Russia Making ‘Rapid Advances’ In Ukraine As Volodymyr Zelenskyy Hints At Peace Deal

Russian forces are making “rapid advances” in Ukraine amid fresh hope of a peace deal in the conflict.

The latest intelligence update from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Putin’s troops “are attacking behind established Ukrainian defences” as the third anniversary of the beginning of the war approaches.

It came after Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Sky News that he could be willing to give up territory already occupied by Russia to bring about a ceasefire.

In return, the Ukrainian president said land still held by Kyiv could come under “the Nato umbrella”.

He said his country could then seek to get back the land it has lost “in a diplomatic way” in the future.

Any peace deal must also contain a”guarantee that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not come back” for more Ukrainian territory, Zelenskyy said.

His comments come as Russia appears to be gaining the upper hand in the war.

The MoD update posted on X said: “In Donetsk oblast, Russian forces have made rapid advances towards the eastern flank of Velyka Novosilka.

“The town has been situated on the front line since 2022 and has acted as a lynchpin of Ukraine’s defensive line.”

The MoD said the area is now “vulnerable to Russian attacks due to the loss of Vuhledar, 30 km to the east, in October”.

They added: “This enabled increased Russian advances into less well defended areas in western Donetsk oblast.

“Russian forces are attacking behind established Ukrainian defences and threatening the primary logistics routes to the town.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has thanked the UK for its ongoing support for Ukraine.

In a video posted on X, he said: “We value the UK’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia’s shadow tanker fleet. This keeps the world on the right track—a course toward justice. Toward ensuring that Russia feels its responsibility for this war, for its consequences, and is compelled towards peace. The world is able to ensure this.”

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Is Elon Musk Planning To Make A ‘F*** You Starmer’ $100 Million Donation To Reform UK?

Elon Musk is reportedly planning to make a $100 million donation to Reform UK as a “fuck you” to Keir Starmer.

According to the Sunday Times, the tech billionaire could funnel the cash through the British arm of his social media platform X to get round rules banning foreigners from giving money to British parties.

The huge sum – worth around £78 million – would give Nigel Farage’s party a major financial advantage over both Labour and the Tories.

The paper says leading businessmen and Conservative Party officials believe Musk could hand over the cash as a “fuck you Starmer payment” in his ongoing feud with the prime minister.

The war of words began during last summer’s far-right riots, when Musk posted on X that “civil war in inevitable” in the UK.

That prompted the PM’s official spokesman to hit back: “There’s no justification for comments like that and what we’ve seen in this country is organised illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online.”

Musk has also criticised the introduction of inheritance tax for agricultural land by Rachel Reeves in the Budget, and last month accused Labour of turning Britain into a “tyrannical police state”.

He has also taken a swipe at Starmer’s approval ratings, which have slumped since Labour’s landslide election victory.

Musk – a close ally of Donald Trump – made clear his support for Reform UK last week after it emerged that former Tory minister Andrea Jenkyns had defected to the party.

When one X user claimed “Reform will win the next election”, Musk replied to the post with just one word: “Yes.”

Asked about the potential Musk donation to Reform UK, Nigel Farage told the Sunday Times: “All I can say is that I’m in touch with him and he is very supportive of my policy positions.

“We both share a friendship with Donald Trump and Trump has said good things about me in front of Musk. We’ve got a good relationship with him.”

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Victoria Derbyshire Suggests Keir Starmer Was ‘A Hypocrite’ For Giving Louise Haigh Cabinet Job

Victoria Derbyshire asked a senior minister if Keir Starmer was “a hypocrite” for putting Louise Haigh in Cabinet despite her fraud conviction.

The former transport secretary – who resigned on Thursday night – made the PM aware of her past when he made her shadow Northern Ireland secretary in 2020.

Two years later, at the height of the partygate scandal which saw Boris Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules, Starmer told MPs that “a lawmaker and a lawbreaker”.

On BBC1 this morning, Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was shown a clip of his leader making those comments.

Presenter Victoria Derbyshire told him: “He said that when he had someone sitting on his shadow frontbench, ie Louise Haigh, with a conviction.”

McFadden said: “What he’s saying is if you’re sitting in Cabinet, you can’t be breaking the law.”

But Derbyshire pointed out: “He gave her a job in Cabinet when he knew she had a past conviction.”

McFadden replied: “It’s not the case that anyone who’s ever broken the law can’t sit in parliament. I’m sure if you looked around parliament you’d find more than one, I don’t know everybody’s background.”

The presenter asked: “If it’s fine, why did she have to go?”

McFadden said: “I don’t know the details of every conversation that took place at the end of last week, but clearly between them they came to the view that Louise had to resign.”

But Derbyshire asked him: “Is Keir Starmer a hypocrite because he gave a lawbreaker a job in his Cabinet having said that two years ago.”

The minister said: “No he’s not. I think he’s appointed a good Cabinet, it’s a more united Cabinet than I’ve seen in many years and we’re working together.”

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Vladimir Putin Claims Trump Is ‘Not Safe,’ Citing Assassination Attempts

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he expects Donald Trump “will find a solution” on the Ukraine war, adding that he hopes the US president-elect recognises he is “not safe.”

Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan following a security summit, Putin said President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia could perhaps be part of an effort by Biden to create challenges for the incoming Trump administration.

In either case, Putin said Trump “is an intelligent and already quite experienced person,” according to CNN.

“I think he will find a solution,” he said.

Trump, who has refused to answer whether it would be in the best interest of the US for Ukraine to defeat Russia, has said he could strike a deal between both sides in the conflict “within 24 hours” but has not explained what a potential agreement would entail.

During his remarks, Putin also referred to what he described as “uncivilised methods” deployed against Trump during the campaign, citing the attempts on his life.

“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” Putin said, according to Reuters.

“Unfortunately, in the history of the United States various incidents have happened. I think he is intelligent and I hope he’s cautious and understands this,” Putin added, the news agency reported.

In July, a gunman targeted Trump while he was delivering a speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump’s ear was injured, and a rallygoer died in the attack.

Two months later, US Secret Service agents shot at a man who pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach club as the then-presidential candidate was playing golf. Trump was unharmed.

The Russian leader also decried what he described as “humiliating, unfounded judicial procedures” against Trump, without going into further details on the criminal cases the president-elect has faced.

Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. The judge overseeing the case has postponed the sentencing hearing indefinitely.

Special counsel Jack Smith has also moved to dismiss the criminal cases he brought against Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House in January 2021.

The only criminal indictment against Trump that is still technically proceeding is his Georgia racketeering case.

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JD Vance Weirds People Out With ‘Embarrassing’ Trump-Loving Thanksgiving Post

If Vice President-elect JD Vance wants people to stop calling him weird, he might want to stop doing stuff like this.

On Thanksgiving, the Republican posted an edited image of Norman Rockwell’s 1943 Thanksgiving painting “Freedom From Want” on social media.

The painting depicts a man and a woman at the head of a table where a family is seated for their holiday meal. The woman, wearing a frilly apron, is serving a turkey as the patriarch watches over her.

In Vance’s version, the man at the head of the table is Donald Trump, the woman is Vance, and the turkey is a Republican-dominated electoral map of the country.

Earlier, in the day, Vance had posted a more typical holiday missive, writing, “Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Despite our challenges, we remain the greatest nation in the world, and I’m very grateful for it — and for all of you!”

It was certainly more festive than the president-elect’s own post, which, in accordance with his tradition, mostly focussed on attacking “Radical Left Lunatics.”

Social media users were truly baffled by Vance’s choice.

“I’ve seen a lot of embarrassing behavior on this app, but I have never seen anything quite like this,” wrote film executive Franklin Leonard.

Former Kamala Harris adviser Mike Nellis offered his own interpretation, speculating Vance was being obsequious to win back influence over Trump, who has been palling around with billionaire Elon Musk since the election.

“My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favour again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff,” Nellis wrote on Bluesky.

Vance’s post evidently caught Musk’s eye; the SpaceX CEO reacted with a laughing emoji.

Check out the reactions on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky below.

My head cannon for this is Vance is worried about Elon having more influence than him, so he thought posting this weird ass meme would win him favor again. Which… honestly might work because Trump is vain as hell and loves this stuff. 🤣

Mike Nellis (@mikenellis.bsky.social) 2024-11-29T01:13:54.777Z

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JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history. https://t.co/Spl63RInyA

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 29, 2024

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JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history. https://t.co/Spl63RInyA

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 29, 2024

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Everything about this is just WEIRD! Is JD inferring he knows his place and in doing so, is he putting women down?

For the less than 50% of America who voted for this, please help me understand how this helps you.

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 29, 2024

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Everything about this is just WEIRD! Is JD inferring he knows his place and in doing so, is he putting women down?

For the less than 50% of America who voted for this, please help me understand how this helps you.

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) November 29, 2024