Russian troops delivered a strike by the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system on January 9, crippling the Lvov state aircraft repair plant in western Ukraine that provided maintenance for F-16 fighter jets and produced long-range attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

TASS has compiled the main information on the aftermath.
Oreshnik Strike

- Russian troops delivered a strike by the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system on January 9, crippling the Lvov state aircraft repair plant.

- The Defense Ministry specified that the enterprise repaired and provided maintenance for the Ukrainian army’s aircraft, including F-16 and MiG-29 fighter jets supplied by Western countries. It also produced long-and medium-range attack UAVs used for strikes on civilian facilities deep inside Russia.

- Furthermore, the Oreshnik strike hit production facilities, warehouses with finished products (UAVs), and the infrastructure of the factory airfield.
Strike by Iskander and Kalibr Missiles

- The production facilities of two Kiev enterprises engaged in the assembly of attack UAVs were damaged on January 9 by the Iskander tactical ballistic missile systems and Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles.

- Energy infrastructure facilities supporting the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, were also hit in Kiev.
Response to Kiev’s Attack

- On January 9, the Defense Ministry reported that the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive strike, including with the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system, on critical targets in Ukraine.

- The ministry stated that this was a response to Kiev’s December attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin's residence in the Novgorod Region.

#Cuba’s president says no current talks with the U.S. following Trump’s threats.

Diaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.

Diaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”

He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence.”

His statements were reposted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on X.

On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would no longer live off oil and money from Venezuela, which the U.S. attacked on Jan. 3 in a stunning operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro.

Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela before the U.S. attacked, along with some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, according to Jorge Pinon of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.

Even with oil shipments from Venezuela, widespread blackouts have persisted across Cuba given fuel shortages and a crumbling electric grid. Experts worry a lack of petroleum would only deepen the island’s multiple crises.

The situation between the U.S. and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” said Andy S. Gomez, retired dean of the School of International Studies and senior fellow in Cuban Studies at the University of Miami.

He said he sees Diaz-Canel’s latest comments “as a way to try and buy a little bit of time for the inner circle to decide what steps it’s going to take.”

Gomez said he doesn’t visualize Cuba reaching out to U.S. officials right now.

“They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up U.S. diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gomez said. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”

Michael Galant, senior research and outreach associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said he believes Cuba might be willing to negotiate.

“Cuba has been interested in finding ways to ease sanctions,” he said. “It’s not that Cuba is uncooperative.”

Galant said topics for discussion could include migration and security, adding that he believes Trump is not in a hurry.

“Trump is hoping to deepen the economic crisis on the island, and there are few costs to Trump to try and wait that out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be any dramatic action in the coming days because there is no rush to come to the table.”

Cuba’s president stressed on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of ​​migration.”

The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than US$7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

#Ottawa joins countries condemning Iranian regime for killing protesters.


In a joint statement issued with Australia and the European Union on Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand praised the bravery of peaceful protesters and attacked Iran’s use of lethal force.

The statement noted that at least 40 people had died at the hands of Iran’s security forces, though activists believe the number of deaths is more than 10 times higher.

Prime Minister Mark Carney posted Friday that these reports are “profoundly concerning” and urged Iran to allow for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Conservative MPs and groups supporting Israel have been posting frequently about the protests and have suggested the Islamic Republic, established in 1979, is on the brink of collapse.

#Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012 and Ottawa issued a terrorism designation in 2024 for a branch of Iran’s army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2026.

UK, Germany discuss NATO forces in Greenland to calm US threat, Bloomberg News reports

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces have since captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they have said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighbourhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighbourhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Canadians join global protests in solidarity with Iranian uprising.

Protesters in Montreal and Ottawa demanded the fall of the Islamic regime and the return of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who has been in exile in the United States for 47 years.

“We are here to be the voice of the Iranian people, who are currently in the streets of Iran and are being tortured and killed by the Iranian regime while they demand regime change to bring back King Reza Pahlavi,” said Katayoon Haghzadeh during the Montreal event, which drew several hundred people.

Demonstrations were also held Saturday in other cities around the world, and an event was held in Toronto on Friday.

Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince who’d called for protests for the end of last week, asked in his latest message for demonstrations in Iran to continue over the weekend. He urged protesters to carry Iran’s old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols -- with the flag prominently displayed at Saturday’s event in Montreal.

Protests over Iran’s faltering economy began on Dec. 28 and have evolved into the biggest challenge for the government in years. Iran’s theocracy cut internet and telephone service on Thursday, severely limiting information about the protests.

The death toll in the demonstrations has grown to at least 72 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The lack of information weighs heavily on the Iranian diaspora.

In Montreal, Kiarash Seyedi displayed the photos of three protesters killed in the first days of the demonstrations when information flowed more freely.

“My people are being killed in my home country in silence and darkness where the government shut down the internet and phone lines, so this is the very least thing that I can do for my people to get their freedom,” Seyedi said.

Nesha, who asked her family name not be used to protect members in Iran, said there’s no way to contact people in the country.

“I’m really worried about my family, who are all in Iran. I’m alone here,” she said.

“We’re under a lot of stress and heartbreak, but they continue to fight against this very cruel regime.”

Since the start of the protests in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his support for the Iranian people. He has repeatedly stated his readiness to help and that U.S. intervention would be considered if the regime killed protesters.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. On Saturday, Iran’s attorney general warned anyone taking part in protests or helping rioters would face a death-penalty charge.

Protesters marching in downtown Montreal toward the U.S. consulate on Saturday welcomed American government support for protests, but also wanted Canada’s government to step up.

“It is thanks to this (U.S.) support that the regime has not succeeded in carrying out a massacre,” said Kiasa Nazeran, who emphasized that Canada’s support is also paramount.

“We want to tell all Canadian citizens and their politicians that the regime is killing Iranian men and women in our country, but they will not stop the fight. The revolution continues, and we need your support -- steadfast support.”

On Friday, the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, and the European Union issued a joint statement condemning the violence against the Iranian people.

Prime Minister Mark Carney also reacted to the reports of violence, arbitrary arrests and intimidation tactics by the Iranian regime, urging it to guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear of reprisal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 10, 2026.

—With files from AP

Dispute erupts over who will represent former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in court.


Defence attorney Barry Pollack, who sat with Maduro in court, accused lawyer Bruce Fein of trying to join the case without authorization. Fein, an associate deputy U.S. attorney general during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, said he was asked by a judge on Friday to let Maduro settle the dispute.

Fein told Manhattan federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out Fein’s assistance to help him navigate what the lawyer called the “extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances” of his capture and criminal case.

Fein said in a letter to the judge that he’d had no telephone, video or other direct contact with Maduro, who is being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. But, Fein wrote, Maduro “had expressed a desire” for his ”assistance in this matter.”

The dispute first came to light on Thursday when Pollack asked Hellerstein to rescind his approval for Fein to join Maduro’s legal team. Pollack said that Fein was not Maduro’s lawyer and that he had not authorized Fein to file paperwork telling the judge otherwise.

Pollack was the only lawyer representing Maduro on Monday as the deposed South American leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Two days earlier, U.S. special forces seized Maduro and Flores from their home in Caracas.

In a written declaration to Hellerstein, Pollack said he attempted to contact Fein by telephone and email to ask him on what basis he was seeking to enter his appearance on behalf of Maduro and what authorization he had to do so.

“He has not responded,” Pollack said.

Pollack said he spoke to Maduro by phone on Thursday and confirmed that Maduro “does not know Mr. Fein and has not communicated with Mr. Fein, much less retained him, authorized him to enter an appearance, or otherwise hold himself out as representing Mr. Maduro.”

Pollack said Maduro authorized him to ask Hellerstein to modify the court docket so that it no longer showed Fein as representing Maduro.

Fein, in his response Friday, told the judge he doesn’t dispute or question the accuracy of Pollack’s assertions. Instead, he suggested that Hellerstein question Maduro in private to “definitively ascertain President Maduro’s representation wishes,” including whether he wants to be represented by Pollack, Fein or both.

“Maduro was apprehended under extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances, including deprivation of liberty, custodial restrictions on communications, and immediate immersion in a foreign criminal process in a foreign tongue, fraught with the potential for misunderstandings or miscommunications,” Fein wrote.

Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press

#MOSCOW, January 9. Russian Special Presidential Envoy on Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Kirill Dmitriev reminded EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that there are no air defense systems capable of intercepting the Oreshnik.

"Kaja [Kallas] is not very bright or knowledgeable, but even she should know that there are no air defenses against the Oreshnik hypersonic Mach 10 missile," Dmitriev wrote on X, commenting on Kallas’ remarks following an Oreshnik strike by the Russian Armed Forces.

Earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had carried out a massive strike on critical Ukrainian targets, including by the Oreshnik missile system, in response to Kiev’s December attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Novgorod Region. The ministry said the objectives of the strike had been achieved.

U.S. intercepts fifth sanctioned tanker as it exerts control over Venezuelan oil distribution.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the tanker called the Olina. The Coast Guard then took control of the vessel, officials said.

Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship.

In her social media post, Noem said the ship was “another `ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and it had departed Venezuela “attempting to evade U.S. forces.”

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolas Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

#MOSCOW, January 8. Moscow calls on Washington to adhere to the rule of law and immediately cease illegal actions against the oil tanker Marinera, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"We call on Washington to resume compliance with the fundamental norms and principles of international maritime navigation and immediately cease its illegal actions against the Marinera and other vessels engaged in law·abiding activities on the high seas," the ministry said.

"We reiterate our demand that the US ensure humane and dignified treatment of the Russian citizens comprising the tanker’s crew, strictly observe their rights and interests, and make no obstacles to their prompt return to their homeland," the Foreign Ministry added.