THE NEWS

When Russian missiles and kamikaze drones rain down on Ukrainian cities, the world rightly points the finger at Vladimir Putin. But examine the wreckage, and the truth is undeniable: the guts of those weapons are stamped “Made in China.” Over 90% of the critical technology, microchips, and precursor chemicals fueling Russia’s defense industry are manufactured in Chinese factories. At the same time, Beijing serves as Moscow’s financial lifeline, guzzling Russian crude oil by the tanker-load and injecting tens of billions of dollars directly into the Kremlin’s treasury. Russia is pulling the trigger, but China is forging the bullets and filling the war chest.In an overwhelming demonstration of bipartisan resolve in Washington, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act was signed into law last week, arming the administration to bring decisive economic pressure against the war’s chief financiers and facilitators. With Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting the White House this week, President Trump should make clear his intention to honor Senator Graham’s legacy by vigorously implementing the bill — with an unblinking focus on Beijing.For more than four years, the free world has watched the Kremlin escalate its brutal war of conquest. In the first half of 2026 alone, civilian casualties climbed 114% over 2024 levels, punctuated this summer by devastating strikes on apartment buildings, passenger trains, and hospital first responders. But Russia cannot sustain this level of violence on its own. It is kept afloat — militarily and financially — by the deliberate backing of the People’s Republic of China.EUROPE BANKROLLS PUTIN’S WAR MACHINE EVEN AS NATO RACES TO BOLSTER DEFENSESThe data behind China’s underwriting is staggering. Beijing supplies over 90% of the dual-use tools and components Russia requires to manufacture artillery shells, glide bombs, and attack drones. Financially, Beijing has chosen to serve as the Kremlin’s chief banker. In August 2026 alone, China was the world’s largest purchaser of Russian fossil fuels — accounting for over half of all revenues from Russia’s top buyers and injecting over $9 billion into Moscow’s coffers in a single thirty-day window. China’s seaborne crude imports surged over 60% compared to last summer, much of it ferried by an illicit shadow fleet that flouts international maritime standards.Beijing cannot claim to be a neutral arbiter of peace while functioning as the quartermaster and cash register for Vladimir Putin’s war.The recently enacted sanctions package directly addresses this hypocrisy. It equips the United States to penalize major purchasers of Russian energy, shut down financial intermediaries laundering illicit transactions, and sever the $100 billion shadow-fleet lifeline keeping the Russian war economy solvent.Skeptics may claim that economic pressure will not move Beijing, but the record proves otherwise. When Washington backs rhetoric with credible secondary sanctions, Chinese behavior shifts. Major Chinese state-owned commercial banks repeatedly froze payment processing for Russian transactions out of self-preservation, terrified of exclusion from the U.S. dollar clearing system. Beijing talks defiance, but its commercial leaders understand that preserving access to Western capital and markets far outweighs the benefits of propping up an isolated pariah state.The Ukrainians understand this well. During our travels to Ukraine this year, the consistent plea we heard from officials on the ground was to secure these sanctions into law. Republicans and Democrats came together across chambers to move this legislation, and President Trump rightly signed it last week. Now its tools need to be harnessed to help end this brutal war.We recognize the delicate terrain confronting the White House. Beijing has weaponized its near monopoly on critical minerals, tightening export restrictions on rare earths and magnets to threaten American industries. Some in the administration may counsel caution, fearing Chinese retaliation. But backing down guarantees Beijing will continue holding our supply chains hostage while arming our adversaries.XI PREPARES CHINA ‘FOR BATTLE’ AS EXPERT WARNS OF GRAVE DANGER FACING US AHEAD OF DC SUMMITEnduring, historic peace will not come by letting Xi Jinping dictate the terms of global security through economic blackmail. By wielding the full leverage of this law, the president can compel Beijing to choose between its economic standing in the West and its partnership with Moscow.The Indo-Pacific and European theaters are not separate arenas. Our adversaries view them as one. In our travels across Asia and Europe, our partners have made clear that unchecked aggression in Ukraine invites miscalculation in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. On September 24th, President Trump must deliver an unmistakable message: China’s material pipeline and oil purchases can no longer continue without severe costs under American law.Authoritarian leaders in Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang are coordinating to test American resolve. Peace will not be achieved through wishful thinking. It will be secured when the price of enabling aggression becomes too high for Beijing to pay.John Curtis is a Republican senator from Utah. He formerly represented Utah’s 3rd Congressional District and was mayor of Provo from 2010 to 2017. 

“John Thune” by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) tried to take a victory lap Tuesday night. The grassroots took the lap away from him.
Thune posted a slick message claiming Republicans have spent the last two years delivering “more money in your pocket,” “safer streets,” and “more opportunities to get ahead,” while Democrats opposed the agenda “at every turn.”
The numbers tell the story. As of Wednesday morning the tweet had about 1,400 likes and more than 10,500 replies. That is not engagement. That is a public flogging.
Then came the Community Note.
X users attached a note that read:

The 119th Congress was the least productive in history — No Congress has enacted less legislation or laws. Johnson has cancelled a total 63 scheduled voting days in the House, granting members an extra 2 months PTO, with no House votes scheduled until after the election.

Republicans have spent the last two years delivering on our agenda.
More money in your pocket. Safer streets. More opportunities to get ahead.
Democrats have spent much of the last two years opposing our goals at every turn. pic.twitter.com/WW7D78FbRf
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) September 22, 2026

The note is not the only problem for Thune. The Congressional Record résumé of activity for 2026 makes the Senate bottleneck impossible to spin.
According to the latest Résumé of Congressional Activity covering January 3 through August 31, 2026, the House passed 291 House bills.
The Senate passed only 20 of them. That leaves roughly 271 House bills still pending without a Senate floor vote under Leader Thune.

Fucing liar! pic.twitter.com/OTP1OzsfFr
— Lisa Rich (@LisaRich_III) September 22, 2026

Grassroots organizer Scott Presler’s reply is now the real story. It has more than 12,700 likes, nearly ten times Thune’s original post.

“You have spent the last 2 years doing nothing to secure our elections after Republican voters delivered the popular vote & all 3 branches of gov’t.
Even DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, ‘We have 300,000 [non-citizen registered voters] we’re looking into.’
The question millions of Americans have is why don’t you care about us?”

You have spent the last 2 years doing nothing to secure our elections after Republican voters delivered the popular vote & all 3 branches of gov’t.
Even DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “We have 300,000 [non-citizen registered voters] we’re looking into.”
The question… pic.twitter.com/UodGa2FFEx
— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) September 22, 2026

Voters handed Republicans the White House, the House, and the Senate. They asked for one thing above almost everything else: clean elections. Proof of citizenship to register. Voter ID. Removal of ineligible names from the rolls.
Thune would not do it.
Hunter Eagleman, a retired homicide detective, went straight at the record:

“You literally haven’t don’t shit. Our elections are still NOT secured. 40 MILLION still going to the Taliban. You’ve spent 8 weeks this year on vacation.”

You literally haven’t don’t shit.
Our elections are still NOT secured.
40 MILLION still going to the Taliban.
You’ve spent 8 weeks this year on vacation.
— Hunter Eagleman (@Hunter_Eagleman) September 22, 2026

Another user posted a screenshot and wrote: “Yet you refused to pass the SAVE act.”

Yet you refused to pass the SAVE act.. pic.twitter.com/PhmvAbYMfy
— Tired of the willfully ignorant.. (@kemicalkid19) September 22, 2026

Michael Flynn Jr. asked the question every patriot has been asking for months: “Are u fckn kidding? Election security anyone?”

Are u fckn kidding?
Election security anyone?
— Michael Flynn Jr (@realmflynnJR) September 22, 2026

Here’s more:

You haven’t delivered a damn thing. Two years in charge and all you’ve been is a RINO roadblock. Elections still unsecured, SAVE Act still dead, and you’re patting yourself on the back. Absolutely nothing. pic.twitter.com/BV66Fw2dKb
— Lexi (@LexiMurica) September 22, 2026

Donald Trump is signing deals around the world and expanding American power. Meanwhile, you can’t even whip your own party into passing the SAVE Act.
What a contrast in leadership.
You are such a loser.
— TMK (@themagaking) September 22, 2026

Read the room comrade, you are toast. The most ineffective Congress in all of history, only passing 2% of bills passed by the House. You sir are failed leadership. pic.twitter.com/GFcGRi8VA5
— Romich (@romich1011) September 22, 2026

Seriously, are you mocking us? Who writes these? You spent the last 2 years blocking the Trump agenda.
— Tara Servatius (@TaraServatius) September 22, 2026

The only thing you have delivered is obstruction, you backstabbing swamp snake. Here you are running pro forma sessions to block the agenda your constituents voted for. pic.twitter.com/eM4bb85NDx
— Salty J (@jjargonay) September 22, 2026

You have had enough time to pass the Save America Act , ensuring that only American citizens vote,yet you haven’t done it. You are a great traitor who will be gone in 2028. pic.twitter.com/NrxrlHnxyz
— Claudia Yadette (@ClaudiaYadette1) September 22, 2026

https://t.co/GdvcDrmaO1
— The Seed (@theseed59788459) September 22, 2026

The post HUMILIATED: RINO Senate Leader John Thune Gets RATIOED Into Oblivion After Bragging Republicans “Delivered” — America First Voters Aren’t Buying It appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Trump administration responded to a lawsuit by CNN, MS NOW and Politico by arguing that their reporting threatened national security.

President Trump takes a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins
President Trump went off in a late-night Truth Social post, slamming CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and the “SLEAZEBAGS” in the Fake News Media for “ranting and raving like Lunatics” over him at the United Nations General Assembly. 
This comes after major TV outlets, including CNN and Fox News, suspended coverage for the TV pool after CNN was barred from the White House press pool to cover Trump’s trip to New York.
But CNN showed up anyway.
As the Gateway Pundit reported, Trump roasted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins upon arriving at the UNGC on Tuesday morning, trolling the network for traveling to New York after being excluded from the press pool. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn’t be here,” he told Collins.

Trump later trolled CNN again when asked about his ban of CNN, MS Now, and Politico during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, noting, “By the way, they said they weren’t going to be here, but they came.”
“I knew that would happen. What are they not going to be with President Xi tomorrow?” He added. “But they say, ‘we will not cover Trump.”

Then, Trump continued roasting the outlet and the other leftist “SLEAZEBAGS” who were “ranting and raving like Lunatics, in the Press Area, at the United Nations.”
“All of the SLEAZEBAGS, like Third Rate ‘Reporter,’ Kaitlan Collins, of Fake News CNN, a truly unhappy person, said they weren’t going to be covering me,” the President wrote just before midnight while flying on Air Force One back to Washington, DC. “Why was she there? She’s got a ‘TRUMP’ addiction, and so does CNN and MSDNC. They’re all sick, treasonous, and demented!”
“The ‘good news’ is that they have a great, for them, and totally disloyal Judge,” Trump added, slamming District Court Judge Tim Kelly, the same Trump appointee who ruled in favor of Jim Acosta and CNN in a lawsuit after Trump banned CNN during his first term.

Moments later, Trump posted a parody social media video, showcasing a “day in the life of a CNN reporter.”
“My life as someone who tells lies all day long,” the creator says while getting out of bed in the get-ready-with-me-style video. “First, I get up, then I put on my fake news outfit! I just can’t wait to make up a bunch of false rumors about Trump today,” he continues while dressing and putting on makeup.
All right! Let’s go bash Trump 24/7, here we go!”
WATCH:

The post Trump NUKES Leftist Media and “Third Rate Reporter” Kaitlan Collins for “Ranting and Raving like Lunatics” During UN General Assembly, Posts Hilarious Video Trolling CNN appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

OpenAI, Anthropic To Brief UN Security Council On AI Risks

Authored by Ezra Reguerra via Cointelegraph,

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are expected to brief the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday as the body examines artificial intelligence risks and their implications for international security.

According to CNBC, the UN confirmed Altman and Amodei’s participation.

Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue and Yoshua Bengio, co-chair of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, are also expected to take part.

Reuters reported that the Security Council meeting will examine growing concerns over AI’s impact on international security.

Chinese AI companies DeepSeek and Moonshot have been invited to make statements at the meeting, according to Reuters.

DeepSeek is expected to participate, though its founder Liang Wenfeng does not plan to attend, the report said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The Security Council first formally discussed artificial intelligence in 2023, Reuters reported, as governments began examining its security implications.

France is convening the Security Council meeting on Wednesday. Reuters reported that the discussion comes amid growing concerns about increasingly capable AI systems and the potential loss of human control.

Cointelegraph reached out to Anthropic, OpenAI and the UN spokesperson’s office for confirmation and comment but had not received responses before publication.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 09/23/2026 – 09:30

It’s cold, it’s dreary, there’s lake-effect rain coming off Lake Erie, it’s miserable and it’s time for another edition of Wednesday Screencaps.Yes, I’m sick to my stomach this morning as it looks like Jaxson Dart is done for the season. I was feeling so good about that Giants OVER 7.5 wins. They had the young QB. They had the meathead running back. They had the wide receiver. They had a fairly favorable schedule.It’s all over. Meathead Jameis is now handing off to meathead Skattebo and then throwing the ball at the feet of wide receivers on five-yard pass plays. Guys, I apologize if you threw down money on the Giants on my advice. I didn’t think the QB would go down in Week 2.JAXSON DART KNEE INJURY EVALUATION CONTINUES WITH SERIOUS POSSIBILITY HE MAY MISS THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASONSpeaking of football, let’s attack a legitimate concern that I brought up to the FCC on Monday – the NFL Sunday Ticket commercial. I’m talking about the Jason and Kylie Kelce commercial that people are being bombarded with.It’s a serious question. If we pay for it, why don’t I get a moment of zen, or a moment of NFL history, as a thank you for being an NFL Ticket subscriber? Stop and think about the ESPN Unlimited experience on YouTubeTV. Viewers get an in-stadium video feed during commercials. I can literally go an entire Saturday watching the big ESPN games and never watch a commercial. It’s heaven.NFL SUNDAY TICKET IS NO LONGER WORTH THE PRICE | BOBBY BURACKSomething has got to give.📩 Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.comSend photos, stories, tips, rants—whatever you’ve got.📰 Screencaps Page:👉 Read the latest Screencaps▶️ YouTube: Screencaps with Joe KinseySubscribe for videos, rants, and behind-the-scenes.🐦 Twitter/X: @JoeKinseyexpTag me or drop a DM.📸 Instagram: @OutKickScreencapsYou guys need to start tagging me on content you’re seeing.📘 Facebook Page: Screencaps on Facebook👥 Facebook Group: Join the Screencaps Community📬 Mail (Thursday Night Mowing League):27072 Carronade Dr, Unit A 155Perrysburg, OH 43551Typically, I’m not going to feature a sponsored post, especially for Buffalo Wild Wings, but when Carmen Electra is involved, I only see content and something I’ve been harping on for years –– hire the hot chick, not the biological male pretending to be a woman.Carmen, 54, represents the final frontier of adults who remember the glory days of sports bars. We’re all aging out of the Buffalo Wild Wings world FAST, but we’re all suckers for nostalgia. Carmen represents the good times. The early 2000s when you would belly up to the bar with your buddies. No phones. No Kelce commercials on TV. Just raw NFL action via the NFL Sunday Ticket.And beer. And meaty wings. And women. I’m talking pre-Clancy trial women before their brains were warped by “The View.”SAILGATING GUIDE: 9 FOOTBALL STADIUMS WHERE FANS CAN ARRIVE BY BOAT INSTEAD OF FIGHTING FOR PARKINGThat world isn’t coming back, but every now and then, something comes along like Carmen fake sucking on her finger to remind us of simpler times. Well done, BWW.#notsponsored– Will in Mississippi reports: To answer the question from Harvey D. about driving habits and gas prices, I drive between 1000 and 1100 miles per week for work in the northern half of Mississippi. I drive a company pickup so I don’t worry about the price of gas for it. A lot of my driving is on the Interstates so I see a lot of 18 wheelers who’s fuel costs get passed to the consumers of whatever they are carrying. As far as seeing non-commercial vehicles, I haven’t seen much of a decrease in that volume of vehicles or a change in the speed they drive at.I think any decrease in the last month or so is probably due to summer ending and less people on vacation or family trips. I usually set my cruise about 7 MPH over the speed limit. I get passed about as much as I pass other vehicles.As far as driving my personal vehicle, I normally drive it only on the weekends for local trips (grocery store or general shopping) so I don’t worry too much about the price of gas since a tank of gas will last me about a month unless I go to see my Mom in the assisted living facility that she lives at.– Nick in Miami, FL checks in: Happy Fall and good riddance to that miserable season known as summer. In response to Harvey D regarding less traffic due to high gas prices, the answer in South Florida is a resounding “hell no”. My 10 mile commute to work still takes 45 minutes to an hour…each way.– Eric P. says: In response to the Packer game.. Unless it changed, after the game, the traffic is all one way out of the stadium area and backed up for well over an hour. We rented a car and parked close to the stadium in someones yard and in the time it took to get to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express a couple miles away, we could have walked there 5 times.  The stadium, fans , game experience is worth every penny especially the fans.  I hd someone standing behind me in line; saw my Seahawk shirt and insisted he buy me a 16.00 beer.  I’ve been to a lot of stadiums and that would not happen at any of the others.CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGEThis was a major topic of conversation last night on a group text. Why don’t modern hotels have a fan option? Gemini says that hotels have a whole building fan operation that is sucking air from hotel bathrooms, but then Millennial Chris B. in Bowling Green, who was staying in a Cleveland hotel last night, stuck a tissue up to the bathroom vent and nothing.The tissue fell to the floor. No suction.Do we have any commercial HVAC readers who might be able to fill us in on why fart fans are now obsolete?THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!Let’s predict how long before she serves him with papers.I’m not judging if you’re spending that sort of money on bread, I just want to know if it’s worth it. Give me a full report.##########And that is it for this Wednesday. We’re officially a week away from the end of September. Let that sink in.Go enjoy another day of retirement, or another day of work. It’s time to get after it.

Sunny Hostin shocked her co-hosts on Tuesday’s episode of The View by revealing that she was the holdout juror who stopped a Manhattan jury from convicting Daniel Rakowitz, the East Village killer cannibal known as the Butcher of Tompkins Square Park.
Rakowitz killed a woman, dismembered her, ate her, and claims to have fed parts of her remains to homeless people.
The women were discussing the Lindsay Clancy mistrial in Massachusetts, where one juror refused an insanity verdict in the case of the mother who brutally strangled her three children to death.
Hostin said she wanted Clancy to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
“The reason I felt so strongly about this holdout juror is because I was a holdout juror in the Daniel Rakowitz case. I don’t know if people remember it, the Butcher of Tompkins Square Park,” Hostin said.
Joy Behar asked, “The guy who ate the victims?”
Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “You got this guy off?!”
“That’s how much I believe in the insanity defense. He fed her body parts to the unhoused,” Hostin explained. “All that being said, it was so clear to me in the jury room. We were sequestered for nine days. One juror threw a chair at me, they were so angry with me. But, one by one, I picked them off. I said, ‘What about this? What about that?’ We ended up, all 12, unanimously voting that he was not criminally responsible on reason of insanity. He is still in a mental institution being treated. That’s a different type of prison, and he’s being treated because he’s sick.”
WATCH:

Sunny Hostin brags about being a holdout juror that prevented The Butcher of Thompson Square Park from going to prison.
She admits “once he killed her, he chopped up her body parts, yes, boiled her body parts … and fed her body parts to the unhoused.” pic.twitter.com/sLbElgLuGt
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 22, 2026

Hostin said producers checked and found her in The New York Times under her birth name, Asuncion Cummings.
Several jurors told the paper one holdout had blocked a guilty verdict.
“That was me,” she said. “And it was because I saw clearly that he was psychotic; he was in psychosis. He did not mean to kill her, and once he killed her, he panicked. He chopped up her body parts, yes, boiled her body parts, tried to commit the perfect crime, and then he fed her body parts to the unhoused.”
She said the jury was sequestered for nine days, and one got so mad they threw a chair at her.
“One juror threw a chair at me; they were so angry with me. But one by one, I picked them off. I said, ‘What about this? What about that?’ We ended up, all 12, unanimously voting that he was not criminally responsible by reason of insanity. He is still in a mental institution being treated. That’s a different type of prison, and he’s being treated because he’s sick.”
Guest host Star Jones joked about moving down the couch.
On August 19, 1989, Rakowitz, then a 28-year-old dishwasher and pot dealer in the East Village, killed Monika Beerle, 26, a Swiss dance student at the Martha Graham school who also worked as a dancer and shared an apartment with him.
Police said she had tried to make him move out.
Rakowitz told detectives they fought and he killed her, then bought a saw and bags and dismembered her in the bathtub.
He boiled bones, he said, “to disinfect them.”
He left her skull in a bucket of kitty litter in a Port Authority Bus Terminal baggage room and led detectives there after his arrest.
A homeless man, Milton Irrizary, testified that Rakowitz brought soup into Tompkins Square Park that contained a human finger.
Rakowitz bragged about the killing in the park and later referred to himself as a cannibal.
The jury deadlocked on an evidence-tampering count over the dismemberment. The judge declared a mistrial on that count.
Rakowitz ended up being sent to Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, the maximum-security hospital on Wards Island.
In 2004, a retention jury found him still mentally ill, lacking insight, and in need of inpatient care, but not currently dangerous.
Beerle never received justice.

The post WATCH: Sunny Hostin Brags She Was the Holdout Juror Who Kept a Cannibal Killer Who Fed Victim to Homeless People Out of Prison appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Zelensky Ready For Reciprocal Energy Ceasefire Ahead Of UN Speech

Major Russian drone attacks pummeled the Ukrainian capital overnight, resulting in two people killed and at least 23 wounded, also unleashing large-scale fires and damage, with plumes of black smoke seen hovering over the city.

Other locations came under attack, which has been a nightly phenomenon, including in southeast Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and the Black Sea port of Odesa – the latter where the captain of a cargo ship was tragically killed.

Prior drone assault on Kiev from earlier in the war, via Reuters.Also, the country’s rail system continues to be under threat, with Ukrainian Railways chief Oleksandr Pertsovsky saying the rail network in the capital area was “under fire” – for which he urged “maximum” vigilance from passengers.

Amid ongoing Russian attacks on Ukrainian exports and imports, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday: “The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea are unacceptable, regardless of who is responsible.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meanwhile readying to address to UN General Assembly in New York, with the speech set for the late afternoon session on Wednesday. He’s expected to push Western and global partners to hold the line against Putin, and pledge more support – especially missiles and air defense systems – headed into winter.

Zelensky had forewarned in a Tuesday Telegram post that Russia was planning “a new massive attack” against Ukraine. According to some of the latest from New York in the context of the UNGA:

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready for an “energy ceasefire” with Russia, provided Moscow stops attacks on critical infrastructure.
Ukraine’s president also urged Trump to organize a trilateral meeting with Putin, saying the leaders should move “as quickly as possible” to end the war.
Zelenskyy also called on Trump to engage Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying he has influence over Putin, as Kyiv braces for another winter of attacks on its energy infrastructure.
It was only on Monday that President Trump again sought to publicly pressure Zelensky to halt long-range drone strikes on Russia’s refineries, in a bid to calm rising diesel prices especially while the parallel Strait of Hormuz crisis persists.

In a phone call, Zelensky was pressed by Trump over the strikes as Washington wants “Russian supplies to be able to reach the global market to provide relief.”

But now, after the Tuesday Trump meeting:

“We are ready for an energy ceasefire if the Russians do not strike our energy infrastructure,” he said.

According to him, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will convey Kyiv’s proposal to Moscow. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in New York City on Wednesday.

Writing later on US social media platform X, Zelenskyy elaborated on the discussions, noting that the leaders discussed “how to end the war.”

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Zelensky says Ukrainian lives matter more than energy prices, so he won’t stop hitting Russian refineries just to bring diesel down.
That’s what he says he told Trump after POTUS blamed Kyiv for the price spike.
He acknowledged Ukraine’s strikes do move the market, but…
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) September 23, 2026
Recent efforts to “force” an energy ceasefire in Ukraine have fallen short, given once they are proclaimed it typically takes less than 48 hours for each side to break it. Refineries even in the Moscow area have lately come under major drone barrage, inflicting severe damage.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 09/23/2026 – 09:15

WARNING: Spoilers below.”Lioness” star Elizaveta Neretin reacted to Taylor Sheridan’s bombshell season 3 finale, which saw her character, Oleksandra Balakin, killed off.Speaking to Fox News Digital, Neretin — who played the Ukrainian double agent — said she expected Oleksandra’s fate. The character had been captured by American forces and recruited to help rescue Joe (Zoe Saldaña) after she was kidnapped.In the episode, which aired Sunday night, Oleksandra was killed.’LIONESS’ SEASON 3 FINALE REVEALS WHO ORCHESTRATED JOE’S KIDNAPPING ALL ALONG”I thought it was going to happen. So when he called, and he told me, I was like, ‘Yeah, I get it.’ I’m sad for Oleksandra and what Oleksandra represents, but I understand the choice. It does serve this. It serves to show how the whole system is. Like American or not American, the whole system and the people that work in the system. It’s all sharks, you know, so it just demonstrates how people are,” she told Fox News Digital.Neretin said she would have preferred a different outcome for Oleksandra but understood why Sheridan made the decision.”I would love a different ending for her, but like I said, I understand why it had to happen. But of course I would have a good ending for her. I just wonder if being a triple agent, I think your days are numbered. I don’t think you can pull that off and live to an old age unless you give up on family you have, which I don’t think she would.”PUT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST AND SEE HOW YOU SCORE”If you give up on the family you have, perhaps you could find a way to hide somewhere, you know what I mean? But the way she fights for her country, I think she cares way too much, way more about that outcome than her life. I think that she made that decision a long time ago,” Neretin said.The actress said she never asked Sheridan whether he had considered an alternative ending for Oleksandra. Instead, she trusted his creative judgment and did not try to challenge him while working on the series.”No, I didn’t challenge him. I just remember he shortened Oleksandra’s name a certain way, and I just suggested, I was like, ‘By the way, the short version of Oleksandra in Ukrainian is Alessa.’ And he was like ‘yeah, that works,'” she began. “I didn’t challenge him, it was very interesting, like he runs the show, you know what I mean? He’s the boss,” she said.Nicole Kidman, who plays Kaitlyn in “Lioness,” was also asked whether her character felt remorse over Oleksandra’s death during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.GET ENTERTAINMENT SCOOP DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR EMAIL BY CLICKING HERE”She absolutely has a moral code and conscience, but she always weighs it up against cost. At the same time, she’s not mired down in regret. She’s a move-forward person, in the same way that when people play sports, you don’t get stuck on a previous point. Because otherwise she can’t do her job; she’s rendered inactive and vulnerable then,” Kidman told the outlet.Neretin also described Sheridan’s writing and production process as an interesting experience.LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS”So we don’t have all the episodes right away. So that was an interesting process. Because this is my first big role, I didn’t know that that’s how he worked. So that part was interesting because I didn’t know. And it’s like, you’re waiting, and it feels like Christmas every time the episode drops. You’re like, Oh my God. And that’s all we talk about on set the next day everybody’s like, ‘oh my gosh did you see this?’ Yeah, people have bets going what’s gonna happen,” she said.A fourth season of “Lioness” has not been confirmed, but Kidman believes Kaitlyn’s story could take many different paths if the series returns.”There’s a lot. We’ll see where it goes, if we get to make a fourth season. It’s just so rich that there’s so many different paths that you can go down. The first season, you’re establishing everything, and the beauty of getting to do multiple seasons is that it becomes more deeper, richer, more complex. Taylor is such a strong writer that he can take things anywhere,” she said.

A New Jersey woman got a slithery surprise when she returned home from a wheel alignment and discovered a 3-foot python wedged inside the front grille of her car — prompting police to dismantle part of the vehicle to free the reptile.Aiyana Hudson made the startling discovery on Sept. 14 in Franklin Township and called police for help, according to WABC-TV.Body camera footage showed responding officers inspecting the car and working to determine how to safely remove the snake.Officer Lisseth Villacis told the outlet that police initially contacted animal control but were told the agency only handled domesticated animals.SURPRISE TRAVELER TRAPPED BENEATH CAR FOR HUNDREDS OF MILES GETS NEW CHANCE AT LIFE”We tried getting animal control out there, and they’re like, they only deal with domesticated animals,” Villacis said. “And we’re like, oh shoot. OK. So, we’re kind of like the last resort.”Officers then took matters into their own hands, removing parts of the vehicle, including the front bumper, to reach the trapped reptile, as seen in the footage.After about 20 minutes, police managed to untangle and safely free the snake, which animal control officials identified as a 3-foot ball python.HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER PRACTICES WITH VENOMOUS SNAKE HIDING INSIDE HELMET BEFORE COACH’S DISCOVERYHudson said she was relieved the unexpected passenger never found its way inside the vehicle while she was in it.”I was just really happy that it didn’t, like, pop its head through the AC vent when I was driving or come in through the steering wheel,” Hudson told the outlet. “I want to let you know my car would have been lit on fire, and we’d be calling the fire department at that point.”How the python ended up in the grille remains unclear.The snake was unharmed and taken to the Franklin Township Animal Shelter, according to MyCentralJersey.com.Franklin Township Public Safety Director Lloyd Fredericks also reminded residents that releasing exotic pets into the wild is illegal and can pose a threat to native wildlife and household pets. Residents who have pet snakes and can no longer care for them should surrender it to the township animal shelter, he said.