Missiles in Ukraine, Mansions in America: How Kremlin-Linked Russians Thrive Under Trump-Era Policies
Meanwhile, U.S. Weighs Pulling Welcome Mat from Ukrainian Asylum-Seekers as Immigration Stance Shifts
Telegram channels this morning showed harrowing images from Russian missile and drone strikes on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, where at least 18 people—including nine children—were killed and more than 60 injured. At the same time, over 200,000 Ukrainian asylum seekers in the United States face potential expulsion, after some “accidentally” received emails from the U.S. government stating their legal status had been revoked. Meanwhile, wealthy Russians—taking advantage of Trump-era policy loopholes—are reportedly purchasing multimillion-dollar properties across America, from Palm Beach to Manhattan. Read more below…
Stock market turmoil deepened on Friday, as China hit back at tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, raising the likelihood of an extended trade war and damage to the global economy. All three major stock indexes in the US plunged more than 5%, with the S&P 500 dropping almost 6%, capping the worst week for the US stock market since 2020. In the UK, the FTSE 100 plunged almost 5% - its steepest fall in five years, while Asian markets also dropped and exchanges in Germany and France faced similar declines. The global stock market has lost trillions in value since Trump announced sweeping new 10% import taxes on goods from every country, with products from dozens of countries, including key trading partners such as China, the European Union and Vietnam, facing far higher rates. China responded to Trump on Friday by hitting US goods with import taxes of 34%, curbing exports of key minerals and adding American firms to its blacklist, describing Trump's actions as "bullying" and a violation of international trade rules. Other countries appear to be hoping they will be able to negotiate deals, despite conflicting signals from the White House about its appetite for talks - BBC
Donald Trump’s tariff blitz could have a severe impact on Laos’ economy and threaten its growing trade relationship with the U.S, according to economic experts. Imports from Laos will face both a 10 percent universal tariff applied to all imports, and a 48 percent reciprocal tariff. For years, Laos has worked to expand its export base, with the U.S. emerging as a key trading partner. The country’s main exports to the U.S.include footwear, wood furniture, textiles, and electronics components. However, with the newly imposed tariff rates, Lao businesses might face a significant drop in orders from American buyers. Lao coffee, one of the country’s signature exports, could also take a significant hit. The United States has been a growing consumer of high-quality Lao coffee, but the added cost from tariffs could push buyers toward alternative suppliers such as Colombia. Laos may now be forced to look toward regional trade partners, particularly China, which has already been increasing its influence in Laos through major infrastructure projects, including the Laos-China Railway - The Laotian Times
Donald Trump said Friday that he had spoken with Vietnam ruling party chief To Lam in one of the first discussions American and Asian business leaders in the days since Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs of up to 49% on the region’s countries. Just had a very productive call with To Lam, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the US,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I thanked him on behalf of our Country and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future.” - Nikkei Asia
A Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian president’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on Friday killed at least 18 people, including nine children, according to Ukrainian authorities. The number of people injured has increased to 61, officials said. Among them are 12 children. Forty residents are in hospitals, Suspilne reported. A playground and apartment building were in Ground Zero of the attack. Drone attacks were also reported in Kyiv overnight. In all, 91 Russian drones targeted the country overnight.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to become Europe’s point man to hold talks with Vladimir Putin over peace in Ukraine, The Telegraph reported. Some members of the “coalition of the willing” have pushed for a European leader to take the helm on engaging Russia as part of efforts to support Kyiv. The French president and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer - who lead the group of nations planning to secure any ceasefire deal with Ukraine - have been singled out as the most likely interlocutors with Moscow. But The Telegraph understands Sir Keir has no plans to hold talks with Putin as part of the UK’s efforts to support Ukraine’s defence. An Élysée Palace source said Mr Macron was willing to take up the role “when the time is right”.
The Trump administration on Friday said it accidentally told some Ukrainians refugees they needed to leave the U.S. immediately because their legal status was being revoked, telling CBS News the message was sent by mistake. Some Ukrainians who had entered the U.S. under the Biden administration following Russia's invasion of their homeland received emails this week telling them that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would be terminating their legal protections, according to advocates and a notice obtained by CBS News. "DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole," the April 3 notice said, referring to the temporary legal status that the Biden administration granted to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. "Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate 7 days from the date of this notice." The Biden administration welcomed roughly 240,000 Ukrainians under a policy known as Uniting for Ukraine, or U4U, that allowed Americans to sponsor Ukrainians displaced by Russia's invasion. More than 20,000 Ukrainians who flew to Mexico at the start of the war were also allowed into the U.S. under the parole authority, which allows officials to offer temporary work permits and deportation protections to migrants on humanitarian grounds. If recipients failed to leave the U.S., the message read, they would "be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States," unless they have received another immigration status. But when CBS News asked representatives for DHS about the notice, they said it had been sent by accident.
A federal judge on Friday ruled that the United States must bring back a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month. Judge Paula Xinis of the US District Court in Maryland directed the federal government to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, to the US no later than 11:59 p.m. on April 7. The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday it mistakenly deported the Maryland father of three “because of an administrative error,” but said it could not bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody. It appeared to mark the first time the administration has admitted an error related to its recent deportation flights to El Salvador, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle - CNN
President Trump will not attend the dignified transfer of four American soldiers who died during a training exercise in Lithuania last week, instead sending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Dover Air Force Base, Del., while he remains in Florida. Hegseth’s attendance was confirmed by the White House on Friday. Trump will not travel back for the transfer and remain at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., where he is playing golf and later will hold a political fundraising dinner - The Hill
A video, discovered on the cellphone of a paramedic who was found along with 14 other aid workers in a mass grave in the Gaza in late March, shows that the ambulances and fire truck that they were traveling in were clearly marked and had their emergency signal lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire. Officials from the Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a news conference on Friday at the United Nations moderated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies that they had presented the nearly seven-minute recording, which was obtained by The New York Times, to the U.N. Security Council. An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said earlier this week that Israeli forces did not “randomly attack” an ambulance, but that several vehicles “were identified advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals toward Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot. Colonel Shoshani said earlier in the week that nine of those killed were Palestinian militants. Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the video. The Times obtained the video from a senior diplomat at the United Nations who asked not to be identified to be able to share sensitive information - NYT
The head of Taiwan’s National Security Council arrived in the United States for talks with President Donald Trump’s administration, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, days after mainland China concluded war games around the island. Joseph Wu was leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel,” the Financial Times reported. It marked Trump’s first use of the channel since returning to the White House on January 20. Earlier this week, the People’s Liberation Army concluded two-day war games around Taiwan in which it held long-range, live-fire drills in the East China Sea, marking an escalation of exercises around the island. Trump’s latest tariffs this week also upset Taiwan, which called them unreasonable. - SCMP
China is rapidly advancing a broad spectrum of counter-space capabilities as part of a sustained push to secure military power in orbit. According to the Secure World Foundation’s Global Counter-space Capabilities report 2025, released April 3rd, China has implemented a sustained effort to develop a broad range of offensive counter-space capabilities and details a number of activities in the areas of direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) systems, co-orbital ASAT, rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO), directed energy weapons and electronic warfare (EW). While covering long-term developments, the report includes new activities over the past year. Notably, it suggests that China has deployed an experimental satellite in geostationary orbit (GEO) to practice space-based jamming, citing People’s Liberation Army reports which state, for example, that their existing jamming techniques don’t work on certain types of GEO communications satellites and calls for research into new techniques and strategies. The report could not identify which Chinese satellite or satellites have been conducting experimental space-based jamming.
Rich Russians are eyeing and buying expensive real estate in New York for the first time in a decade, Air Mail reported. “We’re seeing a lot of Russian nationals. I’ve had five Russians look at properties in the $10 million to $20 million range in the past few weeks—condos and town houses,” a New York broker said. One returning Russian just signed a contract for a $20 million trophy property in Midtown. The buying spree is spurred by the cozy relationship between Trump and Putin, the broker said. “A couple of years ago, oligarchs couldn’t buy anything in the U.S., and Putin put pressure on Russians not to buy here or in Europe.” Russians may also feel more reassured in the knowledge that, back in the day, their fellow nationals (including oligarchs and ex-cons) bought lots of Trump-branded properties. Some even found ways to provide Trump with cash when U.S. banks would not. Or, as Eric Trump told a golf reporter in 2014, “We have all the funding we need out of Russia.” The broker said about the current influx of oligarchs: “They aren’t afraid to buy anymore…That’s what’s changed.” And, thanks to Trump, there is less to fear. Sanctions against the Russian government, companies, and some individuals are still in place, but after only weeks in office, the administration took an ax to anti-corruption initiatives, disbanding Justice Department units such as Task Force KleptoCapture that investigated dirty money invested in assets like yachts and real estate. Trump also watered down the Corporate Transparency Act, making it easier for foreign investors to create American companies where they can park assets. “If you are a Russian oligarch and your goal is to move, hide, and invest your dirty money in the U.S., you now have a new incentive to form an anonymous company inside the United States,” Scott Greytak, director of advocacy for Transparency International U.S. Louise Shelley, a terrorism-and-transnational-crime expert at George Mason University, put it this way: “The oligarchy unit has been suspended, so the alarm bells are off. As long as you aren’t a narco cartel, you aren’t under special scrutiny.” Rich Russians have caught on. It’s easier, again, to move illicit funds to the U.S. without scrutiny, and they feel there is less risk for themselves of prosecution - Air Mail
The Canadian government is warning those headed to the United States to expect to be scrutinized by border authorities, telling travellers to be forthcoming during any interaction with customs agents. The federal government updated its travel advisory on Friday, warning Canadians of possible detention should one be denied entry to the United States. “Comply and be forthcoming in all interactions with border authorities,” reads the advisory. “If you are denied entry, you could be detained while awaiting deportation.” The government also warned that travellers should expect to be heavily questioned and may have their electronic devices searched. “Individual border agents often have significant discretion in making those determinations,” the advisory reads. “U.S. authorities strictly enforce entry requirements. Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices.” United States Customs and Border Protection agents have longed had the power to search electronic devices, usually looking for evidence of a possible crime. Speaking to CTV News Vancouver earlier this week, a B.C.-based immigration lawyer suggested that border agents aren’t just looking for evidence of a crime, but whether the traveller aligns with the U.S. administration and its policies. “The issue is that border officers have full discretion in order to grant somebody admission, and they can deny somebody admission for any reason,” Cindy Switzer said.
The journals…
