Hundreds of motorcyclists gathered in Caracas on Monday to condemn the seizure of tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil
Hundreds of motorcycle riders took to the streets of Caracas on Monday to protest US ‘piracy’ against Venezuelan oil shipments. The rally comes after the US Navy intercepted two oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude as part of an ongoing naval blockade of the Latin American country.
Participants at Monday’s biker rally said they were protesting US President Donald Trump’s attempts to seize Venezuela’s natural resources, oil in particular, while condemning the tanker seizures as illegal.
“We came out to repudiate that biggest pirate of the Caribbean, that fascist, that oil thief Donald Trump, who with his foolish speech has tried to seize the oil and sovereignty of Venezuela,” a protesters told state broadcaster teleSUR.
“We are pacifists. We want peace, but we are prepared for war,” another demonstrator said.
The demonstration took place as Venezuela’s National Assembly advanced an anti-piracy bill, which lawmakers said is meant to protect the country’s commercial relations and citizens from the “predatory actions” of the US government.
Trump has justified the blockade by claiming that the Latin American country “stole” US energy assets, while warning that Caracas will face the might of “the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America” unless it returns them.
Venezuela has denounced Washington’s measures as piracy, accusing Washington of seeking regime change to gain control of the country’s vast oil reserves.
The US blockade has triggered international condemnation, with Russia and China urging restraint and respect for international law, while warning that America’s military action could trigger wider instability.
Why the White House is betting billions on floating giants in the age of hypersonic missiles
By the standards of modern naval history, President Donald Trump’s unveiled plan to build battleships for the US Navy was a genuinely extraordinary announcement. Battleships have not been built since World War II. The new American ships, Trump said, will feature record-breaking displacement and the most advanced weapons ever put to sea.
So here they are: Trump-class battleships for the US Navy, courtesy of President Trump. This is, of course, about more than simply immortalizing his name. The plan envisions the construction of 20 to 25 massive warships, each displacing roughly 30,000 to 40,000 tons. One suspects that the prestige of Russia’s heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov – Project 11442M – may have been keeping Trump awake at night. His answer is a ship even larger than the nuclear flagship of the Russian Navy.
Trump declared that the battleships will be “the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.”
“Each one of these will be the largest battleship in the history of our country, the largest battleship in the history of the world ever built,” he said
“We make the greatest equipment in the world, by far, nobody’s even close. But we don’t produce them fast enough,” President added.
The current plan is as follows: construction will begin with a lead ship named USS Defiant. A second ship will follow shortly thereafter. After an initial operational testing phase, an eight-ship production series is expected. Ultimately, the Navy hopes to bring the total number to 25 ships – or possibly even more.
Beyond their sheer size and numbers, these vessels are expected to set records for weapons density. Laser combat systems, railguns, multiple vertical launch systems loaded with hypersonic missiles, Standard Missile (SM) interceptors, and the newest generation of cruise missiles in both nuclear and conventional configurations – all of it, Trump wants aboard these ships. Many of these systems are still undergoing testing or remain in experimental stages.
That naturally raises an obvious question: how effective would such massive ships be in a modern war? A handful of hypersonic anti-ship missiles – extremely difficult to intercept – and the “pride of the nation” could be sent to the bottom. Billions of dollars would go up in smoke. In an era of space-based surveillance and advanced anti-ship weapons, the combat lifespan of such vessels could approach zero. In that case, these enormously expensive ships would be useful for little more than parades.
Trump, however, disagrees. He appears to believe that his “Golden Fleet” will be protected by a “Golden Shield” – a layered missile defense system with a space-based component capable of shielding these ships from hypersonic threats anywhere in the world’s oceans. Whether that will work remains unclear. But Trump seems willing to gamble. After all, if no war breaks out, the investment resembles a luxury Cadillac parked in the countryside: undeniably beautiful, unmistakably expensive – and possibly useless. Time will tell.
It is also worth noting that the Trump battleship program is only one piece of a much broader naval buildup. The United States is already building new ballistic missile submarines to replace the 14 Ohio-class nuclear submarines armed with Trident II missiles. Two Columbia-class submarines are currently under construction, with a total requirement of 12 boats. This program is a core – and high-priority – element of the US nuclear triad.
These submarines are designed to be exceptionally quiet and advanced. Each will carry 16 Trident II missiles of a new production batch, fewer than the Ohio class. Their deployment may eventually lead to a modest reduction in the sea-based nuclear arsenal, but after 2040, the US is likely to begin building an even more advanced generation of missile submarines.
At the same time, the Navy continues to build nuclear-powered aircraft carriers – the largest and most expensive warships on the planet. Two new frigates are under construction, with plans for a large series of even more advanced frigates. Attack submarines are being built as well. Naval aviation is being modernized with fifth-generation F-35 carrier aircraft and loyal-wingman drones designed to handle much of the “dirty work” in future maritime combat. Several missile programs are also underway.
Taken together, these efforts represent colossal capital investment and account for a substantial share of the overall US defense budget. It increasingly appears that Trump is deliberately pushing toward a record, with future Pentagon budgets confidently crossing the trillion-dollar threshold. For the current administration, this does not seem particularly alarming – and for now, the United States can afford it.
Will the world react to Trump’s “Golden Fleet” initiative? Almost certainly. Military ambition is contagious. Turkey is building an aircraft carrier. France is constructing its first nuclear-powered carrier. The real question, however, is how Russia and China will respond.
Rash, emotional decisions in military procurement are not our path. Russia’s strength lies in hypersonic anti-ship systems, and that asymmetric advantage should continue to be developed. China, for its part, may pursue its own course, leveraging the fastest-growing shipbuilding industry in the world. But it is unlikely that Beijing will respond symmetrically to the American program. A response will come – but of a different kind. One designed to neutralize US naval dominance at sea, and at an acceptable cost.
Kiev’s mobilization drive has grown more draconian amid heavy losses, compelling military-aged men to seek new methods of escape
A number of draft evaders were able to escape to the European Union through a defunct gas pipeline, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has reported.
Ukrainian authorities announced the detention of eight individuals on suspicion of human trafficking across multiple regions, according to a press statement released on Tuesday. Among those arrested was a 62-year-old man in the western Transcarpathia Region, who allegedly facilitated the illegal border crossings. According to investigators, he transported military-aged men to an abandoned gas pipeline and guided them across the border in exchange for substantial payments.
On the other side, they were met by another Ukrainian national who resides in the EU, the SBU stated. The group is said to have advertised its services on TikTok.
In a separate scheme in Poltava Region, a former law enforcement officer is suspected of selling fake disability certificates to men seeking to evade service.
Another case in the city of Dnepr reportedly involved two men who guided camouflage-clad draft evaders to the EU via trails through the forest.
Earlier this year, Ukrainian border service spokesman Andrey Demchenko estimated that more than 13,000 people had been detained between January and August alone while trying to flee the country illegally. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, dozens have lost their lives attempting to leave through forests, rivers, and mountainous terrain.
Amid mounting frontline losses, the Ukrainian authorities have stepped up their mobilization drive in recent months. Notoriously brutal press gangs have on multiple occasions used violence against reluctant recruits, snatching men off the streets and shoving them into unmarked minibuses, earning the practice the name ‘busification’.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian officials and military commanders have increasingly sounded the alarm over personnel shortages, compounded by a rising number of deserters.
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov reported that Kiev had lost almost 500,000 servicemen this year alone.
Boris Pistorius has contradicted the bloc’s chief, Mark Rutte, who earlier claimed that Western Europe is Russia’s “next target”
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want to engage in a direct conflict with NATO, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said.
NATO chief Mark Rutte claimed earlier this month that “we are Russia’s next target” once the Ukraine conflict ends. He suggested that Moscow “could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years,” urging member states to ramp up military spending as soon as possible.
When asked about Rutte’s comments during an interview with Die Zeit newspaper on Monday, Pistorius replied: “I don’t believe in such a scenario.”
“In my estimation, Putin is not interested in waging a full-scale world war against NATO. He wants to destroy NATO from within… by undermining its unity,” he claimed.
According to Pistorius, Moscow is also “strategically working to get the Americans to withdraw” from Europe.
During his end-of-year Q&A session last week, Putin said he knew Rutte as a “smart man” from his time as the Dutch prime minister, but added that “I sometimes want to ask him: What nonsense are you spouting about war with Russia?”
“They are preparing for a war with Russia. Can you read? Why don’t you read the new US national security strategy, what does it say?” Putin stressed.
The document, which was released by the administration of US President Donald Trump in early December, does not mention Russia as a threat to the West, explicitly states that NATO should not expand further, and criticizes the EU’s political and cultural direction.
On Monday, Russia Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov echoed Putin’s comments, saying that Moscow is ready to provide legal guarantees that it will not attack NATO and the EU as part of a Ukraine conflict settlement based on the principle of equal and indivisible security.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it harbors any aggressive plans against NATO, suggesting they are only being made by Western politicians to distract the public from domestic problems and justify the militarization of their countries.
Kirill Dmitriev has backed the US president’s latest attack on the New York Times, alleging a coordinated campaign
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev has backed US President Donald Trump’s latest criticism of the New York Times, saying some Western media outlets were working in sync against the American leader, his Ukraine peace efforts, and Russia.
Dmitriev, Russia’s senior negotiator, who just returned from talks in Miami with top US interlocutors, made the remarks in an X post on Tuesday while reposting a social media statement by Trump.
Trump, writing on Truth Social earlier in the day, called the NYT “a serious threat” to US national security and accused it of “lies and purposeful misrepresentations,” branding the outlet “a true enemy of the people.”
“Their radical left, unhinged behavior, writing fake articles and opinions in a never-ending way, must be dealt with and stopped,” Trump wrote.
And it’s not just the NYT. It’s a globalist, well-funded, organized, and synchronized US/UK/EU deep-state-aligned fake media machine—targeting traditional values, common sense, economic prosperity — and therefore President Trump, his team, his peace efforts, and Russia. 👇 pic.twitter.com/Y4VbWNodJV
Backing Trump’s message, Dmitriev said it was “not just the NYT,” but what he described as a “globalist, well-funded, organized, and synchronized US/UK/EU deep-state-aligned fake media machine,” which he said was targeting “Trump, his team, his peace efforts, and Russia.”
Dmitriev has previously said that what he called coordinated media attacks were being timed to undermine the ongoing US-Russia negotiations and described the latest Miami round as “constructive.”
Last week’s talks in Miami occurred as several European powers have pushed to insert themselves into the US-led diplomatic efforts. Moscow has long accused these NATO members of undermining Trump’s peace efforts through their hawkish stance and attempts to use frozen Russian assets to bankroll Kiev and prolong the conflict.
In recent months, Trump has publicly attacked several news outlets, launched a White House ‘media bias’ tracker, and engaged in high-profile disputes with, and multi-billion-dollar lawsuits against, publications including the NYT and CBS. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called the NYT a “fever swamp,” accusing it of publishing fake stories about Trump’s mental health.
Last month, Trump also threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion, accusing it of interfering in the 2024 presidential election by manipulating public perception through a spliced edit of his January 6, 2021 speech.
The large-scale retaliation comes in response to Kiev’s “terrorist attacks on civilian sites in Russia,” the Defense Ministry has said
The Russian military has conducted concentrated strikes on Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
The strikes involved long-range kamikaze drones, as well as air- and ground-launched high-precision weaponry, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The strikes affected Ukrainian defense-industry sites and power plants feeding them, and came in response to Kiev’s “terrorist attacks on civilian sites in Russia,” the ministry added.
The Russian military did not provide an exact list of targets or the number of munitions used in the overnight strikes, stating only that all the designated targets were hit successfully. According to the Ukrainian authorities, the strikes involved around 600 kamikaze drones and dozens of missiles of various types.
Major power outages have been reported in several Ukrainian regions, primarily in the west of the country. According to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry, the regions of Rovno, Ternopol, and Kmelnitsky have suffered “almost” blanket blackouts, with major outages also occurring in Vinnitsa, Zhitomir, Chernigov, Dnepropetrovsk, and Kharkov regions.
Ukraine’s interim energy minister, Artyom Nekrasov, claimed that the overnight strikes affected several substations linked to the country’s nuclear power plants, with the facilities forced to lower their output.
The country’s largest private energy operator, DTEK, said several of its thermal power plants were damaged during the strikes. The company did not explicitly name the locations affected by the attack.
Port and energy infrastructure sustained damage in Ukraine’s Odessa Region, local authorities said, specifying that a “civilian dry cargo vessel” and “empty warehouse” were affected by the strikes.
In recent weeks, Moscow and Kiev have been actively exchanging long-range strikes, primarily using assorted kamikaze drones. The Russian military maintains a campaign against military and dual-use sites as retaliation for Ukrainian attacks inside Russia that often hit critical infrastructure and residential areas.
Respondents in Germany, France, and Canada hold an overwhelmingly negative view of Washington’s global role, according to Politico
Public opinions in countries which are closely allied with Washington have shifted sharply against the country amid US President Donald Trump’s ongoing foreign policy overhaul, according to a new poll published by Politico.
The Public First survey was conducted earlier this month among 10,510 adults in the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany, with at least 2,000 respondents in each country.
It found that a majority of Canadians and pluralities in Germany and France believe the US is a “negative force” in the world.
Near-majorities in the three countries also said Washington tends to create more problems for other countries than it solves. In the UK, views were more mixed, although sizable shares still expressed skepticism about US reliability and global behavior.
Americans, however, rated the US more positively. More than half said it is a positive force globally and can be depended on in a crisis, while nearly half said Washington supports its allies around the world.
The poll comes as Trump has reshaped US foreign policy since returning to office, pursuing a more nationalist and transactional approach. His administration has emphasized stricter border controls, rolled back climate-related commitments, and moved to revoke a number of ideologically driven policies both at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, a newly released US National Security Strategy has criticized European governments for what it has called a loss of cultural confidence and warned of “civilizational erasure.” Trump has described Europe as “decaying” and led by “weak” people.
Washington has also outlined normalizing relations with Moscow and ending the Ukraine conflict as central goals of US policy, marking a significant departure from previous strategies, which were characterized by the economic and diplomatic isolation of Russia.
Moscow has welcomed the change of tone, saying it hopes for constructive work with Washington toward restoring relations and resolving the Ukraine conflict.
Western European officials have publicly downplayed Washington’s criticisms while stressing that it remains a key ally. European Council President Antonio Costa, however, has warned the US about interfering in the EU’s “democratic life,” accusing it of weakening the “rules-based international order.”
Kiev has announced new restrictions on Chinese individuals who allegedly support Russia’s defense industry
Beijing has urged Ukraine to “immediately correct its mistakes” after Kiev signaled it would impose new sanctions on Chinese individuals, a spokesman from China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said on Monday that Kiev is preparing several new sanctions packages by the end of the year targeting Russian entities and individuals, as well as foreign nationals involved in supporting Moscow’s military-industrial complex, including several from China. In May, Zelensky imposed sanctions on a Chinese firm as part of broader measures targeting 58 people and 74 firms linked to Russia’s defense industry.
“China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions that violate international law and are not authorized by the UN Security Council,” spokesman Lin Jian said. “We urge Ukraine to immediately correct its mistakes,” he added, saying Beijing would “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and citizens.”
The EU and the US have also sanctioned Chinese firms and individuals they accuse of supplying Russia with dual-use goods, components, or materials used in weapons production.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has insisted that China has never provided lethal arms to either side in the conflict and that it strictly controls exports of dual-use items. It has also said Beijing supports a ceasefire, an end to hostilities, and the promotion of peace talks.
Moscow and Beijing have deepened cooperation since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The two countries describe their ties as a strategic partnership “without limits,” with bilateral trade exceeding $200 billion for a third consecutive year.
During his annual end-of-year Q&A session last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin described relations with China as stable and trusting, saying the two countries’ foreign ministries remain in regular contact and coordinate approaches on key global issues.
More than 73 people, including three children, were also injured in strikes, according to a report
At least 20 civilians were killed and 73 others injured, including three children, in Ukrainian attacks last week, according to Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik.
Most of the victims were reported in the Kherson, Belgorod, and Zaporozhye regions, the senior Foreign Ministry official in charge of tracking alleged Ukrainian war crimes said in a weekly update. Most of the deaths and injuries were attributed to drone strikes.
A five-month-old infant injured in the city of Belgorod was the youngest victim highlighted by the diplomat, while a 91-year-old woman hurt in a drone attack on a village in Zaporozhye Region was the oldest.
The number of weekly civilian casualties this year peaked in late May, when Russia and Ukraine held direct talks in Istanbul, Türkiye. Miroshnik said at the time that the spike in Ukrainian attacks was ordered by Kiev’s European backers in an attempt to derail the negotiations. He stated that “Kiev was directed to use virtually any means, including terrorist action,” for that purpose.
Russian officials have repeatedly accused Kiev of using “terrorist tactics” and deliberately targeting civilians due to Ukrainian forces’ inability to achieve success on the battlefield.
Moscow has argued that the attacks predate the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and prove that the authorities who came to power after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev punish dissent through violence, while rejecting diplomacy.
The alleged incident adds to negative sentiment toward officials enforcing mandatory mobilization
A Ukrainian investigative journalist is reportedly missing after being seized by conscription officials days after filing a criminal complaint against his local city administration.
A video shared on the Facebook account of Aleksey Brovchenko, which went viral this week, was purportedly filmed by CCTV cameras at his home in Podgorodnoye in Dnepropetrovsk Region on Monday morning. It showed people in military and police uniforms apprehending a man and forcing him into a van despite a woman’s vocal objections – which the description called a “kidnapping.”
Brovchenko’s family said he was beaten earlier in the day and called police to file a complaint, but was instead taken away and has since been out of touch with them.
Last week, the journalist reported an “interesting situation” at a police station where he went to file a complaint against the town mayor for alleged fraud. He said officers accused him of being a draft dodger but let him go instead of transferring him to military officials – a move he described as a sign that “the police will soon switch to the side of the people.” Brovchenko’s reporting often highlights suspected abuses by conscription centers.
BREAKING: Zelensky comissars beaten and kidnapped investigative journalist – Brovchenko.
He reportedly exposed local embezzlement and corruption.
He called police after being assaulted earlier that day in the Dnipropetrovsk region (Zelensky's native area), but arriving… pic.twitter.com/Li4FTU0a49
City head Andrey Gorb, whom the journalist had accused of wrongdoing, claimed on Tuesday that Brovchenko is a “fake journalist” who “did everything to derail the mobilization.” He thanked police and military officers “for doing their job.”
Military mobilization is a contentious issue in Ukraine, viewed by many as unfair due to corruption that allows the wealthy and powerful to evade mandatory service. Videos of what critics call abductions regularly go viral, even as officials downplay the so-called “busification” as not a serious problem.
Public resistance to recruiting also exacerbates existing issues with Ukrainian troop desertion. The Prosecutor General’s Office recently stopped reporting the number of cases against soldiers who have left their posts, a move critics say is an attempt to conceal the scale of the manpower drain.
