📉💣 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.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 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

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💪🏻💣 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

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🇺🇸 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.

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🚨🇷🇺💥 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

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🪖🔙 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.

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🛢 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.

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🚨🇷🇺🇧🇾‘DON'T PUSH IT’: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that the Oreshnik missile system will go on combat duty in December, with any decision on its use to be made jointly with Vladimir Putin.

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🚨 Moment of truth: Russia checkmates Ukraine’s false conflict narrative

🗣 Kiev is blocking journalists from visiting surrounded Ukrainian military positions in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), since it would quickly reveal that the country is losing across the entire front line, experts tell Sputnik.

💬 "Zelensky’s team claims there are no encirclements, that they’re advancing successfully. All this propaganda about their 'success' is designed to keep massive financial flows coming in, which can then be quietly pocketed," says Andrey Koshkin, retired colonel and expert at the Association of Military Political Analysts, in an interview with Sputnik.

🔶 In the West, no one hides the fact that Ukraine is the most corrupt country. Western politicians are lining their own pockets with billions in aid sent to Ukraine. It is believed that Zelensky himself has long since become a billionaire, according to the pundit.

💬 "If foreign journalists are able to interview representatives of the forces encircled by the Russian Army, the Western public could hear things that, according to Ukrainian leadership, are better left unsaid — including questions about how effectively war funds are being spent," Nikolai Kostikin, expert at the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, tells Sputnik.

🔶 Russia’s offer to give Western journalists access to the encirclements, and the Ukrainian leadership’s resistance, show that Russia has already taken over the narrative from Western media, according to Kostikin.

📍 The unfolding situation is yet another way Russia is pressuring Zelensky toward peace, Kostikin stresses.

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🇵🇱​​ Is Poland heading for EU exit door? Foreign Minister raises alarm

The scenario in which Poland leaves the European Union is realistic, as a lot of right-wing Polish politicians reject any European initiative as something bad, the nation’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorsky, said in an interview with Onet.

🗣 This is the same pattern out of which Brexit emerged, he adds.

Earlier, former Speaker of the Sejm Marek Jurek said that Poland should leave the EU to restore its sovereignty. Additionally, Polish PM Donald Tusk warned the country’s president, Karol Nawrocki, pushed the nation to leave the Union.

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🚨🇺🇸🇻🇪Trump DENIES authorizing strikes on Venezuela after a Miami Herald report claimed attacks on military sites were imminent.

The White House dismissed the story, saying “unnamed sources don’t know what they’re talking about.”

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