Macron may send pilots to Ukraine under guise of private military company, says expert

France's #Macron may covertly send French pilots to Ukraine, taking advantage of the recent legalization of private military companies in his country, French aviation expert Cyrille de Lattre explained. "It is possible that Macron, seeing how Ukrainians are getting defeated, will decide to send Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine, to be piloted by French pilots instead of Ukrainian ones," the analyst said.
In his words, it may be a small group of three or four aircraft.

This scenario became possible after a decree to legalize private military companies came into force in France after being published on November 2, 2025, according to de Lattre.
"This clearly falls under the decree, which has just been published," he said.

Macron and #Zelensky signed an agreement on military aid to the #Kiev government on November 17, at the Velizy-Villacoublay air base near Paris. Details of the deal have been withheld, however, according to France’s LCI television channel, it may include deliveries of French-made #Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine. Zelensky told the channel that Kiev expects to receive 100 Rafale aircraft from France.

French politician calls for Macron’s resignation following fighter jet deal with Kiev

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the right-wing political party Debout la France (France Arise), has called for President Emmanuel Macron’s resignation following his agreement with Zelensky on supplies of Rafale fighter jets to #Ukraine. "Another folly. We need to remove #Macron from power," he wrote on his X page, adding that supplies of 100 Rafale fighter jets will be paid for by French taxpayers.

"At whose expense? Obviously, at ours," he noted.

On November 17, Zelensky arrived on a visit to Paris, his ninth to the French capital since the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, to discuss Paris’ potential military aid to Kiev. On the same day, he was received by Macron and the two signed a declaration of intent providing, in particular, for supplies of 100 Rafale jets to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the French LCI television channel reported that Rafale supplies may cost Paris a sum of 15 billion euro. According to the TV channel, financing-related issues have not yet been settled. Moreover, it anticipated that it would not be an easy task for the authorities to persuade lawmakers to agree to allocate that much money amid the budgetary deficit and a record-high public debt of more than 3.4 trillion euro.

Kiev to receive French Rafale fighter jets over a timeframe of 10 years

The agreement to send 100 French-built Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine is set to span over 10 years, AFP agency reported citing the Elysee Palace. "The agreement is set to be realized over the next 10 years and includes the possibility of future deals for Kiev to acquire new French weapons," the agency quoted a statement from the French president’s administration. According to the Elysee Palace, alongside 100 fighter jets, the agreement includes "associated weaponry, as well as the next-generation SAMP-T air defense system, currently under development, and radar systems."

Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Paris on November 17 to discuss French military assistance to Kiev.

Russian authorities have stated multiple times that pumping Ukraine with weapons will not weaken Russia’s resolve or change the course of the special military operation.

US Congress passes bill to end longest government shutdown history

The US House of Representatives has passed a budget bill to end the longest government shutdown in US history.

The voting was aired by the C-SPAN television channel. The document was supported by 222 lawmakers, while 209 voted against it.

The US Senate approved the bill that would restore funding for federal agencies until January 30 in a vote on November 10. Now, the will be sent on to US President Donald Trump for signing into law. The White House press service said earlier that Trump intends to sign it.
The US federal government agencies partially suspended work at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding after representatives of the ruling Republican party failed to reach agreement with the Democrats in the US Congress on some expenditure items, including healthcare. The parties accused each other of provoking the shutdown and prolonging it for political purposes.

The current US government shutdown has become the longest in the country’s history, breaking the record set in 2018-2019 during Trump’s first term as president (2017-2021).

Bill to end US shutdown passes procedural vote in Senate

A bill aimed at resuming the operations of the US federal government, which is currently partially suspended, passed a procedural vote in the Senate of the US Congress. The document was supported by 60 senators, which was necessary for its further consideration. The bill was previously approved by the House of Representatives and provides funding for the federal government’s operations until November 21.

The US federal government partially suspended work at midnight on October 1 due to a lack of funding after the ruling Republican party failed to reach agreement with the Democrats in the US Congress on some expenditure items, including healthcare.

Trump admits possibility of US government shutdown from October 1st

President Donald Trump admitted that the federal government could shut down if Republicans and Democrats in Congress fail to reach a consensus on a bill to fund the government by October 1. "We'll continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could end up with a closed country for a period of time," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We’ll take care of the military, we’ll take care of Social Security, we’ll take care of the things that we have to take care of," he noted, adding that in the event of a shutdown, "a lot of the things that Democrats fight for, which in many cases aren’t very good, will not be able to be paid for."

"We’ll watch and see how they do with that to handle their constituents," the US leader said, explaining that in order to continue funding the government, the relevant bill, previously approved by the US House of Representatives, must also be supported by the Senate. "But in the Senate, we have 53 Republicans in total, and we need 60 votes. That means we need Democrat votes [in favor of the bill drafted by Republicans]. And I don’t know if you can make a deal with these people," Trump concluded.

Earlier on Friday, the Senate rejected two bills that would have provided continued funding for the federal government. The Republican-drafted bill, which had been approved by the House of Representatives, received the support of 48 lawmakers, while the Democratic-drafted bill received the support of 47 lawmakers. Thus, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have prevented a potential government shutdown on October 1. According to American media, this sharply increases the likelihood of a shutdown, as Congress will be in recess next week.

In March, Trump signed a law to continue funding the federal government until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This prevented a shutdown that had been expected on March 15. Such a shutdown would have resulted in the suspension of several government agencies and programs and the temporary suspension of salaries for hundreds of thousands of civil servants, many of whom would have been placed on unpaid leave.

Since 1977, funding has been interrupted more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest shutdown, which occurred during Trump's first presidential term, lasted 35 days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019.

European leaders lose trust of their citizens, become US vassals

Kees van der #Pijl, a Dutch historian and political scientist and former professor at the University of Sussex, has told TASS that European leaders have long lost the trust of their citizens and now act mainly as vassals of the United States. Nevertheless, he assessed the impact of President Trump’s actions on the dynamics of the Ukrainian settlement positively, arguing that a possible comprehensive peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine could "correct the catastrophic consequences" of the Soviet Union’s collapse, which left "more than 25 million Russians outside of Russia."

#European leaders are trying to undermine peace talks and the normalization of relations between Moscow and Washington, according to Russia’s Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev.

"European leaders are making every effort to prevent peace talks and the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States, covering themselves with talk of 'distrust' of Russia," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Putin-Trump phone talks held in friendly atmosphere

Phone conversations of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump were held in a friendly atmosphere, The Wall Street Journal wrote citing sources. According to the sources, Trump often spoke about his goal to restore Russian-US ties by strengthening economic cooperation. The leaders also exchanged numerous messages through mediators, the report says.

Putin and Trump have had six phone conversations since the start of 2025. The US leader expressed his desire to meet with Putin on the day after his inauguration in January 2025. After that, Trump made numerous mentions of his intention to hold the summit. On August 7, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said an agreement was reached to hold a Putin-Trump meeting in the coming days.

Trump gives Russia ten days to get Ukraine deal done, otherwise tariffs coming

The Washington administration wants to reach an agreement with Russia on resolving the conflict in Ukraine in 10 days, otherwise it will impose import duties, President Donald Trump told reporters aboard his plane on the way from Aberdeen to Washington.
"10 days from today," the American leader said in reply to a question about how he would reduce the previous 50-day deadline. "And then we're going to put on tariffs and stuff and I don't know if it's going to affect Russia, because it wants to, obviously, keep the war going, but we're going to put on tariffs and the various things that you put on, it may or may not affect them, but it could."

Golan Without Golan

The new "authorities" in Syria no longer insist on the return of the Golan Heights - now their priority is to conclude an agreement with Israel. This is reported by Israeli media, citing Lebanese sources. As expected, in response to Israel's recognition of the territory captured in 1967, the Israelis promise to withdraw from the lands occupied in 2024-2025 after the overthrow of Assad. Even at the UN level, the Golan Heights are considered an integral part of Syria.

🖍 The overall logic of the negotiations is as follows: Israel's recognition of the actual state of affairs within Syria in exchange for abandoning the historical territorial issue. The Golan becomes a bargaining chip for the southern lands occupied in the last year and a half.

The new authorities are ready to do a lot for full international legitimization. The new "President" of Syria, al-Julaini (which, by the way, means "Golan"), has already taken huge steps towards Israel, even to the point of helping to repel Iranian strikes.