Syria’s civil war is back in the spotlight after a new rebel coalition launched a surprise attack, sweeping into the country’s second largest city, Aleppo.

The offensive is the first time opposition forces have seized territory in Aleppo since 2016, shattering the stalemate of a war that never formally ended.

The renewed conflict, which has killed more than 300,000 and sent nearly 6 million refugees out of the country, also has wide ramifications across the region and beyond.

Here’s what you need to know.

What happened in Syria’s civil war?

At the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in Syria calling for the ouster of its authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad.

The protesters were met with deadly force. As Assad’s forces crushed the pro-democracy movement, an armed opposition began to form made up of small organic militias and some defectors from the Syrian military.

The opposition forces – decentralized, made up of different ideologies, but with a common goal of toppling Assad – were supported in various ways by foreign powers including neighboring Turkey, regional giants Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the United States.

As the anti-government forces grew, Syria’s allies Iran and Russia stepped up their support. On the ground, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as well as its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah helped fight the armed rebel groups. In the skies, the Syrian Air Force was bolstered by Russian warplanes.

Extremist Islamists including al Qaeda took an interest in Syria, taking up a common cause with the moderate Syrian opposition who did not welcome jihadist involvement.

But by 2014 the extremists dominated and ISIS began sweeping across the country. Fearing Syria would become a permanent terror hotbed, an international coalition led by the US stepped in with a focus on eliminating the group but without confronting the Syrian regime.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – a US partner made up of Kurdish fighters – fought against ISIS, effectively ending the group’s territorial existence.

In 2020, Russia and Turkey agreed a ceasefire in the last remaining opposition-held province, Idlib, agreeing to establish a security corridor with joint patrols.

There have been no major flare-ups since then but Syria’s government never regained all of its territory. And as events in Aleppo show, armed resistance never went away.

Why has the conflict reignited now?

The offensive began on Wednesday after rebels formed a new coalition called the “Military Operations Command.”

They quickly swept through villages outside Aleppo and residents have now said they control much of the city, meeting little resistance on the way.

The fighters say they are seeking to liberate occupied territory and were responding to stepped up attacks from government forces and pro-Iranian militia groups.

The rebels may be seeking to capitalize on a weakened government whose key allies are heavily preoccupied with other conflicts.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has ploughed manpower and resources into the war. Russia is Assad’s main partner in the sky.

Losing Aleppo marks a significant setback for Assad’s forces. Once Syria’s largest city by population and its economic capital, it is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.

Aleppo was also the main rebel stronghold until Assad took it over in 2016. With the rebels regaining a foothold there again, they are no longer cornered in Idlib, which could potentially trigger a domino effect.

Who are the rebels?

The new grouping is made up of a broad spectrum of opposition forces, from Islamist factions to moderates.

Leading them is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al Qaeda affiliate in Syria that used to go by the name Al-Nusra Front.

The group officially cut ties with al Qaeda and has been the de facto ruler in Idlib. They have been joined by groups backed by Turkey and others previously supported by the US.

Complicating the situation further the SDF has taken up some of those positions.

The backbone of the SDF are Kurdish fighters from a group known as the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), which has previously fought other Syrian opposition groups.

Neighboring Turkey considers the YPG to be an extension of a group it considers a terrorist organization.

Like tens of thousands of Lebanon’s displaced, Hussein Mallah headed to the southern suburbs of Beirut at the break of dawn on Wednesday.

The truce between Hezbollah and Israel had just begun, ending a two-month war. Mallah says he took to repairing his home and businesses “almost immediately.”

“My 24/7 bakery is going to be open for business tonight,” said Mallah on Friday, his chest widening and his voice bursting with triumph. Behind him, five employees, decked out in the bakery’s red and white uniform, were refitting the countertops at the storefront.

It was the third day of an increasingly uneasy ceasefire. The Israeli military had just issued an order demanding that Lebanese inhabitants of the country’s southern-most villages refrain from returning to their homes.

The nascent agreement is in its most fragile state. In the 60-day aftermath of the deal, Israel will withdraw its forces as the Lebanese army ramps up its presence in south Lebanon to ensure that the area is free of Hezbollah’s arms. But a complete absence of trust between the two sides – officially enemy states – means that the phased unfolding of the deal could fall apart at any moment, with both sides already accusing the other of violating the ceasefire agreement.

There have been a number of reports of Israeli forces on the Lebanese side of the border firing at people and villages, while Israel claims it has observed Hezbollah regrouping.

“I’m optimistic,” said Mallah, counting his prayer beads with one hand. “Even if the ceasefire collapses, we’ll just do the whole thing all over again. I was raised this way and I’ll always be this way. Nothing can break our spirits.”

Traffic jams have returned to Hadi Nasrallah Avenue in Lebanon’s capital, the southern suburbs’ main boulevard named after the son of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It cuts through the dense urban area where barely any building has been spared the damage wrought by two months of Israel’s near nightly airstrikes here.

This is Hezbollah’s seat of power where around one million people live, most of whom heeded Israel’s evacuation orders.

Shards of glass crack underfoot and rubble falls from above as people sweep away the damage from their flats, lobbing detritus off balconies. A gathering crops up around a pickup truck loaded with speakers blaring Hezbollah anthems. A handful of people carry posters of Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike just over two months ago, and who has not yet had a public funeral.

The mood is somber, but defiant. Hezbollah’s leaders appear to hope for a repeat of 2006 when the fiery Nasrallah addressed large crowds with rousing speeches, and when a ceasefire with a formidable Israeli military was accepted by Hezbollah supporters as a “divine victory.”

On Friday, Nasrallah’s successor – Secretary-General Naim Qassem – used similar language. “We are victorious because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah,” said Qassem, the elderly cleric who was Nasrallah’s long-time deputy, but lacks his predecessor’s charisma and fiery oration. “This is a victory because the resistance persisted and continues to persist.”

There are several parallels between the two all-out wars that raged between Hezbollah and Israel. The same agreement that ended the 2006 war was used by Lebanese officials to bring about a ceasefire more than two decades later. As in 2006, Israel’s current leaders vowed, but failed, to destroy Hezbollah. And the current rush of displaced people returning to their damaged and destroyed towns and neighborhoods is a mirror image of those emotional scenes from the aftermath of the previous war.

But the differences are also stark. Israel has decimated Hezbollah’s top military brass and Nasrallah’s absence is acutely felt. Hezbollah has also made some major concessions, reneging on a promise to only cease its rocket fire on Israel’s northern-most territory after Israel ended its ongoing, devastating offensive in Gaza. It has also agreed to a rigorous enforcement of the 2006 agreement, which stipulated that Hezbollah’s forces retreat to around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

And trouble is brewing at home. Inside Lebanon, there is a widely held belief that Hezbollah has emerged from this war as a shell of its former self, which may cause long-festering domestic tensions to flare.

Still, Hezbollah’s robust support base console themselves by reminding themselves that things could always have been worse, and that they were spared the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza. They also argue that the militant group, complete with its ballistic and medium-range missiles, remains one of the best-armed non-state actors in the world.

“The war was longer than we’d hoped it would be, but in the end we were victorious and that’s all that matters,” said 25-year-old Marwa from her badly damaged home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. She said that she stepped into her home after two months of displacement not knowing how extensive the damage would be.

“I couldn’t even tell you how difficult it was to see my home covered in broken glass, to see my memories ripped apart,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears. “We’ve been working nonstop, just so we can be able to have a coffee at home.”

“When we first got home, we were shocked… Barely anything was left untouched,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears. “I hoped to be able come back home after all that time. And then I found that I couldn’t stay… But it’s ok. It’s all material stuff. It can all be replaced.”

Others are less lucky. Umm Hussein, 41, stayed put as she watched throngs of returnees on the television screen. Unlike most of the displaced, she had already seen photographs of her home in the south of Beirut. An Israeli airstrike had destroyed it.

“Throughout this war, I was patient with my displacement,” said Umm Hussein on the day the ceasefire went into effect. “But today, I watch these scenes and I feel like a prisoner.”

A rebel alliance launched a surprise attack this week, sweeping eastward through villages outside the city and reigniting a conflict that had been largely static for years. It is the first time Syrian rebels have set foot in Aleppo since government forces regained control during the Civil War in 2016.

Rebel fighters have been seen at key locations, with one video showing armed men waving an opposition flag and yelling “God is great” in Arabic at a central square.

Another clip shows rebels at the city’s citadel, which is also in central Aleppo. At least one man in the clip is armed, as he says: “We are the first to arrive and the first to conquer.”

The only exception appears to be the northeastern part of the city, where a few neighborhoods remain under the control of government forces and Iranian militia allies.

Syria’s defense ministry said dozens of soldiers have been killed in the Aleppo offensive. It acknowledged that rebel forces had entered the city but claimed that they “were unable to establish solid positions” and reinforcements were arriving in preparation for a counteroffensive.

In response to the rebel advance, the Russian air force on Friday launched an aerial offensive against Syrian armed opposition forces in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, Russian state media reported.

Kurdish forces have also expanded their control of some neighborhoods of Aleppo, residents said. Prior to this week’s attack they held two Kurdish neighborhoods but have now moved into areas that the Syrian regime used to control.

The Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, have a history of conflict with other rebel groups in northern Syria.

Rebels lay out their goals

The rebels are part of a newly formed coalition called the “Military Operations Command,” which includes a broad spectrum of opposition fighters including Islamist factions and moderate groups once backed by the US. The coalition was announced Wednesday ahead of the attack on Aleppo.

Lt. Colonel Hassan Abdelghani, a commander in the coalition, said that their goal was to “liberate our occupied territories” from what he called the “criminal regime” as well as Iranian militias.

The offensive, which began Wednesday, is the first major flare-up in years between the Syrian opposition and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, who has ruled the war-torn country since 2000.

Syria’s civil war began during the 2011 Arab Spring as the regime suppressed a pro-democracy uprising against Assad. The country plunged into a full-scale civil war as a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to combat government troops.

The conflict swelled as other regional actors and world powers – from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia – piled in, escalating the civil war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.” ISIS was also able to gain a foothold in the country before suffering significant blows.

Since the 2020 ceasefire agreement, the conflict has remained largely dormant, with low-level clashes between the rebels and Assad’s regime.

More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the United Nations, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.

Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday night in a third straight night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union.

More than 100 demonstrators were arrested as crowds clashed with police Friday night, the country’s Interior Ministry said. The Associated Press saw protesters in Tbilisi being chased and beaten by police as demonstrators rallied in front of the country’s parliament building.

On the same night, police also used heavy force against members of the media and deployed water cannons to push protesters back along the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.

The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the country’s Oct. 26 parliamentary election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of the parliament.

The opposition has said that the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, Georgia’s former imperial master, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.

Speaking to the AP on Saturday, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said that Georgia was becoming a “quasi-Russian” state and that Georgian Dream controlled the country’s major institutions.

“We have seen happening in the country — which is a country where we do not have any longer independent institutions, not the courts, not the Central Bank, and not, of course, the parliament,” she said. “We have been moving more and more rapidly into a quasi-Russian model.”

Zourabichvili also rejected statements made by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who characterized the protests as “violent demonstrations.” In a statement on Saturday, he said Tbilisi remained committed to European integration. However, he said that unspecified “foreign entities” wished to see the “Ukrainization” of Georgia with a “Maidan-style scenario” – a reference to Ukraine’s 2014 Maidan revolution.

“We are not demanding a revolution. We are asking for new elections, but in conditions that will ensure that the will of the people will not be misrepresented or stolen again,” Zourabichvili said. “Georgia has been always resisting Russian influence and will not accept having its vote stolen and its destiny stolen.”

The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that condemned last month’s vote as neither free nor fair. It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”

European election observers said October’s vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.

The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

EU lawmakers urged a rerun of the parliamentary vote within a year under thorough international supervision and by an independent election administration. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.

The Georgian prime minister fired back, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”

Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028.

Critics have accused Georgian Dream – established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia – of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

After the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a hospital and medical college in West Bengal in August, thousands of women across the Indian state took to the streets in protests to “Reclaim the Night.”

Meghamala Ghosh went along to one of them with her mother. But staying out so late went against every self-preservation impulse the 23-year-old had learned as a young woman in a country afflicted by endemic sexual violence.

“As soon as it was 12, I felt ‘It’s getting too late, it’s getting too late, it’s getting too late,’” she said. “This is a constant thing that’s going on in my head.”

As the pair traveled home in an e-rickshaw, a group of men waved the vehicle to a halt and began surrounding it, shouting and leering at them on the deserted road. Unsure whether she could trust the driver, Ghosh tightly gripped the kitchen knife she had brought with her for protection.

The driver managed to speed away, and dropped them home safely.

Instead of leaving energized by the sight of thousands of women on the streets at the late hour, Ghosh was left thinking: “How can we reclaim the night when the night was never ours to begin with?”

Several other protesters reported being intimidated and harassed by men who invaded the demonstration and told them to go home.

The event was part of a wave of increasing participation and leadership from women in protests across South Asia, activists and organizers say. But just as notable is a gendered backlash to that wave, involving tactics seemingly intended to subdue female dissent.

Tools of Repression

“Women have always been involved in protests in places like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan but the difference is that they’re taking on more leadership roles and are the primary actors,” Heather Barr, associate director of Human Rights Watch’s women’s rights division, said.

“In Afghanistan, for example, the only social resistance the Taliban is currently facing is from women.”

Since the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban, women have seen their rights restricted across the board, including recent restrictions on their voices in public.

While misogyny and marginalization afflict women’s lives the world over, conservative social attitudes to gender can be particularly pronounced in South Asia.

In India, a rape is reported every 17 minutes, government data shows. In 2012 when a woman was raped and murdered on a bus, the nation was outraged and after a massive wave of protests there were some amendments to rape laws. Yet women in India experience sexual harassment daily, says Ghosh.

In Bangladesh, women deal with daily harassment, says Nazifa Jannat, a student and political activist. And she doesn’t see this improving anytime soon. “When you’re walking on the road you constantly feel eyes on you, whether it’s a busy market or a deserted road,” she said.

According to Deanne Uyangoda, protection coordinator in Asia Pacific for NGO Front Line Defenders, while women have always been integral to protest movements in South Asia, “their role in co-creating those spaces and in organizing, mobilizing building trust and building framing of why these protests are happening” has become more pronounced.

In Pakistan, one woman leading the charge is Sammi Deen Baloch.

She was 10 when her doctor father was forcibly disappeared from the hospital where he was working in 2009, she said. Having participated in the fight for his return since childhood, she is now one of the faces of the movement against enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

The sparsely populated province, Pakistan’s largest, is rich in natural resources and home to the strategically important Gwadar port. But the restive region is also home to some of Pakistan’s most marginalized people, who say they face persecution from the government, as well as military and paramilitary forces in the region.

In September alone, 43 cases of enforced disappearances were reported in Balochistan, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan said in October.

In 2016, Baloch herself was forcibly disappeared by Pakistan’s intelligence agency and held in captivity for seven days, she said. She had no idea where she was, and could not tell night from day.

“While talking to me they were saying that as you know you are 18 years old, you are young, so you know what can happen to you. By saying these things they wanted to make being a woman a weakness,” she said, adding that the threat of sexual violence was implicit.

Such threats “are deployed much more against women than men, as is sexual violence itself,” said Barr.

From November to January this year around 200 women, along with children and some men, marched from Balochistan to Islamabad to protest the killing of 24-year-old civilian Balaach Mola Bakshsh, who they said had been killed by authorities after being forcibly disappeared.

When they reached the capital, they said police responded with water cannons, the sting of which was worsened by the frigid winter temperatures.

Islamabad police at the time denied that there were women or children in the crowd and said officers refrained from using force for six hours. “But when force was used against the police, we had to move to protect ourselves,” Akbar Nasir Khan, the inspector general of Islamabad police, told reporters. Protesters denied initiating the violence.

As the women camped out in Islamabad for nearly a month from late December, cameras were installed around the protest site, with a heavily male police and military presence. For women wearing Islamic face coverings or headscarves, many felt this was a clear attempt at weaponizing their modesty against them, said Baloch.

“We choose to wear a hijab or a niqab, for us it’s an important sign of respect… in our culture women are always treated with a level of dignity and this is how we choose to present ourselves,” Baloch said.

During the sit-in, Baloch found herself having to appear in front of TV cameras with her face uncovered. Until then, she would always wear a niqab or mask on camera, but after fabricated pictures of her spread on social media, she had to take off her face covering.

“For women, one of the first things they do is character assassination. So I took the decision to show my face because I did not want to let them think this was my weakness,” Baloch said.

Surveillance is another tool of repression used liberally against protesters. Baloch is used to being followed everywhere by men, both in plain clothes and in uniform. “They want to make you feel like you are constantly being watched, that you’re on their radar,” she said.

Uyangoda said weaponizing women’s modesty against them or encroachments on their privacy is a recurring theme in South Asia.

“There have been instances where they have turned up in your house at, let’s say, early hours in the morning, male officers in remote areas, you know, videoing you while you are still in whatever state of dress you are in,” she said, recalling several such instances reported to her by activists in the region.

A similar experience befell Khadijah Shah, a fashion designer turned activist who was among the most prominent voices against the arrest of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan during protests in May last year. Khan was arrested on multiple charges of corruption following months of political turmoil after his ouster as prime minister.

It’s still a live issue. On Tuesday, security forces launched a night-time operation to disperse thousands of Khan supporters led by his wife Bushra Bibi, after the crowd broke through barricades and gathered in Islamabad demanding his release.

When Shah first heard of the protests last year, she was quick to join them. She has always felt the need to speak up, she said, having first attended protests as a young girl with her grandfather, a former chief of army staff.

Abuse and threats

The backlash was swift and vocal.

“My photo was shared everywhere, there were people calling for my rape by the police and saying I should be skinned alive,” Shah recalled.

Shah spent about eight months in jail before being released on bail, with multiple cases filed against her for participation in the protests.

She said one of the worst intimidation tactics she had to contend with was threats against her family. She turned herself in after the protests because authorities detained her father and brother.

“I think it’s much easier to threaten the family of a woman because, in patriarchal societies, a male family member might feel that he can exercise control over a female member of his family,” Barr said, adding the threats themselves were also “real and frightening.”

Earlier this summer Bangladesh was transformed by student-led protests that snowballed into bringing down 15 years of rule by increasingly autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

According to student-protester Jannat, while women have previously participated in protests in Bangladesh, this time many women, including her, played a leadership role.

“People are more willing to follow women, and more women are also confident enough to assume leadership, irrespective of what her family or society has to say about it,” Jannat said.

Doing so was not without its challenges. In many cases women who participated did so without familial support.

“I have a very close friend, I saw fear in her eyes that if her family got to know that she is involved in the protest she will face many setbacks,” Jannat said.

“That’s a very common scenario.”

“Many defenders carry burdens, carry responsibilities to their communities, to their families,” Uyangoda said. “Many defenders are caregivers, but women human rights defenders, I think may be disproportionately so.”

Yet on the streets, they did not shy away from the front lines.

“We were on the front lines of the protests, our male comrades would push us in the front and we believed that perhaps the paramilitary would be hesitant to hit us,” Jannat said.

However, their gender did not protect them in the way that they thought it would and several protesters, including women, were baton-charged during a march from Dhaka University in July.

According to Uyangoda while all protesters have to be wary of violence, women defenders also deal with a constant “fear of sexualized violence.”

Although Barr credits the female protesters who brought about a change in Bangladesh, she questions if this will translate into greater political representation and rights for women going forward.

“How much of a voice will women have in the upcoming government remains to be seen but we need to move away from tokenistic individual representation to collective representation,” Barr said.

According to Uyangoda, the activists emerging from the region are pushing for exactly that.

“There will always be, in a movement, people who are visible. Behind these women, there are other women. There are many other women. There are men, there are youth.”

Barr sees a mixture of concern and hope.

“Globally we’re in a pretty alarming space in terms of what feels like declining democracy and rising authoritarianism and the attack on women’s rights and LGBT rights are a central part of that playbook,” she said.

“But we are seeing incredibly powerful protest movements from women around the world… they’re amping up not backing down.”

Ghosh, Baloch, Shah and Jannat all have that in common. Despite the backlash they’ve faced, they’re only emboldened to continue to fight for their rights.

“If not now, then when?” Jannat said. “I knew that this was an important moment for our nation and I had to stand up, no matter the consequences.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he wants to work “directly” with US President-elect Donald Trump and is open to his ideas, highlighting Kyiv’s eagerness to keep its most important ally onside as Russia intensifies its attacks.

“Of course we will work with Trump. I want to work with him directly,” Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News released Friday, adding that he did not want people around Trump to “destroy” their communication. “I want to share with him ideas and I want to hear from him his ideas,” he added.

The United States is the single largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine and Kyiv is keenly aware that it needs to stay on Trump’s good side to secure future support. According to the US Department of State, the government has contributed $64.1 billion to Ukraine’s war effort since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Zelensky characterized his conversations with Trump during a visit to New York in September as “warm, good, constructive.” He said the discussions were an “important first step,” but that more detailed talks would be needed “until we will have a real plan where Ukraine is strong.”

Zelensky noted that his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, would travel to the US as soon as possible for meetings, including with Trump’s pick to be special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg.

Kellogg favors a ceasefire and peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, which would include security guarantees for Ukraine to protect against future Russian invasions.

Zelensky told Sky News that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not ready to negotiate, however. “He doesn’t want to stop the war,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader added that he would like Trump to succeed and for the US to “play one of the most crucial parts” in ending the war.

Prior to winning the election, Trump repeatedly claimed that the Russia-Ukraine war would not have started if he had been president. He also vowed to end the war, sometimes even claiming he would stop the years-long conflict before taking office. In July, he said he could settle the conflict in one day, without offering further details.

NATO membership

Zelensky’s comments come as the scale and severity of the conflict escalates, as Moscow makes increasing use of non-nuclear ballistic missiles. More than one million Ukrainian households were left without power Thursday following a widespread attack on critical energy infrastructure.

On Friday, Putin threatened to strike Ukraine again. He also praised Trump, describing him as an “intelligent and experienced” politician capable of finding “solutions.”

In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine’s US and European allies needed to better equip a greater number of its soldiers and provide more fighter jets. The country’s eastern front, where Moscow is fast advancing, “depends on the number of equipped brigades” and air defense, he added.

He also addressed widely reported calls by US officials to drop Ukraine’s minimum conscription age from 25 to 18 to address a critical shortage of manpower. “I want to ask our partners to do their part of the job and we will do our part of the job,” he said.

Asked by Sky News whether Ukraine would consider ceding some territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership, Zelensky said that such a solution could in theory help to end the war but that it would run counter to Ukraine’s constitution.

“The invitation (to join NATO) must be given to Ukraine within its internationally recognized border. You can’t give an invitation to just one part of the country… You have no right to recognize the occupied territory as territory of Russia,” he said.

Zelensky has long called for Ukraine’s unconditional accession to NATO, but it is highly unlikely that the country will be admitted to the military alliance before the war ends. During the interview, Zelensky reiterated his position that NATO membership was currently the only path to victory.

He admitted that he was afraid Ukraine might lose the war, and particularly the independence of its people. “If we will be alone, we will lose,” he said.

Maria Kostenko contributed to this report.

More than three months after the $40 million Bayesian superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily, killing seven people including British tech titan Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, plans to raise the luxury vessel are on the horizon.

And it will cost around $30 million to bring it to shore, according to those who want to manage the complex salvage.

This week, a consortium of insurers led by British Marine, which insure the yacht owned by the Lynch family, presented eight possible salvage plans to the prosecutor’s office in Termini Imerese, near the Porticello fishing port where the yacht went down in bad weather in the early morning of August 19, according to both the consortium and the prosecutor’s office.

The groups that tendered bids for the salvage operation have not been publicly named and are under strict non-disclosure gag orders set by prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano, who is in charge of the preliminary criminal investigation.

The remaining plans all involve rotating the 55.9-meter (184-foot) yacht, which weighs 534 tons, nearly 90 degrees onto the seabed without removing the fuel or dismantling the 72-meter (236-foot) mast.

The wreckage now rests on its right side some 50 meters (164 feet) below sea level, meaning the tip of the mast will stick out above the surface some 22 meters (72 feet) once the yacht is upright on the seabed and before it is lifted out of the water.

Plans vary on how to best raise it once stabilized. Some suggest using a harness system and giant cranes on salvage barges or specially-built piers to lift it, others a buoyancy system similar to what was used to right the Costa Concordia cruise ship. That ship sank off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012 and the subsequent marine salvage operation remains the largest and most expensive ever attempted. A buoyancy system would incorporate balloon-like devices that would float the vessel slowly.

Once the Bayesian superyacht is righted on the seabed and lifted to the surface of the water, it will either be towed, carried, or sailed to a secure port depending on the condition of the hull. It will most likely be taken to the nearby port of Palermo, some 8.4 nautical miles away, where it will be sequestered by law enforcement officials who will investigate the cause of the disaster and recover any sensitive data onboard.

Fifteen people survived the accident, including Lynch’s wife Angela Bacares and nine crew members. The ship’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, the engineer and a deckhand are all under investigation for manslaughter but have been allowed to leave the country.

The other crew members and passengers were questioned at length in the days after the accident. No formal criminal charges have yet been filed.

The prosecutor Cammarano said that the criminal investigation into culpability will hinge on what investigators find when the ship is brought to shore, including whether doors were left open or improperly secured, or whether a design flaw led to the sinking.

The salvage plans include ensuring that the hull, doors and mast stay intact to aid in the investigation. Bayesian manufacturer Perini Navi has said the yacht was “unsinkable” and blames the captain and his crew for negligence that caused the vessel’s demise.

The superyacht, which was originally named Salute and then renamed after the Bayesian computation theory when Lynch’s family bought it, was kitted out with luxury fixtures and state-of-the-art navigational technology, as well as watertight safes containing what is believed to be highly sensitive data that Lynch always traveled with.

The yacht is insured for around $2.1 billion, according to records filed in Italy, which lists several different insurance companies that covered the ship for liability as well as its engine and hull.

Once the recovery plan has been chosen, the prosecutor’s office will have to sign off on the decision to make sure the salvage plan does not compromise the criminal investigation.

The Italian Coast Guard and Civil Protection agencies, which will secure the port, will also have to approve the salvage plan, which is expected to begin in mid to late January and wrap up by February. After the physical investigation of the vessel, the prosecutor will determine whether any manslaughter or other charges are filed.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s brief stop in Hawaii may have appeared understated – no formal US reception, no grand speeches – but its implications extend far beyond floral wreaths and banquets.

On his way to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau – three of Taiwan’s remaining handful of diplomatic allies – Lai was using the visit to underscore Taiwan’s diplomatic resilience amid intensifying pressure from Beijing. It also comes as Taiwan contends with the upcoming leadership change inside the White House.

Though billed as an unofficial transit, the trip drew scrutiny, particularly from China, which condemned Lai’s visit and is expected to respond with military drills near Taiwan. This was more than a layover; it reaffirmed Taiwan’s partnerships with the US and other democracies – alliances Beijing is eager to undermine.

China’s reaction to Lai’s visit was predictably fierce. A spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office called it “a provocative act” and insisted that efforts to seek Taiwan independence “are doomed to fail.”

On Sunday, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “firmly opposes any form of US connivance or support for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and their separatist activities.”

“China strongly condemns the US’s arranging for Lai Ching-te’s ‘stopover’ and has lodged serious protests with the US,” it said in a statement.

According to Kolas Yotaka, a former spokesperson for Lai and his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, such responses are routine.

Taiwanese security agencies anticipate that Beijing – which claims the self-governing island as its own territory – will use Lai’s trip as a pretext for military drills near Taiwan, potentially under the codename “Joint Sword-2024C.” Such exercises, often accompanied by propaganda campaigns, are a familiar tactic. Beijing has staged similar displays of force following high-profile interactions between Taiwan and the US, including former President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to California last year.

“This kind of suppression will not stop,” Yotaka warned. “We have to assume the worst is yet to come.”

US-Taiwan ties

Lai’s Hawaii visit comes at a critical juncture in US-Taiwan relations. As the US transitions to a second Donald Trump administration, Taiwan’s leaders face significant uncertainties. While Trump’s first term saw increased arms sales to Taiwan, his recent comments suggesting Taiwan should “pay for its defense” hint at a more transactional approach.

Taiwan does largely pay for its defense, through billions of dollars spent on US-made weapons. And unlike Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, it is not shielded by a mutual defense treaty with the United States.

Before departing Taiwan, Lai emphasized shared democratic values in global partnerships. “I want to use the values of democracy, peace, and prosperity to expand our cooperation with allies and show the world that Taiwan is not just a model of democracy but a vital force for peace and stability,” he said.

Some critics question the value of Taiwan’s relationships with small Pacific nations, but Yotaka firmly disagrees. “If a country is dismissed as small and unimportant, then Taiwan could be similarly dismissed,” she said. “These relationships are not just symbolic – they are critical for Taiwan’s security.”

Alliances with nations such as the Marshall Islands and Palau may lack the weight of those with larger powers, but offer platforms for engagement and bolster Taiwan’s global presence.

Lai’s trip, including his quietly significant Hawaii stop, highlights Taiwan’s ongoing fight for recognition and sovereignty as a frontline democracy confronting authoritarian pressure.

“No single person can save Taiwan,” Yotaka said. “Only a strong alliance of democracies can make a difference.”

As Beijing ups the pressure and the global power balance shifts, Taiwan’s future depends on its ability to adapt, innovate, and rally allies. Lai’s journey across the Pacific is an attempt to do just that – a calculated move in a long, high-stakes geopolitical game.