In 2024, births in Russia fell to 1.22 million — the lowest level since 1999 — while deaths increased by 3.3% annually, to 1.82 million.

Pentagon officials said details were still being worked out, and experts doubted Mr. Trump’s threat of huge tariffs for Russian trading partners.

“Putin will not negotiate as a loser,” one of his longtime associates tells TIME by phone from Moscow. “He knows that winners don’t get punished, and if he wins, all of this” — the sanctions, the tariffs — “will go away.”

Angela Stent, senior fellow at Brookings Institution, says Russian President Vladimir Putin counted on Chinese President Xi Jinping's support when he invaded Ukraine – and continues to count on Beijing's economic support and diplomatic support on a global stage.

Donald Trump’s remarks on Ukraine on Monday were far from the biggest announcement the US president could have made.

President Trump suggested Monday that first lady Melania may have helped convince him to ramp up military aid to Ukraine.

A former Russian prime minister has said Vladimir Putin may be forced to agree a peace deal to end the war with Ukraine by the end of the year. Mikhail Kasyanov said Russia’s “contracting” economy meant the country’s president may have no option but to seek a settlement to stop the hostilities.