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EU Readying New Sanctions to Increase Pressure on Russia, Von Der Leyen Says

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen delivers a speech during the "Choose Europe for Science" event, to encourage researchers and scientists from all over the world to practice in Europe, in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen delivers a speech during the "Choose Europe for Science" event, to encourage researchers and scientists from all over the world to practice in Europe, in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool
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EU Readying New Sanctions to Increase Pressure on Russia, Von Der Leyen Says

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen delivers a speech during the "Choose Europe for Science" event, to encourage researchers and scientists from all over the world to practice in Europe, in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen delivers a speech during the "Choose Europe for Science" event, to encourage researchers and scientists from all over the world to practice in Europe, in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool

The European Union is working on a new package of sanctions to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday as leaders from across Europe met in Tirana.

The EU, however, has already adopted 17 sanction packages - the latest one this week - and diplomats say it is increasingly difficult to get the necessary unanimity among the bloc's 27 members to pass new measures, Reuters said.

"He does not want peace, so we have to increase the pressure, and this is why we are working on a new package of sanctions," von der Leyen said, referring to Putin, before the European Political Community summit in Albania.

"This package will include for instance sanctions on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. It will include working on listing more vessels of the Russian shadow fleet and also lowering the oil price cap, and also more sanctions on the financial sector in Russia."

Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russia's state-controlled Gazprom to pump natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. They were ruptured by a series of blasts in 2022.

"Massive" sanctions European leaders have threatened over the past days would need US support to succeed, officials and diplomats have said.

Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were in Istanbul on Friday for what was billed as their first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from US President Donald Trump to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Türkiye, but has spurned a challenge from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet him in person, and instead has sent a team of mid-ranking officials to the talks.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Putin "made a mistake by sending a low-level delegation".

"What we saw yesterday and overnight is yet more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said as he arrived at the Tirana summit.

"He's been dragging his heels, and I think it's really important therefore, that we have absolute unity with our allies. We'll be working on that again today to be clear that there must be a ceasefire, but also to be clear that should there not be a ceasefire, then we will act together in relation to sanctions."

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Ex-Aide Says Netanyahu Tasked Him with Making a Plan to Evade Responsibility for Oct. 7 Attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
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Ex-Aide Says Netanyahu Tasked Him with Making a Plan to Evade Responsibility for Oct. 7 Attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not pictured) after a trilateral meeting at the Citadel of David Hotel, in Jerusalem, December 22, 2025. (Reuters)

A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that immediately following the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader instructed him to figure out how the premier could evade responsibility for the security breach.

Former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, made the explosive accusation during an extensive interview with Israel’s Kan news channel Monday night.

Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of refusing to accept blame for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. But little is known about Netanyahu’s behavior in the days immediately following the attack, while the premier has consistently resisted an independent state inquiry.

Speaking to Kan, Feldstein said “the first task” he received from Netanyahu after Oct. 7, 2023, was to stifle calls for accountability.

“He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?’” Feldstein said. “He wanted me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not.”

He added that Netanyahu looked “panicked” when he made the request. Feldstein said he was later told by people in Netanyahu's close circle to omit the word “responsibility” from all statements.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages back to Gaza. Israel then launched a devastating war in Gaza that has killed nearly 71,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the deaths were women and children.

Netanyahu’s office called the interview a “long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself,” Hebrew media reported.

Feldstein’s statements come after his indictment in a case where he is accused of leaking classified military information to a German tabloid to improve public perception of the prime minister following the killing of six hostages in Gaza in August of last year.

World

Ukraine Says Withdrawn Troops from Eastern Town of Siversk

Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
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Ukraine Says Withdrawn Troops from Eastern Town of Siversk

Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)
Ukrainian communal workers clean debris at the site of a Russian drone strike on a five-story residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 December 2025. (EPA)

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the eastern town of Siversk, the General Staff said Tuesday, as Russia doubled down on its recent advances across the lengthy front line.

Russia announced the capture of the city in the heavily embattled Donetsk region almost two weeks ago, when Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov reported the gain to President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting.

The Ukrainian army said that "to preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of our units, Ukrainian defenders have withdrawn from the settlement".

The Russians were helped by "a significant advantage in manpower and equipment" and weather conditions, it added.

The Ukrainian army was still fighting in Siversk's surroundings, and the city remains within the reach of Ukraine's fire, according to Kyiv's General Staff.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine and taking ground from outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces, with some of the fiercest battles taking place in Donetsk.

Putin, emboldened by recent gains, threatened at his year-end press conference last week to take more territory.

The Donetsk region is the key stumbling block in the US-led settlement talks and Ukraine says it is under pressure to cede the remaining part of the region to Russia.

Siversk is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the last two major cities still under Ukrainian control in Donetsk -- an industrial and mining region in Moscow's sights.

The town was home to around 11,000 people before the war.

Eastern Ukraine has been ravaged since Russia launched its assault in February 2022, with tens of thousands of people killed and millions forced to flee their homes.

World

Greta Thunberg Arrested at Pro-Palestinian Protest in London

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
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Greta Thunberg Arrested at Pro-Palestinian Protest in London

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg walks out of City of London Police station after being arrested by police this morning at a pro‑Palestinian protest, in London, Britain, December 23, 2025. (Reuters)

London police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian campaign groups said.

Thunberg's arrest makes her the highest profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws.

Prisoners for Palestine, which organized the protest, said in a statement that Thunberg was arrested under the UK Terrorism Act.

Thunberg, 22, was holding a sign reading: "I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide."

City of London Police said several people were arrested.

They did not directly name Thunberg, but said "a 22-year-old woman... has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organization (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000".

Police said another three people were arrested at the protest, at a building in London's financial quarter, on suspicion of criminal damage.

The three were detained after "hammers and red paint were used to damage a building" and they glued themselves to fixtures nearby, police said.

Prisoners for Palestine said its protest had targeted the offices of Aspen Insurance because the company provided services to Israeli-linked defense firm Elbit Systems UK.

- 'Political prisoners' -

Thunberg on Monday described the detained hunger strikers as "political prisoners" in a video posted on Instagram.

The British government in July outlawed Palestine Action after activists broke into an air force base and caused an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage.

Some of the eight detainees who went on hunger strike had been charged over that incident.

The group, aged between 20 and 31, are facing trials relating to break-ins or criminal damage by Palestine Action.

Their hunger strike is to protest their treatment and call for their release on bail.

The first two prisoners going on the hunger strike were on their 52nd day, Prisoners for Palestine said on Tuesday. The Guardian newspaper reported that three of the eight had ended their hunger strike.

Asked about it in parliament last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said "rules and procedures" were being followed.

The government's ban on Palestine Action -- which makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison -- has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organizers Defend Our Juries.

According to London's Met Police in late November, so far 254 out of the more than 2,000 arrested have been charged with a lesser offence which carries a sentence of up to six months.

Thunberg has maintained a high profile in protests supporting Palestinians.

In October, she was among hundreds of people who boarded a flotilla that tried to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza.