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FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s administration’s use of Elon Musk’s DOGE to cut USAID spending is having a deep impact on the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), according to internal U.N. emails shared with Fox News Digital.

In an email sent early Friday morning, president of the U.N. Field Staff Union, Milan Victor Dawoh wrote that the USAID funding cut resulted in ‘approximately $30 million’ having been ‘removed from the extra-budgetary (XB) resources, resulting in a significant reduction in staffing.’

Dawoh’s email warns that the U.N. ‘is currently experiencing its worst liquidity crisis since its establishment. The situation is expected to deteriorate further before any improvement occurs.’

Dawoh said that UNDSS will lose 100 employees and that its presence will be eliminated in 35 to 45 countries, while noting that ‘regional hubs’ will be established ‘in the remaining 120 countries where UNDSS will maintain a presence.’

‘The [under secretary-general of UNDSS] emphasized that UNDSS is not a protection agency but a risk management and analysis entity,’ the email reads. ‘This distinction should be clearly communicated to staff.’

The Department’s website describes the UNDSS as ‘a global leader in security risk management principles’ and explains that it ‘enables the safe and effective delivery of United Nations programmes and activities in the most complex and challenging environments, while maximizing resources.’

Fox News Digital asked Dawoh about the authenticity of the email and what portion of the UNDSS budget was paid for by USAID, but received no response.

Earlier this month, António Guterres warned about cuts to U.S. spending at the U.N., stating that ‘going through with recent funding cuts will make the world less healthy, less safe, and less prosperous.’

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, told Fox News Digital that UNDSS only received about $20 million from USAID last year. ‘USAID informed us that some of this funding has been terminated; other projects will continue with USAID support,’ he said.

Whereas Dawoh’s email indicates that the UNDSS’s loss of funding is related to a cut in extra-budgetary resources, Haq stated that ‘extra budgetary funding from USAID is a relatively small proportion of the Department’s budget, most of which comes from the U.N. regular budget, a U.N. cost-sharing mechanism, and the peace support account.’

According to Haq, UNDSS has 2,250 personnel around the globe, ‘supporting the security of — and enabling operations by — 180,000 U.N. personnel.’ Haq added that ‘the majority of the Department’s workforce is in the field, with a much smaller percentage in New York HQ. U.N. personnel serving in the world’s most dangerous places deserve effective security as they work to save lives.’

Haq said that an email sent to multiple U.N. mailing groups on Mar. 19 mentioning the funding-related closure of one staff entrance to U.N. headquarters was unrelated to UNDSS. ‘Funding for the UNHQ premises does not come from USAID,’ Haq explained. He said that the temporary closure is the result, instead, of some member states’ non-payment of dues.

A U.N. source speaking on condition of anonymity said that in the midst of financial uncertainty, U.N. staff ‘are very fearful of their immediate future.’ The source said that concerns include the ability to collect pensions and access their United Nations Federal Credit Union accounts. The source indicated that because ‘most of these staffers that are losing their jobs are . . . on G-4 visas,’ the change may even impact their ability to stay in the U.S.

‘This is an implication beyond just losing the jobs of individuals. It impacts families, and this could be massive in the coming weeks with new cuts that will impact U.N. agencies.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for insight on how employees would be impacted by layoffs but received no response.

Calls for increased U.N. reform come a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a review of funding to the U.N. At the time, Trump said that the world body ‘has tremendous potential’ but is ‘not being well run.’

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Politics

Bush DOJ lawyer warns Trump admin against ‘terrible mistake’ in judicial standoff

A top former Bush administration lawyer is warning the White House not to begin ignoring court orders amid its standoff over President Donald Trump’s deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act.

‘I worry that there might be some people in the administration who would actually like to defy a judicial order. Which I think would be a terrible mistake,’ John Yoo, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday.

More than a dozen injunctions have been levied to at least temporarily block Trump policies across the country, including his deportation flights, birthright citizenship reforms and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts. Republican allies of the president have accused ‘activist judges’ of seeking to override the executive in an improper breach of the co-equal branches of government.

Yoo, who previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice (DOJ) during former President George W. Bush’s first term, said such a fight between the executive and judicial branches could threaten the legal system as a whole.

‘There’s only been one time in our history a president has refused to carry out a judicial order. And that was Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War,’ Yoo said. ‘It’s almost something that really should only happen when the existence of the country is at stake, because if presidents don’t obey judicial orders, then they deprive the judiciary of their primary means for carrying out their decisions.’

‘If the courts can’t render reliable decisions, then our legal system doesn’t function. If our legal system doesn’t function, the country is in really bad shape,’ he added.

The White House has repeatedly said it has not disobeyed any lawful court orders.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an emergency order on March 15 to halt deportation flights of suspected gang members to El Salvador for a period of 14 days.

The Trump administration has pointed out that the judge’s written order was issued after two planes carrying alleged gang members were already in the air, arguing it was too late to turn the planes around at that point. A third plane that took off after the first two was not carrying any Alien Enemies Act deportees, the administration said.

‘As I said from the podium and will continue to say, all of the flights that were subject to the written order of the judge took off before the order was pushed in the courtroom. And the president is well within his… Article II power and his authority under the Alien Enemies Act to make these decisions,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.

‘And we think it’s egregious that a single district judge is trying to tell the President of the United States who he can and cannot deport from our soil, especially when it comes to designated foreign terrorists.’

DOJ lawyers argued that Boasberg’s verbal order to turn the planes around, issued shortly before the written order, is non-enforceable.

Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, said the case was ‘complex,’ but warned judges should be careful not to overstep their authority on matters with coequal branches of government.

‘The judge held a hearing where, apparently, the ACLU presented oral arguments. The judge then issued an oral order where a DOJ lawyer was on the line. But the government was not able to make any arguments. The judge also did not give the government the time to take a timely appeal,’ Blackman told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

‘As a result, a judge is now inquiring why the government did not turn a plane around in international waters. Things are not so simple. Judges are losing sight of the fact that they are a coequal, and not superior, branch of government.’

Yoo also noted the case was complex and said both parties were in uncharted territory, but pointed out that verbal orders have been valid in albeit very different circumstances.

‘That’s playing a little cute, is what appears to have happened,’ he said Tuesday of the administration’s argument on the verbal order. ‘But maybe that’s the case.’

Yoo noted that often judges would make one-word rulings, such as denying motions, which are usually only then found in the written transcript of the proceedings, but he made clear the situation now was vastly different.

‘This is an unprecedented exercise of judicial power, in response to an unprecedented claim of authority by the president,’ Yoo said.

Boasberg is currently considering whether the Trump administration violated his court order, which the White House denies. A Friday hearing on whether to maintain the ban quickly grew contentious when the judge accused DOJ lawyers, without specifics, of being ‘disrespectful’ in the court filings. The administration said Boasberg was engaging in a ‘judicial fishing expedition,’ according to Reuters.

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Politics

Trump suggests US could join British Commonwealth if offered by King Charles

President Trump said Friday he liked the idea of the United States joining the British Commonwealth after a report claimed King Charles III would make an offer.

‘I love King Charles,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday morning while linking to an article citing a Daily Mail report that said the monarch would secretly offer the U.S. associate membership in the Commonwealth during Trump’s second state visit to Britain. ‘Sounds good to me!’

Trump also reposted the same report about the king’s ‘secret’ offer of membership late Saturday morning.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

The British Commonwealth, created in 1926, is made up of 56 countries, including Australia and Canada, most of which were originally British colonies. The monarch is the head of the Commonwealth, whose maintenance was a major priority of Queen Elizabeth II.

Membership is voluntary.

The U.S. was part of the British Empire before winning independence after the Revolution.

India was the first country to decide to remain within the Commonwealth after gaining independence in 1947.

Trump had a friendly relationship with the late queen and always spoke highly of her.

‘I got to know her very well, and, you know, I got to know her in her ’90s, OK, but she was great,’ Trump told Fox News’ Mark Levin in 2023. ‘This is a woman … 75 years she reigned, and she never made a mistake.’

Trump has also praised Charles and the heir to the throne, Prince William, whom he met with in December in Paris, but he had fewer nice things to say about Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.

The president is scheduled to meet with King Charles during a rare second state visit later this year. He met with the late queen and Charles during his first state visit in 2019.

The Daily Mail said Commonwealth membership was first floated during Trump’s first term, and this time around the hope is that it would ease tensions between the U.S. and Canada as the countries trade tariff threats.

‘This is being discussed at the highest levels,’ a member of the Royal Commonwealth Society told the Daily Mail. ‘It would be a wonderful move that would symbolize Britain’s close relationship with the U.S.

‘Donald Trump loves Britain and has great respect for the royal family, so we believe he would see the benefits of this. Associate membership could, hopefully, be followed by full membership, making the Commonwealth even more important as a global organization.’

Late last month, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented Trump with Charles’ invitation for a second state visit while the two politicians were meeting in the Oval Office.

‘I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us. This is a very special letter. I think the last state visit was a tremendous success,’ Starmer said. ‘His majesty the king wants to make this even better than that.’

Trump responded, ‘The answer is yes. On behalf of our wonderful first lady Melania and myself, the answer is yes, and we look forward to being there and honoring the king and honoring, really, your country. Your country is a fantastic country.’

Trump described Charles as ‘beautiful’ and a ‘wonderful man.’

‘I’ve gotten to know him very well actually, first term and, now, a second term,’ he added.

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Business

Nvidia’s CEO did a Q&A with analysts. What he said and what Wall Street thinks about it.

Investors have closely watched Nvidia’s week-long GPU Technology Conference (GTC) for news and updates from the dominant maker of chips that power artificial intelligence applications.

The event comes at a pivotal time for Nvidia shares. After two years of monster gains, the stock is down 15% over the past month and 22% below the January all-time high.

As part of the event, CEO Jensen Huang took questions from analysts on topics ranging from demand for its advanced Blackwell chips to the impact of Trump administration tariffs. Here’s a breakdown of how Huang responded — and what analysts homed in on — during some of the most important questions:

Huang said he “underrepresented” demand in a slide that showed 3.6 million in estimated Blackwell shipments to the top four cloud service providers this year. While Huang acknowledged speculation regarding shrinking demand, he said the amount of computation needed for AI has “exploded” and that the four biggest cloud service clients remain “fully invested.”

Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore noted that Huang’s commentary on Blackwell demand in data centers was the first-ever such disclosure.

“It was clear that the reason the company made the decision to give that data was to refocus the narrative on the strength of the demand profile, as they continue to field questions related to Open AI related spending shifting from 1 of the 4 to another of the 4, or the pressure of ASICs, which come from these 4 customers,” Moore wrote to clients, referring to application-specific integrated circuits.

Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar said the slide was “only scratching the surface” on demand. Beyond the four largest customers, he said others are also likely “all in line looking to get their hands on as much compute as their budgets allow.”

Another takeaway for Moore was the growth in physical AI, which refers to the use of the technology to power machines’ actions in the real world as opposed to within software.

At previous GTCs, Moore said physical AI “felt a little bit like speculative fiction.” But this year, “we are now hearing developers wrestling with tangible problems in the physical realm.”

Truist analyst William Stein, meanwhile, described physical AI as something that’s “starting to materialize.” The next wave for physical AI centers around robotics, he said, and presents a potential $50 trillion market for Nvidia.

Stein highliughted Jensen’s demonstration of Isaac GR00T N1, a customizable foundation model for humanoid robots.

Several analysts highlighted Huang’s explanation of what tariffs mean for Nvidia’s business.

“Management noted they have been preparing for such scenarios and are beginning to manufacture more onshore,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said. “It was mentioned that Nvidia is already utilizing [Taiwan Semiconductor’s’] Arizona fab where it is manufacturing production silicon.”

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said Huang’s answer made it seem like Nvidia’s push to relocate some manufacturing to the U.S. would limit the effect of higher tariffs.

Rasgon also noted that Huang brushed off concerns of a recession hurting customer spending. Huang argued that companies would first cut spending in the areas of their business that aren’t growing, Rasgon said.

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World News

Ukraine port city ‘on fire’ after ‘massive’ Russian attack as Trump projects optimism ahead of peace talks

The southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa was engulfed in flames late Thursday after being struck by a large-scale Russian drone attack, hours after US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about ending the war and as peace talks are set to resume on Monday.

Trump – who recently held separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky on implementing a partial ceasefire – projected optimism about reaching an end to the war on Thursday, saying “we’re doing pretty well in that regard.”

Delegations from Russia and the US are expected to resume talks on ending the war on Monday in Saudi Arabia, both countries’ officials said, following an earlier round of talks in February.

Zelensky said a team from Ukraine will also attend, with parallel meetings likely to take place, and urged Putin to “stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war.”

“I believe we’ll get it done. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said on Thursday, referring to the talks.

Hours after Trump spoke, Russia launched a “massive” drone attack on Odesa, hitting civilian targets and injuring at least three people, including a minor, local officials said.

A high-rise residential building and a shopping center were among the targets, local governor Oleh Kiper said.

Czech President Peter Pavel was in the port city on an official visit at the time of the attack, Ukrainian official Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Meanwhile, Russian assaults wounded at least five others near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, local governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Nearly 200 drones also hit the Kirovohrad region in central Ukraine overnight into Thursday, wounding 10 people, including four children, and damaging homes, a church, and key infrastructure, Zelensky said.

“Russian strikes on Ukraine do not stop, despite their propaganda claims. Every day and every night, nearly a hundred or more drones are launched, along with ongoing missile attacks. With each such launch, the Russians expose to the world their true attitude towards peace,” Zelensky said Thursday on X.

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged aerial assaults in the days since the Kremlin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets, but stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire sought by the US.

Overnight into Thursday, Ukraine struck a military airfield deep inside Russian territory, sparking a huge explosion and destroying nearby houses, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s military confirmed it was behind the attack on Engels airbase – more than 465 miles from the Ukrainian border – saying it targeted the airbase because it is used by Russia’s air force “to launch missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine and terrorist attacks against the civilian population.”

Zelensky on Wednesday accused Putin of already breaking his pledge, saying that Russia attacked Ukraine with 150 drones, including strikes on energy facilities.

Zelensky has said he is “ready” to pause attacks on Russia’s energy and civilian infrastructure, saying his team will prepare a list of civilian targets to be included in a future deal.

Ukraine “unconditionally agrees” to a ceasefire, but is “waiting for the aggressor to agree,” Zelensky said Thursday while speaking at a press conference in Norway.

Putin announced the halt on energy infrastructure attacks on Tuesday after a lengthy call with Trump. “Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order,” a Kremlin readout said.

As part of its demands for a broader ceasefire, the Kremlin laid out several tough conditions that Putin had previously insisted on – such as a halt to all foreign military aid and intelligence to Kyiv, and a halt to any Ukrainian mobilization or rearming during that period.

Zelensky spoke to European leaders on Thursday as they reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, calling on other Western leaders to match words of support for Kyiv with deeds, as Trump escalates his courting of Russia.

“The stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table,” the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said of the Ukrainians, according to Reuters.

The meetings in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Monday are designed for US and Russian officials to hammer out more specific language on the deal reached by Trump and Putin, as well as other areas of negotiation toward a full ceasefire. The talks won’t involve Cabinet-level US officials, the State Department said Wednesday.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Ukrainian official Oleksiy Kuleba.

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World News

Sudan army reclaims presidential palace in major push to take back capital from rebels

Sudan’s army has reclaimed the Presidential Palace in the capital, Khartoum, in a significant victory over a rampaging militia that controls swaths of the war-torn country.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have viciously scrambled for territory since fighting broke out between them in April 2023. The conflict has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and has left more than 28,000 people dead with 11 million others forced to flee their homes, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data initiative.

The RSF has laid siege to Khartoum and the Sudanese seat of power since the start of the war. On Friday, the government said its troops had seized control of the Presidential Palace and would continue its push to retake the capital.

“Today the flag is raised, the palace is back, and the journey continues until victory is complete,” information minister Khalid Al-Aiser wrote on X.

The Sudanese justice ministry hailed the “liberation of the Republican Palace,” describing it as “a symbol of national sovereignty.”

“It is quite significant for SAF and central and north Sudanese possibilities of IDPs return,” she said, adding that some questions, however, remained answered.

“The question of Sudan’s governance and to what extent SAF is open to a political process with RSF and other political actors or continues with the war remains a question.”

Photos of government troops celebrating at the palace were shared on social media by the military.

“Our forces … completely destroyed the enemy’s personnel and equipment and seized large quantities of its equipment and weapons,” a military spokesperson said Friday morning in a televised broadcast.

Later on Friday, the RSF said in a Telegram post that “the battle for the Republican Palace is not over yet,” adding that its forces “are still present in the vicinity of the area” and had “carried out a swift military operation targeting a gathering … inside the Republican Palace, killing more than 89 enemy personnel and destroying various military vehicles.”

Local media reported that the palace was hit by a drone, killing an unknown number of soldiers, as well as journalists from the state broadcaster.

Parts of Khartoum are still held by the RSF militia which controls the country’s western, southern and central regions, including Darfur where ethnically motivated killings are common. The SAF administers the eastern and northern parts of the country.

Retaking Khartoum would be symbolic for the SAF whose rival the RSF had begun steps to establish a parallel government. But it would also come at a great cost for the Sudanese people as civilians are often caught in the crossfire.

“Dozens of civilians, including local humanitarian volunteers, have been killed by artillery shelling and aerial bombardment by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces in eastern Khartoum and north Omdurman since 12 March,” a spokesperson for the United Nations Human Rights Office, Seif Magango, said Thursday as fighting intensified in the capital.

Sudan’s warring parties have each been accused of war crimes. In January, the United States accused the RSF of committing genocide, the second in the country in two decades.

This month, a new report from UNICEF also linked the SAF to atrocities that included sexual violence against young children, some as young as one.

“Credible reports indicate that the RSF and allied militia have raided homes in eastern Khartoum, carrying out summary killings and arbitrary detentions, and looted food and medical supplies from community kitchens and medical clinics,” Magango added. “SAF and affiliated fighters are also reported to have engaged in looting and other criminal activities in areas they control in Khartoum North (Bahri) and East Nile. Widespread arbitrary arrests are ongoing in East Nile.”

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World News

Greenland sees tourism boost following Trump’s attention and new airport

Ivik Knudssen-Ostermann, whose company runs boat tours to see Greenland’s glittering blue icebergs, says his bank has told him to expand ahead of an expected influx of tourists after US. President Donald Trump put the island in the global spotlight.

Trump’s comments, coupled with the opening of a new international airport in the capital Nuuk, have already boosted arrivals and more are expected.

“Already now, we are getting many more bookings than we have received earlier, especially because of a man with the last name of Trump. He has really put Greenland on the map once again,” Knudsen-Ostermann, operator of Greenland Cruises, said, standing on the dock of an ice-packed harbor.

Greenland became the focus of international attention in January when Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., arrived at the newly opened Nuuk airport.

Since then, the US president has doubled down on his pledge to make the Arctic island part of the United States, as he eyes its vast wealth of rare earth minerals critical for high-tech industries.

Greenland is hoping new airports will bolster its tourism and mining industries to diversify the economy, which is currently reliant on fishing for 95% of its exports.

The country’s vast ice sheet, glaciers, deep fjords and abundance of marine life, including whales, are the key attractions, while pride in the local Inuit culture is also growing.

The opening of the airport in Nuuk in November last year has made travel to the island easier. United Airlines is set to begin direct flights from New York to Nuuk in June, replacing the previous route which required tourists to fly via Copenhagen and transit at the former U.S. military base Kangerlussuaq.

Ilulissat, Greenland’s main tourist hub known for its UNESCO-listed ice fjord, is also due to open a new international airport in 2026, while another international airport is under construction in Qaqortoq in southern Greenland.

“We will see quite a significant growth this summer already,” said Jens Lauridsen, CEO of Greenland Airports.

While the bank is telling Knudsen-Ostermann to get more boats and more people, he says he is cautious.

A statue of Hans Egede (1686-1758), a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary, is pictured next to the Cathedral during Sunday service in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 9, 2025.

Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

Passengers wait at Nuuk International Airport in Nuuk, Greenland, on March 4, 2025.

Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

“I want to see what the new airport brings us, what 2025 brings us. We don’t know the future, so I’m holding back a little,” he said.

Statistics Greenland reported a 14% year-on-year rise in the number of passengers on international flights to Greenland in January. The number of hotel nights has seen a steady increase over the past decade, with 355,000 recorded last year, up from 210,000 in 2014, it said.

Three-quarters of tourism operators reported an increase in bookings in the three months following the opening of Nuuk’s new airport, according to Visit Greenland.

Lars Ipland, a Danish tourist in Nuuk, said Greenland was one of the last parts of the world he hadn’t seen.

“It’s a part of Denmark, so I thought I have to see it. Now with all the attention, you don’t know what’s happening next week or if it’s another flag up here or whatever they decide to do.”

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World News

Violent clashes as Turkey protests continue over detention of Erdogan’s main political rival

Violent clashes erupted across several cities in Turkey between opposition supporters and state security forces for a second day, as demonstrators demand the release of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, according to videos and reports from Turkish media outlets.

Police in capital city Ankara and Istanbul fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse protesters gathering, social media videos and local media outlets in Turkey showed.

Turkish authorities detained Imamoglu – a key political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – on Wednesday, as part of corruption and terrorism investigations. Detention orders were also issued for about 100 others connected to the mayor, including his press adviser Murat Ongun, according to state-run news agency Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

Friday’s protests follow several violent instances on Thursday. At least 16 police officers were injured during clashes with protesters across Turkey on Thursday, according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, and at least 53 people were detained. It’s unclear how many protesters were injured during the ongoing protests.

On Thursday, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader, Ozgur Ozel, addressed crowds in Istanbul while on a bus rooftop. “We will not stay home while you keep our elected representative locked up. From now on we are on the streets. They are asking me ‘Are you calling people to take the streets?’ Yes, yes, yes!” Ozel said.

Erdogan has dismissed opposition anger as “theatrics” and “slogans” for which Turkey has no time.

Thousands again protested outside the Istanbul municipality building on Friday, defying a four-day ban on street gatherings in the city, waving Turkish flags and chanting slogans in protest over the decision. Protests led by university students also gathered steam in Ankara and Izmir, where the prohibition is also in effect.

Imamoglu was elected mayor in 2019 and again in 2024. The next presidential vote is scheduled for 2028, but some analysts say Erdogan could call for early elections, which would allow him to bypass term limits.

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World News

Russia and Ukraine trade blame over attack on Russian gas metering station

Russia and Ukraine traded blame on Friday over an attack on a gas metering station that lies in Russia’s Kursk region, just a few hundred meters from their shared border.

The attack on the facility in Sudzha comes just days after the US proposed both sides pause attacks on energy infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Kyiv had “deliberately attacked” the station, which has been under Ukrainian control since Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024.

Moscow claims Ukrainian forces blew up the facility while “retreating from the Kursk region” with the aim of “discrediting the US president’s peace initiatives.”

Kyiv has described those accusations as “groundless” and claimed they are aimed at discrediting Ukraine and misleading the international community.

“Indeed, the station has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in a Telegram post on Friday.

According to the Ukrainian military, Russia struck the same station with missiles as recently as three days ago.

“The attempts by the Russians to deceive everyone and pretend that they are adhering to the ceasefire will not work, (neither) will the fake news about the strikes on the gas station,” Ukraine’s Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak posted on X Friday.

The Sudzha gas metering station was the last route through which Russian natural gas was delivered to Europe through Ukraine. Natural gas transportation through Sudzha was terminated on the morning of January 1, 2025, after Kyiv refused to renew the contract.

The attack on the station comes more than a week after the announcement by Russian forces that they had recaptured Sudzha, the largest town that Ukraine has occupied during its incursion into Kursk. Ukraine’s occupation of parts of Kursk is seen as its sole territorial bargaining chip amid pressure to negotiate an end to the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy targets in Ukraine after a lengthy telephone call with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, though he stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire to end the three-year-long conflict in Ukraine.

On Wednesday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would support a pause on striking energy targets after his phone call with Trump.

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World News

‘We’re here to clear our names’: Tate brothers, sexist online celebrities, back in Romania to face trafficking charges

Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate is back in Romania along with his brother Tristan to report to the police, following a trip to Florida that triggered a state-level criminal probe.

The online celebrity, who has amassed a massive following peddling sexist content about male dominance, is facing charges over human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group with his brother in Romania. They have denied all wrongdoing.

The pair, both dual British and American citizens, left Romania late last month after prosecutors lifted a travel ban on them. They flew to Florida, only to find themselves subject to a new criminal investigation by state authorities there.

They spoke to reporters Saturday after returning to Romania.

“We’re here to clear our names and exonerate ourselves,” Andrew Tate said, speaking outside his house in Bucharest.

“After all we’ve been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that we’ve done nothing wrong and that we should never be in court in the first place.”

He referred to allegations against them as “garbage.”

The Tates are required to regularly check in with police. Their next check-in is due on March 24, according to Reuters.

Earlier Friday, Andrew Tate posted a picture of the pair on the flight, saying: “Innocent men don’t run. THEY CLEAR THEIR NAME IN COURT.”

“Spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania,” he wrote.

Romanian authorities arrested the brothers in December 2022 and placed them under police custody. They were later placed under house arrest.

Prosecutors in Romania accused them of forming an organized criminal group that stretched across the country, as well as the United Kingdom and the US, trafficking women and sexually exploiting them with physical violence and coercion.

Andrew Tate is also accused of raping one of the alleged victims. Separately, the two faced an investigation into allegations of human trafficking of minors and sex with a minor lodged against the brothers.

Andrew and Tristan Tate have denied all allegations of wrongdoing, with Andrew writing on X that the brothers “have always been innocent.”

Days after they arrived in Florida late last month, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced an active criminal investigation into the brothers, led by the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Florida has “zero tolerance for people who abuse women and girls,” he added.

The brothers’ defense attorney accused Uthmeier of throwing “ethics law out of the window.”

The brothers are also being investigated for allegations of rape and human trafficking in the UK, where they have also denied wrongdoing.

Andrew Tate also faces a civil suit there by four women, accusing him of rape and coercive control.

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