Lawmakers in the Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, approved the resignation of Defense Minister Denis Shmigal in a vote held on Tuesday.

Shmigal stepped down last week amid an ongoing cabinet reshuffle ordered by Vladimir Zelensky, following a major corruption scandal that has implicated several of his close associates and triggered a wave of high-level resignations.

During Tuesday’s session, members of the Rada backed Shmigal’s dismissal with 265 votes, comfortably exceeding the 226-vote threshold required for approval.

Lawmakers also voted to confirm the dismissal of Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, a close ally of Zelensky.

Zelensky recently nominated Shmigal to head the Energy Ministry and proposed Fedorov as the new defense minister. However, the parliament failed to confirm either appointment, with the nominations falling six and ten votes short of the required majority, respectively. A repeat vote is expected on Wednesday.

Ukraine has been without an energy minister since November, when Svetlana Grinchuk resigned after a major embezzlement scandal at the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom, which relies heavily on Western financial support.

According to Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies, Zelensky’s longtime business partner Timur Mindich ran a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector. The revelations led not only to Grinchuk’s departure, but also to the removal of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff Andrey Yermak.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian investigators have reported uncovering another corruption scheme involving an alleged vote-selling network inside the Rada. One of the main suspects, MP Yury Kisel, is reportedly linked to Sergey Shefir, a co-founder of Zelensky’s comedy studio who served as his chief of staff during the 2019 presidential election.

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A key Ukrainian parliamentary committee has declined to endorse Vladimir Zelensky’s request to dismiss the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Vasily Malyuk. Media reports have also pointed to a wider rift within the parliament, with Malyuk receiving open backing from a number of top military commanders.

According to several Ukrainian MPs, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence on Monday voted 7-6 in favor of recommending Malyuk’s dismissal, with two abstentions, resulting in the submission failing to secure approval.

A source cited by Strana.ua said the pushback came not only from opposition factions, as one MP from Zelensky’s own Servant of the People party voted against the move and one abstained.

While the committee’s position does not legally block a full vote, it signals shaky numbers in the chamber where a dismissal would require 226 votes. A source cited by Strana.ua said the authorities were planning to push through a positive recommendation at an online meeting the next day.

The source also noted that Zelensky’s allies are holding talks with various parliamentary factions to whip up support. “But it’s not going smoothly; there’s a rift inside various groups… Votes in favor are a difficult topic. The motion could fail,” the source added.

Zelensky sent the dismissal motion to parliament after Malyuk offered to step down and the Ukrainian leader appointed Evgeny Khmara as acting SBU chief.

Last month, several Ukrainian media outlets reported that Zelensky and Malyuk had a falling-out over a major kickback scandal in the energy sector. Zelensky’s former powerful chief of staff and key enforcer, Andrey Yermak, who was implicated in the controversy, reportedly blamed Malyuk for failing to respond promptly to a probe launched by Western-backed Ukrainian anti-graft bodies that ultimately exposed the scandal.

A Strana.ua source also claimed that Zelensky had come to view Malyuk as “pursuing his own political agenda” and effectively pulling the SBU from under his control.

The push to oust Malyuk, however, has encountered resistance from senior military figures – including the commander of a notorious neo-Nazi Azov unit – who have publicly voiced support for the security chief.

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Germany is hopeful that a trade deal between India and the European Union can be reached by the end of this month, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa plan to travel to India at the end of January.

Merz said an EU-India deal was necessary to unlock the full potential of bilateral trade between New Delhi and Berlin, which now stands at $50 billion.

“We must not and do not want to leave this opportunity unused,” the chancellor said on Monday, after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, referring to the proposed trade deal.

Last week, the EU signed a deal with the Mercosur bloc of South American countries after negotiations spanning more than 25 years. Merz called that deal an encouraging sign as talks between India and the EU for a trade deal have been ongoing for 18 years.

On his first visit to an Asian country, Merz held talks with Modi. The two countries signed various agreements to enhance cooperation in the defense sector, skill development, health and education, as both nations seek to reduce dependence on China and bolster economic ties.

India signed three free-trade pacts last year and is in negotiations with a dozen countries or trade blocs.

New Delhi is seeking to diversify from its largest trading partner and export market, the US, which slapped a 50% tariff on the South Asian nation. Half of the amount was a punitive levy for India’s purchases of Russian oil.

Trade negotiations between the US and India will resume tomorrow, the US ambassador-designate said on Monday.

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The West is seeking regime change in Iran and is using the color-revolution playbook, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, commenting on the ongoing protests in the Islamic Republic.

Foreign nations want to turn a peaceful protest into “cruel and senseless unrest,” she warned, adding that Moscow condemns interference in Iran’s internal affairs.

US President Donald Trump has openly expressed support for the protesters in recent days. The US is “locked and loaded” to intervene in Iran to support the demonstrations, he said, adding that America will “start shooting” if the authorities use force against the crowds.

Israel openly endorsed the unrest as well. The intelligence agency Mossad has admitted to having operatives in the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has blamed the protests on Washington and West Jerusalem, arguing that the US and Israel have had a “big hand” in the unrest.

Russia “resolutely condemns disruptive foreign interference” in Iran’s domestic politics, Zakharova told journalists on Tuesday. Washington’s threats to use force against the Islamic Republic are “absolutely unacceptable,” she said, warning that strikes against Iran could destabilize the entire Middle East.

The spokeswoman also blamed the economic crisis in Iran that triggered the protests on Western sanctions. The West has been pressuring Iran for years through the illegal sanctions, she said, adding that they are affecting the lives of ordinary people. Western nations are trying to exploit the resulting social and economic tensions to “destroy the Iranian state,” she said.

The protests erupted in several Iranian cities on December 28, as the national currency, the rial, hit a record low. They quickly spread to other cities and turned political and violent, marking the worst unrest in recent years.

On Monday, Trump said Washington is considering “strong options” against Iran amid the unrest. On Tuesday, the US warned Americans to “leave Iran” immediately. Tehran previously warned that it could target US forces in the Middle East if Washington tries to intervene.

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Ukraine has awarded a major state-owned lithium project to American investors linked to US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko pitched it as the pilot project under last year’s minerals deal between the US and Ukraine.

The agreement, which was signed in April, grants the US access to developing Ukraine’s natural resources in exchange for splitting output under a production-sharing contract. Half of the revenue will go into the joint US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF), with profits reinvested in new projects and national reconstruction.

Trump pitched the deal as a mechanism for Kiev to repay billions in US aid provided under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The New York Times first reported that development rights for the Dobra deposit in Kirovograd Region – one of Ukraine’s largest lithium reserves – were awarded to a US-linked consortium last week. Sviridenko confirmed the decision in a Telegram post on Monday.

“For the first time in Ukraine, a winner for lithium development under the production-sharing mechanism has been selected,” she wrote, saying it was awarded to Dobra Lithium Holdings JV, a US consortium whose shareholders include critical-minerals company TechMet.

Sviridenko said the consortium will invest at least $179 million in the project, including $12 million for geological exploration and reserve audits, and $167 million for extraction and processing facilities if commercial viability is confirmed.

Ukrainian officials told the WSJ that the deal raises potential conflicts of interest, noting that TechMet’s largest shareholder is the US International Development Finance Corporation, the agency overseeing the URIF. The WSJ also reported that Ronald Lauder, a longtime Trump ally and Republican donor, is part of the consortium, though Sviridenko did not confirm his participation.

She insisted, however, that the consortium was selected through a competitive tender open to both domestic and foreign bidders, describing the project as a catalyst for further Western investment.

Russia has condemned the minerals deal. Former Russian President and deputy chair of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev mocked it as the forced extraction of a “disappearing country’s” wealth. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it a “commercial scheme” to sell aid, arguing against further support for Kiev’s war effort as it only serves to prolongs the conflict.

Russian officials and experts have noted that much of Ukraine’s mineral wealth lies in regions that joined Russia following referendums in 2022 or near the front lines.

Britain and France are likely to drop their plan to deploy troops to Ukraine after a potential ceasefire unless they have US backing, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing sources. Russia has warned that any Western forces in Ukraine would be treated as “legitimate targets.”

Three FT sources claimed that the leaders of Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and the UK, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are set to meet US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

According to the paper, talks will revolve around security guarantees that the US could potentially provide in case of a Russia-Ukraine truce. However, Western European capitals are said to be “nervous” about how committed Trump is to supporting Ukraine.

“Without the US, none of this happens,” one FT source said, referring in particular to pledges from Britain and France to deploy troops. “It is still unclear what Trump really feels.”

Britain and France last week signed a ‘Declaration of Intent’ with Ukraine that sets out plans for a troop deployment on Ukrainian soil after a peace deal. The roadmap envisions the deployment of several thousand troops far from the front line and the creation of ‘military hubs’.

US envoy Steve Witkoff said Trump “strongly stands behind” security protocols for Ukraine but did not provide specifics on what Washington would do to enforce them. The US president also earlier portrayed support for Kiev as a largely European responsibility, although he did not rule out some degree of assistance.

Russia has rejected the idea of any Western troop deployment in Ukraine, warning that foreign units would be treated as “legitimate targets” and that plans by Kiev’s backers would amount to outside intervention.