Hold or fold? That is the dilemma facing the hundreds of Western companies still operating in Russia as Donald Trump returns to the White House with a promise to end the Ukraine conflict while Moscow's tougher exit conditions make it costlier to leave.

Ukrainian military officials dismissed suggestions that Russian forces had breached Pokrovsk, a critical transport hub

According to John Kirby, spokesman for the US Department of Defense for the next few days, the 2 countries aren't resolved to sit down at the negotiating table. According to Kirby, the sanctions imposed on the aggressor country (Russia) cannot be used as a bargaining chip when this happens.

John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, believes that neither Russia nor Ukraine is ready to negotiate an end to the war. Source: Kirby at a briefing for journalists on 10 January,

The White House scrambled to get a message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last year after U.S. intelligence agencies said a Russian military unit was preparing to send explosive packages ...

The White House scrambled to get a message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last year after U.S. intelligence agencies said a Russian military unit was preparing to send explosive packages on cargo planes.

The White House, now unconcerned about the effect on gas prices and inflation, blacklisted two of Russia’s biggest oil producers and nearly 200 tanker ships.

The future that Zelensky and many of his countrymen have in mind is one in which Russia is defeated. But in rallying the world to the fight, the implication Biden embedded in his own goals was that defending Ukraine against Russia is not the same as defeating Russia. So it is not surprising if that goal remains far from Zelensky’s reach.

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President Biden’s single term in office will be marked by several moments that saw the White House take the spotlight. It began with the pandemic and a raucous State of the Union. Then there was