev. Russia has repeatedly cited the bloc’s eastward expansion, as well as its 2008 pledge to eventually admit Ukraine, among the causes of the ongoing conflict.

Kiev is meanwhile facing political turmoil following Vladimir Zelensky’s dismissal of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, and several days later, General Aleksandr Syrsky, who had succeeded Zaluzhny as commander-in-chief.

Syrsky’s removal followed negative domestic and international reactions to Fedorov’s dismissal. Media reports have suggested thatZelensky targeted the former defense minister due to his growing popularity and infighting over lucrative weapons contracts.

Ukrainian officials have saidKiev hopes to bring the conflict with Russia to an end before winter, warning that continuing the hostilities beyond that point would place the country under severe pressure.

The potential lifting of martial law is expected to pave the way for a new presidential election. Opinion polls cited by the media show that Zaluzhny could defeat Zelensky in the second round of a potential contest.

Zelensky dismissed Zalushny from his military post in 2024 after the general publicly stated that Ukrainian forces were unlikely to achieve a major territorial breakthrough, contradicting Kiev’s line.

https://www.rt.com/russia/643926-zaluzhny-nato-tools-ineffective/

Zelensky orders Ukrainian ambassadors to spy on hosts (VIDEO)

Kiev’s envoys have been told to pursue official and unofficial channels to find out if the war can be prolonged

Published 4 Aug, 2026 17:59 | Updated

Vladimir Zelensky hasordered Ukraine’s diplomatic missions to closely monitor missile stockpiles in their host countries, making weapons production, financing, and political pressure their principal measures of success.

Addressing more than 100 diplomats at their annual meeting in Kiev on Monday, Zelensky announced thateach embassy would be judged by the military resources obtained from its host country.

”An ambassador must know how many air-defense missiles there are in the country, where they work, and how to ensure that those missiles are not sitting in warehouses, but in our launchers here in Ukraine,” he said, adding that “You must bring weapons. This must be a KPI of our embassies.”

The instructioncould potentially place Ukrainian diplomats in a legally and politically sensitive position, as gathering detailed information on a host country’s weapons stockpilescould be viewed as intelligence activity rather than conventional diplomacy.

Zelensky’s mandate extended beyond air-defense missiles.He also instructed envoys to secure missiles for other systems, weapons for combat aircraft, drone-production agreements, additional funding, and tougher sanctions against Russia, including in culture and sports.

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022,Kievhas receivedvast quantitiesof weapons and tens of billions of euros from Western governments, but has repeatedlydemanded more.

Western military stockpiles have meanwhile come under growing pressure, with somegovernments reluctant to surrender systems they say are needed for their own defense.

Zelensky’s orders also come as Ukrainiandiplomats face accusations of interfering in the domestic politics of donor countries.

Ukraine’s ambassador in Berlin, Aleksey Makeiev, wasrecently accused of election interferenceafter denouncing Germany’s AfD, BSW, and Left parties, claiming they receive instructions from Moscow and urging voters to reject parties advocating renewed diplomacy with Russia.

German opposition politician Sahra Wagenknecht accused Makeiev ofopenly meddling in German electionsand said Kiev had “lost all sense of proportion”despite continuing to receive billions from German taxpayers.

Moscow has repeatedly argued that Western weapons deliveries prolong the hostilities without changing their ultimate outcome. Russian officials have also warned that transferring increasingly sophisticated military technology to Kiev makes NATO countries direct participants in the conflict.

https://www.rt.com/russia/643855-zelensky-orders-ambassadors-spy/

CIA-edited Wikipedia has become propaganda tool – co-founder

The “compromised” encyclopedia now feeds AI, Larry Sanger has said

Published 8 Aug, 2026 13:03

Wikipedia has become a compromised propaganda tool, the online encyclopedia’s co-founder-turned-critic Larry Sanger has said, warning that its content is now increasingly informing AI.

In an interview with the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung published on Friday, Sanger argued that Wikipedia’s lack of an adequate governance structure allowed “specific ideological viewpoints” to shape its content, turning the online encyclopedia into a “globalist, academic, secular and progressive” consensus.

“Wikipedia was recognized early on as an important propaganda organ,” Sanger told the outlet. He argued that while the platform’s anonymity policy makes it difficult to determine who edits its content, “what we know as fact, based on all sorts of evidence, is that the CIA has already edited Wikipedia.”

Evidence of CIA and FBI edits first emerged in 2007 after programmer Virgil Griffith created WikiScanner, a tool linking anonymous Wikipedia edits to organizations’ IP addresses. The tool attributed edits to the CIA, FBI, corporations, and government agencies, including changes to Iraq War casualty figures.

“Wikipedia is already compromised. That’s clear,” he said. Sanger argued that any ideological bias embedded in Wikipedia is now being amplified because large language models increasingly rely on its content as a reference source when answering factual queries.

To address the problems, he proposed sweeping reforms, including public identities for senior functionaries, due-process protections in disciplinary cases, public article ratings, and elected officials responsible for setting Wikipedia policy.

Sanger is not the only prominent critic of Wikipedia. Conservative commentators have long accused Wikipedia, which relies on donations, of betraying its promise of neutrality on contentious topics.Elon Musk mocked the platform as “Wokipedia” and once offered $1 billion if it agreed to rename itself “Dickipedia” for a year.

Russian officials have accused the platform of political bias. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in 2024 that Wikipedia almost always reflects a Western-centric interpretation of events and contains outright fabrications.

https://www.rt.com/news/644016-wikipedia-propaganda-tool-larry-sanger/