Numbers That Make Putin Blush

Hi Global Recap readers,

I’m sure you’ve all seen memes like the one below, but did you know there’s another president who’s allegedly just as much of a winner as Putin? 👇️ 

🇷🇺🇺🇦 RUSSIA & UKRAINE
Russia Hammers Ukraine

Overnight, Russia hit Ukraine with a barrage of 705 drones and missiles in what Kyiv calls a "complex, combined strike."

• Scale: Ukraine’s air force counted 653 drones and 52 missiles in the attack, which makes this the second-biggest air assault of the war, only behind the strike on the night of Sept. 6–7 that launched 823 projectiles.

• Defense: Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 592 drones and 31 missiles, which means 16 missiles and 63 drones still got through and hit 20 locations.

• Casualties: Officials reported at least 4 people dead after strikes in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and other regions. Zelenskyy said a residential building in Zaporizhzhia took a direct hit and that "tens of people" were injured. One of the dead was a 7-year-old girl.

• Targets: The attack hit both civilian infrastructure and energy facilities, which suggests Moscow wants to strain Ukraine’s winter readiness, not just frontline logistics.

• Diplomacy: President Zelenskyy publicly pushed the US, Europe, and G7 to answer this strike with harder sanctions on Russia’s energy and finance sectors and with secondary penalties on states and companies that help Moscow.

While even an attack of this magnitude is unlikely to prompt President Trump to hastily authorize Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine, it will be telling to see whether his stance shifts in the coming weeks, as a growing number of his supporters continue to back his original “Peace Through Strength” approach of floating the idea of sending the missiles (before he reversed course).

🇹🇿 TANZANIA
Numbers That Make Putin Blush

Hundreds of Tanzanians stayed in the streets on Thursday to protest a... "tightly managed" election and the government responded with an internet blackout, a curfew, and soldiers at roadblocks. President Samia Suluhu Hassan is claiming an early landslide while protests are accusing him of keeping real challengers off the ballot.

• Trigger: Protests erupted Wednesday after a disputed national vote in which candidates from the two main opposition parties were barred from running, leaving the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which has dominated Tanzania since independence in 1961, facing only 16 minor challengers who barely campaigned.

• Clampdown: The government shut the internet, imposed a nighttime curfew in Dar es Salaam, ordered civil servants to work from home, and deployed the military to key roads, turning back anyone who could not prove they were doing essential work.

• Casualties: Amnesty International said two people died on Wednesday, one civilian and one police officer, during clashes that included attacks on police stations, arson against a bus and a gas station, and vandalized polling centers. The government has not yet confirmed deaths.

• Results: So how much of a landslide was it for Hassan? The electoral body went on state TV Thursday and announced that Hassan had already secured 96.99% of counted votes in 8 of 272 constituencies, which signaled the outcome before most votes were even reported.

• International: Members of the European Parliament called the election "neither free nor fair" and urged democratic partners to hold the Tanzanian government to rights and electoral standards.

🇱🇻 LATVIA
Latvia Votes To Withdraw

Latvia’s parliament approved withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention after a 13-hour debate. If signed, Latvia would be the first EU member to leave the treaty. So what is this treaty?

• Treaty: The Istanbul Convention is a Council of Europe treaty aimed at preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Latvia ratified it in November 2024, and it entered into force there in 2024.

• Numbers: Lawmakers voted 56 to withdraw, 32 to remain, with 2 abstentions, during Thursday’s session in Riga.

• Next: President Edgars Rinkevics says he is not in favor, yet he has hinted he might not block a parliamentary decision.

• Arguments: Opponents claim the treaty promotes "gender ideology" and harms children, while supporters say it standardizes services for survivors of domestic abuse.

• Protests: About 5,000 people rallied outside parliament on Wednesday night against withdrawal, and roughly 20 demonstrated in favor on Thursday.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
Refugee Intake Cuts

Trump's team just slashed next year's refugee ceiling to 7,500, down from Biden's 125,000.

• Numbers: The cap falls from Biden's 125,000 to 7,500, which is the lowest on record for the US. Officials framed it as a security and resource move, not as an ideological one.

• Beneficiaries: The order tells officials to prioritize Afrikaners from South Africa, on the logic that they face race-based persecution. South Africa has publicly rejected that claim.

• Rationale: Trump froze almost all refugee arrivals after taking office in January 2025, but carved out this one exception for white South Africans, which lines up with arguments he made in his first presidency about attacks on white farmers.

• History: The refugee program has run since 1980, and Trump already pushed it down to 15,000 by the end of his first term, so this new cap fits his long pattern of cutting refugee admissions.

• Note: The Presidential Determination setting the 7,500 cap was signed on Sept. 30 but only made available now.

🇦🇫🇵🇰 AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN
Afghanistan, Pakistan
Resume Talks

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to restart peace talks and stick to a fragile ceasefire after mediation by Turkey and Qatar. Principal-level teams meet in Istanbul on Nov. 6, 2025 to decide how this actually works in practice.

• Mediation: Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says Turkey and Qatar brokered meetings in Istanbul from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30 to consolidate the truce and tee up next steps.

• Mechanism: The parties agreed to set up a monitoring and verification system to preserve the ceasefire and impose penalties on any violator.

• Demands: Pakistani security officials say it will push Pakistan for clear, verifiable action against militants blamed for cross-border attacks, a claim the Taliban authorities deny.

• Backdrop: After several days of intense cross-border fire beginning around early October, Pakistan launched air-strikes inside Afghanistan aimed at Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants near Kabul and along the frontier, according to Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif. The Afghan government subsequently claimed it carried out retaliatory operations.

• Whiplash: As of Oct. 29, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had called four days of talks a failure that produced no "workable solution," yet both sides now say they will resume negotiations under Turkish and Qatari cover.