Trump
Donald Trump is an American politician and businessman who served as the 45th and 47th president of the United States. He won the 2024 presidential election, returning to the White House after his first term from 2017 to 2021. Before entering politics he was known as a real estate developer and the founder of the Trump Organization. His second term has featured a major reorientation of US foreign policy, including on the war in Ukraine and transatlantic relations.
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Ukrainian drones hit three Yandex data centres; Zelensky says social media became 'easier to breathe on'
Between 8 and 11 October 2026, Ukrainian drones struck three of Yandex's five largest data centres in Russia — in Sasovo (Ryazan Oblast), Kaluga and Vladimir (Vladimir Oblast). Cloudflare Radar data cited by Tom's Hardware shows bot traffic from Yandex's network collapsing from roughly 80–88% of its two-week peak a week earlier to about 57% after the first strike and to 0.3–0.4% after the third, while NetBlocks reported Yandex Cloud traffic fell to 30% of normal levels. Speaking by video link at the Warsaw Security Forum, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes made social media 'easier to breathe on' and proved that 'Europe is not the source of the problem.' American historian Timothy Snyder and MEP Tomasz Zdechovský suggested the drop showed Russian hosting of bots supporting Trump and Germany's AfD, a reading fact-check analyses contest.
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Trump announces Russian diesel deal with Putin, urges Ukraine to choose a new president
On October 9, 2026, US President Donald Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announced an agreement to allow between 300,000 and 3 million tons of Russian diesel fuel onto US and global markets. Trump then publicly attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of being able to end the war but choosing not to, and saying it was time for Ukraine to choose a new president. Zelenskyy called the decision weak and a gift to Russia that would fund the war, while bipartisan US lawmakers and European leaders condemned the agreement.
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UK's Starmer and Zelensky agree to meet after phone call on sanctions and air defense
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed during a phone call to hold a bilateral meeting in the coming days. The call covered continued UK sanctions on Russia, Ukraine's need for air defense, and a joint demand for an immediate energy ceasefire. It came against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump's public call for Ukraine to change its leadership and a reported US–Russian agreement on Russian diesel fuel supplies.
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MAGA figures blame Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries for U.S. fuel-price pain ahead of midterms
U.S. conservative commentators, media figures and a Republican senator are publicly accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of deliberately striking Russian oil refineries to hurt President Donald Trump ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. The Ukrainian outlets reporting on the wave say the narrative is being pushed across blogs, television and social media and is amplified by an expected Russia-to-U.S. diesel deal. Ukrainian sources frame the accusation as a politically motivated distortion and note counter-voices inside the U.S., including a bipartisan bill to block sanctions relief for Russian oil.
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Ukrainian drones hit Yandex data center in Vladimir, third strike in four days
Ukrainian drones struck a Yandex data center in the Russian city of Vladimir overnight on October 11, forcing Yandex to halt operations at the facility and knocking out a wide range of its consumer and cloud services. The attack is the third on a Yandex data center within four days, following strikes on facilities in Sasovo, Ryazan region on October 8 and in the Kaluga region on October 9. Outages hit the Alice voice assistant, Yandex Music, Telemost, Yandex Dom, taxi and other consumer apps, and more than 80 Yandex Cloud services, with disruptions reported in Russian cities and in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Serbia.
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Zelensky offers to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Russia stops hitting Ukrainian energy
On 11 October, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure if Russia reciprocally halts strikes on Ukrainian energy. The offer came the same day U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an immediate 'energy ceasefire.' Zelensky said the U.S. announcement was news to him and that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had received the relevant orders. The same day, Russia struck the TEC-5 thermal power plant in Kharkiv, continuing a week in which Zelensky said Russian forces launched roughly 1,450 aerial bombs, 75 missiles and more than 1,640 strike drones at Ukraine.
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Estonia to push EU for more aid to Ukraine to strike Russian oil refineries
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said he will propose at the next European Council meeting that Estonia and partners rapidly increase aid to Ukraine so it can destroy Russian oil refineries. The call follows an October 9 US-Russia deal on 4.8 million tonnes of Russian diesel and a US Treasury license for diesel trade with Russia valid until April 2027.
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EU to allocate roughly €3 billion in extra military aid to Ukraine next week, Zelenskyy says
After a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 11 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the EU will allocate approximately €3 billion in additional military support to Ukraine during the week of 12–18 October, with the funds directed to drones and missiles. The call came just before a Russian Shahed drone hit a power station in Kyiv, and Zelenskyy noted that further strikes on energy infrastructure in the Kharkiv region followed an earlier US statement on an energy-related ceasefire.
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Russia strikes Kharkiv's TEC-5 power plant despite declared energy ceasefire, Zelenskyy says
Russia struck the TEC-5 energy facility in the Kharkiv region on the evening of 11 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening video address, despite an "energy ceasefire" previously announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. The strike, carried out with Shahed drones and aerial bombs, forms part of a reported week of more than 200 Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and at least 150 civilian deaths.
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Russian strike on Kyiv energy facility causes outages in up to five districts, cuts water pressure
On 11 October, Russia struck an energy facility in Kyiv, triggering emergency power outages across multiple districts, damaging a high-voltage transmission line and reducing water pressure on both banks of the city. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and operators Ukrenergo and DTEK reported the damage and appealed to residents to limit appliance use. President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian 'Shahed' drone hit the facility on the same day US President Trump announced an energy ceasefire, and that TEC-5 in Kharkiv was also struck.
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Trump administration threatens to halt PURL weapons and intelligence sharing over Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy
The Trump administration is pressuring Kyiv to stop long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure by threatening to suspend the PURL weapons-procurement mechanism and US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, according to European officials cited by the Financial Times. On Sunday, Trump separately announced on Truth Social an immediate "energy ceasefire" between Ukraine and Russia, an announcement Kyiv said it had not been consulted on and that was not honored by Russia the same day.
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Miami talks on Ukraine end after one day as Trump announces Russian diesel deal with Putin
On 9 October, US, Ukrainian, European and NATO representatives met in Miami to discuss ways to end Russia's war before winter, but the planned two-day meeting ended after a single day. The Ukrainian delegation cut short its visit and headed home after President Trump announced a phone-call deal with Vladimir Putin to supply Russian diesel fuel to US and world markets, prompting sharp criticism from Kyiv.
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Trump announces Russia diesel deal after Putin call; Ukraine and European leaders condemn move
On 9 October 2026, US President Donald Trump announced he had spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed to lift US sanctions on Russian diesel, allowing large-scale exports to American and global markets. The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 135 authorising the imports until 7 April 2027. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticised the decision, calling it a "weak" and "unfair and dishonest" birthday gift to Putin that gives Russia additional billions for the war, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the UK, Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and US Democrats all condemned or distanced themselves from the deal. Talks between Ukrainian, US and European delegations in Miami ended early after the announcement, and a senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries would continue.
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Russian glide bombs strike Zaporizhzhia residential building; at least 20 killed, including children
On the morning of 10 October, Russian forces struck the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with five KAB guided aerial bombs, hitting residential buildings. Casualty figures evolved over the day as rescue operations continued: by Sunday, Ukrainian officials reported at least 20 people killed, including three children, with 18 to 32 injured. President Volodymyr Zelensky linked the attack to a recent US-Russia deal on Russian diesel exports, calling it Moscow's "thank-you" for the lifting of sanctions. Zaporizhzhia declared 11 October a day of mourning.
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Sikorski: Polish embassy reports fuel shortage in Moscow after Trump–Putin diesel deal
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on October 10 that the Polish Embassy in Russia is observing a fuel deficit even in Moscow, a city normally prioritized for supply. His post came a day after US President Trump announced an agreement with Russian President Putin for large Russian diesel supplies to world markets, and questioned how Russia could deliver export surpluses given Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refining capacity.
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Trump tells Ukraine to elect a new president, a day after announcing US-Russia diesel deal
On October 10, US President Donald Trump said Ukraine needs a new president who can make a deal to end the war with Russia, accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of choosing not to end the conflict despite repeated opportunities. The remarks came a day after Trump announced a deal struck during a phone call with Vladimir Putin under which Russia will supply large volumes of diesel fuel to US and world markets, with the US issuing a Treasury license suspending the relevant sanctions until April 7, 2027. Zelensky condemned the diesel deal as weakness and a "gift to Putin for his birthday," and said the Ukrainian negotiating team meeting in Miami had been used as a "screen." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Zelensky has the support of the Ukrainian people and that only Ukrainians can decide who leads them.
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Russia seeks extradition of ICC President Tomoko Akane from the Netherlands
Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has formally requested that the Netherlands extradite International Criminal Court (ICC) President Tomoko Akane, and sent similar requests to other countries for eight additional ICC figures, including former Prosecutor Karim Khan. The move is the latest escalation in Russia's confrontation with the ICC following its March 2023 arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the deportation of Ukrainian children, and comes alongside US sanctions on the court.
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Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russian missile-fuel and launch-complex facilities overnight
On the night of 9 October 2026, Ukraine's Defence Forces struck Russian facilities tied to missile launches and rocket-fuel production, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. Three missile-related targets were confirmed hit: a branch of the Barmin Research Institute of Launch Complexes near Dalneye Konstantinovo-5 in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, the Centre for Elimination of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles near Surovatikha in the same oblast, and the Redkino Research Plant in Tver Oblast. Fires broke out at the Redkino plant; the regional governor said no workers were hurt. Reports also describe simultaneous drone strikes on an oil depot north of Belgorod, the Ukhta refinery in the Komi Republic, and sites in Kaluga Oblast.
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US and Russia discussed American investor for Nord Stream, but White House denies talks and Germany pushes back
Reuters reported that US presidential envoy Jared Kushner and Kremlin-linked adviser Kirill Dmitriev have discussed attracting an American investor to restore the Nord Stream gas pipelines, meeting in Moscow and New York in recent weeks. The White House said any Russia deals must go through US development finance and Treasury bodies and that there have been no recent Nord Stream-specific talks. Germany said the pipelines are under European sanctions and that Berlin has no wish to approve their resumption.
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Ukrainian delegation heads to Washington for two days of talks as Rubio says diplomatic end to war is currently "unattainable"
A Ukrainian delegation is to travel to the United States on 9–10 October for two days of talks with American officials, including US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with European partners also expected to join. The trip comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Greek outlet Kathimerini that a diplomatic end to Russia's war against Ukraine is currently "unattainable," describing the conflict as a "strategic deadlock" driven by Russia's demand for full control over Donbas, which Kyiv rejects. President Volodymyr Zelensky, visiting the site of an October 7 Russian missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky, publicly rejected Rubio's framing and called for stronger sanctions and pressure on Russia rather than economic engagement with Moscow.