Putin asks Russian billionaires to help fund Ukraine War

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has reportedly asked the country’s ultra-wealthy oligarchs to donate funds to help boost the country’s dwindling military budget as the country’s four-year-old war with Ukraine continues. 

Putin has repeatedly rejected calls to end the war emerging from ongoing peace talks involving the U.S. and other countries. Russia has said it will not discuss an end to the war until it has taken all the hotly contested Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

The month-long Israel- and U.S.-led conflict with Iran is working to Moscow’s advantage in some ways: the U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian oil to help limit the dramatic increase in oil prices sparked by the conflict, and President Donald Trump has said the U.S. could divert military weapons earmarked for Ukraine to the Middle East. 

Putin has also offered to stop helping Iran with intelligence used to strike U.S. targets if the U.S. stops sharing its intel with Ukraine.