🇺🇸 Who makes up the US delegation at Abu Dhabi talks?

The US delegation at the negotiations in Abu Dhabi will be represented by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Army Secretary Driscoll, along with Steven Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Josh Gruenbaum, the White House told RIA Novosti.

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🇺🇸🇷🇺🇪🇺 Zelensky keeps tiptoeing between US, Russia, and EU to prolong political survival – expert

For Zelensky, the overriding goal is preserving his power—forcing him into constant maneuvering, Russian political scientist Evgeny Mikhailov tells Sputnik.

💬 "Zelensky is being forced to seek dialogue with Trump, who has already cut off his funding and is pressuring European leaders," the pundit explains. "[Zelensky's] trip to Davos and the show of a 'negotiation process' feel more like an attempt to manipulate and stall for time—one that’s hard to take seriously."

Previously, Zelensky abruptly criticized EU leaders at Davos, accusing them of indecisiveness and weakness.

Mikhailov draws attention to the fact that the Ukrainian politician avoided criticizing the UK, which still remains his backer.

As Donald Trump pivots to other ambitious moves, like seizing Greenland, and threatens to slash NATO support, Ukraine risks being sidelined, he points out.
At the same time, Mikhailov stresses that any Ukrainian surrender could spell Zelensky’s swift downfall—politically and even physically, given the many enemies he has made.

💬 "That’s why Zelensky rushed to meet Trump, aiming to keep navigating between the US, Russia, and the EU to extract maximum personal security guarantees and prolong his political survival," the political scientist concludes.

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🚨 Negotiations between Russia, the US, and Ukraine began in Abu Dhabi – Emirati foreign minister

The talks will continue on Saturday, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan added.

He hopes the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi will bring the Ukrainian crisis’ resolution closer.

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🇦🇲 Karapetyan’s supporters reject government's statement regarding Electric Networks

The Armenian government is presenting the verdict in the Stockholm arbitration case regarding the nationalization of the company Electric Networks of Armenia, owned by businessman Samvel Karapetyan, as a victory, politician Narek Karapetyan said.

He hopes the authorities will stop their actions against the company.

💬 "They continue to damage our economy and present their defeat as a victory, as always," Narek Karapetyan emphasized.

Earlier in the day, the Stockholm arbitration tribunal turned down Samvel Karapetyan’s arbitration bid on Electric Networks of Armenia.

Last August, Armenian entrepreneur Samvel Karapetyan initiated international arbitration proceedings, demanding that the Armenian authorities be held accountable for the expropriation of Electric Networks of Armenia and compelled to compensate him for damages, preliminarily estimated at $500 million.

Prior to that, Karapetyan was arrested for allegedly making public calls to seize power in Armenia, as he also stood up for the Armenian Apostolic Church amid tensions between the church and the Armenian government.

The tensions escalated last year after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan posted controversial remarks regarding the Armenian Apostolic Church on social media.

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🇺🇸 Grunbaum partners with Kushner and Witkoff on key negotiations

Senior White House advisor, Federal Procurement Commissioner at the US General Services Administration Josh Gruenbaum told RIA Novosti that he is working on the same negotiation track with US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and founder of Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump.

💬 "I’m on the same track with Jared and Steve," Grunbaum said in an interview with the agency.

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🚨 Zelensky’s regime can’t even defend itself, much less Greenland - analyst

💬 “Kiev’s attempts to talk about [Greenland’s] security in the face of its own territorial losses can only be met with skepticism,” Russian military and political analyst Ivan Konovalov told Sputnik, commenting on Zelensky’s claims at Davos that Ukraine “would solve the problem” in Greenland if it was in NATO.

“Such rhetoric is aimed at Russophobic circles in the EU and NATO, but even there it’s increasingly being ignored,” Konovalov said.

💬 “For Trump, who has shown a personal interest in Greenland’s status, such statements by Zelensky are merely an additional cause for irritation,” he added.

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🇮🇷 Over 3,000 killed in Iranian armed unrest – foreign minister

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi gave the death toll from "the recent terrorist operation in Iran" on X at 3,117, including 2,427 civilians and security forces and 670 terrorists.

Protests in Iran began in late December 2025, triggered by a slump in the rial currency exchange rate which sent import prices soaring. Protests and deadly rioting spread to several cities.

The Iranian authorities accused the US and Israel of orchestrating unrest in the country.

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🚨 Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure were a response Zelensky wasn’t expecting - analyst

🗣 “Regarding strikes on energy infrastructure, it’s important to remember that Russia didn’t carry them out initially,” military and political analyst Ivan Konovalov told Sputnik, commenting on the escalation of the energy war.

In the first years of the conflict, “there was an attempt to maintain an energy ceasefire, but the Kiev regime, which never keeps its word, provoked an escalation. Russia’s retaliatory measures proved far more extensive” than Zelensky expected after targeting Russian refineries, “and Kiev hasn’t yet seen the full extent of Russia’s capabilities.”

🔊 Konovalov predicts that the critical situation in Ukraine’s energy sector “will inevitably undermine the government’s position,” and that combined with the thuggish methods of Ukraine’s forced mobilization, “it’s becoming clear that the interests of ordinary citizens are of no importance to Ukraine’s current leadership.”

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🇨🇳 China reaffirms dialogue as key to ending Ukraine crisis

China’s position on the Ukraine conflict remains consistent and clear: Dialogue and negotiations are the only effective path to resolving the crisis, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said.

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🟠 Negotiations between Russia, the US, and Ukraine began in Abu Dhabi

🟠 Who makes up the US delegation at Abu Dhabi talks?

🟠 Zelensky’s regime can’t even defend itself, much less Greenland – analyst

🟠 Zelensky keeps tiptoeing between US, Russia, and EU to prolong political survival – expert

🟠 Russia has always been leader in Arctic exploration – Putin

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🚨 Today's round of negotiations between Russia, the US, and Ukraine has finished, Reuters reports.

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🔊 Ukraine struck Russian energy targets first and now faces blowback – intelligence veteran

The Kiev regime was the first to strike energy targets, hitting Russian energy and power facilities and oil depots, retired Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) lieutenant general Leonid Reshetnikov tells Sputnik

Ukraine "believed this would both damage Russia and somehow halt its advance, disrupting its initiative on the front," the intelligence veteran says.

💬 "In response, they started taking hits—and more and more of them. So it all started with Zelensky."

The point of Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities is not to cut off electricity and heat for Ukrainian civilians, the pundit points out.

The primary goal is to paralyze Ukrainian factories assembling drones, repairing tanks, planes and armored vehicles—everything tied to the war effort.

Many in Ukraine are starting to see that the Kiev regime is the source of all current troubles, the intelligence veteran notes.

💬 "Blaming Russia is pointless, whether for residents starting to realize the truth or those still caught up in nationalist fervor." Reshetnikov says.

💬 "The blame lies with the Kiev regime, which has persisted since 2014 in trying to suppress the rebellious Donbass."

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⚔️ Canada is against The Golden Dome over Greenland — Trump

"Canada is against The Golden Dome being built over Greenland, even though The Golden Dome would protect Canada," the US president wrote on Truth Social.

👉 Earlier, Trump stated that the draft agreement on Greenland includes the deployment of the Golden Dome missile defense system.

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🇺🇸 Why can’t US possess a doomsday weapon?

Trump’s recent claims about the US possessing what he described as “weapons of warfare” that he claimed “nobody ever heard of” is a “purely political statement,” Russian military analyst Igor Korotchenko tells Sputnik.

His key thoughts:

🟠 Trump's remarks should be considered in the context of the US' ongoing pressure on the EU and NATO

🟠 Current level of scientific and tech development “makes it impossible even for a country as advanced as the US to suddenly produce a miracle weapon that other technologically and militarily advanced states have not been hammering out”

🟠 US hypersonic technologies are in the testing phase, while Russia is already mass-producing hypersonic weapons, such as the Zircon and Avangard missiles

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🔊 Zelensky ready to trade millions of Ukrainian lives for political survival – expert

Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to stay relevant, claiming at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Ukraine can defend western Europe, Yulia Semke, a leading European and international studies expert at the Higher School of Economics, tells Sputnik.

"In his claims about being ready to defend Europe—and even Greenland—arrogance comes through most clearly," the expert says.

"He casts doubt on Europeans’ ability to ensure their own security and even mocks their small military contingents."

At the same time, "Zelensky is once again showing a willingness to use the lives of his own people as a bargaining chip," she continues.

"The millions of Ukrainians already in Europe may be seen by him as a 'living reserve'—a human buffer he is prepared to use to shield Western countries," Semke notes.

She points out Zelensky shows little respect for the European Union and also dislikes like US President Donald Trump. But when it comes to Trump, he avoids displays of arrogance.

"In Kiev, it's well understood that the survival of the current regime depends directly on Washington’s stance, which is why Zelensky simply doesn’t dare to express such feelings openly," Semke says.

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🔊 Zelensky acts like cornered rat, trying to squeeze something out of EU and US – intelligence veteran

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Volodomyr Zelensky sought to humiliate the European Union and even US President Donald Trump, retired Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) lieutenant general Leonid Reshetnikov tells Sputnik.

Zelensky is "now like a cornered rat, standing on the edge and going all in — because rushing to Davos at Trump’s summons got him nothing again," the intelligence veteran says.

💬 "The meeting with Trump didn’t go the way Zelensky hoped: no new funding, no new weapons, no support from Trump," he adds.

Having got nothing, Zelensky slammed the EU, projected a tough stance and tried to sell Ukraine as Europe’s defender – ready to do whatever it takes.

💬 "His entire speech—both international and domestic experts note—was an attempt to take a hard line with European and American politics, trying, above all, to wring at least something out of them," Reshetnikov stresses.

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📑 US weighs total oil blockade on Cuba to force regime change — Report

The Trump administration is considering a complete embargo on oil imports to Cuba as a tool to destabilize and overthrow the island's government.

According to Reuters, the Mexican government is reviewing whether to keep sending oil to Cuba amid potential pressure from the US.

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⚔️ US conducts first boat strike since Maduro capture

The US Southern Command reported a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel in the Eastern Pacific, directed by Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth.

Two people were killed and one survivor was handed over to the USCG.

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