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Well, the end of the war in Ukraine could be very near—and for the first time since this whole expensive nightmare started, there’s an actual adult in the room. And that’s because President Trump is back in the White House. The truth is, Ukraine has always been one of the most corrupt countries in the world—and their leader is leading the pack. OCCRP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his partners in comedy production owned a network of offshore companies related to their business based in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Belize. Zelensky’s current chief aide, Serhiy Shefir, as well...

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “finish off” Ukrainian troops on Friday — after the warmonger ordered strikes on a Ukrainian energy facility in a bold violation of the US-backed partial cease-fire. Russian forces this week attacked a Ukrainian energy facility in Kherson, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned, accusing Putin of breaching the precarious deal halting military action in the Black Sea and pausing long-range attacks on energy infrastructure. Putin, who had said that Moscow would end its strikes on Ukrainian energy targets, called on his troops to continue pushing forward into Ukraine and even step up their attacks.

"BERLIN—President Trump’s embrace of Russia is causing Europeans to rethink their security and giving currency to an idea the U.S. has long sought to avoid: a nuclear-armed Germany. Friedrich Merz, who is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, said Berlin should start talks about expanding the French and British nuclear deterrents to cover Europe, according to an interview the conservative politician did with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung weekly. .... On the nuclear side, researchers and some politicians say Berlin’s fastest route to rebuilding a deterrent could be to replicate its arrangement with the U.S. This could see French nuclear bombers...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is open to offering the US access to rare minerals, including from Russian-occupied Ukraine. This comes after US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed for Ukraine to give up some of its minerals in exchange for support, in a deal which is currently being finalised, according to a Ukrainian minister. In a state TV interview on Monday, Putin said he was ready to "offer" resources to American partners in joint projects, including mining in Russia's "new territories" - a reference to parts of eastern Ukraine that Russia has occupied since launching a full-scale invasion...

"We continue our meaningful dialogue with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof, following our meeting in Munich,” the Ukrainian leader said. “An important conversation about a just end to the war and strengthening European unity."

Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as the Director of National Intelligence. In a party-line 52-48 vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) crossing the aisle to vote with the Democrats, one of President Trump's more problematic nominees accomplished what was thought impossible only three weeks ago.

I'm honored and grateful to President Donald J. Trump for his trust and confidence in nominating me to serve our country as the Director of National Intelligence. I am especially honored to be nominated for this role at a time when trust in the intelligence community is at an all-time low, and the world is more dangerous than ever, given the national security failures of the Biden administration. But it didn't start with President Biden. For too long, faulty, inadequate and weaponized intelligence has led to costly failures, which have undermined our national security and constitutional freedoms. The most obvious...

NATO fighter planes were scrambled today amid a brutal Russian missile and military drone onslaught on civilian, energy and military sites in Ukraine. Harrowing footage showed residents in Poltava screaming after a strike destroyed ordinary apartment blocks triggering fires amid the debris of smashed buildings. The wave of attacks by Vladimir Putin - which led to power cuts in multiple regions - came soon after Donald Trump announced in the Oval Office that his administration was actively talking to Moscow. “We are having very serious discussions about that war, trying to get it ended,” said the US president. On whether...

Russia has launched a huge attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which authorities said was the twelfth large-scale attack on energy facilities this year. Russia said the attack was in response to a Ukrainian strike on a military airbase in south-west Russia using US-made missiles, which US President-elect Donald Trump described as "crazy". In an interview with Time magazine on Thursday, to mark being named Person of the Year, Trump said he disagreed "very vehemently" with American made missiles targeting sites in Russia. "We're just escalating this war and making it worse," he said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that Russia sees "no grounds for negotiations yet" to end Moscow's war on Ukraine. President-elect Donald Trump's imminent return to the White House has revived speculation as to a possible deal to end Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which by the time Trump takes office again will be nearly three years old. Russia still occupies around 20% of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four entire regions -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- though it only partially occupies the areas it claims.

Russia could end the war in Ukraine with a nuclear strike that turns the country into a "radiation zone", an ally of Vladimir Putin has chillingly warned. Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev warned that the world is "on the brink of nuclear war". Discussing the prospect of a Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine, he added: "There will be a radiation zone nobody will ever go into in our lifetime. And the war will be over." -snip- He added: "We want a long-term peace — some sort of general agreement about the global order. Trump wants to go down in history, he'll...

Vladimir Putin will reject Donald Trump's proposed peace plan and would only end the conflict in Ukraine if he gives him huge concessions, a hardliner close to the Kremlin has warned. Russian tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, who is sanctioned by the West, slammed Trump's recently picked envoy Keith Kellogg and his proposals on how to end the conflict with Kyiv. 'Kellogg comes to Moscow with his plan, we take it and then tell him to screw himself, because we don't like any of it. That'd be the whole negotiation,' Malofeyev said bluntly in an interview from a luxury Dubai resort. -snip-...

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is urging NATO leaders to invite Ukraine to join the Western military alliance during a meeting in Brussels next week, according to a letter sent to alliance leaders—reflecting the country's frenzied push to gain membership in the alliance in the final days of Biden's presidency. The letter, first reviewed by Reuters, comes as Ukraine has re-upped its request for NATO membership to help put an end to Russia's war, including a recent uptick in attacks on its energy infrastructure. It also comes as the Biden administration has granted Ukraine new permissions to fight back against...

Vlodymr Zelensky said he is willing to cede territory to Russia to end the war for the first time. He added that Kiev could later negotiate “diplomatically” the return of the territory in the east that is currently under Russian control after a ceasefire is agreed.

In the world of geopolitics created by the U.S. Dept of State and CIA, the pretending is thick. A recent report has Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now offering to give up territory to Russian President Vladimir Putin in exchange for NATO membership for the remaining portion. The story is sold by western media as if Zelenskyy has options, he doesn’t. However, Putin has a very strong weapon that President Trump has to navigate with a team of people around U.S. policy that are tenuous at best. Let’s discuss without the pretending.

...Nonetheless, the war in Ukraine seems to be absorbing all Russia’s efforts. Russia clearly does not possess the material capacity or will to open a second front in the Baltic. At the same time, however, Russia would never allow Kaliningrad Oblast to be taken from it, for historical, strategic, and prestige reasons. The outcome of the war in Ukraine could result in a reassessment of the future political-juridical status of Kaliningrad, closing a question that has been pending since 1945, when this relatively small rim of land became Russian.

More than one million people in Ukraine have been left without power after Russia launched a "massive strike" on the country's energy grid overnight. The co-ordinated assault unfolded over several hours with waves of drones and missiles flying across the length and breadth of Ukraine - the second attack of its kind this month. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said cluster munitions were used specifically against civilian and energy infrastructure. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia launched 90 missiles and 100 drones in response to Ukraine's attacks with UK and US-supplied weapons last week. "We carried out a comprehensive strike," Putin...

Russia has seen a huge spike in butter theft as inflation and Western sanctions send Moscow's economy into crisis. The BBC's Russia Editor, Steve Rosenberg, highlighted reports in Russian media outlining how "people are stealing butter because of high prices." He added: "Some shops have decided to sell packs of butter in security boxes to reduce theft." -snip- Meanwhile, the government newspaper in Moscow warns that interest rates could go up again despite the Russian Central Bank's already-record hike to 21%. The paper warns they could rise to 23% in December.

Vladimir Putin has deployed his most bizarre "turtle tanks" yet as the tyrant lost nearly all his modern military equipment since the start of the war. The Soviet-era relics were seen underneath steel plates and chain fringes as they hit the battlefield in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Tuesday.

Vladimir Putin has mysteriously disappeared from public view as his regime issued apocalyptic World War Three nuclear threats over the use of long-range Western missiles by Ukraine against Russian territory. It is unclear if during the past 12 days of high international tension the Kremlin dictator has been holed up in a hi-tech bunker, unwell, underwent another round of plastic surgery, took a secret holiday or simply chose to remain out of sight. Yet Putin, 72, has not been definitively seen since an appearance at the Valdai Forum in Sochi on November 7 when he congratulated a "courageous" Donald Trump...