“Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming U.S. president will demand NATO member states increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine,” the Financial Times reports.

“During his White House campaign, Trump vowed to cut off aid to Ukraine, force Kyiv into immediate peace talks, and leave NATO allies undefended if they failed to spend enough on defense — spooking European capitals.”

“But in a boost for allies deeply concerned over their ability to support and protect Ukraine without Washington’s backing, Trump now intends to maintain U.S. military supplies to Kyiv after his inauguration.”

For the first time, a new Gallup Poll finds the share of Americans who want to see the U.S. support Ukraine reclaiming territory from Russia dropped below half, to 48%.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities,” Reuters reports.

“When President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met European leaders for dinner in Brussels on Wednesday, the shadow of President-elect Donald Trump hung over the gathering. But it is not just Mr. Trump’s return to the White House that has scrambled Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.

“It is also the political disarray across the continent — a wave of instability that is depriving Europe of robust leadership at the very moment that Mr. Trump is challenging its deeply felt support for Ukraine and its hard-fought resistance of Russian aggression.”

President-elect Donald Trump ramped up his campaign of mockery against Canada on Wednesday with a trolling Truth Social post in the early hours, the Daily Beast reports.

Said Trump: “No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”

“President-elect Donald Trump said Ukraine needs to reach a deal to end the Russian invasion and downplayed the value of occupied land, in the latest signal he may push for a settlement that codifies Russian territorial gains,” Bloomberg reports.

Said Trump: “He should be prepared to make a deal, that’s all. Got to be a deal. Too many people being killed.”

New York Times: “On Tuesday, Nigel Farage, the British politician who is an ally of Mr. Trump and the leader of the anti-immigration Reform U.K. party, became the latest to do so, sharing an image on social media that showed him at the resort with the tech billionaire Elon Musk.”

“That fueled speculation that Mr. Musk was intent on building up Britain’s populist, insurgent political force, which is emerging as a threat to the Labour government and the leading opposition party, the Conservatives.”

“Head of RT Margarita Simonyan, a decorated state TV propagandist and Kremlin insider, has spilled not only Russia’s hopes and dreams for Donald Trump’s second term in office but also Moscow’s strategy for suckering him in,” the Daily Beast reports.

“She believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has an irresistible sway over Trump and will extract the desired outcome—but only if they meet face-to-face, without any influence or interference from other American power brokers, à la Helsinki, where the two men held discussions in secret.”

“Israel and Saudi Arabia have recently reached a breakthrough in normalization talks that could also facilitate a deal for the release of hostages held by Hamas and an end to the war in Gaza,” Haaretz reports.

“Sources familiar with the negotiations said that instead of explicit Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, as Saudi Arabia had previously demanded, the sides agreed that Israel would provide the kingdom with a vague commitment to a ‘path towards Palestinian statehood.’ This would allow Saudi Arabia to fulfill its pledge not to abandon the Palestinians.”

President-elect Donald Trump once again called Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau “governor.”

He did so in a Truth Social post weighing in on the resignation of Trudeau’s deputy, Chrystia Freeland, saying “her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada.”

“American airstrikes targeted Islamic State camps in areas of Syria that were formerly controlled by Russia and Bashar al-Assad’s government, the United States Central Command said in a statement on Monday,” the New York Times reports.

“A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service on Tuesday morning in the most high-profile killing of its kind,” Reuters reports.

“Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is contemplating resigning due to a public dispute over the economy, exacerbated by President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs, CTV News reports.

“Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister who led Canada’s response to the first Trump administration, resigned on Monday from her cabinet role as finance minister, according to her resignation letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” the New York Times reports.

“The revelation came hours before she was scheduled to outline the government’s commitments to improve border security with the United States.”

“In her resignation letter, Ms. Freeland indicated that Mr. Trudeau attempted to force her out of the position last week. She had successfully renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement with the first Trump White House.”

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward “may have been duped by a so-called Syrian prisoner — a man who could actually be a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence,” The Wrap reports.