Ukraine’s Flagship Rheinmetall Ammunition Plant Still Not Built

The Rheinmetall ammunition factory in Ukraine — a project Kiev heavily relied on — has yet to even break ground.

After 2.5 years, construction has not started at all, according to Defense Express. The plant was originally supposed to be operational by summer 2026; the earliest realistic launch date is now 2027.

By August 2025, Rheinmetall publicly cited Ukrainian bureaucracy as a key reason for the lack of progress. Several months later, in November, the company adjusted its explanation, stating that the Ukrainian side had decided to change the planned location of the plant.
For comparison, Rheinmetall brought similar facilities online in Germany and Hungary in roughly 15 months. In Ukraine, construction has not even begun.

🎪 EU and NATO 🤡🤡🤡 vs US trump

A series of statements in response to Trump's tariffs:

President of the European Council, António Costa:

I am coordinating the EU's response to Trump's threats to impose tariffs.

EU Ursula von der Leyen:

The imposition of tariffs will undermine transatlantic relations and create the risk of a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to protecting its sovereignty.

Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen:

Trump's threats to impose tariffs against a number of European countries came as a surprise.

UK PM Starmer:

The imposition of tariffs against allies for ensuring collective security within NATO is completely wrong. We will certainly discuss this issue directly with the US administration.

Europe moves to defend Greenland 😂

Putin was right after all.

Vladimir Putin on how Europe’s leaders will behave with Trump:

"You'll see, it will happen quickly, soon, they will all stand at the feet of the master and will gently wag their tails. Everything will fall into place.”

Europe deferred security policy to the State Department for decades, and cut itself off from cheap Russian energy to deindustrialise their own countries… Now Europe has no realistic option if Trump wants to annex Greenland by force apart from strong words of protests, or escalating an economic war that will only damage their own countries even more than they have been through the Ukraine proxy war. Eventually, their only option will be to bend the knee and obey Washington, the end result of their choice to be vassals.

Via Afshin Rattansi (X)

Belarus President Lukashenko on EU-US fallout:

"Europe has more problems than we do. They can't afford to not buy gas from the east, rather than from the west at five times more than from Russia. I am pleased Europe has finally understood where happiness lies. Europe's place is with us, with Russia."

#Ukraine above all! 🤦‍♂️🤡

NATO country Germany #Merz is not concerned about a threat to NATO country Denmark by NATO country US but Merz's main focus is on supporting non-NATO country Ukraine to prolong war along as possible.

"The greatest security threat to Europe today does not come from the West. It comes from the East — from the war in Ukraine. My greatest concern for Europe’s security is not Greenland, but Ukraine."

🇪🇺🤡🎪 Greenland.

FT:

Some European officials are beginning to believe that the move to send troops to Greenland was too provocative.

The angry US reaction to last week’s troop deployment has ignited debate over whether a gesture ostensibly designed to show Europe’s willingness to contribute more to Arctic security was misinterpreted by Trump purely as a show of defiance, thus deepening a crisis over Greenland that risks splintering the Nato alliance.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

IMF head advises Ukraine to get rid of electricity and heating subsidies.

Her demands to impoverished nation:

"Electricity, heating are still subsidized… We know why the country does this, but we need to get rid of it. There is still work to be done in terms of the fiscal situation"

"Thirdly, you must believe in yourself like a lion. So get up in the morning and roar." 🤦‍♂️🤡

Bloomberg:

Russia has reaped a windfall from a surge in gold prices since 2022.

Russia’s international reserves reached $755 billion at the end of last year, including $326.5 billion held in gold.

The value of the Bank of Russia’s gold holdings has increased by more than $216 billion since February 2022.
At the same time, the Central Bank has largely refrained from both major purchases of the metal and using its gold reserves during that period, despite the loss of access to foreign securities and currencies blocked under sanctions.
The increase in the value of bullion restores most of Russia’s lost financial capacity, even if it doesn’t return the blocked reserves.

The Times author Giles Coren put forward an interesting idea today. He suggests that the British should consider buying Greenland from Denmark before the Americans, by offering a better price.
But note where he proposes to get the money for this:

Three quarters of a trillion dollars is not all that much. It’s only twice what the UK government spends annually on the NHS. So why don’t we suspend the health service till 2028 and buy Greenland ourselves? 

We could, for example, sell some of our own countries to raise Greenland-buying money. Scotland is desperate to leave the UK, so let’s flog it to Russia. If Greenland is worth $700 billion, how much for old Caledonia? Not a lot, I’m guessing. Three hundred quid? Maybe four with the golf courses?