"Ukraine gave the Trump administration on Wednesday its point-by-point response to the latest draft of the U.S. peace plan, Ukrainian & U.S. officials tell Axios." Zelensky tweeted today about a 20-point plan, but it's unclear how much of that remains intact after the Witkoff–Kushner Moscow trip... https://www.axios.com/2025/12/02/putin-witkoff-kushner-meeting-ukraine-plan image
Does anyone know what flag this is? It appears in a BBC report published yesterday around 1:46 in the video. (It's causing a stir in some corners of the RuNet.) image
For Tuesday's newsletter, I reviewed a recent briefing paper by scholars Margarita Zavadskaya and Jussi Lassila about the "dual credibility gap" that has Russian exiles between a rock and a hard place. Zavadskaya and Lassila say the gap isn't insurmountable, but I'm not so sure... You can read their paper here:
Surely the most suitable font for this administration is Wingdings. image
Bless Croatia's satirists.
Responding to Trump's latest tirade against him, Zelensky told reporters today that he's prepared to hold new presidential elections in Ukraine with the noteworthy caveat that he needs U.S. help to "ensure security." We'll see if Trump views this as a concession or another P.T. Barnumesque stunt.
Trump’s envoys have reportedly given Zelensky just days to respond to a proposed peace deal requiring Kyiv to accept territorial losses in exchange for "unspecified U.S. security guarantees." Could TACO finally pull the trigger on Ukraine? Seems both inevitable and hard to believe.
Maybe some egg on Politico's face here: Japan's govt denies its report that it rebuffed an EU request to join plans to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine," though we get in a separate Reuters report: "Japan hasn't yet decided specifically how to extend financial support to Ukraine." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-denies-media-report-it-rebuffed-eus-request-over-russian-asset-plans-2025-12-09/ https://www.reuters.com/business/eus-costa-we-are-very-close-solution-frozen-russian-assets-2025-12-09/
LOL, Donald Trump tops Politico's latest class of "Ranking the Most Influential People in Europe." Poor Putin has slipped to fifth place.