🚨🇺🇸 US halts all asylum decisions pending enhanced vetting – USCIS

USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow said the agency has paused all asylum decisions “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” adding that “the safety of the American people always comes first.”

The announcement comes after the shooting near the White House on Wednesday that left one National Guard member dead and another in critical condition, according to statements by President Donald Trump.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇺🇸🇦🇫 US pauses visa issuance for all travelers using Afghan passports – Rubio

💬 “President Donald Trump’s State Department has paused visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.

The announcement comes after the shooting near the White House on Wednesday that left one National Guard member dead and another critically injured.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 ‘It's fatal for them politically to admit that they were wrong’ – Galloway on European leaders pushing confrontation with Russia

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, former British MP George Galloway said European governments continue pushing confrontation with Russia not because they can win — but because they are “steeped in blood” and politically trapped.

Galloway argued that EU leaders have poured “hundreds of billions of euros, pounds, dollars” into what he called a “forlorn Charge of the Light Brigade,” and now fear admitting they were wrong.

💬 "These people are at rock bottom in public opinion approval rates... And so what choice do they have? It's continue to reinforce failure, to continue to throw good money after bad, to continue digging even though they know they're in a hole," he emphasized.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 US strikes on boats 'approved by the best military and civilian lawyers' — Hegseth

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth insisted the US strikes on boats in the Caribbean are “lawful under both US and international law,” saying the strikes are intended to “stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.”

💬 "Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization," Hegseth claimed.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 'If you've tried something 19 times, you've got to admit you've FAILED already' - Galloway on EU sanctions against Russia

"And yet they are currently planning a 20th round of sanctions against Russia," former British MP George Galloway told Tucker Carlson describing European futile attempts to harm Russia.

💬 "Hatred, racial hatred, fear of immigration, large-scale immigration, collapsing birth rates, demographic time bombs. Our societies are the very definition of sick societies," Galloway described modern plagues of European communities.

💬 "So what are we doing about it? Well, we're sending uncounted and uncountable and untraceable billions to the little chiseling crook in Kiev,” he stressed, highlighting the absurdity of European policy choices.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❌ Ukraine hemorrhages young men: 121,000 have already fled country

Ukrainian outlets flagged the exodus figures, leaning on comments from Roman Kostenko of the Verkhovna Rada's National Security and Defense Committee.

👉 At the end of August, the Ukrainian Cabinet lifted the travel ban for men in the 18 to 22 age group. Since then, local media have been reporting a mass run-for-the-border trend, with social networks filling up with triumphant “made it out” videos.

🟠 Previously, men aged 18 to 60 were barred by the Zelensky regime from leaving under martial law, and dodging mobilization still comes with criminal charges — up to five years behind bars.

Amid huge manpower losses on the frontline, Ukrainian recruitment officers have been snatching men in public places and forcing them into vans — often with violence and disregard for the law.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇺🇸 US 'ordered' corruption probe in Zelensky's inner circle – Medvedchuk

The high-profile corruption probe, which implicated Zelensky's close associates , was "ordered" by the US, Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian opposition politician, told Sputnik.

💬 "This scandal did not surface because of the work of Ukraine's law-enforcement agencies. This is something the Americans ordered. And the Americans, together with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau [of Ukraine, NABU] and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office [SAPO], had been investigating the financial circle around Zelensky and Zelensky himself for a year and a half," Medvedchuk said, adding that the situation had been intensifying gradually.

Among the audio recordings published by the NABU in the corruption case in the energy sector there are recordings of Zelensky's own conversations, Medvedchuk added.

"I know this for certain: there are recordings of Zelensky himself speaking, and his special instructions," he said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇫🇮😡Northern Axe 25: Finland flexes troops just 70 km from Russia

The military exercise involves approximately 3,000 soldiers, including about 70 British troops and Finnish connoscripts, reservists, and other personnel.

Northern Axe 25, taking place from November 29 to December 5, will be held at the Vuosanka training ground in the Kuhmo municipality, located 70 kilometers from the Russian border.

👉 Officially, it’s just another national exercise. Unofficially, it’s hard to miss the pattern: ever since Finland entered NATO in 2023, the country has been markedly shifting to a “frontline outpost.”

▫️ On Nov. 24, the NATO exercise Freezing Winds 25 started in the Baltic Sea and along Finland’s southern coast, involving around 5,000 personnel and 20 allied warships.

▫️ On Nov. 26, the exercise Lapland Steel 25 began at Rovajärvi, the largest training area in Western Europe.

▫️ Lively Sentry 25 kicked off the following day, involving approximately 6,500 troops, with part of the exercise taking place in the Kymenlaakso region, which borders Russia.

Since joining NATO, Finland has been steadily ramping up its national military exercises—with 115 drills scheduled for 2025, Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov noted in February.

Finland — judging by this show of force — seems to be settling into its new role as the alliance’s northern spearpoint.

🇷🇺Russia’s President Putin previously said that Russia is keeping a watchful eye on the growing militarization of Europe, which he added is intimidating itself with threats allegedly emanating from Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇬🇧 UK walks away from EU defense fund, balks at billions in fees

🎤 Talks for the UK to join the EU’s $150 billion defense fund have collapsed, leaving Europe to push ahead with beefed-up military ambitions on its own, the FT reports.

EU ambassadors rejected Britain’s offer of roughly $215 million to join the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund, far short of the European Union’s $2.16 billion price tag for participation.

🔸 The fund, a centerpiece of Europe’s rearmament push, is designed to boost defense spending and enable countries to jointly procure weapons.

The breakdown reportedly came just days after a tense private meeting between EC chief Ursula von der Leyen and UK PM Keir Starmer at the G20 summit in Johannesburg. Sources described discussions as “difficult” and “tense,” with SAFE fees being a major sticking point.

👉 Russia has repeatedly stressed that it threatens no one, but that Western politicians regularly frighten their own population with an alleged threat to divert attention from domestic issues.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 Ukrainian terrorist attack on gas pipeline in Moscow region thwarted

Russian Federal Security Service reveals the details:

🟠 In the Serpukhov Urban district, a Russian citizen born in 1969 was caught red-handed while attempting to install an improvised explosive device (IED)

🟠 He was supposed to drill the ground above the gas pipeline and install bombs disguised as mounting adhesive and after completing the task, he was to leave Russia and return to Ukraine

🟠 The agency seized four IEDs disguised as construction adhesive, plus devices used for covert communication with his handler. He was sent to Russia by the Ukrainian intelligence under the cover of deportation

"The suspect was recruited by Ukrainian special services in 2024 while detained in a temporary detention center for foreigners in Ukraine for violating migration legislation. Once recruited, the agent was sent to Russia under the legend of deportation," the service said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

▫️ US 'ordered' corruption probe in Zelensky's inner circle

▫️ ‘I’m going to the front’ — Ukraine’s Yermak makes a scene for the media after raids

▫️ Trump & Maduro held a phone call, discussed possible meeting – reports

▫️ US pauses visa issuance for all travelers using Afghan passports after WH shooting

▫️ White House launches new 'media bias' tracker

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🗣 Globalist NGOs, USAID, intel networks & defense contractors built a profit-driven war narrative machine - Dmitriev

Now they’re "hysterical" — because peace would cut off their cash flow, Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

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

⚡️ In retaliation for terrorist attacks by the Kiev regime, Russian air and missile forces struck Ukrainian defense and energy used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

🟠 Russian forces repelled nine counterattacks which tried to break the encirclement north and north-west of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk)

🟠 Russian troops continue advancing in eastern Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk)

🟠 Air defense superiority: two guided Neptune missiles and 158 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,255 troops killed or wounded

Read about origins of Russia's special military op HERE

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 US-Ukraine talks to heat up as Europe left in wings

A Ukrainian delegation — including National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov and First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya — is heading to the US for further talks, reports Bloomberg.

🔊 They are expected to meet Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to discuss the peace plan, sources told the outlet.

Sidelined European hawks have been “shut out from the detail of many aspects of the talks,” noted the publication, adding that they are being involved in bilateral discussions “where their input is absolutely necessary at this stage, such as defining security guarantees with the US.”

🟠 Meanwhile, Witkoff is set to lead a US delegation for talks in Russia next week. Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky and representatives of the foreign ministry will be Russia's negotiators.

Russia’s President Putin has acknowledged that the US's initial plan for Ukrainian settlement could be a basis for future agreements.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt