U.S. seizure of Russian tanker marks rare escalation in sanctions enforcement against "dark fleet," but experts say move unlikely to trigger confrontation.

Chinese, Russian, and Iranian warships have launched a week of naval drills off South Africa’s Cape Town coast, amid high geopolitical tensions over the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and its move to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan oil.

The governor of Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said on Saturday that 600,000 residents were without electricity, heating and water after a Ukrainian missile strike. In a statement posted on Telegram,

Russia fired a hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Ukraine in retaliation for an alleged attack on one of Putin's residences that the U.S. and Ukraine have denied.

Simon Migliano, who compiled the Top10VPN shutdown report, told me “Iran’s current nationwide blackout is a blunt instrument intended to crush dissent, starkly different from the sophisticated, slow-burn digital censorship we’re seeing in Russia.”

Ukraine's commander in chief said December was the first month that its drones "neutralized" roughly as many Russians as were called up.

The Kremlin has not commented on Trump's Greenland ambitions, with analysts saying they serve a bigger purpose for Moscow.

Russia's FSB said Laurent Vinatier was freed in exchange for Daniil Kasatkin, a Russian who was wanted in the United States for alleged involvement in ransomware attacks.