Biden to Trump: ‘Get a Life, Man’ – Ukraine at War Update for Oct. 11

After her dinner meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday evening, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced that her country would host the next “Ukraine Recovery Conference,” which will focus on reconstruction efforts in the war-torn nation.

The conference will occur in Rome on July 10 and 11, 2025. Previous editions of the high-level trade show, which brings together engineering, construction, and a host of other industries needed to rebuild infrastructure, have taken place in Switzerland, the UK and Germany.

Zelensky sat down with Meloni on Thursday evening and will continue his 48-hour trip to Western Europe with a meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican, followed by a trip to Berlin on Friday. He has already met with the respective heads of government in London and Paris.

Meloni said on Thursday that Rome’s continued support for Kyiv was about “putting Ukraine in the best possible condition to build a negotiating table for peace, a peace... that cannot be a surrender.”

While Meloni is a vocal supporter of Zelensky and Ukraine, Italy to date has not been among the top Western contributors to Ukraine’s defense. According to the Center for European Policy Analysis, Rome has contributed the equivalent of an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion in military aid to Kyiv, while France, with a population slightly bigger than Italy’s, has sent $2.7 billion. And, the Council noted, France has still “received criticism for doing too little.”

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Ukraine Must Join the Joint Expeditionary Force, and the UK Should Lead the Way

The UK has been a leader in helping Ukraine. But as inertia sets in and with Western support wavering, efforts must be redoubled. The JEF is a natural bridge to NATO.

At the NATO Summit in Washington this summer, Meloni confirmed that Italy would be increasing military support to Kyiv in 2025 by supplying $1.8 billion in weapons.  

Her right-leaning government has been sticking close to Washington and NATO talking points that Russia’s 31-month invasion of Ukraine almost certainly will end in negotiations with Moscow, rather than outright victory, but the Italian Prime Minister added that “Ukraine is not alone and we will stand with it for as long as needed.”

Before his Rome meeting on Thursday, Zelensky said a ceasefire with Russia was not under discussion with European allies.

White House infuriated by misinformation on relief funding, some of which centers on Ukraine, and has prevented people from seeking help

As Florida begins its clean-up after Hurricane Milton leveled the state about a week after Hurricane Helene caused devastation in the same area near the Tampa Bay area, US President Joe Biden’s administration has been confronting waves of misinformation and disinformation surrounding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response to the storms.

At a White House press conference on Thursday, Biden took aim at the financial scam artists who typically prey on victims of these natural disasters, and the rumors spread by his political opponents in this election year, saying that people should “have the decency to tell [Americans] the truth” after the two hurricanes caused billions of dollars in damage and claimed more than 230 human lives.

Among the rampant disinformation was that FEMA funds have been misappropriated, claims repeated by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his populist followers. A meme that went viral read, “FEMA: Funding Emergency Money to Aliens” and some claimed that the agency was bankrupt because of US aid to Ukraine, both untrue.

As a result of the misinformation and lies, some aid workers reportedly have been receiving death threats, which, federal officials warned, have led some people who need help after the storms to shy away from seeking it.

“Those who engage in such lies are undermining confidence in the rescue and recovery work that’s ongoing,” Biden said. “These lies are also harmful to those who most need help. Lives are on the line. People are in desperate situations. Have the decency to tell them the truth.”

As he was preparing to leave the podium, Biden was asked by reporters if he had spoken to Trump about his followers’ disinformation campaign, to which Biden scoffed, “Are you kidding me?”

Pressed further, the president was asked if he had any words he’d like to say to Trump. Biden responded: “Yeah. Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life, man. Help these people.”

Major Russian oil depot in Crimea, which supplies invading forces, continues to burn and explode.

A Russian-controlled oil depot in Crimea has been burning for almost five days after a Ukrainian air strike, Ukrainska Pravda reported, and on Thursday, another tank there exploded.

The oil depot in the port of Feodosia was successfully attacked by Ukrainian drones on Oct. 7, even though it reportedly had been equipped with a Pantsir-S1 air defense system since autumn 2022.

It is the largest facility in occupied Crimea in terms of oil shipments and supplies Kremlin forces in its invasion of Ukraine. Its fuel is transported to mobile stations throughout the Crimean Peninsula, with the largest shipments heading to Krasnoperekopsk for delivery to the front lines, Ukrainian partisan intelligence reported. All supply routes from the unloading point pass through Tymashivka, where a new road is under construction.

The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 21 Ukrainian drones had been shot down within its occupied areas and its own territory that Monday evening: Twelve UAVs were allegedly downed over Crimea, six over Russia’s Kursk Oblast, and one each over Russia’s Belgorod, Bryansk and Voronezh regions.