The US could gradually lift restrictions on using the long-range missiles, a senior official in Kiev has told the Telegraph
Ukraine could use US Tomahawk missiles to launch increasingly escalatory strikes on targets inside Russia in order to “pressure” Moscow to agree to a peace deal, an official in Kiev has claimed to The Telegraph.
Washington first signaled last month that it was considering supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine. The weapons, which cost about $1.3 million each and have a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles), could reach targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had “sort of made a decision” on the matter, but added that “I’m not looking to see escalation.”
Egor Cherniev, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s national security, defense, and intelligence committee, suggested that the missiles could be deployed in phases, with one scenario being that they would not be fired at all, or only used against a narrow range of targets.
“First they will give us rockets, but a few pieces, or a couple of dozen, but they will not allow us to shoot them at once and we will see the Kremlin’s reaction,” he said, as quoted by The Telegraph.
If Russia does not respond, he added, “the envelope increases, allowing strikes on the Russian border.” Eventually, he suggested, in order to push Moscow towards talks, all restrictions might be lifted “except perhaps strikes on the Kremlin and directly on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
“This whole epic could take at least a few months. But it’s already real pressure,” Cherniev argued.
Putin warned last week that sending Tomahawks to Ukraine would “lead to the destruction of [Russia-US] relations, or at least the positive tendencies that have appeared in these relations.”
The Russian leader has also pointed out that Ukrainian forces would be unable to operate the system without “direct participation of American military personnel,” adding that the deliveries would not alter “the balance of power on the battlefield.”
Putin recalled previous shipments of long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine, which he said at first “caused some damage, but in the end, Russia’s air defense systems adapted.”
EC Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has launched the protectionist plan citing “global overcapacity”
The European Commission has proposed a 50% tariff on steel imports above an annual quota, claiming the move will protect the EU’s metals industry from international competition and US duties.
An agreement struck earlier this year by EC President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump, viewed in the EU as lopsided, set a baseline 15% US tariff on most exports from the bloc, but left steel and aluminum at 50%.
Von der Leyen’s protectionist measure needs approval from the European Parliament but if passed will significantly reduce the existing tariff-free quota and double the tariff on excess volumes from 25% to 50%.
Under the plan, importers would have to prove where steel was melted and poured, and quotas would be reset close to 2013 levels.
“Global overcapacity is damaging our industry,” von der Leyen said in a statement published by the commission.
The EU’s domestic steel sector was operating at only 67% capacity last year, and showed record losses, a slump which was only worsened by Trump’s tariffs.
The US, the bloc’s biggest customer, imported around $8.7 billion worth of iron and steel goods last year, according to S&P Global.
However, the new tariffs would hit the UK hard, as about 78% of its steel exports go to the EU, according to trade data.
Pro-Palestinian witnesses earlier claimed that the Swedish activist was “dragged on the ground”
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has alleged that she and other detainees from the Gaza flotilla were subjected to harsh treatment by the Israeli authorities.
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail in late September to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and protest Israel’s naval blockade. Organized by pro-Palestinian groups, it carried food and medical supplies.
Israeli forces intercepted it on October 3, detaining hundreds of activists, including Thunberg. Israel called the move a legal security action.
Speaking at a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday following her deportation, Thunberg claimed that she and other activists were “kidnapped and tortured.” She declined to elaborate, only saying that detainees were denied clean water and critical medication.
”Personally, I don’t want to share what I was subjected to … because that’s not the story here,” she said, adding that the treatment they endured was minor compared with what people in Gaza face daily.
Turkish journalist and flotilla participant Ersin Celik earlier claimed that he witnessed Israeli forces “torture Greta Thunberg,” and that she was “dragged on the ground” and “forced to kiss the Israeli flag.” Thunberg made no mention of the allegations at the press conference.
The Israeli government has denied the allegations of torture, claiming that the detainees were treated in accordance with legal standards and provided with food, water, restrooms, access to medical assistance, and legal counsel.
In earlier remarks, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called the flotilla a “selfie yacht of celebrities,” saying it was aimed more at generating publicity than delivering aid.
Following the detention, Thunberg and 170 other activists were deported to Greece and Slovakia. Several participants have since alleged that they were beaten, deprived of sleep, and denied medical care during their time in Israeli custody.
British prosecutors dropped a high-profile probe into a parliamentary aide and a teacher over a lack of evidence
Senior UK security officials will face a probe over the collapse of a high-profile case in which two men, one of whom was a British parliamentary researcher, were accused of spying for China, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source.
Christopher Cash and financial analyst Christopher Berry were charged with sharing “prejudicial information” with Beijing in April last year. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) dropped the charges against the two men just weeks before trial, citing “evidential standards.”
The decision has sparked outrage among MPs, who expect to grill officials on the collapse of the case at an upcoming parliamentary committee meeting.
Reports in the UK media have suggested the case was axed to avoid souring relations with Beijing, one of London’s biggest trade partners.
UK Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, the case was dropped because London refused to brand China a threat, Sky News has reported.
None of the witness statements provided said that China “represented a threat to national security,” and by August of this year, the prosecution realized that “this evidence would not be forthcoming,” he wrote in a letter to MPs on Tuesday.
Parkinson cited a case from earlier this year in which the CPS convicted six Bulgarian nationals of feeding information to Russia, which was ruled to be an ‘enemy’ for the purposes of the Official Secrets Act.
Moscow denied the spying allegations at the time, accusing London of trying to stir up anti-Russian hysteria.
The UK government has said it is not to blame for torpedoing the investigation, adding that it was a decision made by prosecutors who relied on language used by the previous government in its China policy.
London has recently moved to rebuild trade ties with Beijing, resuming Joint Economic and Trade Commission talks last month after a seven-year freeze.
A detained Gaza aid flotilla participant attacked a female prison staff member during an examination, the Foreign Ministry has said
Israel has accused a Gaza aid flotilla activist of biting a member of prison staff, claiming it was “the only violent incident” involving those detained. The statement came in response to allegations of mistreatment during the activists’ detention.
Members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, were attempting to breach the blockade of Gaza by sea, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold after two years of devastating conflict.
The flotilla was stopped by the Israeli Navy on Friday. According to fellow activists, those detained were “tortured” and subjected to “harsh treatment” in an Israeli prison. Israeli officials later rejected the accusations.
“All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld. The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote in a Facebook post on Monday.
“The only violent incident came from a Hamas–Sumud provocateur who bit a female medical staff member at Ketsiyot Prison,” it added.
The flotilla activists have not yet responded to the biting allegations.
Thunberg was among more than 170 activists deported to Greece and Slovakia on Monday. The group comprised citizens from 19 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, and France.
The Hungarian prime minister has accused the German chancellor of “not wanting to negotiate” with Russia
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has acknowledged that he had a heated argument with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over their approaches to dealing with Russia.
The two clashed at an EU summit in Copenhagen last week, Merz said in an interview with German broadcaster ntv on Monday.
“He accused [me] of not wanting to negotiate,” the chancellor stated, referring to Orban. According to Merz, he responded by saying Orban’s diplomatic efforts last year, which involved visits to both Moscow and Kiev, led to nothing. “That’s not the path I want to take,” he said.
Asked by host Pinar Atalay if not even trying will solve the problem, Merz dodged the question, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not want to negotiate.”
Russia has stated throughout the Ukraine conflict that it is ready to negotiate as long as the reality on the ground is taken into account and the root causes of the conflict are addressed.
Last month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is ready to pursue a compromise to resolve the conflict if “our legitimate security interests, as well as the legitimate interests of Russians living in Ukraine, are respected in the same way as those of other parties.”
Hungary has been a vocal critic of the EU’s belligerent approach toward Russia. Orban warned after the Copenhagen summit that the EU leaders “want to go to war” with Russia.
Germany has been Kiev’s second-biggest arms supplier after the US since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The country’s position has hardened under Merz, who has claimed that all diplomatic options have been exhausted, and that Germany is “already in a conflict” with Russia.
The former US president demanded a coverup of Kiev’s views on his business dealings, according to unveiled CIA records
Joe Biden asked the CIA to cover up a report about his family’s alleged corrupt business activities in Ukraine while he was serving as US vice president in 2015, according to declassified agency documents.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe published the mostly redacted records on Tuesday.
One of the documents was a government email sent to the agency and dated February 10, 2016.
“Good morning, I just spoke with Vice President / National Security Adviser and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated. Thanks for understanding,” it said.
The sender’s name was redacted, leaving just the title PDB Briefer. The Presidential Daily Brief is a top secret document for daily distribution to the US president and a small number of top level approved officials.
The report in question said that Ukrainian officials in the administration of then President Pyotr Poroshenko “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” at Biden’s December 2015 visit.
These officials viewed the alleged ties of the US Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the US Government towards matters of corruption and political power.
Biden’s convicted felon son, Hunter, held a lucrative position on the board of Ukrainian energy conglomerate Burisma Holdings during his father’s vice presidential term.
The elder Biden has publicly admitted to pressuring Kiev into firing a prosecutor general who was investigating the company in 2016. However, he denied ever taking bribes or having knowledge of Hunter’s foreign business affairs.
In December of last year, Biden signed a broad pardon for his son, u-turning on prior promises not to do so. The pardon shields Hunter from any prosecution for crimes committed between 2014 and 2024.
Rampant corruption in Ukraine has led US officials to voice concerns over potential embezzlement of aid. Recent opinion polls say the majority of Ukrainians see the problem as getting worse.
The pipelines should have never been built anyway, Donald Tusk has said
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has expressed his opposition to extraditing a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream sabotage case to Germany. The Polish authorities detained the man last month. Berlin’s previous request for his arrest was reportedly obstructed by the Polish government in 2024.
It is ultimately up to a court to decide whether the suspect identified by the media as Vladimir Z. will be handed over to Berlin, Tusk told a press conference on Tuesday. However, he maintained that the move would not be good for Warsaw.
“It is certainly not in the interest of Poland… to hand over this citizen to a foreign country,” the prime minister said. “The problem of Europe, the problem of Ukraine, the problem of Lithuania and Poland is not that Nord Stream 2 was blown up, but that it was built.”
The German authorities have not commented on Tusk’s remarks.
Vladimir Z. was detained in the city of Pruszkow in late September. The suspect is a Ukrainian diving instructor, who was reportedly part of a team behind the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. The four undersea pipelines were rendered inoperable in September 2022 as a result of a sabotage. German prosecutors have attributed the underwater blasts to a small group of Ukrainian nationals that sailed to the scene aboard the rented yacht Andromeda.
Moscow has rejected Berlin’s version, dismissing the claim that a small group of Ukrainians carried out the sabotage as “ridiculous.” Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the US likely orchestrated the operation.
Warsaw, which has been one of Kiev’s staunchest backers since 2022, allegedly considered granting asylum to the suspect, according to a September report by Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also repeatedly stated that he was ready to do so.
Previous media reports also suggested that Polish officials helped Vladimir Z. avoid arrest on a German request last year by tipping him off. A vehicle with Ukrainian diplomatic plates reportedly allowed him to flee to Ukraine.
The Swedish activist and hundreds of others were arrested last week as their aid flotilla approached Gaza
The Israeli authorities have confirmed deporting activist Greta Thunberg. She and hundreds of others were detained last week after attempting to reach Gaza aboard an aid flotilla.
Thunberg was a part of a group of over 170 activists deported to Greece and Slovakia on Monday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a post on X. It also published a photo of her and two other women at the Ben Gurion airport.
The group included citizens of a total of 19 nations, including the US, the UK, Germany, and France, among others, according to the ministry.
”All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld,” the ministry said of the activists, calling their aid flotilla a provocation. The ministry used the occasion to accuse the group of “spreading lies” as part of what it called a “pre-planned fake news campaign.”
The ministry was referring to earlier accusations made by a number of journalists and activists, who said Thunberg was mistreated in Israeli custody. “They dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag,” Turkish journalist Ersin Celik told Anadolu news agency.
The Swedish Embassy in Tel Aviv reportedly said that Thunberg had complained about “harsh treatment” and not receiving enough food or water, according to an email cited by The Guardian. West Jerusalem has denied the allegations, calling them “brazen lies.”
Over 400 activists onboard some 50 boats were detained by the Israeli navy on Friday as they tried to breach the blockade of Gaza by sea. More than 130 of them were deported to Türkiye over the weekend.
Most of those detained were taken to Ketziot Prison in the Negev Desert; Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated that he was “proud” of the harsh conditions they were held in.
West Jerusalem’s actions have sparked a wave of protests in Europe, Latin America, and beyond.
Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc was on the verge of dissolving during the American president’s first term
US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which would have brought the bloc to the brink of collapse, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has claimed. In excerpts from his upcoming memoir On My Watch, Stoltenberg recalls that ahead of a 2018 NATO summit in Brussels, Trump, then in his first term, complained that the US was paying 80-90% of the bloc’s expenses and wasn’t going to do so anymore, threatening to leave.
“Look, if we leave, we leave. You need NATO, desperately. We don’t need NATO,” Stoltenberg quoted Trump as saying, noting that if the US had withdrawn from the bloc, “the alliance would be dead.”
Trump later reportedly made similar remarks during the summit, saying the US “doesn’t need NATO” and would “do our own thing” unless European members increased military spending to 2% of GDP. He also reportedly threatened to walk out, saying, “There’s no reason for me to be here anymore.”
Trump’s attitude reportedly prompted fears that the bloc could fall apart. Stoltenberg says Germany’s then-Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron tried to calm tensions, while former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who now leads NATO, helped persuade Trump to stay by noting that bloc members had increased spending by $33 billion.
Stoltenberg says Trump agreed to remain after being publicly credited for that spending rise.
The former NATO chief wrote that if Trump had walked out, it would’ve made the bloc’s treaty and security guarantees worthless. He also noted that the episode highlighted how dependent it was on US participation.
Moscow has consistently expressed concern over NATO’s increasing militarization in recent years and has repeatedly described the bloc’s eastward expansion as one of the root causes of the Ukraine conflict.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has recently stated that NATO is “de facto at war” with Russia.
Meanwhile, American economist Jeffrey Sachs has claimed that NATO outlived its purpose long ago, and should have been dissolved decades ago, calling its post-1990 expansion “unjustified.”
