The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 10th, 2025: Russia Nearly Took Down U.S.-Bound Planes & Zelensky Read To Hold Elections

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: Bombshell reporting reveals that Russia’s hybrid war nearly reached the United States. European intelligence now says a Moscow-directed sabotage network was preparing to attack U.S.-bound aircraft — a chilling escalation in Russia’s covert campaign across Europe. Later in the show — a surprising statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He now says he’s prepared to hold elections within three months if the United States and its allies are willing to help secure the vote. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Stash Financial: Don't Let your money sit around. Go to https://get.stash.com/PDB to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. Goldbelly: Discover iconic meals from legendary restaurants delivered nationwide with Goldbelly—get 20% off your first order at https://Goldbelly.com using promo code PDB. Nobl Travel: Protect your gear and travel smarter—NOBL’s zipper-free carry-on is up to 58% off at https://NOBLTravel.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Huh. Later in the show, a surprising statement from Ukrainian President Zelensky, saying he's prepared to hold elections in Ukraine within three months if the U.S. and allies are willing to secure the vote. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We're starting things off with an intriguing report out of Europe, and it speaks to something that we've been tracking here on the PDB for quite a while. We've been closely following Russia's hybrid or shadow war across Europe, the sabotage attempts, the arson plots, the drone incursions, the strange disruptions hitting rail lines, power cables, and military installations. It all points to Moscow, running a far-reaching covert campaign designed to unsettle European governments and test NATO's defenses. But according to new reporting from the

Financial Times, that campaign came much closer to the U.S. than anyone previously understood. In July of last year, explosive devices hidden inside D.HL parcels detonated inside logistics hubs in the UK, Poland, and Germany. Now, these weren't small, insignificant explosives. European Security Services later concluded that each device was powerful enough to bring down a cargo aircraft if it had detonated inside the plane. Investigators eventually tied the plot to a Russian directed sabotage network operating across the continent. That alone, of course, is noteworthy, but it's what they found next that raises the stakes. Authorities uncovered an additional six-kilovies, of explosive material in the possession of the same group. And according to multiple intelligence

officials who spoke with the FT, that extra material represented the next phase of the operation, and that was an attack on flights heading to the U.S. European officials now believe Russian operatives were preparing for an attack on U.S.-bound aircraft, something that they say could have caused more disruption to global aviation than anything since the September 11th attacks. And according to reporting, this was not some theoretical. exercise. It was the next step in a sabotage campaign that has been operational for some time. And that campaign is evolving. Across Europe, intelligence services have disrupted plots to derail crowded passenger trains, set fire to shopping centers, poison water supplies, and damage or

disable key pieces of infrastructure. Dron incursions have been reported over airports and military installations in Poland and Denmark, Germany, and Belgium, often in clusters and clearly designed to overwhelm local responders and expose weak spots. Russian operatives are also scouting bridges, rail bottlenecks, energy lines, and other operational targets that match Cold War sabotage doctrine almost line for line. The FT reports that Russia has even attempted to re-insert trained sleeper saboteurs into Europe after mass diplomatic expulsions thinned out their official intelligence presence. To pull this off, Moscow is relying heavily on what experts described. as a, quote, gig economy of Spycraft. These aren't traditional intelligence officers. They're young men,

often with no connection to Russia, recruited online, paid in cryptocurrency, and used as disposable assets. They carry out arson attacks, map infrastructure, or place improvised devices, without necessarily knowing who was giving the orders. In one disrupted cell, connected to former Wisecard executive Jan Marseleck, targets allegedly included U.S. military bases in Europe. Wagner mercenary networks have also been involved in recruiting saboteurs. This dispersed low-cost structure gives Russia something that it didn't have even during the Cold War, and that would be scale, hundreds of potential actors, each capable of causing chaos, all while maintaining deniability.

And we're now seeing the consequences. European intelligence services are warning that Russia may be entering what so Soviet-era doctrine called a, quote, pre-war phase, a period marked by deniable attacks, expanded tolerance for civilian casualties, and constant probing of an enemy's weaknesses. The goal isn't always destruction, sometimes it's reconnaissance, sometimes it's confusion, sometimes it's both, which brings us back to the U.S. For months, we've reported that Russia's hybrid war against Europe was persistent and expanding, And this new reporting, well, makes that clear. An attack on U.S.-bound aircraft was not only possible,

it was allegedly an active planning before European authorities disrupted the network. Coming up next, Ukrainian President Zelensky says he's ready to hold elections if the U.S. and Western allies are ready to help secure the vote. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, we've all seen those scary ads about owing money to the IRS, You know the ones I'm talking about, trying to frighten you into calling. Well, let me tell you about a different kind of business. They're called Tax Relief Advocates, TRA. And if you owe the IRS, whether it's $5,000 or $50,000 or $500,000,

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promotion, well, that ends on December 22nd. Text BDB to 989-898. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. As a corruption scandal eats into his approval ratings, Ukrainian President Zelensky signals he's ready to let voters have their say. He said Tuesday he'd be prepared to hold elections within three months if the U.S. and Europe can guarantee security of a wartime vote. Now, for those unfamiliar, Zelensky's term expired last year, and while Ukrainian law bans elections under martial law, the Ukrainian president now faces renewed pressure from President Trump, who recently told Politico that Keev is using the war as an excuse to delay a vote. When word of Trump accusing Keeve of stalling reached Ukraine leadership, Zelensky was quick to answer.

He labeled that suggestion as, quote, totally inadequate and made clear that if Washington and European partners can secure the democratic process, Ukraine could be ready to head to the polls in 60 to 90 days. As for why Trump is pursuing a vote, well, that stems from his belief that a new leader in Kiev might finally break the stalemate in peace negotiations, which has swung between flashes of progress and long periods of drift. Well, now whether that happens or not, a new leader would certainly please someone, and that someone would be Russian President Putin. He's been calling for and hoping for Zelensky to leave office for almost the entire duration of his war. This has all put President Zelensky in an uncomfortable position, as you might imagine.

Kiev has been resistant to parts of a U.S.-backed peace plan that European allies say leans too far towards Moscow's preferences, despite Ukrainian and American negotiators hammering out a revision. Add to that, Zelensky's cabinet insisting a vote cannot be held under daily Russian drone strikes, missile barrages, and mass displacement of civilians. As we've been tracking here on the PDB, after nearly four years of war, Millions of Ukrainians remain abroad or uprooted inside the country, and entire regions still living under Russian occupation, conditions that make even basic electoral logistics a massive question mark. That's what makes Zelensky's new openness to elections so striking. For months,

his government treated wartime voting as a non-starter. Now, though, the potential to hold a vote is feeding directly into Moscow's information strategy and desires. Putin's Christmas wish for at least a couple of years now has been to replace Zelensky in Ukraine with a pro-Russian option. Putin has long claimed Ukraine's government is illegitimate because it postponed its 20-24 elections under martial law. They were under martial law because of Putin's invasion. It's a talking point that he's using to avoid direct talks with Zelensky and cast doubt on any negotiating framework. It's been just a part of Putin's strategy to block, delay, and string along the U.S. and allies when it comes to actually having meaningful peace talks. Zeletsky says he'll ask Parliament to draft legislation

that could allow elections during martial law, but again, the unresolved challenges are substantial, how to protect polling stations under fire, out of register voters who've been displaced across multiple countries, and whether anyone in front-line or occupied regions could participate at all. And public sentiment reflects that tension. Ukrainians overwhelmingly oppose holding wartime elections, yet many also want political renewal after the corruption scandal last month that damaged Zelensky's circle and accelerated his slide in the polls. According to a survey this month, only 20% of Zelensky's supporters would vote for him today, down from 24% before the scandal broke. But despite those low numbers, well, he's actually still in the lead. As for challengers to the

Ukrainian president, former commander-in-chief Valerie Zillusioni trails by just one point, with military intelligence chief Karillo Budanov in third place at 5%. Now, it's important to note that neither has announced any political ambitions, though both are largely viewed as more militant than Zelensky. Ironically, that could make these negotiations even more difficult than they already are, and, of course, would backfire on Putin's long-standing effort to get Zelensky out of the way. Again, obviously, Putin's desire is to replace Zelensky with a very much. a pro-Russian option, similar to Hungary's Victor Orban. The reality is, any push by the White House

to hold elections in Ukraine prior to a peace deal does, in fact, work in Putin's favor, or at least is in line with his longstanding demand that Zelensky be removed. And so, the broader political picture is one of a presidency under strain. Trust in Zelensky has whipsawed since 2019, from 80% at his inauguration to 37% on the eve of Russia's invasion, then up to 90% in the war's first months. But just a few short months ago, polling from the Kiev International Institute of Sociology found that while 60% still trust him, only 25% believe Zelenskyy should remain in office once the war ends. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday the 10th of December. If you have any questions or comments, and I hope you do.

Please, just reach out to me at PDB at thefirstTV.com. And to listen to the show ad-free, you can do that, you know. Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed. Stay safe. Stay cool. Hey, Mike Baker here.

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