🇺🇦 ♻️ 🇷🇺 Zelenskyy proposes to trade land with Putin, offers to return Kursk

🔶️ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to offer Russia a straight-up land exchange to end its three-year war if United States President Donald Trump manages to bring both countries to the negotiating table.

🔶️ “We will swap one territory for another,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Guardian published Tuesday, saying Kyiv would yield part of the Kursk region it has held since its surprise August incursion into Russia.

🔶️ As for which Russian-occupied areas Ukraine would demand in return, the Ukraine leader refused to be drawn: “I don’t know, we will see. But all our territories are important, there is no priority.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/voloodymyr-zelenskyy-russia-donald-trump-trade-kursk-progress-war-drones/

📢 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 Hegseth says "this war must end" but a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is "an unrealistic objective."

⬛️ The new Defense Secretary signaled a shift in American foreign and defence policy away from Europe.

🔶️ Here are the three concrete conditions Trump agreed on in a communication with Putin as presented by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: 1) no NATO membership for Ukraine; 2) no American troops in Ukraine; 3) no article 5 and no-Nato peace mission in Ukraine.

🇲🇽 The U.S. is facing threats to OUR homeland. We are focusing on our own borders first, not Europe's.

🔗 Sky News

🇺🇸 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Trump Putin Agree to Start Peace Negotiations

🔶️ We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now.

🔶️ I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful. Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end.

🔶️ No more lives should be lost! I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!"

🔗 Donald J. Trump

🇺🇦 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 Zelensky:

🔶️ Just spoke with Donald Trump. Had a long conversation. About the possibilities of achieving peace.

🔶️ Grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can do together.

🔶️ President Trump informed me of the details of his conversation with Putin.

🔶️ We are defining our joint steps with America to stop Russian aggression and guarantee a reliable, lasting peace. As President Trump said, let's get it done.

🔗 Clash Report

— 🇺🇸 NEW: The FBI has "uncovered" 2400 classified documents related to the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Furthermore, according to Axios, The FBI may still redact many aspects of these documents.

@Middle_East_Spectator

💰 🇰🇷 🇺🇸 South Korea’s Mint Halts Gold Bar Sales as Supply Tightens

🔶️ South Korea’s Mint has temporarily suspended sales of gold bars, adding to signs of widespread tightness across markets for physical precious metals.

🔶️ The Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. said it’s facing problems with sourcing supply and managing demand, and that it will try and resume sales as soon as possible, according to a notice on its website.

🔶️ The move comes as traders worldwide rush to deliver bullion to the US ahead of potential tariffs on the metal. Prices for gold on New York’s Comex have surged above international benchmarks, resulting in unprecedented tightness and record outflows from London vaults.

🔶️ The precious metal has made fresh highs in 2025, as growing trepidation surrounding US President Donald Trump’s disruptive tariff announcements drives demand for haven assets. Investors are trying to get a read on the potential implications for the global economy, reinforcing bullion’s role as a store of value in uncertain times.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-12/south-korea-s-mint-halts-gold-bar-sales-as-supply-tightens

https://archive.ph/47vP3

🇨🇳 🇰🇷 🇯🇵 Online retail gold is disappearing in China, South Korea and the same will likely happen in Japan soon.

💰 📝 Bai, Xiaojun: Not only in South Korea, but also on JD.com, the largest e-commerce platform in China and the world's largest gold retail e-commerce platform, multiple gold bar varieties are out of stock.

🔗 dekopac

💰 📉 Bitcoin exchange reserves have hit a 3-year low of 2.5 million as demand continues to grow, per CryptoQuant.

🔶️ People are demanding physical gold and more Bitcoin. Interesting times.

🔗 Kobeissi Letter

🇺🇸 🇷🇺 🇸🇦 Trump says he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia after phone call on Ukraine war

🔶️ Donald Trump says he will likely meet with Vladimir Putin, probably in Saudi Arabia

🔶️ Both Trump and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the two presidents agreed to visit each other's nations during the call

🔗 BBC News

📈 🇷🇺 🇪🇺 Russia's military spending last year is equivalent to $462 billion on the basis of purchasing power parity, which 'now outstrips all of Europe's defence budgets combined'.

🔶️ The IISS forecast that this year total Russian defence spending — including so-called voluntary payments by regional authorities and companies — would increase 13.7 per cent to reach Rbs15.6tn, equivalent to 7.5 per cent of GDP or almost 40 per cent of Russian federal spending.

🔶️ By contrast, if Europe increased defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, that would equate to an extra $250bn, according to IISS. If it rose to 5 per cent of GDP, defence spending would rise by about $800bn — almost twice Russia’s current level of spending.

🔶️ Trump has also said Europe should spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, compared with its current average of about 1.7 per cent.

🔗 Financial Times

🇷🇺 🇱🇹 🇪🇺 “Russia's military capabilities are three times greater than they were before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė has said.”

🔶️ Russia is expanding its military industry, cooperating effectively with China, North Korea and Iran, and is capable not only of fighting in Ukraine, but also of rebuilding and expanding its capabilities, she said.

🔶️ "Russia is reforming its military forces, expanding its personnel, developing its military industry, and doing so very rapidly. Europe should also step up in this area," Šakalienė said.

🔶️ "The moment the front in Ukraine stops or slows down to the point where the losses on the Russian side are significantly reduced, the accumulation of capabilities for the next stages of the war, possibly with other countries, accelerates," she said.

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2483081/russia-s-military-power-grows-threefold-since-invasion-says-lithuanian-minister

🇵🇦🇨🇷🇺🇸 A caravan of mostly Venezuelans was stopped by Panamanian police on their way home and sent back north to Costa Rica to undergo criminal checks.

🔎 Source
#US #Panama #CostaRica

☠️ Blood Meridian