NATO plans to hold nuclear exercises next week despite the soaring tensions with Russia that have led to President Biden warning of the risk of nuclear “armageddon.”
US officials have ruled out pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia even though they don’t think either side can win the war “outright,” The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Russia on Monday launched one of its largest barrages of missile strikes in Ukraine in its first major coordinated attack on Ukrainian energy and communication infrastructure across the country, marking a significant escalation of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the missile strikes targeted the “energy, military command and communications facilities of Ukraine.” The missile barrage came after the truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian mainland to Crimea. A day earlier, Putin called the Kerch Bridge bombing a Ukrainian “terror act” and Ukrainian...
Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published Wednesday that Poland is open to hosting US nuclear weapons and has approached Washington about the idea. Currently, NATO members Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey host US nuclear weapons under NATO’s nuclear sharing program. The US and NATO have previously said that they wouldn’t place nuclear weapons in countries that joined the alliance after the Cold War, but Duda said discussions on the issue are happening. “There is always a potential opportunity to participate in the nuclear sharing program,” Duda told the...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday signed a decree that ruled out any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, declaring they would be an “impossibility.” The decree was first put forward by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, the decree states “the impossibility of holding negotiations with the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.” The move formalized comments that Zelensky made on Friday following Putin’s approval of annexing four Ukrainian territorites. “He does not know what dignity...
European officials on Tuesday said massive leaks in the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that were caused by explosions were likely the result of sabotage, raising questions on who the culprit might be.
Russian-backed authorities in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine have reported that a huge majority of voters favor joining Russia as referendums concluded on Tuesday.
Congressional negotiators agreed to include nearly $12 billion in new spending on the war in Ukraine in a stopgap spending bill that will likely be voted on this week, Reuters reported on Monday. Sources told Reuters that the $12 billion will include $4.5 billion in funding for arms being sent to Ukraine and $2.7 billion for other military and intelligence support for Ukraine. The funding also includes $4.5 billion in direct budgetary aid for the Ukrainian government. A source told The Associated Press that the stopgap bill is meant to fund the federal government through mid-December and...
