Russia Held A Big Military Exercise This Week. Here’s Why The U.s. Is Paying Attention.

Vladimir Putin did not come running. He let his spokesman react on Wednesday to the outcome of the U. S. presidential race, proclaiming that the Kremlin has no plans to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory. If the U. S. wants the peace deal Trump promised during his campaign, the Russians signaled that he would need to earn it, and the price for Ukraine would be particularly high. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The message is, if you want a deal, you’re going to crawl on your knees for it,” says Nina Khrushcheva, an authority on Russian politics and foreign affairs at the New School.

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Around 50 European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, will be reassessing their trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Donald Trump’s second U. S. presidency will avoid the strife and political pitfalls of his first administration. Further compounding an already complicated situation, Germany — Europe’s troubled economic juggernaut — sank into political crisis after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister.

The world will have just over two months to prepare for Donald Trump’s return to the White House, and whatever new foreign policy comes with it. His first presidential term—defined by trade wars, isolationism, and a deep skepticism towards the E. U. and NATO—may seem to offer a preview of what might come in the second.

Key political figures across the globe have begun extending congratulatory messages to former and future U. S. President Donald Trump, who won the presidential election early Wednesday morning. Read More: How Trump Won [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] [video id=yb0xE9vU autostart="viewable"] Here’s what world leaders and key political figures have said so far on social media: Australia “Congratulations to President Donald Trump on his election victory,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted on X.

SEDAVI, Spain — Francisco Murgui went out to try to salvage his motorbike when the water started to rise. He never came back. One week after catastrophic flooding devasted eastern Spain, María Murgui still holds out hope that her father is alive and among the unknown number of the missing. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “He was like many people in town who went out to get their car or motorbike to safety,” the 27-year-old told The Associated Press.

KYIV, Ukraine — North Korean troops recently deployed to help Russia in its war with Ukraine have come under Ukrainian fire, a Kyiv official said Tuesday. It is the first time a Ukrainian official has said that Pyongyang’s units were struck, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The first North Korean troops have already been shelled, in the Kursk region,” Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation branch of Ukraine’s Security Council, wrote on Telegram.