VLADIMIR Putin has been secretly pummelling Ukraine with a banned missile for months – as Donald Trump is forced to start testing nuclear weapons again. Ukraine reports the cruise missile,

The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was announced earlier this month, with an agenda to discuss ways to end Russia's war in Ukraine

The proposed meeting, scheduled for this month, was shelved after Moscow maintained its demands, notably that Ukraine surrender additional territory as a prerequisite for a ceasefire. Trump has backed Ukraine' s call for an immediate ceasefire on current lines.

The two leaders planned to meet in Budapest was earlier put on hold after Moscow stuck to several demands, including that Ukraine must give more territory as a condition for a ceasefire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is now believed to be more dug in than ever, according to a recent intelligence assessment.

Vladimir Putin tightens grip on power by promoting family members and younger allies to his inner circle as economic strain and opposition threats mount in Russia.

Russia’s population has fallen from 147.6 million in 1990 — the year before the USSR collapsed — to 146.1 million this year, according to Russia’s Federal Statistics Service. Since the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea, it has included the peninsula's population of about 2 million, as well as births and deaths there, in its data.

Trump's U-turns on Russia and Ukraine, and the significance of new sanctions: ANALYSIS "Russia continues its terrorist war against life itself, and it's crucial that every such vi