North Korea accused of testing weapons in Ukraine it can use against South Korea, U.S. and Russia talking partial ceasefire, Congress turns eyes to 2026 budget.
1. North Korea is using its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to test weapons it could deploy against the South in a future conflict, Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul said in a news report Sunday. Ukraine and South Korea share a common adversary, Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko said in written remarks published by Yonhap News. South Korea “should not forget that Pyongyang also uses Ukrainian soil as a testing ground for its weaponry, which could be used in future possible standoff,” Ponomarenko said. Seoul “has no reason to hesitate in the development of full-scale military-technical cooperation” with Kyiv, he said.
2. U.S. and Russian negotiators on Monday sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine, hours after a round of negotiations between U.S. and Ukrainian delegations, Russian news reports said. The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies said the negotiations had begun in the capital Riyadh. The meeting is expected to be followed by another contact between U.S. and Ukrainian teams. The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks from both Russia and Ukraine against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, as well as a halt on attacks in the Black Sea to ensure safe commercial shipping.
3. Congress returns to Capitol Hill this week with a budget plan in place for the rest of fiscal 2025 but uncertainty over when lawmakers will have an outline for federal spending in fiscal 2026. Earlier this month, Congress finalized spending plans for federal programs through September, lifting the threat of a possible government shutdown until this fall. But the extended delay in settling the current budget has pushed back the timeline for the next round of budget debates, which are typically well underway by late March. The White House has yet to unveil spending levels and program priorities for fiscal 2026, a process that usually begins in early February in non-transition years and by early April when a new administration takes office.
4. Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 25 Palestinians, including several women and children, according to three hospitals Monday. The strikes came nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds. Meanwhile, officials say Egypt has introduced a new proposal to try and get the Israel-Hamas ceasefire back on track. Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, in return for Israel allowing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and a weekslong pause in the fighting, an Egyptian official said Monday. Israel would also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
5. The U.S. has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including the interior minister who also heads a powerful network blamed for bloody attacks against Afghanistan’s former Western-backed government, officials in Kabul said Sunday. Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including U.S. citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. The FBI website on Sunday still featured a wanted poster for him. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the U.S. government had revoked the bounties placed on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani.
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