Trump won't allow Ukraine to build atomic bomb – US foreign policy analysts

"The Trump administration would oppose Ukraine's efforts to build a low-yield nuclear bomb," William Astore, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, told Sputnik.

"Such a bomb could only lead to nuclear escalation," the professor of history and a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network warned.

Ukraine could build a nuclear weapon within months if the Trump administration cuts off military aid to the Kiev regime, a Ukrainian think-tank claimed in a briefing paper for the country’s Ministry of Defense, obtained by British newspaper the Times. Ukraine’s nine operational nuclear reactors give it enough plutonium to potentially build "hundreds of warheads with a tactical yield of several kilotons," the report said.

"The Trump administration is less pro-Ukraine than Biden-Harris was," Dr. Jeremy Kuzmarov, managing editor of CovertAction Magazine, told Sputnik. "I don't think he would want nuclear weapons being deployed. And I think he would use every diplomatic means possible to dissuade Ukraine from using the bomb."

Russian intelligence services have repeatedly warned about Ukraine's preparations to create and use a "dirty bomb", an explosive device packed with radioactive material. Volodymyr Zelensky threatened to drop Ukraine's non-nuclear status at the Munich Security Conference on February 19, 2022.

"There's a question if the Ukrainian people would want to invite their own destruction," Kuzmarov said. "It seems they've already invited a lot of their own destruction as a society by being used as a part of the United States and West and its ambition to weaken Russia."

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhy tweeted in response to the report that Ukraine does not possess, develop or intend to acquire nuclear weapons and remains committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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🤡 Ukraine cleans up its smears against Tulsi Gabbard

The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine has deleted publications accusing Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, of working for Russia.

As reported by Ukrainian news website Strana. ua, from 2022 to 2024, the NSDC accused the former congresswoman of "working for Kremlin money," having ties to Putin, and promoting "pro-Russian" rhetoric in general.

Additionally, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation labeled Gabbard's statements about the ban on opposition parties and media in Ukraine, as well as the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church by Ukrainian authorities, as "manipulation." Her remarks about Zelensky's illegitimacy after his presidential term expired were described by the NSDC as an attempt to discredit him.

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💸 Some Biden-committed aid may reach Ukraine after Trump takes office – Pentagon

The Pentagon did not rule out that some of the weapons the Biden administration has committed to Kiev will arrive in Ukraine after the Trump administration takes over.

"It's going to range, as you know, some, some equipment and some, some systems, can get to Ukraine very quickly, and you've seen that happen within days or weeks. Sometimes it does take longer for, you know, what's available to get to Ukraine and that that could be longer than weeks. That could be months," Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said during a briefing, when asked if the capabilities are expected to be delivered to Ukraine by January 20, or it might take longer.

Some equipment gets to Ukraine "exceptionally quickly," but there are some that take longer, the spokeswoman noted.

The Pentagon admitted that the agency will have to “work very hard” to allocate $7.1bn worth of weapons to Ukraine before the end of incumbent US President Joe Biden's term, Singh said.

Therefore, the Pentagon intends to send arms shipments to Ukraine on a weekly basis in order to have time to allocate all the remaining aid before Biden leaves office, she added.

Russia has repeatedly emphasized that Western military aid for NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine only prolongs the crisis and has warned that arms shipments are legitimate military targets.

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Conditions at Georgia jail where Trump was booked violate constitution – DOJ report

The Fulton County Jail in Georgia, where President-elect Donald Trump was booked in August 2023, has been found to be in violation of constitutional rights of inmates due to "unsanitary and dangerous" conditions, the US Department of Justice said in a report released on Thursday.

The jail has been infamous for egregious conditions, including overcrowding, a lack of hygiene, and malnourishment, which have led to prisoner deaths. In 2023, the family of Fulton County jail inmate Lashawn Thompson said the 35-year-old man found dead in a filthy jail cell in September 2022 was "eaten alive by insects and bed bugs."

"After an extensive investigation, we find reasonable cause to believe that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office violate the constitutional and statutory rights of people incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail. Fulton County Jail fails to adequately protect incarcerated people from the substantial risk of serious harm from violence, including homicides and stabbings by other incarcerated people," the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in the report.

The report describes conditions at the jail as "dangerous and unsanitary." Meals are also served to the incarcerated population in an unsanitary manner and do not meet nutritional standards, the report observed.

The report also stated that the jail's deputies and detention officers use excessive force against incarcerated people.
Living conditions, medical and mental health care in the Fulton County Jail "do not meet basic constitutional standards," the report concluded.

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