Ukraine’s president said he will head to Turkey for possible talks with the chief White House envoy involved in talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year-old war on Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit, planned for November 19, comes amid a series of international travels, including to France, where he secured a verbal agreement to acquire scores of French Rafale fighter jets. He was in Spain on November 18, and prior to that, Greece, where a deal on gas supplies was signed. “We are preparing to intensify negotiations, and we have worked out solutions that we will offer to partners. Bringing the end of the war closer with all our might is Ukraine’s first priority,” Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram. News reports said Zelenskyy would meet with Steve Witkoff, the White House’s lead envoy for negotiations to try to end the Ukraine war. The Kremlin said no Russian officials would be present. No face-to-face talks have taken place between Kyiv and Moscow since the two sides met in Istanbul in July. Far-Reaching Corruption Scandal Zelenksyy’s travels coincide with a snowballing corruption scandal, which is shaping up as the worst political crisis he’s faced since his election in 2019. The scandal concerns allegations that funds earmarked for building defenses to protect Ukraine’s vulnerable energy infrastructure from Russian air attacks were siphoned off in the form of kickbacks to political insiders. The allegations burst into public last week when Ukraine’s two leading anti-corruption agencies published evidence detailing their findings. Among those implicated were Tymur Mindich, an old friend and former business partner of Zelenskyy. Mindich fled Ukraine for Poland on November 10 hours before authorities launched raids in connection with their investigation, law enforcement officials told Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. That prompted critics to allege he had been alerted ahead of the action. The revelations have already resulted in the resignations of the energy minister and the justice minister. Last week, the investigative agencies announced the arrest of a top official of a subsidiary of Energoatom, the state-owned nuclear company, on bribery allegations. And in June, a deputy prime minister, Oleksiy Chernyshov, was charged with corruption. Zelenskyy has not been implicated in the case. Energoatom said it was fully cooperating with the probe. Anti-Corruption Protests In Ukraine Over the summer, Zelenskyy sparked an uproar when he backed a measure that would have sharply reduced the independence of the two investigative agencies: Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. After rare wartime street protests, Zelenskyy backed down. On November 18, a Ukrainian lawmaker alleged that the investigative records include a code-named person who is the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office. The lawmaker, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, said the records showed Andriy Yermak allegedly directing unnamed officials to investigate officials with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. Yermak did not immediately respond to requests for comment from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-zelenskyy-energy-scandal-corruption-turkey-war-talks/33594741.html
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Destroying Europe in order to save it: Extortion, theft, and the EU’s two disastrous choices
Europe can postpone recognition of failure, but it cannot postpone the bill.
Europe now faces a stark choice forced by its disastrous war policy against Russia: either allow the EU to successfully move toward a centralized state over the heads of its member states, risking a mass Eurexit that may or may not succeed in reaction to that gamble, or delay the larger crisis through member states quietly accepting one of several schemes that will cripple the economy and create social strife regardless.
The Union must decide whether to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to finance a €140 billion “reparation” loan for Ukraine, or to issue joint debt through Eurobonds. Both paths carry severe legal risks and impose heavy costs on citizens: one through contingent liabilities, the other through immediate taxes, austerity, and political instability.
Pushing through the Eurobond option would amount to a structural coup, a radical re-engineering of the EU against its current form. A recent…
https://www.sott.net/article/502868-Destroying-Europe-in-order-to-save-it-Extortion-theft-and-the-EUs-two-disastrous-choices
Power restored to 800,000 in Kyiv after major Russian strikes in Ukraine
Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv early Friday. The attacks damaged residential buildings and triggered blackouts across swaths of Ukraine. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the strikes as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Defence Ministry stated on Friday that the strikes targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military. Although it did not provide specific details about the facilities, it confirmed that Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones in the attacks.
Ukraine’s air force reported on Saturday that its air defenses intercepted or jammed 54 of the 78 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
At least two people were killed and five others wounded in airstrikes on Kostiantynivka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to regional Governor Vadim Filashkin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with US President Donald Trump. In a post on X, Zelenskyy shared that he informed Trump about Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, and the two discussed opportunities to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense.
“There needs to be readiness on the Russian side to engage in real diplomacy. This can be achieved through strength,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Ukraine’s energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than three years ago. Each year, Russia has attempted to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the onset of the bitter winter season, seemingly aiming to erode public morale. Winter temperatures in Ukraine run from late October through March, with January and February being the coldest months.
In his nightly address on Friday, Zelenskyy said Russia was taking advantage of the world’s attention being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East.” He called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense systems and implementing tighter sanctions on Russia.
“Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defense and ensure recovery,” he stated in a video posted to X.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz issued a joint statement on Friday expressing readiness to use “in a coordinated way, the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table.”
The statement added that they aimed to undertake this “in close cooperation with the United States.”
Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around 130 billion euros (USD 153 billion). Since the war started in February 2022, the European Union has already contributed 174 billion euros (about USD 202 billion).
The largest pool of available funds lies in frozen Russian assets, most of which are held in Belgium—around 194 billion euros (USD 225 billion) as of June—and outside the EU in Japan, with around USD 50 billion. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada also hold lesser amounts.
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https://www.mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/russia-ukraine-war-power-restored-to-800-000-in-kyiv-after-major-russian-strikes-on-ukraines-energy-grid-23598257