Russia
🇷🇺 Putin stages massive nuclear response drill, launching missiles from land, sea and air amid critical phase in Ukraine war. Kremlin flexes military muscle as NATO confirms North Korean troops on Russian soil. Putin warns of “growing geopolitical tensions.”
🇬🇪 Biden condemns Georgia’s election fraud amid ruling party’s 54% victory claim, citing voter intimidation and resource misuse. West fears Tbilisi’s tilt toward Moscow as protests erupt and EU, NATO demand investigation into polling irregularities.
🇺🇦 Russian overnight drone barrage hits Ukraine’s largest cities: 4 killed in Kharkiv residential attack, 6 injured in Kyiv as debris rains down. Ukrainian forces shot down 26 of 48 drones launched. Historic Derzhprom building also damaged in separate guided bomb strike.
🇺🇸 Pentagon won’t restrict Ukraine’s use of US weapons if North Korea enters the fight, as NATO confirms 10,000 NK troops are now in Russia’s Kursk region. Biden calls it “very dangerous” while Ukraine urges allies to lift long-range strike limits.
🇬🇪 Thousands storm Georgia’s streets as pro-Russian Georgian Dream claims 54% election win. President calls it “Russian special operation,” opposition alleges fraud, and West demands probe into vote-buying and intimidation as EU hopes fade.
🇬🇪 Hungary’s Orban makes surprise visit to Georgia after disputed election, backing pro-Russian Georgian Dream party’s contested 54% win. President Zourabichvili calls result a “Russian special operation” and urges protests as West demands probe.
🇺🇦 Russian forces unleashed devastating attacks on Kharkiv region, injuring 21 civilians including 5 children in multiple strikes on residential areas. Kharkiv city and nearby Chuhuiv both hit, while two killed in separate Kherson shelling.
🇺🇦 Australian mercenary in Ukraine warns of dire escalation as Russia makes critical gains, North Korean troops join the fight, and Ukraine’s key city Pokrovsk faces encirclement. With Western aid uncertain, fighter says “Ukraine won’t exist… not as we know it.”
🇱🇹 Social Democrats secure victory in Lithuania’s election with 52 seats, promising to maintain strong defense spending amid Russian threats while tackling wealth inequality. PM Simonyte’s coalition falls as cost-of-living crisis bites.
🇷🇺 Putin warns West against helping Ukraine strike deep into Russia, signaling potential major escalation as Russian forces advance in Donetsk. Russia’s changed nuclear doctrine and NATO involvement could transform this regional conflict into a global showdown.
🇪🇺 EU’s Michel demands ‘serious’ probe into Georgia election fraud claims, puts crisis on November summit agenda - raising stakes for Tbilisi’s European aspirations amid growing Russian influence concerns.
🇬🇪 Georgia erupts in crisis as ruling party claims 54% election victory amid ballot-stuffing claims, with President Zourabichvili slamming “total fraud” and calling for mass protests against Russian influence.
🇰🇷 South Korea rushes to NATO to brief on 12,000 North Korean troops deployed to Russia, as Putin brazenly defends military alliance with Kim Jong Un - marking dramatic escalation in Ukraine war’s global reach.
🇺🇦 Ukraine’s bid to blacklist Russia at FATF was blocked by China, India, and others, despite Kyiv’s warning that Moscow threatens global financial security. Ukraine called out Russia’s ties to sanctioned states like Iran and North Korea, but key nations opted for more evidence over immediate action.
🇺🇦 Zelenskiy rejects UN Secretary-General Guterres’s Kyiv visit after his appearance with Putin at Russia’s BRICS summit. Ukraine calls Guterres’s decision a betrayal of UN values, casting doubt on the UN’s neutrality as the war’s toll mounts.
🇰🇵🇷🇺 North Korea’s attempt to legitimize sending troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine is a brazen disregard for international law. Pyongyang has no moral ground to declare what’s lawful, and its growing alliance with Moscow only deepens their shared defiance of global norms.
🇰🇵🇷🇺 The U.S., South Korea, and Japan express deep alarm over North Korean troops stationed in Russia to join the fight in Ukraine. This brazen alliance between Moscow and Pyongyang widens the war beyond Europe, defying global sanctions as troops and weapons mobilize to fuel Putin’s vanity conflict.
🇺🇦 Russian drones hit a Kyiv high-rise, igniting the top floors and forcing desperate evacuations. Moscow’s brazen attack on civilian homes shows the relentless peril facing Ukraine’s cities as residents endure escalating strikes aimed at terrorizing urban life.
🇷🇺 The WSJ: Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions. At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.
The grand irony of 2024’s political theater is watching Elon Musk – who bought Twitter for $44 billion in the name of “free speech absolutism” – engaging in private tête-à-têtes with Vladimir Putin, a man whose regime has perfected the art of making journalists and opposition leaders mysteriously fall out of windows.
🇷🇺 Putin dodges but does not deny U.S. claims of 3,000 North Korean troops in Russia, citing mutual defense clause with Pyongyang as “our business.” Putin welcomes Trump’s rhetoric of “peace” (at Ukraine’s expense) and accuses NATO of escalating a war that Russia started.