[Up First] Trump Eases Russia Sanctions, Midterm Campaign Money, Violent Protests In France

Ukraine carried out its largest-ever drone attack on St. Petersburg over the weekend, striking energy infrastructure including a port oil terminal and a refinery. The strikes killed at least one person and caused massive fires visible across the city’s skyline. Russia, meanwhile, launched its own missile strikes on Ukraine, killing at least 11 people. The continued fighting puts President Trump in an uncomfortable position, as he has been pushing Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian energy facilities following a deal to import Russian diesel — a move intended to lower fuel prices for American voters ahead of the midterms.

Trump’s frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has grown sharply. Trump has accused Zelenskyy of deliberately striking Russian energy targets to drive up U.S. fuel prices, and has gone so far as to call for new Ukrainian leadership, framing Zelenskyy — not Putin — as the main obstacle to peace.

Zelenskyy, in response, called any U.S. alignment with Putin a “historic mistake and big tragedy.”

The most consequential move came Friday, when Trump waived a congressionally approved sanctions package — legislation he himself had signed into law — that would have imposed steep tariffs on Russian energy and expanded sanctions against senior Kremlin officials.

Trump justified the decision by saying further sanctions would push Russia away from a peace deal. Critics noted that the move crystalized how his self-described role as a neutral mediator had become untenable.

Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, for his part, called the waiver “truly historic” — a pointed contrast to Zelenskyy’s assessment.

The 2026 midterm elections are on course to be the most expensive in U.S. history, with more than $15 billion raised so far to shape the outcome of congressional races. Democratic candidates are significantly blowing the doors off their Republican opponents in fundraising across competitive Senate and House races.

In the 13 races rated as competitive by the Cook Political Report, Democratic candidates are outraising Republicans by a five-to-one margin. In roughly four out of every five contested races, the Democrat or independent outraised the Republican during the last reporting quarter.

However, Republican-aligned super PACs are compensating through massive infusions of outside money, led by Elon Musk.

Musk has contributed $10 million to a pro-Ken Paxton super PAC, $20 million to a Republican House super PAC, $89 million to his own America PAC, and $158 million to the Republican Senate super PAC. That final figure alone exceeds the combined total raised by both the Paxton and Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico campaigns this entire cycle.

Both major parties face an image problem: Democrats are broadly unpopular as a party brand, while Republicans are dealing with voter anxiety over the ongoing Iran conflict and rising gas prices. The result is an unusual dynamic — strong grassroots Democratic fundraising offset by a super PAC tsunami of Republican mega-donor money.

France is facing one of its gravest political crises in years after weekend protests erupted into widespread violence across the country. What began as demonstrations over school conditions rapidly expanded into a broad uprising against the rising cost of living and what protesters described as violent police crackdowns.

Thousands of people were arrested nationwide, and a government minister publicly acknowledged that police had lost control of the situation in several cities.

The French president condemned the rioters and vowed that those responsible for the violence would be punished. The unrest has exposed deep fault lines in French society over inequality, police conduct, and the cost of living — issues that have been simmering for years.

The timing is particularly significant. With a presidential election just six months away, the crisis is already reshaping the political landscape. Opposition figures on both the left and right are using the unrest to challenge the incumbent government’s handling of domestic policy, and the images of burning streets are being deployed across the political spectrum to mobilize voters.