Great power rivalry
Ukraine: United States President Donald Trump this week criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for failing to make a deal with Russia amid a fallout between the two leaders following Trump’s move to ease sanctions on Moscow and scale back military support for Kyiv.
In recent weeks, the US has suspended intelligence flows to Ukraine about Russian ballistic missile strikes, though warnings were restored this week. Ukraine’s access to a Pentagon-funded satellite system produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX was also restricted.
Zelensky this week accused the US of delaying deliveries of interceptor missiles to Ukraine, but the White House insisted the delays were not a deliberate attempt to harm Ukraine.
Tensions between the two leaders have increased as Trump – facing pressure over high energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections – suspended sanctions on Russian diesel exports and condemned Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday Zelensky needs to make a deal and that Russia has an “unlimited” supply of soldiers to send to the front. “Zelensky has to want to settle this war, and if he doesn’t, I think it’s going to be a very bad thing,” he said.
Zelensky met this week with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders in Oslo, saying he and the Europeans want Witkoff to propose to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the US hold a summit to discuss a deal. Putin has opposed holding a summit that includes Zelensky but agreed on Wednesday to resume three-way talks involving officials.
Asked if Putin should meet Zelensky, Trump said: “It’s hard for them to be in the same room. I don’t care how it’s done.”
The neighbourhood
Indonesia: Singapore plans to take legal action against Indonesian companies believed to be responsible for wildfires that have continued for months and spread smoke across South-East Asia.
The fires, exacerbated by burn-offs and draining of wetlands by owners of palm oil and other plantations, have sent hazardous levels of smoke across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Timor-Leste.
Wildfires occur regularly during Indonesia’s dry season but have been worse this year due to a drought and an intensifying El Niño weather pattern. About 1.92 million hectares of land were destroyed by fires from January to September, according to Nusantara Atlas, a deforestation monitor.
Singapore’s National Environment Agency has issued notices to 10 companies that operate palm oil and pulp plantations to request they extinguish fires, stop burning land, and show how they plan to prevent future fires. The notices were issued under a transboundary haze law passed by Singapore in 2014, which allows it to impose fines of up to SGD$100,000 for each day of pollution.
Singapore’s senior minister, K. Shanmugam, told reporters on Monday the government would use “every legal and regulatory lever” to pursue the companies.
“They should also be under no illusion that they can simply wait for the haze to clear and return to business as usual,” he said.
The haze has led to schools closing and restrictions on outdoor activities across the region.
Protesters in Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia rallied against government corruption and incompetence this week, pointing to the failure to put out the fires, which have mainly occurred on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
Sifra, a 29-year-old who lives in Borneo, told AFP this week that her husband and two children had been coughing for a month.
“Even inside the house, the smoke gets in,” she said. “Honestly, since the haze, my body aches, as if I’ve been beaten up.”
War zone
Sudan: A series of drone strikes by Sudan’s military this week killed 300 people, including more than 150 who died on Monday during an attack on a market.
The strikes follow warnings from the United Nations that the military and its rival – the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – have increasingly been using armed drones.
The target of the attack on Monday was a market in Abyei, a disputed border area that is claimed by Sudan and South Sudan. At least 153 people were killed.
Yohana Akol Ngor, the caretaker minister of information in Abyei, told Reuters: “The recovery process of the dead ones is still continuing. The situation is terrible.”
Officials in Abyei blamed Sudan for the attack, as did South Sudan, which summoned Sudan’s ambassador.
An unnamed Sudanese source told BBC News that the military bombed the market because it had a fuel depot that was being used to supply fuel to the RSF.
The attack followed separate strikes last weekend in West Kordofan state, controlled by the RSF, which killed 150 people, including 145 who were attending a funeral.
The UN this week warned that the war is leading to an increased risk of famine. An estimated 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger.
The war, which started in 2023, is believed to have killed more than 200,000 people and has forced 14 million to flee their homes.
Spotlight: China opens air base in Laos
China has converted an airfield in Laos into a new military base as it gradually seeks to expand its global military footprint.
The opening of the facility, about 50 kilometres outside Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was announced by China’s defence ministry in September. Satellite imagery has since revealed that the site has a 2000-metre-long runway, a parking apron for 22 planes and eight light attack aircraft.
China has embarked on a massive military build-up in recent years and has started to establish bases abroad. Unlike the US, which has about 50 allies and hundreds of bases and military facilities around the world, China has only one formal ally – North Korea – and a limited foreign presence.
In 2017, China opened its first foreign base in Djibouti, Africa. In 2022, it began its expansion of a naval base in Cambodia, which hosts a joint Chinese–Cambodian training centre. China has also built and militarised islands in the South China Sea.
The airport in Laos, which was once used as a secret transport hub by the CIA, has been described as China’s first foreign air base, though Beijing and Vientiane insist it is a joint training facility.
China’s defence ministry said in a statement the new facility will be operated by both countries and is intended to help train Laotian air force pilots.
“It is not directed against any third party and contributes to enhancing practical military cooperation as well as promoting regional peace and stability,” the statement said.
Analysts said the site was small and the airfield’s runway was too short to be used by Chinese bombers, though it could be extended.
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, wrote on the institute’s website that presenting the facility as a training and disaster relief hub allowed Beijing to secure a “more lasting presence while avoiding the diplomatic and political cost of building traditional military bases”.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the airfield in Laos was known as “Lima Site 44” and was used by the CIA during the US’s covert war against communist forces in Laos. The US publicly acknowledged its role in the war in Laos in May 1997.