🚨Ukraine's media ban on encircled troops seen as admission of military collapse — Russian MoD

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s ban on foreign and local media accessing Ukrainian troops trapped in the “cauldrons” is an admission of disaster for the remaining Ukrainian forces in Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), Dimitrov, and Kupyansk, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

💬 "The official representative of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry thus effectively confirmed that there are no longer any other ways for journalists or Ukrainian troops to enter or leave the “cauldrons,” except through Russian humanitarian corridors."

Ukraine's ban on media access is also intended to deceive both the international community and Ukraine’s own citizens:

💬 "The leadership of the Kiev regime is trying to preserve conditions for embezzling Western funds allocated for the war with Russia."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇭🇺 ​​🤝 🇺🇸 🤝 🇷🇺 Orban-Trump meeting in US can bring Russia-US Summit in Budapest closer — Hungarian PM

💬 "I think we can get closer. We have been working on this meeting for a long time," Orban told the Kossuth radio broadcaster when asked whether the Russia-US summit in Budapest could get closer after his talks with Trump.

The Hungarian delegation in Washington will be representative, including ministers and heads of large companies and various departments, and will conduct a "full review and regulation of US-Hungarian relations," the prime minister said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸🎃🏛 Spooky season at the White House: Ghosts of Democrats past

This Halloween, the White House released a spooky-themed video. The stars? Ghostly Democrats—vanishing when "the American people need them most."

As a government shutdown looms, Trump and others accuse Democrats of using procedural tricks to delay a funding bill, holding the nation hostage.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Trump’s nuclear testing remarks risk undermining strategic stability, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu warns.

He adds that systems like Burevestnik and Poseidon were no surprise — Putin unveiled them back in 2018.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📉💣 Trump eases off on Ukraine, leaving Europe’s war hawks rattled

Donald Trump has toned down his tough talk on Ukraine, signaling a more hands-off approach to the conflict, notes Fox News.

First, during Zelensky’s Washington visit, expectations of Tomahawk missile support for Ukraine fizzled: Trump cited training delays and America’s own stockpile needs.

👉 He also shot down a Wall Street Journal report claiming the US eased restrictions on Ukraine’s long-range strikes into Russian territory as “fake news.”

On Thursday, the Department of War announced that a rotational US Army brigade stationed in Romania, with troops also in Bulgaria and Hungary, would be coming home. Trump dismissed the pullback as "not a big deal."

❌🛢 Even his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping marked a departure: no pressure on Russian oil purchases, with Trump telling reporters, "We really didn’t discuss the oil."

Exchange on the Ukraine conflict was seemingly muted. "We’re both going to work together,” Trump said in a nod at China, “to see if we can get something done."

The outlet notes that Trump’s Ukraine stance is keeping European allies on edge.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Putin & Xi remain in constant contact - Kremlin

📍 More statements by Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov:

🟧 Russia expects that Russian Prime Minister Mishustin will be received by Xi Jinping during his visit — a long-standing tradition in relations between the two countries

🟧 Russia attaches great importance to Mishustin’s upcoming visit to China

🟧The Kremlin advised focusing on official statements rather than media interpretations regarding contacts between Lavrov and Rubio

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💪🏻💣 Ex-US Army officer: Burevestnik and Poseidon give Russia a major defensive boost

The missiles "give Russia a significant defensive advantage," retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen tells Sputnik

He emphasizes that both systems — the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater vehicle — are defensive in nature.

Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin confirmed successful tests of both weapons.

🔶 Poseidon — tested just days ago

🔶 Burevestnik — completed its final trial after flying 14,000 km (8,700 miles) in October, according to Gen. Valery Gerasimov

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸 Hegseth claims nuclear tests make war ‘less likely’

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth defended President Donald Trump’s surprise order to resume nuclear weapons testing, calling it a “responsible” step to ensure America’s deterrent remains credible.

🗣"We would work with the Department of Energy, but the president was clear (that) we need to have a credible nuclear deterrent. That is the baseline of our deterrence, and so having understanding and resuming testing is a pretty responsible, very responsible way to do that," the Pentagon chief contended.

💬 “It makes nuclear conflict less likely if you know what you have and make sure it works properly,” the secretary said in Kuala Lumpur.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD WEEKLY UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES

⚡️ NOVOALEKSANDROVKA IN THE DNEPROPETROVSK REGION LIBERATED

📍 From the Novoaleksandrovka bridgehead, an attack can be made either south toward Gulaipole or north toward the town of Pokrovskoe. This settlement is located at a key intersection of the T0401 and H15 highways. Its capture would seriously impact the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

▫️ Territorial gains: 7 settlements were liberated over the past week

▫️ Tsentr Battlegroup assault units have expanded control zone near Dimitrov in the DPR

▫️ Strategic Strikes: Russian Forces unleashed a massive assault against Flamingo cruise missile assembly plants in Ukraine

▫️ Air defense superiority: Russian air defense systems shot down 17 guided aerial bombs, 2 long-range Neptune missiles, and 1,701 drones

▫️ Ukrainian losses: 10,095 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🪖🔙 US to partly withdraw troops from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary — media

💬 "Behind closed doors," officials from the Trump administration have signaled to allies that the Romanian cuts are merely phase one, with further reductions in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia expected to follow as soon as mid-December– a timeline that's "raising eyebrows among NATO diplomats," the report says.

On October 29 the US Army announced withdrawing the 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne Division from Romania to "ensure a balanced US military force posture," the Guardian earlier stated.

Overall, Europe hosts around 84,000 US troops, with most of them (about 39,000) placed in Germany, the Council on Foreign Relations data shows.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🛢 Trump not discussing Russia oil sanctions with Xi signals priorities shift — Media

The fact that Donald Trump didn’t pressure China to stop buying Russian oil as part of new US sanctions during talks with Xi Jinping in Busan gives "an early glimpse of just how loosely he was planning to enforce" the restrictions, Bloomberg says.

💬 "It undermines the entire sanctions narrative — you can’t claim to be tough on Moscow while ignoring one of the largest buyers keeping their economy afloat," said sanctions expert Brett Erickson, as quoted by Bloomberg.

The lack of such pressure on the leader of China - despite Trump’s own intent to apply it when rolling out new sanctions against Russian oil companies - "suggests Trump prioritized stabilizing US-China ties," the article concludes.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt