A Ukrainian delegation met on Wednesday with high-ranking representatives of Donald Trump, a source familiar with the meeting told Reuters. The Ukrainian delegation was led by Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The group met in Washington with Trump’s pick for White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and his envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg, the source said, without providing details. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
Chechen Governor Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday that a Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny damaged the premises of a special police unit fighting in Ukraine. The regiment is part of the police special forces, named after Ahmad Kadyrov, the late father and predecessor of the current leader, the state news agency wrote.
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to Joe Biden, called on the incoming Trump administration to maintain the expansion of the domestic defense industry started by the current president and fueled by the war in Ukraine. Otherwise, Sullivan said, the US could quickly run out of ammunition in a war with China. “God forbid we end up in a full-scale war with the PRC,” Sullivan said. “But any war with a country like the PRC, an army like the PRC, will involve a very rapid depletion of ammunition stocks,” he told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The the fall of the government of France on Wednesday and failure to pass a budget can make it difficult for Paris to increase its support for Ukraine despite President Emmanuel Macron’s repeated promises to help Kiev as long as necessary.
On Wednesday, the United States unveiled sanctions against five people and four organizations allegedly involved in a global network of “sanctions circumvention on behalf of Russian elites,” the U.S. Treasury Department said. “Through the TGR Group, Russian elites sought to exploit digital assets – specifically US dollar-backed stablecoins – to evade US and international sanctions,” said Bradley Smith, the Treasury Department’s terrorism and financial intelligence officer. The Treasury called the TGR an “extensive sanction evasion and money laundering network.”
Britain’s National Crime Agency said it was part of an internationally coordinated law enforcement effort against TGR, codenamed TGR Operation “Destabilize”.which also targeted a network known as Smart that helps sanctioned Russians gain access to the financial system. “For the first time we have been able to draw the link between Russian elites, crypto-rich cybercriminals and drug gangs on the streets of the UK,” said Rob Jones, Director General of Operations at the NCA. “The thread that ties them together – the combined power of Smart and TGR – has been unseen until now.” Authorities in France, Ireland and the UAE are also involved in the operation, the NCA said. So far, this has led to 84 arrests and the seizure of over £20 million (US$25 million) in cash and cryptocurrency.
Vladimir Zelensky on Wednesday condemned the Georgian government’s actions to order the dispersal of the protests as “shameful” and proof that the ruling Georgian Dream party is working for Russia. A Georgian dream, whose re-election is contested, sparked the latest protests by postpones its plans to join the EU. “It’s about how the current government in Georgia is pushing the country into apparent dependence on Russia,” Zelensky said. “It’s just shameful what actions they are taking against their own people.
Defense pact between North Korea and Russia, signed by its leaders in Junehas entered into force after the two countries exchanged ratification documents, North Korea’s official news agency KCNA said on Thursday. The formalization of the treaty comes after the United States and South Korea accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 troops to help Russia fight Ukraine.
