Russian victories, Spanish tragedy, elections without answers: RT stories that shaped the week

This week we also covered the Alyoshki ceasefire with Ukraine and Ursula von der Leyen’s attempt to shoehorn Canada into the EU

Russia’s diplomatic victories

Four years of unprecedented sanctions and an active conflict didn’t deter four dozen African nations from sending delegations to Moscow for the third Russia-Africa Summit this week. Forty-eight out of Africa’s 54 countries were represented at the summit, 22 of them by their heads of state.

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Russia-Africa Summit: Putin’s key proposals on trade, technology and Western finance alternatives

More than 60 bilateral and multilateral agreements were signed, including a Russia-Africa Action Plan for 2027-2029, and a joint declaration opposing unilateral sanctions and the unlawful seizure of civilian shipping, pledging deeper counter-terrorism cooperation, and supporting increased African representation on the UN Security Council. RT covered the summit minute-by minute, and broke down Putin’s plan to help bring about the “second awakening” of Africa.

Before he welcomed the African delegations to Moscow, Putin held a rare phone call with Finnish President Alexander Stubb – a figure repeatedly floated as a potential EU envoy to Russia – and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Putin later said that Russia welcomes “any steps aimed at restoring full-fledged and comprehensive relations,” and while the call brought the Russia/Ukraine conflict no closer to an end, Russian analyst Sergey Strokan noted that it should serve as a warning to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky that “metal fatigue is setting in across Europe’s political machinery – and that time is running out for the regime in Kiev.”

With the EU nowhere to be seen, and Stubb and Store incurring the wrath of their fellow European leaders for even daring to speak to Putin, the tone in the US could not be more different. There, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touched down in Atlanta for a meeting of G20 foreign ministers on Friday. Sanctions on Russian diesel exports have been lifted, trilateral talks between Moscow, Kiev, and Washington are slated for next month, and Putin has been invited to the G20 leaders’ meeting in Florida in December. However, the most tangible result of Russian-American diplomacy came 5,000 miles away from Washington, in the besieged town of Alyoshki.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov takes part in the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, October 30, 2026 © Getty Images; Michael Kappeler

The Alyoshki breakthrough

Moscow and Kiev agreed to a temporary ceasefire in the frontline town of Alyoshki in Russia’s Kherson Region last Friday, with both sides agreeing to suspend all military operations to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and prepare for civilian evacuations.

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Frontline ceasefire EXCLUSIVE: Inside the aid mission to trapped residents

The Kremlin confirmed this week that the ceasefire was coordinated by US First Lady Melania Trump, who said she was moved by the plight of Alyoshki’s “elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water.”

Ukraine had accused Russia of preventing civilians from leaving the embattled town, but residents who escaped earlier this month told RT that Alyoshki was besieged by Ukrainian forces, who carried out drone attacks on vehicles carrying food, fuel, and medicine.

As Russian forces got to work clearing mines from the roads surrounding Alyoshki, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the humanitarian truce, if successful, “could set a precedent” for other areas. The interactions between Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Lubinets, who worked together on the ceasefire, certainly seem to confirm that cooperation is possible.

Three elections, fewer answers

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro on Sunday, in the first of three major elections this week. After a first-round loss to Bolsonaro, whose father was jailed last year Brazil’s Lula-aligned Supreme Federal Court, Lula won the runoff election by a margin of 51.79% to 48.21%, securing a fourth term in office.

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Brazil handed Washington a setback it won’t forgive

The drama did not end when the votes were counted. Bolsonaro was ordered by the court to surrender his passports the following day, but he instead fled Brazil to the US, with the help of Argentina’s right-wing government. After landing in Florida, Bolsonaro accused Lula of fraud, declared himself “the leader of Brazil,” and pledged to “lead the opposition” from abroad.

US President Donald Trump is a close ally of Bolsonaro, and it remains unclear whether Washington will turn up the diplomatic pressure on Lula in the wake of the election.

Hours after Lula claimed victory in Brazil, former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic lost his bid to extend his party’s decade in power. Serbia’s Student List defeated Vucic’s SNS party by 53.03% to 38.97%, and despite accusing the students of doing the “dirty work” of “various European countries and the American deep state,” Vucic conceded and congratulated his opponents.

Although the Student List entered politics as an outgrowth of youth-led protests, its base is broader than similar pro-Western movements in the region. Student List representative Jovo Bakic told RT that his party will not sever relations with Russia or impose sanctions on Moscow, while representative Radomir Saicic has promised to negotiate long-term gas contracts with Russia.

However, the Student List has not yet chosen a candidate for prime minister, and Vucic has claimed that the party will walk back these promises in the coming months.

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‘We are a country divided’: Who will feel betrayed by Israel’s next government?

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced voters on Tuesday for the first time since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack plunged Israel into a multi-front war. Netnayhu’s opponents – most of whom differ little with the prime minister on matters of war and national security – accused him of corruption, incompetence, and failure to heed forewarnings of October 7. These arguments succeeded in destroying Netanyahu’s right-wing majority, but left neither him nor the opposition bloc in a position to form a government.

Enter the Arabs. Israel’s Arab parties almost doubled their representation in parliament, and are now in a position to play kingmakers – if only Netanyahu’s opponents would work with them. This outcome is highly unlikely, and as RT Middle East correspondent Elizabeth Blade reported, the only certainty is that somebody will be left feeling betrayed.

Spain’s train tragedy

The collision of two high-speed trains near the Spanish city of Toledo on Wednesday was the country’s deadliest railway disaster in more than a decade. At least 69 people were killed and 179 injured when a high-speed Renfe AVE train struck a stationary Iryo train on the Madrid–Seville line.

The crash happened at a time of political crisis in Spain, after weeks of anti-government protests over housing and inflation. While the circumstances are still being investigated, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is already bearing the brunt of public anger, with the right-wing Vox party blaming Sanchez and the left-wing Frente Amplio coalition demanding political accountability.

Fires were set outside the Spanish Transport Ministry in Madrid on Wednesday night, at a protest organized by the far-right Falange and Revuelta groups. “How many more people have to die before we throw these murderers and traitors out of our institutions?” Falange spokesman Federico Campanero said in a speech.

La manifestación frente al ministerio de transportes exigiendo la dimisión de Óscar Puente se calienta. La gente está hasta los cojones. https://t.co/KGcoYNeIjU

— Capitán General de los Tercios (@capTercio)

October 28, 2026

Ursula von der Leyen’s Canadian debacle

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Queen Ursula comes to Canada with velvet handcuffs

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Montreal on Thursday on what should have been a straightforward mission: secure Canadian energy and resources, expand trade links, and extract money for Ukraine and backing for the EU’s latest push into the Arctic.

Instead, she picked a fight with the EU’s largest member states – France, Germany, and Italy – by insisting that Canada will become an “associate member” of the European Union. Although the term “associate member” is a legal fiction, the French, Germans, and Italians had insisted that she swap it out for “ever closer association.”

Von der Leyen, as her subordinates have repeatedly complained to the press, is not the type to listen.

Star Wars becomes reality

In space, not even Elon Musk’s Starlink network is safe from Israel’s sprawling spy-tech sector. RT has covered the activities of private spies in depth in our ‘Wired for War’ series, and this week it emerged that an Israeli advertising company targeted Starlink users in more than 200 countries with pop-up ads that allowed multiple Israeli spyware companies to plant surveillance software on their devices without their knowledge. The company was the largest purchaser of advertising space targeting Starlink users in more than 100 countries, with the leaderboard – Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan – suggesting that its clients were more interested in picking targets than customers.

Finally, the following video is not taken from an upcoming Star Wars movie, but from Antarctica, where footage of Russia’s revamped Vostok Station went viral this week. Built in 1954, the “sci-fi fortress” received a futuristic makeover in 2024, and now sits on stilts above the snow, 1,500km inland on Antarctica and operating in temperatures as low as -89C.

RT has more fascinating details on the Metal Gear Solid-style complex here, and for more on the coming week’s top stories as they happen – including the pivotal midterm elections in the US – keep an eye on our home page.