RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine can’t reclaim lost territory – Rubio Ukraine will not be able to reclaim its 2014 borders from Russia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has publicly stated he will never recognize the lost territories, including Crimea, as Russian. The peninsula voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in 2014, shortly after the US-backed armed coup in Kiev. Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk regions held their own referendums in 2022 to become part of Russia. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News that Kiev has expressed a willingness…

Looting of Gaza stores signals worsening hunger crisis Increased looting of food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip shows growing desperation as hunger spreads two months after Israel cut off supplies to the Palestinian territory, aid officials say. Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday, including at community kitchens, merchants' stores, and the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency's (UNRWA) main complex in Gaza. Israeli forces are continuing their aerial and ground offensive across Gaza in the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas that began nearly 19 months…

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE US rejected Ukraine’s security guarantee demands – NYT The US has rejected Ukraine’s request for security guarantees as part of a newly signed mineral resources agreement, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the talks. The nine-page deal, signed the same day after months of negotiations and published on Thursday by the Ukrainian government, gives Washington preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral projects, including rare-earth metals. It also establishes a joint investment fund to support Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction. Despite its scope, the final agreement contains no formal pledge of future US military support, a key…

US backs Israel's ban on UNRWA Gaza aid operations at World Court Israel cannot be forced to allow the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the United States said on Wednesday at a World Court hearing in The Hague. Israel last year passed a law that banned UNRWA from operating in the country, as it said the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the assault and had been fired. Another Hamas…