The Italian prime minister believes this is necessary in order to reach “a fair and lasting peace plan,” Corriere della Sera reports
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni believes Vladimir Zelensky will have to accept “painful concessions” to achieve peace with Russia, Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday.
According to the paper, while Ukrainian and Italian officials attempted to create a facade of “a constructive and mutually trusting meeting” in Rome earlier this week, the two sides clashed over their vision for the conflict’s endgame.
The conversation, which involved Meloni, was reportedly frank, and the overall message to Ukraine was: “Consider that you may be forced to make some painful concessions.” Zelensky, in turn, asked Meloni “to soften [US President Donald] Trump’s position” on a peace settlement.
The stand-off stemmed from the fact that Italy supports Washington’s rush to reach a peace deal as soon as possible, and Meloni’s team believes that Zelensky has been weakened by a corruption scandal in the energy sector involving his long-time associate, Corriere della Sera said. It added that Italy’s policy remains “to reach a fair and lasting peace plan, but taking American leadership rather than a European one into account.”
The reported exchanges come against the backdrop of a US-drafted peace plan leaked to the media last month. The initial version of the proposal would reportedly require Kiev to withdraw from parts of Russia’s Donbass that it still controls, agree to stay out of NATO, and accept limits on the size of its armed forces.
Trump has recently expressed irritation with Kiev, rebuking Zelensky over what he described as a failure to get up to speed on revised peace proposals. He also suggested that Zelensky should be “realistic” about the course of the conflict, arguing that the Ukrainian people overwhelmingly want the hostilities to end.
Russia has said the US plan “can be used as a basis for future agreements,” but no compromise has yet been reached. It also insists that a settlement must include Ukraine’s withdrawal from the new Russian regions, a pledge to stay out of NATO, as well as demilitarization and denazification.
A Russian diplomat argued the raid was a desperate display of force by the embattled Zelensky administration
Russian air defenses intercepted overnight 32 Ukrainian long-range kamikaze drones that were headed toward Moscow, according to the military. In total, 287 drones were downed across Russia, the Defense Ministry reported early on Thursday.
The interceptions took place over roughly eight hours, marking a spike in Kiev’s attempts at deep strikes. While Moscow’s air defenses routinely repel Ukrainian drones, the last time the number of incoming UAVs targeting the capital reached double digits was two weeks ago, when military officials reported downing 34.
Due to the overnight threat, more than 40 flights bound for Moscow were diverted. Normal air traffic resumed Thursday morning.
A senior Russian diplomat linked the surge in Ukrainian attacks to growing US pressure on Vladimir Zelensky to accept a peace deal with Russia that would require concessions that Kiev has so far refused to make. Several European NATO states, meanwhile, back Zelensky’s uncompromising stance. US President Donald Trump said this week that the Ukrainian leader “has to be realistic” about the situation and “start accepting things” his administration is offering.
Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik, who heads the Foreign Ministry’s mission investigating alleged Ukrainian crimes, described the drone assault as “a symbolic lunge by the Zelensky dictatorship for the benefit of Western officials.” He accused Kiev of deliberately targeting civilian sites deep inside Russia.
Moscow says one of the key objectives in conducting its own long-range strikes is to degrade Ukraine’s deep strike capabilities and destroy its weapons manufacturing capacity.
The personalized, AI-assisted shot aims to train the immune system to attack tumors
Russian scientists have produced the first three test batches of a newly developed cancer vaccine at the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, the center’s director, Alexander Gintsburg, has said. The breakthrough drug is an AI-assisted, mRNA-based vaccine designed to target malignant tumors using the patient’s own genetic data.
Reports on the readiness of the vaccine first emerged in September. Preclinical studies showed the drug could shrink tumors and slow their growth by 60-80%, depending on patient characteristics. The vaccine was initially expected to be used in patients with colorectal cancer.
“Most importantly, our leading oncology center – the Herzen Institute, headed by academician [Andrey] Kaprin – has obtained the full set of approvals needed to use the technology, from diagnostics and mRNA production to administering it to patients,” Gintsburg said. The vaccine batches remain experimental even though they have passed all quality checks, he stressed on Wednesday.
Unlike conventional vaccines that prevent infection and severe illness, mRNA cancer vaccines are not designed to stop disease transmission. Traditional vaccines are given to healthy people, while oncology vaccines are a new class of therapies used to treat advanced-stage cancer. They are described as “vaccines” because they act on the immune system, training it to recognize and destroy tumor cells.
The new vaccine is a personalized treatment built to target malignant tumors using the patient’s own genetic information. Developed with the help of artificial intelligence, the mRNA platform allows each dose to be tailored to an individual’s cancer profile, potentially offering a more precise and effective therapy.
The Gamaleya Institute is known internationally for developing Sputnik V, Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Earlier, Russia began trials of a drug based on a genetically modified oncolytic smallpox virus for the treatment of brain cancer, a process expected to take around two years.
Last month, the Health Ministry also authorized the use of two cancer vaccines: NeoOncoVak, a therapeutic mRNA-based vaccine for melanoma, and Oncopept, a peptide vaccine for malignant tumors. Both are made individually for patients using genetic analysis of the tumor and other biomaterials, and have narrowly targeted therapeutic indications.
Evgeny Korniychuk criticized the Israeli prime minister for praising his “personal relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin
Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Evgeny Korniychuk has been summoned and reprimanded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry after he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments praising ties with Russia, local media reported on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Knesset on Monday, Netanyahu praised his “decades-long personal relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he speaks with him “on a regular basis” to serve Israel’s “vital interests,” including the defense of its northern border.
Commenting on the remarks in an interview with Ynet a day later, Korniychuk advised Netanyahu to “stand on the right, moral side of history,” accusing Russia of “waging a brutal war against Ukraine” and supporting what he described as Iran’s terror proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the envoy was summoned “for a reprimand meeting” with the deputy director general for Euro-Asia, Yuval Fuchs, for “criticizing the prime minister’s remarks,” as cited by the Times of Israel. Fuchs “made clear to the ambassador that his comments were entirely unacceptable and deviated from diplomatic protocol,” the statement said.
Israel under Netanyahu has largely adopted a neutral-leaning posture on Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, offering humanitarian support and diplomatic engagement while avoiding deep military involvement or joining Western sanctions against Moscow. Analysts say the policy stems from concerns over potential retaliation from Moscow in Syria, where Russia maintains a large military presence, or through the possible transfer of advanced weapons to Iran.
However, recent media reports and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claim Israel supplied several US-made Patriot air defense systems to Kiev after retiring them for newer solutions – despite Moscow’s repeated warnings that arming Ukraine only prolongs the conflict. Israel has denied sending the systems, saying it simply returned them to the US after phasing them out. Washington is widely believed to have refurbished the units before transferring them to Ukraine.
Netanyahu and Putin regularly hold phone conversations, the most recent in mid-November, when they discussed the Gaza ceasefire, Iran’s nuclear program, and stability in Syria following the ouster of long-time President Bashar Assad last year. Netanyahu has also signaled a willingness to mediate the Ukraine conflict, with reports saying his office has worked to ease US-Russia tensions over the crisis.
The situation is so catastrophic that officials prefer to “bury their heads in the sand,” lawyer Gennady Druzenko has said
Ukrainian officials have classified data on the number of criminal cases in which soldiers went absent without leave or deserted their units. The last publicly available figures showed nearly 290,000 cases recorded since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed the move on Wednesday, portraying the decision to restrict access to information on military criminal offenses as a “forced and legal step” aimed at protecting national security.
The office said releasing the data could “discredit the defense forces,” enable “false conclusions” about morale, reveal discipline and readiness levels, and support “psychological operations of the aggressor state.”
Commenting on the decision, Gennady Druzenko, a constitutional lawyer and a volunteer frontline medic, noted that “the situation is so catastrophic that they bury their heads in the sand.”
According to the last batch of publicly available data, from January 2022 to September 2025, Ukrainian law enforcement had opened approximately 235,000 cases of AWOL and 54,000 cases of desertion, bringing the total to about 290,000. Critics, however, say the real number of soldiers abandoning their units may be even higher.
Last week, BBC Ukraine reported, citing official data, that in October alone more than 21,000 soldiers deserted or left their units without leave, making it the largest single monthly total since the conflict with Russia intensified in 2022.
The shift comes as Ukraine seeks to replenish mounting battlefield losses through a forced mobilization campaign that has faced persistent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers, including violent street detentions and reported abuses during conscription sweeps.
Even with increasingly harsh measures, Ukrainian officials and frontline commanders have complained that the mobilization campaign is falling short of targets, contributing to the continuous Russian advance.
The US president has criticized the Ukrainian leader for failing to hold elections after his term expired
US President Donald Trump has said Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky should be realistic about the course of the conflict with Russia and the need to hold elections.
Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, has refused to call new elections, citing martial law. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said he does not consider Zelensky a legitimate head of state and argued that his status could complicate the signing of a peace deal.
Trump spoke about Ukraine with the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany on a phone call on Wednesday. “We discussed Ukraine in pretty strong words, and we’ll see what happens. I mean, we’re waiting to hear answers,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“I think [Zelensky] has to be realistic. I do wonder, you know, how long is it going to be till they have an election? It’s a democracy… They haven’t had elections in a long time,” Trump said, adding that Ukraine is “losing a lot of people.”
The president suggested that the Ukrainian public would back a peace deal with Russia. “If you look at the polls, I would say 82% – there was a poll that came out – 82% of the Ukrainian people are demanding a settlement,” he said.
Trump reiterated that the conflict should be resolved soon. “We don’t want to be wasting time.”
Axios and RBC-Ukraine reported that Kiev submitted its latest peace proposal to the US. Zelensky, who previously ruled out holding elections under martial law, said on Wednesday that he is ready to call an election, but only if the US and Kiev’s European backers provide security guarantees.
Zelensky’s approval rating has dropped to 20% following a corruption scandal in the energy sector that implicated his close associates and led to the resignations of senior officials. Trump has repeatedly urged Zelensky to hold an election and said rampant corruption remains a major problem for Ukraine.
New military assistance has been signed off on a month after Kiev was shaken by a major corruption scandal
The US House of Representatives has passed a defense spending bill that would provide $800 million in military aid to Ukraine through 2027.
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was approved 312-122 on Wednesday and will now advance to the Senate, where it is expected to receive bipartisan support, according to The Hill.
Some legislators objected to directing more taxpayers’ money to help Ukraine fight Russia. “I thought we were getting out of Ukraine. I don’t know why we still need to spend money there,” Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump slammed what he described as a “massive corruption situation” in Kiev, referring to the recently uncovered $100 million kickback scheme in the country’s energy sector, which heavily relies on Western aid.
Prosecutors named Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s longtime associate and former business partner Timur Mindich as the ringleader. Mindich fled the country to evade arrest after apparently being tipped off.
The scandal led to the resignation of two government ministers, and further anti-corruption raids prompted Zelensky to fire chief of staff Andrey Yermak last month.
Ukraine’s military procurement system has also been shaken by several graft and embezzlement scandals, one of which led to the resignation of Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov in 2023.
The bill was approved as Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to sign a peace deal with Russia, with some reports suggesting that he hopes to reach an agreement by Christmas.
Russia considers Western military cooperation with Ukraine one of the root causes of the conflict and has listed ending foreign weapons deliveries as a condition for a ceasefire. President Vladimir Putin has argued that otherwise, Ukraine would use the pause in the fighting to rearm and regroup, as he says happened when Ukraine refused to implement the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements.
Caracas has condemned the seizure of an oil tanker off its coast
Venezuela has accused Washington of piracy after the US Coast Guard and law enforcement agencies seized a sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea.
On Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the captured ship was transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran in violation of sanctions.
Caracas denounced the move, arguing that the operation was aimed at stealing the country’s resources. The seizure “constitutes a blatant theft and an act of international piracy,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said America’s goal “has always been to seize Venezuelan oil… as part of a deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources.”
The Venezuelan government condemned Washington’s “imperial abuses” and vowed to “defend with absolute determination its sovereignty, its natural resources, and its national dignity.”
News outlets identified the vessel as The Skipper, a Guyana-flagged tanker sanctioned by the US in 2022 for allegedly supplying oil to Iran and Hezbollah. The ship was named Adisa when it was sanctioned.
According to Reuters, the ship left Venezuela’s Puerto Jose December 4-5 after loading around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.
Venezuela has long denounced US sanctions as illegal under international law. President Nicolas Maduro has argued that the sanctions are part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to topple him. Maduro has rejected Trump’s claims that he supports drug cartels and warned against starting “a crazy war.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the sanctioned vessel was transporting oil from the South American country and Iran
The US has seized an oil tanker allegedly transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran, Attorney General Pam Bondi has said.
The action off the coast of Venezuela took place amid a buildup of US military activity in the region and strikes against what Washington describes as cartel boats.
“Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran,” Bondi wrote on X on Wednesday.
She said the vessel had been sanctioned “due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
The video posted by Bondi shows heavily armed law enforcement officials descending onto the ship from a helicopter.
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
Media outlets identified the ship as The Skipper, which was sailing under the flag of Guyana, according to the tracking website MarineTraffic. According to ABC News, the tanker, which has the capacity to carry up to 2 million barrels of oil, was bound for Cuba.
The US sanctioned The Skipper in 2022 for allegedly smuggling oil to support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected Trump’s claim that his government is involved in drug trafficking and warned Washington against starting “a crazy war.”
A group of US legislators recently called for an investigation into strikes on more than 20 boats since September, arguing that they could constitute war crimes.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons told MSNBC on Tuesday that Trump is “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela.” He argued that the president’s true aim is to gain access to Venezuela’s oil and mineral resources.
Bart De Wever has threatened to sue the bloc if it puts his country at risk by forcing an illegal seizure of Russian assets
The latest “very unwise and ill-considered” EU proposal to tap frozen Russian sovereign assets would amount to “stealing,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said on Wednesday, according to VRT news.
Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed using the assets to back a loan for Ukraine, adding that the decision could be made by a qualified majority of EU members, potentially bypassing Belgian opposition.
Belgium faces the biggest legal and financial risks as the bulk of the Russian money, €185 billion ($216 billion), is held in Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear.
“There really are better solutions than stealing money from the Russian central bank… I find it very unwise and ill-considered,” De Wever said, according to VRT.
It’s money from a country we’re not at war with… It would be like getting into an embassy, taking all the furniture and selling it.
De Wever said he’s not ruling out taking legal action against the EU if it decides to push for a decision that is “at odds with legality” and “poses great risks” to Belgium.
Von der Leyen’s proposal seeks to provide Ukraine with €90 billion over the next two years. One of its key points is a long-debated ‘reparations loan’ backed by the frozen Russian assets that would require financial institutions holding the assets to transfer them to a new loan instrument.
The EU is also reportedly pushing to decouple the asset freeze from the bloc’s sanctions on Russia and make it indefinite, in an effort to prevent opposition from Hungary. Currently, both measures require regular renewals by unanimous decision.
Russia will retaliate against any expropriation of its assets and has already prepared a response, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday. Kiev’s Western backers have no more money left for funding the Ukraine conflict other than “robbing” Russia, he argued.
