Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed military leaders to abandon the rules of war, based on intercepted intelligence from Kremlin officials. Zelenskyy made the claim while speaking in a bomb shelter inside a school recently struck by a Russian jet-powered drone. He stated that Putin gave the order in September, coinciding with intensified Russian air strikes on Kyiv targeting schools, hospitals, and data centres.
Zelenskyy said the destroyed school exemplified the widespread targeting of civilians. The intelligence indicated that earlier constraints on Russian air campaigns had been scrapped. Zelenskyy quoted Putin as saying, “He said there are no rules now.” The report also covers other global developments: the US deploying seven additional warships with at least 9,000 troops to the Middle East ahead of potential strikes on Iran; emerging markets outperforming developed ones during a global bond sell-off; Hungary’s government launching “Operation Cleansing Fire” to investigate Viktor Orbán’s role in seizing Ukrainian assets; the UK seeking a domestic alternative to Palantir for NHS and defence use; and US refiners projected to see over a fourfold profit increase due to surging fuel prices linked to Trump’s Iran policy and Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Additionally, AI agents are driving up computing costs, prompting a reevaluation of pricing models toward outcomes-based approaches as investors anticipate IPOs from Anthropic and OpenAI.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing