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Ukraine's popular former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for wartime elections, in what's being called the biggest challenge yet to President Volodymyr Zelensky's leadership since Russia's invasion began.

This comes as Russians pull billions from banks over fears the Kremlin could seize deposits, and as Iran reportedly weighs striking US targets in Europe while the UAE severs trade with Tehran over a missile launch.

Read more below ⤵️

Top 5 Stories

1️⃣ 🇺🇸🇰🇷🇰🇵 South Korea shortens war games with US: South Korea's defence ministry said the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise will end six days early, on August 21 rather than 27, at Washington's request, with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun saying neither South Korean nor US officials knew in advance of President Trump's decision. At last week's announcement of the drills, a US military spokesperson said the training was partly designed to prepare for North Korean soldiers returning home from fighting for Russia in Ukraine with battle experience.

2️⃣ 🇮🇷🇦🇪 Iran weighs striking US assets in Europe as UAE cuts trade: Iran has considered targeting US military assets in Bulgaria and Cyprus if the war escalates, the Financial Times reported citing two regime insiders, as the UAE suspended all trade with Tehran after its defence ministry said it detected two ballistic missiles fired toward its waters. Both missiles fell into the sea causing no damage, Iran's foreign ministry rejected the UAE's claim, and US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US was not in talks with Iran and had no plans to restart them.

3️⃣ 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Trump pauses Canada tariffs, teases Keystone XL revival: President Trump paused a threatened 50% tariff on Canadian goods for three days after a last-minute deal, posting that the two countries "have a DEAL." Canadian PM Mark Carney said "substantial progress" had been made, as Trump separately floated reviving the long-halted Keystone XL pipeline.

4️⃣ 🇷🇺🇯🇵 Russia protests to Japan over Kuril Islands criticism: Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned Japanese Ambassador Akira Muto and lodged a "strong protest" after Tokyo criticized President Vladimir Putin's August 13 visit to the disputed Kuril island of Iturup, warning it reserved the right to "adequate countermeasures." Moscow linked the dispute to Japan's support for Western sanctions and its backing of Ukraine.

5️⃣ 🇮🇱🇸🇾🇹🇷 Israel strikes Syrian airbase, drawing rare US rebuke: Israel carried out eight airstrikes on Syria's Abu al-Duhur military airbase in Idlib, Syrian state TV said, with Israeli officials saying Damascus had been "on the verge of breaching" a security status quo by letting Turkish troops deploy there. The US, in a rare rebuke of its ally, called the strikes an "unnecessary escalation," while Turkey dismissed Israel's justification as "frivolous allegations" and Syria's foreign ministry branded the attack "an unjustified act of aggression."

Major Story

🇺🇦 Ukraine's Fedorov Challenges Zelensky

Ukraine's popular former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections in a video posted Tuesday, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to President Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency since Russia's full-scale invasion began, declaring "democracy cannot be held hostage by Russia."

Fedorov, 35, was unexpectedly fired as defence minister last month just six months into the job, a dismissal that sparked weeks of protests, with about 100 demonstrators gathering outside parliament on Wednesday chanting "bring back Fedorov as minister of defence."

Ukraine has been under martial law since 2022, suspending elections, and Fedorov's call comes hours after President Zelensky asked parliament to confirm acting minister Yevhenii Khmara in the post Fedorov wants back.

Reaction split along familiar lines: Zelensky-aligned MP Oleksandr Merezhko called the election idea "very dangerous and unrealistic" and warned it would "play into the hands of Putin," while opposition MP Volodymyr Aryev said Ukraine had "reached a point where we must choose between elections and chaos."

Zelensky's constitutional term expired in May 2024, but he has said Ukraine could hold elections within 60 to 90 days of the war ending if allies helped guarantee security, even as critics say Trump's past suggestion that Kyiv was "using war" to avoid a vote echoed Putin's narrative that Zelensky lacks legitimacy.

Other News

1️⃣ 🇷🇺 Russians pull billions from banks amid seizure fears: Russians withdrew nearly 286.4bn rubles, or $3.4bn, from banks in the first two weeks of August alone, Russian Central Bank data reported by the Washington Post showed, following $7.3bn pulled in July and over $4.5bn in June amid intensifying Ukrainian drone strikes. Former central bank adviser Alexandra Prokopenko said the outflow reflects fear that "the government will do something with the banking system, that it could nationalise deposits."

2️⃣ 🇸🇾🇮🇱 IAEA finds 'tons' of nuclear material in Syria: IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said inspectors found several tons of undisclosed nuclear material at an Assad-era site Damascus voluntarily reported last month, calling it material that "could be put to bad use" and pledging international safeguards. Syria's foreign minister said it would remain in Syrian custody for "peaceful" energy use, as Grossi also visited the Deir Ezzor site Israel bombed in 2007, saying excavation there "validates" the IAEA's longstanding suspicion of a covert reactor.

3️⃣ 🇺🇸 Congress presses Pentagon on USS Lincoln's record deployment: Twenty-two members of Congress, led by Rep Pat Ryan, warned acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao that the USS Abraham Lincoln's record 260-plus-day deployment "has become a pattern" in handling the Iran war, after reports of crew trying to jump overboard amid food shortages. Democratic senators called it "a symptom of poor planning" in a letter to Defense Secretary Hegseth, as the ship's return leaves the USS George Washington as the only carrier covering the Western Pacific.

4️⃣ 🇻🇪🇺🇸 US now takes in half of Venezuela's oil output: The US is now taking in over 500,000 barrels a day of Venezuela's roughly 1.25 million barrel daily output, a senior US official said, seven months after Washington removed President Nicolas Maduro and installed an interim government led by his former vice president. The Council on Foreign Relations warned the administration hasn't disclosed how much oil or revenue it has collected, saying the opacity "risks entrenching a corrupt successor regime" by excluding the opposition from talks.

5️⃣ 🇱🇾 Libya seeks up to $40bn to develop oil resources: Libya needs $30bn to $40bn in new investment to raise oil output to 2 million barrels a day by 2030, up from 1.4 million today, NOC chair Masoud Suleman told the Financial Times, citing more than 60 undeveloped fields and a capital shortage. Suleman said NOC is considering a shift to concession-style deals after drone strikes hit the Zawiya refinery this month, as most of Libya's largest oilfields remain under eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar rather than the UN-recognised government in Tripoli.

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