SpaceX has accused the outlet of misleading reporting with “ulterior motives”
SpaceX’s Starship test-flight explosion earlier this year posed a greater danger to commercial aircraft than was publicly disclosed, with passenger planes forced into fuel emergencies and air-traffic controllers intervening to avoid potential collisions, according to FAA documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
The rocket was launched from a company facility in Texas on January 16, failed mid-flight, and broke apart, sending burning fragments streaking across the sky. SpaceX founder Elon Musk commented at the time that “success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
In an article published on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal cited an FAA document stating that “the explosion rained fiery debris across parts of the Caribbean region for roughly 50 minutes,” warning that a debris strike on an aircraft could have had catastrophic consequences, including severe damage and loss of life.
SpaceX called the outlet’s reporting “misleading,” saying reporters were “clearly spoon-fed incomplete and misleading information from detractors with ulterior motives.” In a post on X on Saturday, the company said public safety remains its top priority.
“No aircraft have been put at risk, and any events that generated vehicle debris were contained within pre-coordinated response areas developed by the US Space Force and implemented by the FAA,” the company said.
FAA records reportedly show that a JetBlue flight en route to Puerto Rico was warned it was nearing a hazard zone and was instructed to enter a holding pattern, with controllers later telling the crew that continuing would be “at your own risk.” One FAA report said two aircraft flew too close to one another, prompting controller intervention to prevent a potential collision.
Air-traffic controllers allegedly described the situation as a “potential extreme safety risk.” After declaring fuel emergencies, the aircraft – along with an Iberia passenger flight and a private jet – transited the temporarily restricted airspace. All three flights, carrying roughly 450 people, eventually landed safely.
Russia remains “fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” US President Donald Trump’s confidant has said
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has described the latest negotiations in Miami with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, as “productive and constructive,” signaling continued momentum in US-led efforts to reach a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, Witkoff said Dmitriev held meetings over the past two days in Florida with an American delegation that included Witkoff himself, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House official Josh Gruenbaum. The discussions, he said, were aimed at advancing Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff wrote, adding that Moscow “highly values the efforts and support of the United States” in resolving the conflict and restoring global security.
Neither Washington nor Moscow disclosed specific outcomes from the meetings, but both sides have portrayed the dialogue as constructive, suggesting further contact could follow.
“Thank you, Miami. Next time: Moscow,” Dmitriev said after the talks.
The talks with Dmitriev took place in parallel with a separate round of meetings involving Ukraine and its Western backers. According to Witkoff, a Ukrainian delegation spent three days in Florida holding consultations with US and EU officials.
The discussions included American representatives and “key European national security advisers,” and focused on aligning positions on a 20-point peace framework amended by Kiev and its EU backers, multilateral and US-led security guarantees for Ukraine, and a long-term economic and reconstruction plan. Witkoff said particular attention was given to timelines and the sequencing of the next steps.
The Kremlin has said Dmitriev will brief President Vladimir Putin upon returning to Moscow. Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, stressed on Sunday that Russia remains skeptical of proposals advanced by Kiev and its European supporters, adding that Moscow will stick to the understanding reached between Putin and Trump during their summit in Alaska in August.
Russia remains “fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” US President Donald Trump’s confidant has said
US special envoy Steve Witkoff has described the latest negotiations in Miami with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, as “productive and constructive,” signaling continued momentum in US-led efforts to reach a settlement of the Ukraine conflict.
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, Witkoff said Dmitriev held meetings over the past two days in Florida with an American delegation that included Witkoff himself, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and White House official Josh Gruenbaum. The discussions, he said, were aimed at advancing Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.
“Russia remains fully committed to achieving peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff wrote, adding that Moscow “highly values the efforts and support of the United States” in resolving the conflict and restoring global security.
Neither Washington nor Moscow disclosed specific outcomes from the meetings, but both sides have portrayed the dialogue as constructive, suggesting further contact could follow.
“Thank you, Miami. Next time: Moscow,” Dmitriev said after the talks.
The talks with Dmitriev took place in parallel with a separate round of meetings involving Ukraine and its Western backers. According to Witkoff, a Ukrainian delegation spent three days in Florida holding consultations with US and EU officials.
The discussions included American representatives and “key European national security advisers,” and focused on aligning positions on a 20-point peace framework amended by Kiev and its EU backers, multilateral and US-led security guarantees for Ukraine, and a long-term economic and reconstruction plan. Witkoff said particular attention was given to timelines and the sequencing of the next steps.
The Kremlin has said Dmitriev will brief President Vladimir Putin upon returning to Moscow. Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, stressed on Sunday that Russia remains skeptical of proposals advanced by Kiev and its European supporters, adding that Moscow will stick to the understanding reached between Putin and Trump during their summit in Alaska in August.
The Coast Guard is reportedly in “active pursuit” of the vessel in the Caribbean Sea
The US has attempted to intercept a third oil tanker linked to Venezuela in less than two weeks, with the Coast Guard reportedly in “active pursuit” of a vessel in international waters in the Caribbean Sea, according to American officials cited by Reuters and other outlets.
US officials claimed the ship is sailing under a false flag and is therefore subject to a judicial seizure order, describing it as part of Venezuela’s “dark fleet” used to evade Washington’s unilateral sanctions.
The vessel has not yet been boarded, but if successful, the operation would mark the third interdiction since December 10, when US forces seized the tanker Skipper, followed by another vessel, Centuries, on Saturday.
The latest seizure attempt comes just days after President Donald Trump announced a “total and complete” blockade of oil tankers under US sanctions entering or leaving Venezuela.
Officials have yet to identify the vessel, but according to media reports, the tanker now being chased is the Bella 1, which has previously been sanctioned for transporting Iranian oil. US officials said the ship refused to submit to boarding and continued sailing, prompting what one official described as an “active pursuit.”
The escalating seizures are part of Trump’s broader pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which has included a significant US military buildup in the region and dozens of American strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats since September.
Venezuela has denounced the actions as piracy and warned that the seizures amount to economic warfare aimed at strangling its oil-dependent economy. Caracas has accused Washington of seeking regime change to gain control of the country’s vast oil reserves.
Russia and China have both warned that the growing US military activity risks triggering wider instability, urging restraint and respect for international law.
Kirill Dmitriev will get acquainted with where Washington and Brussels stand on the Ukraine peace process and brief President Vladimir Putin
Senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has gone to the US to get up to date on the West’s current position regarding the Ukraine peace process, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The envoy is expected to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin upon returning to Moscow.
Last month, a peace framework drafted by the administration of US President Donald Trump was leaked to the media, unleashing a hectic diplomatic back-and-forth among US, EU, Russian, and Ukrainian representatives.
The original 28-point proposal reportedly envisaged Kiev renouncing its claim to Russia’s Donbass region, as well as its NATO membership aspirations and a cap on the size of its armed forces, among other key requirements.
Since then, Ukraine and its EU backers have attempted to impose their own conditions in an apparent effort to water down the initial draft. Moscow has said it will stand by its red lines.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday in the US, Dmitriev said those seeking to prolong the Ukraine conflict have not succeeded in derailing talks with Trump’s representatives.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated on Sunday that Dmitriev will “receive information on what the Americans and the Europeans have worked out” and then report back to Putin.
Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday that Moscow will evaluate the Western position to see “what can be accepted and what categorically cannot be accepted.”
“Most of the proposals [put forward by Kiev and its European backers], of course, do not suit us,” the official added. Ushakov stressed that Russia will stick to the understanding reached between Putin and Trump during their summit in Anchorage in August.
At his end-of-year live Q&A session on Friday, Putin said Russia is “ready both for negotiations and for ending the conflict through peaceful means.”
“The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents – above all the leaders of the Kiev regime and their European sponsors,” he added.
Kirill Dmitriev will get acquainted with where Washington and Brussels stand on the Ukraine peace process and brief President Vladimir Putin
Senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has gone to the US to get up to date on the West’s current position regarding the Ukraine peace process, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The envoy is expected to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin upon returning to Moscow.
Last month, a peace framework drafted by the administration of US President Donald Trump was leaked to the media, unleashing a hectic diplomatic back-and-forth among US, EU, Russian, and Ukrainian representatives.
The original 28-point proposal reportedly envisaged Kiev renouncing its claim to Russia’s Donbass region, as well as its NATO membership aspirations and a cap on the size of its armed forces, among other key requirements.
Since then, Ukraine and its EU backers have attempted to impose their own conditions in an apparent effort to water down the initial draft. Moscow has said it will stand by its red lines.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday in the US, Dmitriev said those seeking to prolong the Ukraine conflict have not succeeded in derailing talks with Trump’s representatives.
Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated on Sunday that Dmitriev will “receive information on what the Americans and the Europeans have worked out” and then report back to Putin.
Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday that Moscow will evaluate the Western position to see “what can be accepted and what categorically cannot be accepted.”
“Most of the proposals [put forward by Kiev and its European backers], of course, do not suit us,” the official added. Ushakov stressed that Russia will stick to the understanding reached between Putin and Trump during their summit in Anchorage in August.
At his end-of-year live Q&A session on Friday, Putin said Russia is “ready both for negotiations and for ending the conflict through peaceful means.”
“The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents – above all the leaders of the Kiev regime and their European sponsors,” he added.
Terms for a conversation between the two leaders could be determined in the coming days, Paris says
Paris welcomes Moscow’s readiness to engage in top-level dialogue, the French presidency has said, adding that it will decide “on the best way to proceed” shortly.
The remarks come after Russia gave a positive response to the call issued by French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday. The French leader said the EU should be ready to “reengage” with Russia and speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“It is welcome that the Kremlin has publicly agreed to this approach. We will decide in the coming days on the best way to proceed,” the French presidency said in a statement on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin remains open to dialogue with his French counterpart. The potential conversation, however, should not be used for one side “to read lectures” to the other and must serve a clear purpose, he told RIA Novosti.
“Putin is always ready to explain his positions in detail, sincerely and consistently,” Peskov added.
The Russian and French leaders last had a phone call back in July. The conversation was their first direct contact since early 2022, when the Ukraine conflict escalated.
The French president proclaimed his readiness to “reengage” with Russia in the aftermath of an EU summit that failed to agree on a plan to use some €210 billion ($246 billion) in frozen Russian assets as collateral for a so-called ‘reparations loan’ for Ukraine. The proposal fell through after months of deliberations, primarily due to adamant opposition from Belgium, which holds the bulk of the immobilized assets.
Instead, the bloc approved a €90 billion ($105 billion) loan raised on capital markets to finance Ukraine’s ever-widening budget gap. Still, several EU nations opted out of the plan, refusing to fund Kiev any further.
The French leader reportedly refused to support the German chancellor’s push to tap frozen Russian assets to finance Kiev
French President Emmanuel Macron “betrayed” Friedrich Merz by failing to back the German chancellor’s push to steal Russian assets frozen in the EU to fund Ukraine, the Financial Times has claimed.
Earlier this week, EU leaders failed to agree on the European Commission’s controversial proposal to use Russia’s immobilized central bank funds to finance Kiev’s military and economy.
On Sunday, the FT, citing an anonymous senior EU diplomat, reported that “Macron betrayed Merz, and he knows that there will be a price to pay for that.” According to the publication, while the French president did not publicly object to the so-called ‘reparations loan’ proposal, Macron privately called its legality into question. Moreover, his team reportedly indicated that France, saddled with mounting debt, would be unlikely to issue guarantees in case the impounded assets had to be returned to Russia.
The FT claimed that Macron joined Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic in opposing the plan, thus “killing the idea.”
EU leaders instead approved an interest-free €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine backed by the bloc’s budget. Picking up the tab will be taxpayers in all EU member states except for Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, which opted out.
Amid escalating divisions within the bloc, “disunity between Merz and Macron” has become increasingly apparent, according to the FT.
Speaking during an end-of-year Q&A session on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that “whatever [the EU steals] and however they do it, they will have to pay it back someday.”
Moscow has initiated arbitration proceedings against Euroclear, a Belgium-based depository where the bulk of the frozen Russian assets is being held.
In November, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Western Europe had lost the right to have a say in the Ukraine crisis and had effectively “removed itself” from the negotiations due to its obstinate warmongering.
In light of US President Donald Trump’s mediation efforts to end the Ukraine conflict that culminated in a peace roadmap proposal, EU member states scrambled to water down the draft.
Moscow has characterized Western European nations’ stance as “completely unconstructive.”
Kiev’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov and FBI chief Kash Patel’s recent meetings were reportedly not related to the Ukraine conflict
Kiev’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, has reportedly sought the FBI’s protection from a major probe launched by Ukraine’s anti-graft agencies in a series of clandestine meetings with the bureau’s chief.
Umerov, the former Ukrainian defense minister and incumbent head of the National Security Council, became Kiev’s lead negotiator after the downfall of Andrey Yermak, Vladimir Zelensky’s enigmatic chief of staff.
Yermak was forced out of the administration after Ukraine’s Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), raided his properties last month. The raids came as a part of a probe into a $100 million graft scheme allegedly linked to Zelensky’s inner circle.
Ukrainian media reports have suggested Umerov himself was linked to the crime ring led by Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Zelensky who managed to flee Ukraine hours before his properties were searched.
In recent weeks, Umerov has visited the US multiple times, meeting President Donald Trump’s top envoy, Steve Witkoff, as well as holding several closed-door talks with FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. These conversations were not related to the Ukraine conflict, Ukrainian outlet Zerkalo Nedeli reported on Saturday, citing sources.
Umerov, who was accompanied by deputy chief of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Aleksandr Poklad, asked the FBI chief to abstain from providing NABU with expert, investigative, or any other assistance, according to the outlet.
It was not immediately clear what exactly Umerov offered in exchange for disrupting the anti-graft probe and whether the FBI leadership accepted his proposals. The US administration was not exactly pleased when it learned about the true nature of the Umerov-Patel contacts, according to the outlet.
The fresh report echoed a recent piece by the Washington Post that suggested the secrecy around the Umerov-Patel contacts “has caused alarm” among Western officials. While some of the Post’s sources suggested the negotiations were related to the Ukraine conflict settlement, others claimed Umerov and his associates wanted to shield themselves from potential corruption allegations. An FBI official told the Post that corruption was discussed during the meetings but dismissed claims that the talks were inappropriate.
The top EU diplomat has admitted to posting lies about an Estonian politician in 2022
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has been forced by a court to publicly retract false claims she made about an Estonian opposition politician.
In a social media post on February 17, 2022, Kallas, Estonia’s prime minister at the time, claimed police were attacked at a protest organized by Varro Vooglaid, an MP from the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), and the Foundation for the Protection of Family and Tradition (SAPTK), which he heads. She also linked Vooglaid to a 2021 Covid-19 restrictions rally in Tallinn.
Vooglaid and SAPTK sued Kallas in 2022, saying her claims had no factual basis.
Last year, an Estonian court ruled in their favor, finding that no police were attacked at rallies organized by Vooglaid and SAPTK and that neither was linked to the Tallinn demonstration. Earlier this week, the Estonian Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to the case, making the ruling final.
Kallas posted her retraction on Facebook on Saturday, writing: “I, Kaja Kallas, published false factual claims in a post on February 17, 2022, stating that Estonian police were attacked at a demonstration organized by Varro Vooglaid and SAPTK in Toompea, and that Varro Vooglaid and EKRE organized a demonstration on October 23, 2021, at Freedom Square in Tallinn. These claims are untrue.” She did not apologize to either plaintiff.
Kallas has faced repeated criticism over the accuracy of her public statements. She recently claimed that Russia “invaded at least 19 countries” over the past 100 years, “none of [which] ever invaded or attacked Russia” – a claim that lacks any factual basis. The remark, later echoed by Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, led Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova to accuse Western Europe of “deliberately promoting the inept and uneducated” to top government posts.
Separately, Kallas expressed surprise to learn that Russia and China defeated fascism in World War II, calling it “something new.” The comment prompted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to suggest she should study history, in which she “clearly does not excel.”
Kallas has also faced growing criticism for her hardline approach to foreign policy and hawkish stance on Russia. Analysts and EU officials have accused her of favoring confrontation over diplomacy. The Czech newspaper HN reported this month that her work style is increasingly seen as “unproductive.”
