German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last week said he is in favor of the EU essentially stealing $164 billion in frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war and argued in an op-ed for the Financial Times that there needs to be a “new impetus to change Russia’s calculations.”
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s national security council, issued a warning to Kyiv and the U.S. on, Wednesday just as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his war rhetoric against Moscow and Pete Hegseth, the Fox News clown playing the role of secretary of defense, called for an urgent meeting with generals.
The near-constant attack by Ukrainian drones on Russia’s energy infrastructure has resulted in a decline of more than 1.1 million barrels a day in refining capacity, or 17 percent, and if the trend continues, the rate could fall to its 2020 low.