📑 EU scrambles to appoint 'Putin negotiator' amid fears US will cut Ukraine deal without them — Reports

European capitals are pushing to create a special EU envoy to represent their interests in any future talks.

Top names floated include former Italian PM Mario Draghi and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has cultivated ties with Trump while leading a Russia‑bordering NATO member.

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🇪🇺 Europe at crossroads: Sovereignty or junior partner status

📄 Reports about Germany proposing a joint NATO mission, “Arctic Sentinel,” in the Arctic — including Greenland — highlight Europe’s deeper problem: Its inability to act independently from the US, former Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told Sputnik.

💬 “The EU could act independently — in economic, financial, and even security matters — but to do so, it needs to prove its capacity and assert its sovereignty. For now, however, Europe is entirely dependent on Washington,” Mansour said.

🔊 This dependence, he notes, has historical roots. NATO was created to protect Europe from the alleged Soviet threat — but the Soviet Union has been gone for decades, while Europe’s political course remains tightly bound to the US. There is little sign of resistance or even distance from White House demands.

Mansour points to the Iran nuclear deal as a clear example. Britain, Germany, and France all understood that the US withdrawal under Donald Trump was unjustified, yet failed to defend the agreement. When Washington reinstated sanctions, Europe complied.

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🚨 Man dies as result of drone attack on Russia's Rostov-on-Don - Governor

💬 "Rescuers found a dead man in one of the apartments in the Rostov high-rise building that caught fire after the UAV attack," Rostov Region’s acting Governor Yury Slyusar stated.

At least four civilians, including a four-year-old child, were injured in the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don as a result of a Ukrainian air attack, Slyusar said earlier.

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🇺🇸 🇮🇷 US targets Iran from within, not on battlefield – analyst

👉 The US will continue subversive actions against Iran’s internal stability rather than launching a direct military operation like the one carried out against Venezuela, Russian political scientist and American studies expert Konstantin Blokhin told Sputnik.

According to Blokhin, this explains why US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs targeting countries that trade with Iran.

💬 "Most likely, they will rely on color revolution technologies that have been tested around the world,” he said.

🔊 He added that even a naval blockade of Iran is unlikely. Any such move could prompt Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery of global oil trade, triggering a sharp spike in fuel prices.

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▫️ Trump says he’s now Venezuela’s ‘biggest fan’

▫️ US senators push bill blocking the US from seizing NATO ally territory amid Trump’s Greenland spat

▫️ Ukrainian air strike hits Rostov-on-Don — 4 injured, including a 4-year-old child

▫️ Hamas arrives in Cairo to finalize Gaza ceasefire agreement

▫️ Russia’s international reserves soar to historic high

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🇺🇸🇪🇺 US asks EU countries to share intel on potential Iran targets – reports

💬 “We don’t have any indications that President Trump will target nuclear facilities. It is more likely that he will go after the leadership of organizations and forces that are responsible and involved in the killings of protesters,” The WP cited unnamed sources as saying.

Trump was earlier reportedly briefed on military options and a spate of other scenarios, including cyberattacks on Iranian government infrastructure, measures to counter Iran’s blocking of protesters’ communications, and strikes on targets related to the country’s security services.

🔊 The US president himself, meanwhile, made it clear that the time for negotiations with Iran is up, and that “help” is “on its way.” When asked to clarify, Trump said “You’re going to have to figure that one out.”

👉 Iran's Permanent Representative to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani, in turn, accused the US and Israel of being directly responsible for the ongoing protests in his country and meddling in its internal affairs.

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🚨 🤝 Witkoff and Kushner seek to visit Moscow for meeting with Putin soon – report

The goal is to "advance" a Ukraine peace agreement, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

However, a White House official said that no such meeting is currently scheduled, the report adds.

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🚨 🇪🇺 EU distracts from Greenland by focusing on Iran – Russian MFA

European officials are using Iran to divert attention from Greenland’s situation, avoiding the fact that the island could be taken without a referendum, Russian MFA spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

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

⚡️ KOMAROVKA IN SUMY REGION FREED

The Russian military, having liberated Komarovka in the Sumy region, now possesses a strategic bridgehead. From this position, it can sever the E101 highway, which runs from Ukraine to Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk regions—a move that would bolster the security of the Russian border in this sector

🟠 Russian forces hammered Azov* militants and military equipment in the Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions

🟠 Russian air and missile firepower pounded long-range UAV storage and pre-launch sites, fuel depots, and Ukrainian energy infrastructure used in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries in 145 places

🟠 Air defense superiority: seven guided aerial bombs, six US-produced HIMARS rockets and 260 UAVs were vaporized by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours

🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,310 troops killed or wounded

*The Azov Brigade is designated as terrorist and banned in Russia

Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE

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🚨🇷🇺 ‘This is a gross violation of international law’ – Lavrov on situation in Venezuela

Russia and Venezuela share a long history of strong strategic relations, the Russian foreign minister said, emphasizing that Moscow's stance on the current situation remains unchanged.

“Only Western Europeans and other Washington allies are shamefully trying to avoid principled assessments”, Sergey Lavrov said.

Other statements by Lavrov:

◻️ US looks unreliable announcing 25% tariff on any business with Iran

◻️No third party can change the nature of Russian-Iranian relations

◻️ US sanctions policy cannot last long, will trigger greater crisis in international relations

◻️ The West's statements about the idea of implementing a ceasefire are an attempt to give Ukraine more time

◻️ The meetings between Putin, Witkoff, and Kushner were serious and focused on addressing the root causes of the crisis in Ukraine

◻️ The US wants to halt any attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO, and Russia is aware of this

◻️ Putin has repeatedly confirmed Russia’s position on being open to negotiations on Ukraine, provided they are serious

◻️ Russian-US contacts on Ukraine are based on a solid foundation established during the Alaska negotiations

◻️ Russia would be interested in hearing the impressions of US representatives from their meeting with the "coalition of the willing" in Europe

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🚨 Lavrov: West's statements about the idea of implementing a ceasefire are an attempt to give Ukraine more time

The Russian top diplomat made the remarks at a press conference after talks with Minister of International Relations and Trade of Namibia Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.

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🚨 Lavrov: Russia’s assessments of illegal US operation in Venezuela remain unchanged, it's violation of international law

The Russian top diplomat made the remarks at a press conference after talks with Minister of International Relations and Trade of Namibia Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.

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🚨 🚢 Ukrainian UAVs attack tanker Matilda - Russian Defense Ministry

The Russian oil tanker Matilda, flying the flag of Malta, was attacked by two Ukrainian attack UAVs at a distance of about 62 miles from the city of Anapa in the Krasnodar region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

🔊 On January 13, a distress signal was received via the international security channel from the Matilda tanker in the Black Sea, the ministry said in a statement.

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🇻🇪 Venezuelan envoy and opposition leader set for parallel high-level US talks

🎤 Venezuela’s Ambassador Felix Plasencia is due to visit the US on the same day that opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is holding her own meetings there, Bloomberg reports.

👉 The country’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez plans to send Plasencia to Washington later this week to meet senior US officials, while Machado is set to sit down with Trump, according to the news outlet. Neither Rodriguez’s press service nor the White House has commented on the matter.

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🔥🇷🇺 Russian artillery smashes Ukraine's assets near Kharkov

Crews of the Pion (lit. Peony) self-propelled artillery units from the Zapad battlegroup destroyed Ukrainian temporary deployment points & personnel in the Kharkov region.

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🪖🇺🇸 US withdrawing military personnel from key bases in Middle East amid tensions around Iran

Some personnel have been advised to leave the US military’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening amid warnings from Washington that it could "intervene to protect protesters in Iran," Reuters reported, citing three diplomats.

💬 “It’s a posture change, not an ordered evacuation,” one of the diplomats told the media.

Iran may have warned neighboring countries that it would strike US military bases in the event of an attack, following Trump’s earlier threat to intervene in Iran, the outlet reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called the US threats of strikes against Iran “absolutely unacceptable.”

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🥀 Iranians are paying their last respects to the victims of the protests and law enforcement officers, who were killed by the rioters

Protests in Iran began in late December 2025 due to a sharp fluctuation in the exchange rate and its impact on wholesale and retail prices.

Later, protest actions in a number of Iranian cities escalated into clashes with the police and riots.

Casualties have been reported among both security forces and protest participants.

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