Tag: russia

Ukraine, US finalizing deal for 25 Patriot systems, Zelensky says

Ukraine and the U.S. are finalizing a deal for Kyiv to secure 25 Patriot air defense systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, a push that would boost the Ukrainian military’s ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks. 

“The difficulty lies in the production queue — a line of countries that have signed relevant contracts. We will be receiving these 25 systems over the years, with different quantities each year,” Zelensky said during a meeting with reporters in Kyiv, according to multiple news outlets. 

The Patriot system, which includes launchers, missiles and radar, can cost around $1 billion, and is one of the rare weapons that can intercept Moscow’s ballistic missiles, a necessary component as Russia continues to hammer Ukraine with aerial attacks. 

Ukraine will not receive the systems all at once, as it will have to wait for other nations to get the defense system that is in high demand. 

Zelensky said on Monday that Ukraine is working with the U.S. to “ensure that Ukraine still can receive the necessary number of Patriot systems. This is not an easy task, but it is one of the security guarantees for Ukraine — and it will work in the long term.” 

The long-term arrangement comes days after Zelensky’s trip to Washington, where he met with President Trump. During their meeting, which was reportedly tense at times, the two leaders discussed ways to end the Russia-Ukraine war. While in the U.S., Zelensky met with top U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon, which produces the Patriot systems. 

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US Defense Contractors Raise Forecasts After Zelensky Meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with several US defense contractors this week, including Raytheon, GE, and Lockheed Martin. A few days later, major defense companies raised their full-year profit estimates significantly.

Spokespeople say that tariffs have no impact on demand for the defense industry. Naturally, Ukraine is seeking duty-free defense imports on defense products paid for by other countries.

Lockheed raised its profit forecast from $22.15–$22.35 per share, up from $21.70–$22.00. The revenue forecast increased to $74.25–$74.75 billion from the previous range of $73.75–$74.75 billion. CEO Jim Taiclet noted there is “unprecedented demand” for Lockheed’s F-35 fighters, CH-53K helicopters, and of course, the highly desired patriot missiles.

“We are investing aggressively in both new digital technologies and physical production capacity needed to meet the top defense priorities of the United States and its allies — and we are doing so in partnership with a number of leading technology partners, large and small,” Taiclet said in a statement.

“In Washington, I spoke with defense companies that produce Patriots and other weapons we need. The willingness to work with Ukraine is fully sufficient — Ukraine is trusted,” Zelensky said on Monday. “It is important that there be enough support for this at the political level in Washington.”

General Electric Aerospace (GE) increased revenue guidance from “mid-teens” to “high teens” in terms of percentage growth. Free cash flow is predicted to be $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion, which is around $1 billion higher than before the meeting with Zelensky. GE stock is already up over 80% YoY, with an 83% increase in deliveries of defense equipment.

Raytheon did not publicly comment on its specific EPS ranges but had a strong Q3. RTX adjusted its full-year earnings to $6.10 to $6.20 from $5.80 to $5.95 and also tacked on an additional ~$1 billion for its sales forecast.

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Japan rejects US call to halt Russian energy imports

Japan’s Trade Minister Yoji Muto announced on 21 October that Tokyo will base its energy import decisions on national interests, resisting pressure from the US to stop purchasing Russian oil and gas.

While Muto stressed Japan’s autonomy, he also noted that “since the invasion of Ukraine, Japan has been steadily reducing its dependence on Russian energy,” according to Reuters.

His remarks followed a meeting between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, during which Bessent urged Japan to end all Russian oil and gas imports.

Muto stressed that Tokyo’s approach would balance energy security and diplomatic considerations. 

“We recognise that LNG from Sakhalin-2 plays an extremely important role in Japan’s energy security,” he said, noting that the Russian project supplies roughly three percent of Japan’s electricity generation.

Despite formally joining the G7’s price-cap scheme – which limits how much countries can pay for Russian oil – Japan has kept exemptions in place due to its reliance on Sakhalin-2 for energy security.

In September, Tokyo lowered its price ceiling on Russian crude from $60 to $47.60 a barrel – a symbolic step to match Europe’s tighter cap, despite Japan’s exemption.

The US has intensified its campaign to cut Russian energy revenues by pressing top buyers, namely Japan, India, and China, to scale back purchases. 

Washington argues that such steps would weaken Moscow’s ability to sustain its military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, India also pushed back against US President Donald Trump’s claims that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to halt Russian oil imports. 

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India’s “import policies are guided entirely by the need to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer,” emphasizing that diversification and stable pricing remain central to New Delhi’s strategy.

Beijing similarly dismissed the US demands, calling them “a typical example of unilateral bullying and economic coercion.” 

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Trump Says Ukraine Should Give Up Territory in Donbas to End War

President Donald Trump said on Oct. 19 that Ukraine should give up territory in the Donbas region already under Russian control in order to end the war.

“We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“They should stop right now at the battle lines. Go home. Stop killing people and be done.”

When asked what should happen to the eastern Donbas region, Trump said: “Let it be cut the way it is. It’s cut up right now. I think 78 percent of the land is already taken by Russia.

“You leave it the way it is, right now. They can negotiate something later on down the line.”

The president, however, said that he never discussed ceding the whole Donbas territory to Moscow during his recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On Oct. 17, Trump hosted Zelenskyy at the White House, during which the president expressed hope that he would be able to resolve the Russia–Ukraine war without sending Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The visit followed what Trump called his “very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 16.

“I think he wants to end the war,” Trump said of Putin as he met with Zelenskyy in the Cabinet room at the White House. “I spoke to him yesterday for two-and-a-half hours.”

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European Countries Back Trump’s Call for Cease-Fire on Current Lines in Ukraine

A coalition of European leaders on Oct. 21 publicly endorsed President Donald Trump’s cease-fire plan for Ukraine, signaling support across the continent for a negotiated end to the war based on current front-line positions.

In a joint statement, the nations—which included the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Ukraine—threw their support behind Washington’s call for the fighting to stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point for lasting peace negotiations.

The endorsement marks the first coordinated European backing of Trump’s push for a ceasefire that reflects battlefield realities—an approach that has divided Western policymakers since the president first publicly floated the idea in August.

“Russia’s stalling tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace. We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction,” the statement read.

“Therefore, we are clear that Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position—before, during, and after any ceasefire.”

The statement added that pressure needed to be ramped up on “Russia’s economy and its defense industry,” until Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready to make peace,” and that measures were being developed “to use the full value of Russia’s immobilized sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs.”

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Two charged in assassination plot against RT chief – Investigative Committee

Two members of a neo-Nazi group have been charged with planning to assassinate RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.

The investigation into the case has been completed and handed over to prosecutors, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Simonyan posted on X that she was thankful to those who prevented the planned attack. “My deepest gratitude to our law enforcement officers for their work,” she wrote.

The assassination plot against the RT editor-in-chief was prepared by members of a Moscow-based cell of the banned the National Socialism/White Power group, according to the agency.

The cell, called ‘Pure Blood’, was set up in 2022 by Mikhail Balashov, who recruited at least 11 people with “national-socialist and racist views.”

“Additionally, on the order of unidentified individuals, Balashov and the cell’s other member, Egor Savelyev, agreed to kill journalist Margarita Simonyan for a cash reward of $50,000,” the statement read.

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Trump urged Ukraine’s Zelensky to make concessions to Russia in tense meeting: Sources

US President Donald Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up swaths of territory to Russia during a tense meeting on Oct 17 that left Kyiv’s delegation disappointed, according to two people briefed on the discussion.

Mr Trump also declined to provide Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine’s use, and mused about giving security guarantees to both Kyiv and Moscow, comments that the Ukrainian delegation found confusing, added the two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

After his meeting with Mr Zelensky, Mr Trump publicly called for a ceasefire on the current frontlines, a position that the Ukrainian President then embraced in comments to reporters. A third person said Mr Trump came up with that proposal during the meeting after Mr Zelensky said he would not voluntarily cede any territory to Moscow.

“The meeting ended with (Trump’s) decision to make a ‘deal where we are, on the demarcation line’,” the third source said.

Mr Trump underscored that position in remarks to reporters on Oct 19.

“We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are, the battle lines,” he said on Air Force One. “The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say, ‘you take this, we take that’.”

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Brussels wants to grab another €25B from frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

The European Union is about to use the cash value of €140 billion worth of frozen Russian state assets to finance a mega loan to Ukraine. But the European Commission still wants more, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.

The bulk of the frozen assets sit in a Belgium-based financial depository called Euroclear. But an additional €25 billion lies in private bank accounts across the bloc, and the EU executive wants to discuss using those funds to issue loans to Kyiv as well.

“It should be considered whether the Reparations Loan initiative could be extended to other immobilised assets within the EU,” reads the document, which the Commission circulated to EU capitals ahead of a Friday ambassadorial meeting on the topic.

“The legal feasibility of extending the Reparations Loan approach towards such assets has not been assessed in detail,” the document continued. “Such an assessment would need to take place before taking a decision on further steps.”

The document outlines the “design principles” for the Ukraine Reparations Loan initiative that will be up for debate ahead of next week’s EU summit in Brussels.

EU leaders are expected to have a broad discussion on the initiative and to call on the Commission to present a proposal for the loan. EU officials expect the bill to arrive quickly, and to serve as a platform for further talks on the financial engineering needed to make it work.

Finance ministers will discuss the bill when they next meet in November.

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Leftists Accuse Pete Hegseth of Honoring Russia After Seeing His Choice of Tie at Trump-Zelenskyy Bilateral Summit – Then Another Photo Emerges Which Blows Up Their Theory

Leftists are so obsessed with the Trump collusion hoax that they are seeing ‘connections’ in the most ridiculous of places, including the choice of tie that War Secretary Pete Hegseth wore yesterday. Not surprisingly, the latest conspiracy theory regarding Trump-Russia backfired.

As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson reported, a high-stakes meeting Friday involving President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took place in the Cabinet Room of the White House, a departure from the typical Oval Office meetings that the President holds with foreign leaders.

This meeting also came after Trump repeatedly suggested that he would provide Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for offensive purposes by selling them to NATO.

However, liberals were particularly triggered by Hegseth’s choice of clothing. The War Secretary decided to wear a red, white, and blue tie to the meeting, the colors of the U.S. flag and a handful of other nations, including Russia.

Naturally, leftists promptly assumed Hegseth was honoring Russia and trolling Zelensky to his face.

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Trump-Zelensky Was Reportedly a ‘Tough’, ‘Bad’ Meeting That ‘Ended Abruptly’ – US Will NOT Provide Long-Range Tomahawk Missiles to Ukraine at This Point

Not the meeting Zelensky was dreaming of.

For the last few weeks, both Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky and the Mainstream Media were convinced that US President Donald J. Trump had a change of heart and was now fully supporting Ukraine’s war effort.

And what’s more, the wishful thinkers brushed past the fact that Trump was still not willing to spend another dollar in the conflict, and focused on the latest ‘wunderwaffe’: long-range Tomahawk missiles.

But yesterday (17), as Zelensky was headed to Washington, DC for the Trump meeting, his world came crashing down, as news circulated of the Trump call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and the upcoming meeting in Hungary.

The part of the meeting that was open to the press proceeded reasonably well, but reports say that after the press left, it became a tense meeting, in which Trump told Zelensky that he doesn’t intend to provide long-range Tomahawk missiles.

Zelensky was led to hope for commitments around new weapons, but Trump was ‘in a totally different state of mind’.

The US President stated that his priority now is diplomacy, and sending Tomahawk missiles could undermine it.

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