Judge ruled DoJ engaged in ‘profound investigative missteps’ on way to indicting the former FBI director
A US judge on Monday found evidence of “government misconduct” in how a prosecutor aligned with Donald Trump secured criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director, and ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s defense team.
Last week, prosecutors were ordered to produce a trove of materials from the investigation, with the court saying it was concerned that the US justice department’s position on Comey had been to “indict first and investigate later”.
Greece has signed a deal with Ukraine to supply US-origin liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country amid the crippling of its energy infrastructure from Russian strikes. Sunday’s agreement came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Athens at the start of a European tour aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s defences and energy supply ahead of winter. The deal – to run from December until March 2026 – “marks an essential step in strengthening regional energy cooperation and European energy security”, said a joint statement from the Ukrainian president and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after they met. The deal would make it possible to “support Ukraine in the midst of a difficult winter”, they said. The deal came as Ukrainian energy infrastructure was damaged by Russian drone strikes overnight into Sunday in the Odesa region, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. A solar power plant was among the damaged sites.
A Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Balakliia overnight killed three people, the city’s military administration chief said on Monday, citing preliminary information. Vitali Karabanov also said on Telegram that another 10 were wounded.
Russia said on Sunday its forces had moved forward sharply in south-eastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, taking two settlements as part of a major push aimed at seizing the whole region. The Russian defence ministry said its forces had taken Rivnopillya, which puts the southern town of Huliaipole in danger of being the target of Russian pincer movements, and that Russian forces had also taken Mala Tokmachka, just 9km (6 miles) from Orikhiv. “It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this village for the defence of Orikhiv,” said Yuri Podolyaka, one of Russia’s top war bloggers, adding that Mala Tokmachka was essentially “the gateway to Orikhiv”. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, along with a warehouse storing drones for the elite Rubicon drone unit in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Ukraine’s general staff said on Sunday. It said it had recorded explosions and a fire at the site of the strike on the Novokuibyshevsk refinery, but was still assessing the extent of damage. Russian officials did not immediately confirm the attacks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a plan to clean up Ukraine’s energy sector after a $100m kickback scheme was alleged by anti-corruption investigators, in the worst scandal of his presidency. Jennifer Rankin and Luke Harding report that over the weekend the Ukrainian president announced an overhaul of key state energy companies including a complete change of management at Energoatom, the nuclear power operator at the centre of the alleged criminal scheme. Government officials, Zelenskyy said, were instructed “to maintain constant and meaningful communication with law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies. Any scheme uncovered in these companies must receive a swift and just response.”
A ceasefire in Ukraine isunlikely before the spring, Finland’s president has said, and European allies need to keep up support despite the Ukrainian corruption scandal. Europe would require “sisu’’ – a Finnish term for resilience – to get through the winter as Russia continued its hybrid attacks in Europe, Alexander Stubb told the Associated Press.
Greenpeace has said France is sending reprocessed uranium to Russia for treatment so it can be reused, despite Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The environment group said on Sunday that while it was legal, the trade was “immoral” as many nations seek to step up sanctions on Russia over its invasion. Greenpeace members on Saturday filmed the loading of about 10 containers with radioactive labels on to a cargo ship in the Channel port of Dunkirk, the NGO said. The consignment was the first of reprocessed uranium to be observed for three years, it said. France’s energy ministry and the French state-controlled energy company Electricite de France did not respond to questions from Agence France-Presse on the consignment or trade.
Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring home 1,200 Ukrainian prisoners, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations. “We are … counting on the resumption of PoW exchanges,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “Many meetings, negotiations and calls are currently taking place to ensure this.”
Strike comes as navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean Sea and president says US may open talks with Venezuelan leader
The United States conducted anotherattackon an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.
Ukraine says it has started mass production of its new domestically developed interceptor drones to strengthen air defences. The first three manufacturers had begun production and 11 more were preparing to set up production lines, the defence ministry said on Friday. The drones would be based on a domestically developed technology called “Octopus” to intercept Shahed drones. It had been tested in combat and proved to be working “at night, under jamming and at low altitudes”, the ministry said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal is to manufacture up to 1,000 of the interceptors a day. Russia has been steadily increasing the number of drones it uses in a single strike on Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Russia’s latest attack against Ukraine as “deliberate, calculated and wicked” after six people were killed and dozens injured in a wave of night-time strikes across Kyiv, reports Luke Harding. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital shortly after midnight on Friday and Shahed drones could soon be heard in the sky, with heavy machine-gun fire from Ukrainian air defences. Zelenskyy said the country was hit by 430 drones and 18 missiles. The dead had been at home in a block of flats on Kyiv’s left bank when it was hit. Dozens of other buildings were damaged, including the Azerbaijani embassy.
Azerbaijan said it issued a strong protest to the Russian ambassador on Friday after the embassy damage. The blast from a Russian Iskander missile destroyed part of the embassy’s perimeter wall and caused serious damage to the diplomatic compound, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said. No one was hurt, and a ministry spokesperson said the Kyiv embassy was continuing to operate.
Russia plans to manufacture up to 120,000 glide bombs this year, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said, including 500 of a new, longer-range version that can reach more towns and cities. Reuters was unable to verify Ukraine’s claims, disclosed by defence intelligence’s deputy head, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitskyi, but it would indicate a vast increase in the manufacture of the cheap and devastating glide bombs, which use wings – and sometimes engines – to fly dozens of kilometres to their targets. Skibitskyi said Russian forces were firing 200 to 250 glide bombs a day. Last month’s daily average was about 170, according to defence ministry data.
Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk temporarily suspended oil exports on Friday – equivalent to 2% of global supply – after a Ukrainian missile and drone attack, Reuters reported industry sources as saying. Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had fired Neptune cruise missiles and used various types of strike drones in the attack on Novorossiysk “as part of efforts to reduce the military and economic potential of the Russian aggressor”. Ukraine said it separately struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region and a fuel storage facility in nearby Engels overnight.
Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil said on Friday it has been in talks with potential buyers of its foreign assets after last month’s sanctions from the UK and the US as a deal with the Gunvor trading house collapsed. “The specific deal will be announced after the final agreements have been reached and the necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained,” Lukoil said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers a day after his visit to Paris, the chamber of deputies announced. The Ukrainian president would meet deputies from both chambers of parliament during his visit, the Spanish statement said.
Connexion
