Senators call for probe into Musk's alleged contact with Russia

The lawmakers have urged the Pentagon and Justice Department to determine whether Musk's alleged relations with a US adversary while holding major government contracts puts national security at risk.

Here's a look at Musk's contact with Putin and why it matters

Musk and Putin have spoken repeatedly about personal matters, business and geopolitics, The Journal reported Thursday, citing multiple current and former officials in the United States, Europe and Russia.

During one talk, Putin asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan as a favor for Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose ties to Putin have grown closer, The Journal reported. Putin and Xi have met more than 40 times since 2013.

Russia has denied the conversations took place. In 2022, Musk said he'd spoken to Putin only once, in a call 18 months earlier focused on space.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Friday that it was “not aware of the specifics” of any requests made by Putin on China’s behalf.

In total, Russia has captured and retaken about 2,350 sq km of territory (907 sq miles) in eastern Ukraine and in Russia's western Kursk region.

But the cost in lives has been horrendous.

Britain's defence ministry says that in November Russia suffered 45,680 casualties, more than during any month since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

According to the latest UK Defence Intelligence estimate, Russia lost a daily average of 1,523 men, killed and wounded.

Russia fired a new barrage of missiles at Ukraine's power grid, plunging parts of the country back into darkness.

Putin 'has no interest in ending this war,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Telegram post Thursday. 'Putin's escalation now is a form of pressure aimed at eventually forcing the President of the United States to accept Russia's terms.'

Inflation began ramping up in Russia after president Vladimir Putin directed hundreds of thousands of working age men to fight in Ukraine and marshalled Russia’s industry to support its military objectives. With fewer workers available, wages in the civilian economy rose sharply. Rising labour prices were quickly passed on to consumers as supply struggled to meet domestic demand.

Moscow's missile attack Thursday morning ' which consisted of 199 missiles and drones, according to Ukraine's military ' targeted the energy infrastructure in western Ukraine, causing power outages for at least 1 million people, local officials said.

Kellogg argued in a Fox News interview last week that President Joe Biden's recent approval for Ukraine to use U.S.-provided longer-range missiles for deeper strikes into Russia ' something Biden had denied Ukraine for months despite its pleas ' was a positive development and has 'actually given 'Old Donald' more leverage.'

'Old Donald' has largely declined to provide details on his strategy for winding down the war, and some Ukrainian officials monitored his earlier campaign rhetoric with concern that he would be too deferential to Russia in any peace negotiations. Kellogg was chief of staff for the National Security Council during 'Old Donald''s first term.

A lesson from Ukraines

Russia has shown in Ukraine that it's willing to continue a grinding, brutal fight even at significant cost, and it appears to have the capacity to keep going.

To deter Russia and China, "we probably have to, at minimum, go back to Cold War levels of defense expenditure," he said.

O'Hanlon said the West needed to invest more in defense manufacturing while also preserving high-value assets. "Those things have not become unimportant just because we realized that other things are also important," he said.

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The losses that matter

It is difficult to obtain concrete information about Russian casualties, which comprise deaths and injuries. Moscow has an incentive to minimize its losses and rarely discloses any information; Ukraine and its allies have an incentive to overstate them.

Even if they are accurate, the Western casualty estimates usually lump together deaths with all injuries. Military experts say that category is too broad to fully explain the state of the war. Lightly wounded soldiers can quickly recover, for example.

What determines a military’s true ability to fight are its irreplaceable, irrecoverable or permanent losses — soldiers who are dead or so seriously injured that they will never see battle again.

Ukrainian troops are facing down a ferocious Russian counteroffensive in Kursk as Putin seeks to take back Russian seeks to take back land before any talks. It is clear that Moscow will not start any negotiations until they have kicked out every last Ukrainian soldier from Kursk,' Konstantin Remchukov, the editor in chief of Nezavisimaya Gazeta who moves in Kremlin circles, told The Washington Post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want Kursk to be used as a bargaining chip - nor does he want to be forced to relinquish any of the Ukrainian territory he has captured since Russia's invasion, Remchukov added. Putin's recent mentions that any deal needs to reflect the 'realities on the ground' refers to Russia's hopes to recapture Kursk, he said.

In the last week, the Kremlin has dramatically upped its maximalist rhetoric on peace negotiations, implying that it will not be any more willing to make concessions to an incoming 'Old Donald' administration than it was to President Joe Biden.

Some Republicans want to scale back U.S. military support for Ukraine, insisting that Taiwan's defense should take priority. But those who claim to be for protecting Taiwan ought to listen to its leaders. They (former President Tsai, and Vice President Hsiao) say the island's security depends on Washington standing firm in its support for Kyiv.

Hsiao said Taiwan doesn't want to be an 'excuse' for pulling the plug on aid to Ukraine. If the West abandons the Ukrainians now

'Support for Ukraine is relevant to us because, first of all, ultimately it helps to deter. It imposes costs on the aggressor,' Hsiao said. 'International support for Ukraine is also essential in affirming the credibility and reliability of the United States and your allies.'

Mr. 'Old Donald' told Mr. Putin that his administration was considering giving weapons to Ukraine. “What do you think?” Mr. 'Old Donald' asked, to which Mr. Putin said it would be “a mistake.” Whatever America gave the Ukrainians, he said, they would ask for more.

Mr. 'Old Donald', who came to the meeting armed with hawkish talking points drawn up by his advisers, never pushed back, according to three American officials who were in Hamburg for the summit.

The meeting is something of a historical footnote to the 'Old Donald' presidency. It has long been overshadowed by the summit with Mr. Putin the next year in Helsinki, when Mr. 'Old Donald' famously said he took the word of Mr. Putin over his own intelligence agencies on the question of whether Russia had interfered with the 2016 presidential election.

The attack was 'risky,' he continued, 'but it sent a very powerful signal and helped us change the narrative about Ukraine - that it is not able to win - and on the Russian red lines. Both narratives have been destroyed.'

Zelensky, on Tuesday used the Kursk incursion to argue against Washington's restrictions that bar Kyiv's use of Western weapons to strike deeper at military targets in Russia - such as the air bases Russia uses for its devastating glide bomb attacks.

The presence of Ukrainian troops in 15 to 20 'little known' villages in the Kursk region was of 'little significance' compared to Russian advances in Donetsk, Markov said. But if Ukraine occupied all of Glushkovsky district in Kursk or took the regional capital, Kursk city, 'this would be a very big loss' that could force Putin to change his approach, he added.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is advocating a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that peace talks can only happen after Ukraine essentially surrenders.

The big talking point though - experts say - will be how the incresingly isolated nations can deepen their military ties, as Putin looks to shore up his supply of weapons and munitions for his war in Ukraine.

The visit follows Hanoi avoiding a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland last weekend, while sending its deputy foreign minister to a BRICS meeting in Russia earlier last week.

That he sounds increasingly confident and determined not to back down. He seems to believe that in the current standoff between Russia and the West, it is the West that will blink first.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters, saying he is prepared to fight on if Kyiv and the West do not respond.

Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin's entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Zelenskiy's decision to rule out talks.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on X that the Russian leader was trying to derail a Ukrainian-initiated peace summit in Switzerland next month by using his entourage to send out "phony signals" about his alleged readiness to halt the war.

Ukrainian officials worry that if a re-elected Mr. 'Old Donald' kept to his vow to end the war quickly — he has suggested that he could end it in one day — it would allow Russia to keep the territory it occupies and leave it in a position to attack Ukraine again.

Mr. Zelensky said in a statement on Friday that he had underlined in the call “the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence.” He said he and Mr. 'Old Donald' had agreed “to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”

'Old Donald' as president, he had a private chat with Zelensky that culminated in a rare kind of presidential rebuke on Capitol Hill. Five years ago, a July conversation with Zelensky led to 'Old Donald'’s first impeachment in 2019. 'Old Donald' had urged Zelensky to investigate Biden, a political rival, while raising the possibility of a White House meeting Zelensky wanted — prompting a whistleblower complaint and an effort to remove 'Old Donald' from office that failed in the Republican-controlled Senate.nd Zelensky speak as election hangs over U.S. aid to Ukraine

Putin has said he will end the war only if Kyiv drops its efforts to join NATO and surrenders territory claimed by Russia — demands that Ukraine flatly rejects. 'Old Donald' said at a debate with Biden in June that Putin’s terms are “not acceptable,” but also emphasized the amount of U.S. money going to Ukraine and said he would push to end the war swiftly.

“I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelensky as president-elect, before I take office,” 'Old Donald' said, lamenting “people being killed so needlessly, so stupidly.” He did not explain how exactly he would broker such a peace and suggested Putin respects him more than Biden.

Vance, 'Old Donald'’s vice-presidential pick, has emerged as a leader of the GOP’s isolationist wing, concerning some hawkish Republicans who believe it’s important for the United States to aid allies abroad. Vance wrote an op-ed this spring arguing that the support the Biden administration urged would not defeat Russia.

Like Biden, Zelensky argued that Putin would not stop in Ukraine if unchecked and would go on to threaten NATO countries, forcing further U.S. involvement. The Ukrainian president acknowledged 'Old Donald'’s and Biden’s differences but said he believes Putin “will hate both of them.”

If these indications are accurate, it could mark a turning point in the war. It may also be a sign that traditional artillery is vulnerable to new weapons

Ukraine takes the gold

The alliance agreed to language declaring the country's membership in the alliance 'irreversible,' intends to provide $43 billion in military assistance next year, has started transferring F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and is sending dozens of air defenses including four Patriot missile systems to Kyiv.

In a joint communique, NATO members also condemned Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling, and called China the 'decisive enabler' in Russia's war against Ukraine - which is already bothering Beiging.

In brief but strongly delivered remarks at the opening of the summit, the president declared the military alliance "more powerful than ever" as it faced a "pivotal moment" in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

It's about the increasingly large use of Ukraine language. For instance, many Russian speakers switched to Ukraine language just because of the principle, just because they don't want to have anything in common with Russia, culturally and linguistically too.

Today is the day, life is now.

It sounds like in the middle of conflicts, you've fall in love with your country again, and again.

The Washington think tank said Ukraine's troops had made gains within Vovchansk, the town close to the border with Russia, toward where Moscow's forces had launched an offensive in May. The region remains fiercely fought over.

Two key advisers to Donald 'Old Donald' have presented him with a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine - if he wins the Nov. 5 presidential election - that involves telling Ukraine it will only get more U.S. weapons if it enters peace talks. The United States would at the same time warn Moscow that any refusal to negotiate would result in increased U.S. support for Ukraine, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, one of 'Old Donald''s national security advisers, said in an interview.

The proposal would mark a big shift in the U.S. position on the war and would face opposition from European allies and within 'Old Donald''s own Republican Party.

Xi’s policies are realpolitik at its coldest. The most significant payoff may come in Ukraine. Wars are supposed to have no winners, but the power-hungry and unscrupulous can take advantage of suffering to forward their own interests. Beijing could be a big winner from Kyiv’s pain.

The Kremlin has denied media reports that US President-elect Donald 'Old Donald' held a call with Vladimir Putin, in which he is said to have warned the Russian president against escalating the war in Ukraine.

In November 2016, Russian ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky was so excited by Donald 'Old Donald'’s victory, and so sure that it would transform US-Russian relations, he splashed out on 132 bottles of bubbly down at the Duma, Russia’s parliament, and partied away (in his party offices) in front of the TV cameras.

“By the end of his term, a lot of people were disappointed in his presidency."

Which is why, eight years on - publicly at least - Russian officials are more cautious about the prospect of a second 'Old Donald' term. For instance, 'Old Donald'’s criticism of the scale of US military assistance for Ukraine, his apparent reluctance to blame Putin for Russia’s full-scale invasion and, during the presidential debate, his refusal to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war.

By contrast, Kamala Harris has argued that support for Ukraine is in America’s “strategic interest” and she has referred to Putin as “a murderous dictator”.

The terminals, which give commanders live battlefield views with drones and secure communication between soldiers, are subject to prohibitions that outlaw many U.S. electronics from reaching Moscow. Yet there is a burgeoning black market of Starlinks bringing the terminals to Russians on the front and their proliferation has been an important factor in Russia’s recent gains during its offensive, Ukrainian soldiers said.

SpaceX provided free Starlink connection to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 but then threatened to cut service following online spats with diplomats, citing the high costs. Musk relented under public pressure and then sent the bill to the Pentagon, the most recent totaling $14.1 million for six months of service through next month.

Musk was also widely condemned in Ukraine following reports he denied Kyiv’s request to allow Starlink access for sea drones in a planned 2022 attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. His biographer Walter Isaacson also wrote that Musk sought counsel from the Russian ambassador to the United States and was worried he would play a role in a destabilizing escalation.

The U.S. and Ukrainian governments are working with SpaceX to “prevent Russia’s illicit use of Starlink terminals in occupied Ukraine,” including focus from the U.S. Treasury Department on “potential sanctions violations” related to the international smuggling effort, said Lt. Col. Charlie Dietz, a Defense Department spokesman.

SpaceX referred to a post on X in February that said it deactivates terminals if used “by a sanctioned or unauthorized party.”

China's yuan is the most traded foreign currency in Russia, but its availability in the heavily sanctioned country may soon dry up.

"The situation may change after Oct. 12," a source told Reuters. "An abrupt shortage of yuan or a complete refusal to accept payments from Russia by Chinese banks is possible."

That's because all conversion operations, including for Chinese banks' subsidiaries, will stop, and all open foreign exchange positions via the Moscow Exchange will be closed, the report added.

"Accordingly, the situation with the supply of yuan liquidity will become even more difficult," the source told Reuters

Lawmakers have proposed a ban on “propaganda of conscious refusal to bear children,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of parliament and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said in a post on Telegram on Tuesday. It’s not clear how exactly this legislation would be enforced if enacted, and what exactly would constitute a violation, but it comes amid an already unprecedented crackdown on dissent more than 2 1/2 years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation has announced that its divers are inspecting the K-27 nuclear submarine, which sank in the Kara Sea 42 years ago.

Chinese and Russian long-range bombers patrolled together near Alaska for the first time last month. Days earlier, the countries held live-fire naval drills in the hotly contested South China Sea for the first time in eight years. And they have more frequently buzzed the skies and sailed the waters together near Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, where America has strategic interests.

China has been frustrated by American trade restrictions and Washington’s building of security alliances in Asia. It has pushed back by trying to court European countries with trade and building its influence among poorer countries with investments.

To Washington, the exercises sow doubts about whether the United States could prevail in a war in Asia against the combined forces of China and Russia. While American war planners have long considered scenarios with China and Russia individually, they have paid less attention to the prospect of the two nuclear-armed states fighting together because it had long seemed so unlikely.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a Senate hearing this year that American officials needed to consider how Russia might help if China decided to invade Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing that the United States is widely expected to defend.

Russia is moving reinforcements into its western Kursk region, state media reports, as Ukraine's cross-border surprise attack continues for a fourth day

Reports suggest that Ukrainian troops are operating more than 10km inside Russian territory - the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022

Late on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow must "feel" the consequences for its invasion of Ukraine - but didn't directly mention the situation in Kursk

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is advocating a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, revealed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that peace talks can only happen after Ukraine essentially surrenders.

The big talking point though - experts say - will be how the incresingly isolated nations can deepen their military ties, as Putin looks to shore up his supply of weapons and munitions for his war in Ukraine.

The visit follows Hanoi avoiding a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland last weekend, while sending its deputy foreign minister to a BRICS meeting in Russia earlier last week.

That he sounds increasingly confident and determined not to back down. He seems to believe that in the current standoff between Russia and the West, it is the West that will blink first.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters, saying he is prepared to fight on if Kyiv and the West do not respond.

Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin's entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Zelenskiy's decision to rule out talks.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on X that the Russian leader was trying to derail a Ukrainian-initiated peace summit in Switzerland next month by using his entourage to send out "phony signals" about his alleged readiness to halt the war.

Biden's departure was the second recent unpleasant surprise for Russia in Western politics — following the unexpected defeat in the French parliamentary elections of the far-right party Moscow has backed as a political ally, National Rally.

'If Kamala Harris wins the election, it will be a huge disappointment for the Kremlin,' said Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of R.Politik, a Russian political consultancy now based in France. 'Not because they expect some concrete anti-Russian steps but because the nature of American politics will become, from their point of view, irrational and unpragmatic and self-destructive.'

China and Russia's naval forces on Sunday kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China on Sunday, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine.

The exercise, which began in Guangdong province on Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace and stability globally and regionally, state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday, adding it would include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defense.

Armenia determined to quit Russia-led CSTO military alliance

Russia has lost more than 70,000 troops in the past two months, British military intelligence said on Friday.

The update by the Ministry of Defence added that the heavy losses would likely continue as Russia looked to make gains across the front lines in Ukraine.

But despite its losses, Russia is recruiting 25,000 to 30,000 new soldiers a month - roughly as many as are exiting the battlefield, U.S. officials said.

Russia's ethnic minorities disproportionately die in the war in Ukraine

In Russia's far east, the funerals are all too common. The widows are so distraught, they have to be carried by an honor guard. And the cemeteries are filled with soldiers, many of their graves freshly dug.

Russia promises release of Indians fighting in its army - At least four Indians have been killed in the fighting.

For the Kremlin, the National Rally — whose stances on Russia are friendlier than those of President Macron, a staunch supporter of Ukraine — might have been the preferred winners of the French snap legislative elections, and Moscow likely tried to help boost their results on Sunday.

The group, which was established by China and Russia in 2001 with the Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has expanded in recent years to include Pakistan, India and Iran.

A bigger setback for Beijing is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is skipping the summit this year. Mr. Modi plans to visit Moscow next week to hold his own discussions with Mr. Putin and is instead sending his minister of external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to the summit in Astana.

Russia wants to maintain access to Central Asian markets to circumvent Western sanctions. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has obtained billions of dollars’ worth of Western goods by using Central Asian intermediaries. These include consumer goods like luxury cars, as well as electronic components that have been used in military production.

Throughout the Cold War, the great powers employed direct forces in only a handful of instances. Korea was the only conventional engagement from either bloc. The Soviets conducted limited actions within the Eastern bloc, most notably in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. But the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. intervention in Vietnam were both distinctly unconventional wars. American operations in Grenada and Panama, like Soviet deployments throughout Africa

The exercises were the clearest warning yet from Russia that it might use nuclear weapons in the course of its war against Ukraine.

Victory Park was originally built to commemorate the Russian defeat of Napoleon. It also displays military equipment from the Second World War.

The big draw when the students were visiting, however, were the NATO tanks captured in Ukraine. Many, including the Abrams, were seized in February, when Avdiivka, a longtime Ukrainian military stronghold, fell to the Russians.

Throughout the Cold War, the great powers employed direct forces in only a handful of instances. Korea was the only conventional engagement from either bloc. The Soviets conducted limited actions within the Eastern bloc, most notably in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. But the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. intervention in Vietnam were both distinctly unconventional wars. American operations in Grenada and Panama, like Soviet deployments throughout Africa

The exercises were the clearest warning yet from Russia that it might use nuclear weapons in the course of its war against Ukraine.

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Officials say Kyiv won’t get membership negotiations at the coming NATO summit, but the alliance will announce a structure to coordinate aid over the longer term.

The Biden administration and NATO officials came up with the idea as a way to give something solid to Kyiv at the summit even as they maintain the time is not right for Ukraine to join.

In the second 12 months on the front line - as Moscow pushed its so-called meat grinder strategy - we found the body count was nearly 25% higher than in the first year.