Rob Lee (Twitter)

“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed on Monday that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and military units have been deployed to its Kursk region”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/nato-chief-says-he-can-confirm-north-korean-troops-are-russias-kursk-2024-10-28/

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

🇺🇸🇳🇴 The Norwegian Defense Material Agency has signed a ~$363 million Foreign Military Sales Letter of Offer and Acceptance with the US Department of Defense for an undisclosed number of AIM-120C-8 AMRAAMs. These will primarily equip Norway's NASAMS batteries, but F-35s too. https://twitter.com/ColbyBadhwar/status/1800611019800076642#m

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

🇨🇭🇺🇦 Swiss President Viola Amherd wants to amend the country's arms export control laws, which have blocked third party transfers of arms to Ukraine.

"Personally, I think we need to make a step forward for our industry. It becomes difficult because countries like the Netherlands have decided not to buy in Switzerland as it's not free to re-export," she said at a press conference. https://twitter.com/ColbyBadhwar/status/1831316282735743313#m

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

🇱🇹 Lithuania's incoming government is pledging to spend at least 3.5% of GDP on defense. Lithuania's current defense spending is 2.85% per NATO's estimates provided in June.

This is the way.

Ukraine Battle Map (Twitter)

@Maks_NAFO_FELLA: That’s the swamp that Moscow was built on top of.

Ukraine Battle Map (Twitter)

@WarMonitor3: US is watching them closely and carefully planning a strong worded statement in response

Ukraine Battle Map (Twitter)

@WarMonitor3: Trump is a Russian agent. Trump and Musk reportedly called Putin for the past 2 years, which clearly has influenced their actions and positions. Trump has many friends and campaign officials with connections to Russia. This seems planned and coordinated. It’s part of Putin’s plan

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

Funds from the ~$50 billion loan to Ukraine from the G7, backed by Russian frozen assets, are expected to begin flowing in December. The allocation is as follows:

🇺🇸 - $20 billion
🇪🇺 - $20 billion
🇨🇦 - $3.6 billion
🇯🇵 - $3 billion
🇬🇧 - $3 billion

All funds are to be disbursed no later than December 2027, but could be much sooner than that. The Biden Admin intends to disburse all of their share by the end of the President's term.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@ZizkaFella: They approved up to 35 billion Euros on the basis that the United States might not have joined the agreement unless the EU implemented a long term freeze of the assets. I expect that they won't provide the full 35 with everyone else meeting their commitment.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@Vincent_99_: No, not all.

‌Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@HonzaStropekReplying to @ZizkaFella:

‌Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@taxofonasReplying to @ZizkaFella:

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

🚨🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺🇰🇵 @DepPentPressSec now acknowledges that there are at least 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The Admin's previous figure was 3000.

"We are increasingly concerned that Russia intends to use these soldiers in combat or to support combat operations against Ukrainian forces"

Via AP. Link in alt text.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@alexis_rapin: Thanks for the insight.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@AndresKasekamp: National defense is mostly non-partisan on NATO's eastern front.

Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (Twitter)

@IInqntrol @Vincent_99_: Undetermined right now. I don't know whether the EU has announced earmarks or not. The US contribution could either be 50/50 or 100% economic.