Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's former spokesperson urged him Sunday to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face in Moscow, arguing that his past business and political connections in the Russian capital from years back could help him negotiate a peace deal there.

Iuliia Mendel, who served as Zelenskyy's spokesperson from 2019 to 2021, told Fox News Digital that the former comedian had also made his first millions in Russia and should perhaps leverage those ties to pursue lasting peace.

"When Zelenskyy was an entertainer, he often performed in Moscow," Mendel said, adding that the Ukrainian president "knows a lot of people from Putin's elite."

"He actually professionally grew in Moscow and earned his first millions in Moscow, and today he pretends that he has nothing in common with them," Mendel said.

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"He needs to go to Moscow and needs to agree on compromises that are acceptable," she said, before adding that Zelenskyy "doesn't need to play his maximalist games and to play this noble actor."

Mendel's criticism came as Ukraine, Russia and the United States prepared for another round of technical-level peace talks, potentially in Abu Dhabi or Switzerland, in November.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have helped lay the groundwork for renewed negotiations that officials hope could finally lead to direct talks between the two leaders.

Before entering politics, Zelenskyy had built a successful entertainment career. Beginning in the late 1990s, he performed with the comedy troupe Kvartal 95, competed on the Russian-language comedy program KVN and later worked as an actor, writer and producer in television and movies. 

From the late 1990s, he performed on Russian stages and at private parties and appeared in movies shown across former Soviet republics, Mendel claimed. 

She said that after Russia annexed Crimea and launched its war in Donbas in early 2014, Zelenskyy traveled to Russia to work on the comedy film "Eight New Dates" which was released in Russian theaters in 2015.

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According to a report by Business Insider, many of Zelenskyy's movies were also in Russian and were marketed to a Russian audience, David Dodson, an American movie editor who worked with Zelenskyy told the outlet.

"He was a well-loved comic, actor and performer in Russia, but after [the 2013-14] Maidan [Revolution], everything changed," Dodson said.

"People need to realize that Volodya’s movies were very big in Russia. Most of his market was in Russia. He’s always been a popular comedy star in Russia," Dobson also clarified to GQ when asked if he directed the former actor in "Eight First Dates" in Russia, released in 2012.

In 2013, the movie received the Russian National Movie Awards as the Best Russian Comedy of the Year.

In 2019, Zelenskyy also promised to relinquish ownership of a Cyprus-registered company operating a film studio in Russia after investigative journalists revealed that he and his business partners still owned three Russian companies, according to the Kyiv Post.

Zelenskyy's entertainment career made him a household name in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics before he entered politics and won Ukraine's 2019 presidential election with roughly 73% of the runoff vote on promises to fight corruption and pursue peace in eastern Ukraine.

Mendel argued that Zelenskyy's promise to bring peace at the time stands in stark contrast to the devastating war that has crippled the country and defined much of his presidency.

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"Zelenskyy became the president with 73% record support," Mendel said. "Because he promised to bring peace to Ukraine."

"And now he has been presiding for almost five years (over) the largest war in Europe since World War II. This shows a lot."

"When his country is bleeding, he needs to make a peace deal for his people," she said before adding that the leader "needs to put the interests of his people first, just for Ukraine to exist as an independent state."

Whether Zelenskyy should travel to Moscow has, in fact, become a flashpoint in efforts to arrange direct peace talks.

In 2025, Putin offered to host Zelenskyy for talks in Moscow, but the Ukrainian president rejected the invitation as Russian forces continued attacking Ukraine.

"He can come to Kyiv," Zelenskyy told ABC News at the time, saying he could not visit Moscow while Ukraine remained under Russian missile attacks.

In September, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Russian journalists pressed Zelenskyy on when he would visit Moscow. He replied, "On a missile."

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Mendel, however, argued that personal animosity between the two leaders has become the main obstacle to diplomacy.

"Today there are diplomatic efforts to try to stop this brutal and bloody war that Russia started," she said.

"But what we see now is a personal opposition between Zelenskyy and Putin that continues to grow into constant escalation in which people suffer tremendously, Ukraine's infrastructure, energy grid, and businesses are in ruins, and refugees are fleeing."

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. More than four years later, peace negotiations are deadlocked over territory, security guarantees and the terms of a lasting ceasefire.

Moscow has demanded territorial concessions from Ukraine, including areas Russian forces do not fully control.

Kyiv has rejected ceding sovereign territory and insists that any agreement include enforceable security guarantees against another Russian attack.

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Mendel went on to praise President Donald Trump's efforts to break the diplomatic deadlock, calling him the first Western leader to "challenge the status quo" and consistently push for an end to the war.

"For this reason, many Ukrainians place great hope in his ability to bring peace," she said.

"A sustainable peace deal cannot be reached solely between Zelensky and Putin; it requires the involvement and initiative of a strong third party to halt the ongoing devastation."

On Friday, the White House announced that first lady Melania Trump had helped broker a temporary ceasefire in Oleshky, a Russian-occupied town in southern Ukraine's Kherson region, to allow humanitarian aid deliveries, demining operations and civilian evacuations.

An estimated 1,700 to 2,000 people remain in the devastated front-line town, many of them facing severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials.

The White House said the ceasefire would begin Oct. 29, although Ukrainian and Russian officials have indicated that operations could begin Oct. 27.

Pope Leo also reportedly spoke with Zelenskyy and Putin about the humanitarian crisis, according to Vatican News.

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"Melania Trump has become synonymous with the words of a saver and a hero, since she has brokered the deal for Oleshky," Mendel said. "This is something that is going to save around 2,000 people and that neither Ukraine nor Russia could have solved for months and months."

"That is why, you know, what Melania Trump has done is actually a case to show that where two men are fighting, a woman can actually save lives," she added.

"And this is the new approach that would show that peace really should focus on human lives, not on maps and territories."

Mendel also criticized the influence of Zelenskyy's longtime ally Andriy Yermak on his diplomatic approach, arguing that the Ukrainian president has favored confrontation over compromise.

"Mr. Yermak was teaching Zelenskiy to be a strong man in diplomacy. And what today we see is actually diplomacy that doesn't exist," she said.

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"It's a diplomacy of humiliation, diplomacy of constant threats, diplomacy of demands," Mendel added.

L’oligarca statunitense Elon Musk si è scagliato contro coloro che sostengono la prosecuzione del conflitto in Ucraina, definendoli la "feccia" della società.

«Sì, questo idiota è così fottutamente ottuso da non rendersi conto che le nostre politiche sono a favore del popolo ucraino. Pezzi di merda come lui vogliono che la guerra continui finché non sarà morto anche l'ultimo uomo in Ucraina, in un fosso», ha scritto su X, in risposta a un post del commentatore di Fox Josh Kraushaar, il quale sosteneva che «nessuna somma di denaro da parte di Musk può cambiare la realtà fondamentale dell'opinione pubblica statunitense».

«Sono la feccia assoluta della Terra», ha aggiunto l'imprenditore. Il commento dell’oligarca giungeva in risposta a un post dell'analista politico John Hawkins, che lo aveva difeso osservando come «l'intera idea che lui sia una sorta di mostro - semplicemente perché non vuole che decine di migliaia di persone muoiano senza motivo - sia una follia alimentata da soggetti in malafede».

LA NOTIZIA CHE HAI LETTO FA PARTE DE "Il MONDO IN 10 NOTIZIE" - LA NEWSLETTER CHE OGNI GIORNO ALLE 7.00 DEL MATTINO ARRIVA NELLE EMAIL DEI NOSTRI ABBONATI. 

SCOPRI COME ABBONARTI A L'ANTIDIPLOMATICO E SOSTENERE LA NOSTRA LUNGA MARCIA

CLICCA QUI

L’Iran ha ottenuto un risultato senza precedenti in una causa contro gli Stati Uniti legata alle conseguenze delle sanzioni occidentali sulla salute dei cittadini. Il tribunale per le relazioni internazionali di Teheran ha condannato il governo statunitense e alcuni suoi funzionari a versare 6,785 miliardi di dollari di risarcimento materiale, morale e punitivo alle famiglie dei pazienti affetti da epidermolisi bollosa, una rara e grave malattia genetica nota come “pelle di farfalla”.

Secondo Hamid Hashemi Golpayegani, direttore dell’organizzazione Casa EB che assiste i malati, si tratta del primo risultato finanziario ottenuto dalla Repubblica Islamica in una procedura di questo tipo contro Washington nei suoi 48 anni di storia. Al centro della vicenda ci sono le sanzioni reintrodotte dopo il ritiro unilaterale degli Stati Uniti dall’accordo sul nucleare iraniano nel 2018. Le restrizioni e l’interruzione dei rapporti commerciali da parte di diverse aziende straniere avrebbero compromesso l’approvvigionamento di medicinali, materiali sanitari e dispositivi indispensabili. Tra i prodotti diventati difficili da reperire figurao le medicazioni specializzate utilizzate per trattare le lesioni dei pazienti, realizzate dall’azienda svedese Mölnlycke, indicata dalla fonte come unico produttore mondiale di quel tipo di materiale. Nonostante le dichiarate esenzioni umanitarie per farmaci e forniture mediche, gli ostacoli finanziari e commerciali avrebbero avuto conseguenze drammatiche sui malati iraniani.

La sentenza riguarda 771 ricorrenti, ai quali le autorità iraniane hanno riconosciuto la priorità nell’assegnazione dei fondi. Teheran ha disposto che una parte delle risorse ricavate dalla vendita di un carico di petrolio statunitense confiscato nel 2023 venga destinata ai risarcimenti. Secondo quanto riferito da Fars, è già stato ordinato il trasferimento delle somme ai beneficiari. La vicenda riporta al centro una questione spesso marginalizzata nel dibattito sulle sanzioni internazionali: il loro impatto concreto sulla popolazione civile, anche quando i beni umanitari risultano formalmente esclusi dalle restrizioni. Per i pazienti affetti da malattie rare, l’impossibilità di accedere a medicazioni e trattamenti adeguati può aggravare condizioni già estremamente difficili. Il caso iraniano assume quindi anche un significato politico e giuridico: Teheran evidenzia come la sentenza sia un riconoscimento dei danni provocati dalle misure statunitensi e un precedente nella sua lunga controversia con Washington.

Il procedimento iraniano riporta sotto i riflettori il costo umano delle politiche illegali e coercitive imposte dagli Stati Uniti ai paesi che non si allineano ai diktat di Washington.

LA NOTIZIA CHE HAI LETTO FA PARTE DE "Il MONDO IN 10 NOTIZIE" - LA NEWSLETTER CHE OGNI GIORNO ALLE 7.00 DEL MATTINO ARRIVA NELLE EMAIL DEI NOSTRI ABBONATI. 

SCOPRI COME ABBONARTI A L'ANTIDIPLOMATICO E SOSTENERE LA NOSTRA LUNGA MARCIA

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Il presidente brasiliano e candidato Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ha definito il suo avversario, Flávio Bolsonaro, un "bugiardo" durante la giornata elettorale del 25 ottobre, dichiarando di non aver mai assistito a una mobilitazione popolare come quella vista nel corso della campagna per il ballottaggio delle elezioni del 2026.

All'età di 80 anni e con cinque decenni di impegno nella vita politica, Lula ha parlato con sostenitori e giornalisti prima di recarsi a votare a San Paolo. Il presidente ha osservato che, pur avendo seguito ogni campagna presidenziale dal 1989, non aveva mai ricevuto tante manifestazioni di affetto da parte degli elettori come in questa occasione.

Il leader progressista si è detto commosso dalle manifestazioni di sostegno e ha affermato di recarsi alle urne con un sentimento di gratitudine verso il popolo brasiliano. "Ciò che hanno fatto per me in questi ultimi giorni è qualcosa per cui non potrò mai ringraziarli abbastanza. C'è così tanta generosità, così tanto affetto, così tanto amore. Ne sarò eternamente grato", ha dichiarato.

Lula ha poi criticato Bolsonaro, accusandolo di essere incapace di dire la verità. "Affrontiamo questa elezione contro un individuo che si chiama 'Menzogna'. È incapace di dire la verità", ha asserito, per poi concludere che, a suo avviso, i brasiliani non sceglieranno qualcuno che mente per l'intera durata della campagna elettorale: "Ecco perché credo che il popolo non eleggerà un bugiardo".

European leaders are considering appointing a senior representative to negotiate with Russia over Ukraine. But the search exposes a more fundamental problem: whether Europe can transform its economic strength, military resources and political influence into an independent capacity to shape its own security.

Europe is searching for someone capable of negotiating with Vladimir Putin. Yet the question confronting European capitals is considerably more difficult than identifying a politician with sufficient experience, authority and diplomatic skill. It is whether Europe possesses the political unity and strategic independence to negotiate with Moscow on equal terms.

According to diplomatic accounts published on 22nd October, five European leaders have emerged as possible representatives: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Czech President Petr Pavel, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

No appointment has been announced, and a group of negotiators may ultimately prove more acceptable than a single representative. The initiative reflects concern that Washington’s negotiations with Moscow could produce arrangements affecting European security without sufficient European influence over their terms.

The European Commission insists that the EU is already participating in diplomatic consultations, including discussions held in Oslo on 20th October. But participation in preliminary meetings is not the same as possessing the authority to determine the outcome.

The paradox of European power

Europe’s predicament contains an extraordinary contradiction. The European Union is among Ukraine’s principal financial supporters. Its governments provide military assistance, maintain sanctions against Russia and control decisions affecting Moscow’s future access to European markets. Nevertheless, European capitals remain concerned that the decisive political framework for ending the war could be negotiated principally between Washington and Moscow.

This anxiety has intensified under President Donald Trump, whose transactional approach increasingly treats diplomatic settlements as exchanges of economic concessions and strategic advantages.

As EU Today recently examined, proposals involving sanctions relief, renewed energy cooperation and commercial opportunities raise the possibility of arrangements that depend upon European consent but are negotiated elsewhere.

Washington can discuss reopening economic relations with Russia. It cannot independently reverse European sanctions, guarantee Ukraine’s accession to the EU or decide the continent’s future security arrangements. The European Council explicitly reaffirmed this distinction in its conclusions of 16th October, insisting that decisions affecting the Union’s security and responsibilities belong to Europe itself.

The central issue is therefore not whether Europe has influence, but whether it can organise that influence into a coherent negotiating position.

Why Ukraine must help choose Europe’s representative

An equally important weakness would arise if European governments selected their representative without making Kyiv an integral participant in the decision.

Ukraine is not merely the geographical subject of negotiations. Its government controls whether a proposed settlement can acquire political legitimacy, while its armed forces determine much of what can be implemented on the ground.

A negotiated agreement rejected by Kyiv could neither reliably end the war nor provide the security arrangements that Europe seeks.

European security, moreover, can no longer be considered independently of Ukraine’s military capabilities. Ukrainian forces possess extensive operational experience against Russia, including in drone warfare, electronic warfare and long-range strikes.

Any future continental defence architecture that excludes this experience would disregard one of Europe’s most consequential military assets.

An effective European representative would therefore require a mandate developed jointly with Ukraine, rather than simply endorsed by European governments after the event.

The danger of negotiating without leverage

The proposed candidates illustrate the difficulty of combining political authority with negotiating credibility. Meloni possesses a working relationship with Trump and considerable influence within European conservative politics. Stubb combines experience of Russia’s immediate neighbourhood with access to Washington. Pavel brings military expertise and an understanding of NATO’s command structures. Yet none could independently commit Europe’s governments to financial, military or territorial-security obligations.

This is the fundamental weakness of the proposed office. A negotiator requires more than access to powerful leaders. The ability to make commitments, withhold concessions and impose costs is what gives diplomatic representation substance.

Europe possesses potentially significant instruments: sanctions, industrial capacity, financial assistance and growing defence expenditure. But these remain distributed across institutions and national governments with differing strategic priorities.

Poland, the Baltic states and Nordic governments approach Russian security threats differently from several Western and Southern European capitals. Reconciling those positions is not an administrative exercise. It is a prerequisite for meaningful diplomacy.

The historical shadow of Yalta

The search also reflects European concern about a return to great-power bargaining over the continent’s political geography.

The historical comparison frequently invoked is Yalta in 1945, when Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin discussed Europe’s post-war settlement. Munich in 1938 offers another warning about negotiating territorial concessions at the expense of directly affected states. Neither precedent precisely describes the present situation.

Unlike the countries subjected to Soviet domination after the Second World War, today’s European states possess established institutions, substantial economic resources and collective defence arrangements. Ukraine, meanwhile, has demonstrated that Russia cannot simply dictate its political future through military superiority.

Nevertheless, the danger lies in accepting the underlying principle that powerful states possess a privileged right to determine the sovereignty and security choices of their neighbours.

Moscow’s demands concerning NATO, Ukrainian territory and Europe’s wider security arrangements extend beyond any conventional ceasefire negotiation.

A European representative would have to challenge that premise rather than merely negotiate the geographical limits of Russian influence.

From diplomatic representation to strategic authority

The debate inevitably leads to Europe’s military dependence upon the United States. An American withdrawal from NATO is not inevitable. Indeed, US legislation restricts unilateral presidential withdrawal. But Washington could substantially reduce its military commitments without formally abandoning the alliance.

Europe must therefore consider how much independent military capacity it requires to support its diplomatic positions. That entails coordinated procurement, integrated military planning, sustainable defence production and deeper cooperation with Britain, Norway, Canada and Ukraine. Recent security challenges in the Black Sea illustrate the difficulty of converting European diplomatic commitments into effective collective action.

These developments would not automatically create a European army or replace NATO. They could, however, give European governments greater freedom to act if American priorities diverge from their own.

The relationship between military capability and diplomacy is particularly important in dealing with Moscow. European representatives cannot expect Russia to revise its demands simply because Brussels has selected a more prominent interlocutor.

Russia would have to conclude that continued aggression carries greater costs than a settlement respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty. Europe’s diplomatic standing would then derive not from the personality of its representative but from the collective resources and political commitments behind that individual.

The immediate search for a negotiator may appear a limited diplomatic initiative. Its implications are considerably larger.

For decades, European security rested upon an arrangement in which American military power compensated for Europe’s fragmented strategic authority. The present negotiations are exposing the limitations of that model. The decisive question is not whether Meloni, Stubb, Pavel or another European leader can secure a place at the negotiating table. It is whether Europe can establish a common position, backed by Ukraine’s consent and by sufficient economic and military power, that neither Washington nor Moscow can disregard.

Without those foundations, a European envoy risks becoming a participant in decisions made by others. With them, the appointment could mark the beginning of a substantially different European role in international security.

Catherine et Jacques Saint-Martin, deux artistes plasticiens, présentent une exposition joyeuse et poétique à la boutique Minibout jusqu'à la fin du mois de décembre à Foix.

Sarmento lembra que as rendas para lá dos 2300 euros podem baixar e que não se cobrará esse valor quando os interessados não estão dispostos a pagar tanto. Mas não consegue afastar o risco apresentado pela UTAO. O ministro das Finanças afirmou este sábado ter dificuldade em perceber como a definição do conceito de “renda moderada” nos 2.300 euros possa aumentar os preços, argumentando que diminui os valores imediatamente acima, até 2.600 euros. “Tenho muita dificuldade em perceber como é que, ao fixar-se o limite da renda moderada até 2.300 euros, isso pode contribuir para aumentar as rendas. Não tenho

Les studios Paramount, basés à Hollywood en Californie, s’associent à l’artiste OakOak, grande figure de l’art urbain français, pour la sortie mondiale du film *Street Fighter*, réalisé par Kitao Sakurai. Cette...