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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 26th, 2026: Xi Purges Top General For ‘Leaking Nuclear Secrets’ & Ukraine Left In The Dark
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It's Monday, the 26th of January. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, a major shakeup inside Beijing as Xi Jinping purges China's top general amid allegations that he leaked nuclear weapons secrets to the U.S. i'll have those details later in the show. Even as Ukrainian and Russian officials met to discuss peace, Moscow continued its assault, launching air attacks that knocked out power from more than 1 million Ukrainian civilians. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. We're following up on a story we first touched on in this weekend's PDB Situation Report. And now the picture coming out of Beijing is far clearer and far more serious. China has purged one of the most powerful figures in its military leadership. Zhang Yoshao, China's highest ranking uniformed officer and vice chair of the Central Military Commission, has been removed amid allegations that he leaked sensitive nuclear weapons information to the U.S. now, his sacking represents a stunning political rupture at the very top of the Communist Party. Zhang Youxia wasn't just another general. He was one of the most powerful men in China's military hierarchy. As vice chair of the Central Military Commission, he effectively sat at the pinnacle of the People's Liberation army, overseeing strategy, procurement and readiness across China's armed forces. He was also widely viewed as a longtime ally of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, someone who had survived previous purges and was thought to be untouchable. That, obviously, is no longer the case. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, Chinese authorities now accuse Zhang of passing highly sensitive information related to China's nuclear weapons program to the U.S. the reporting cites people familiar with the investigation. And while Beijing has not publicly detailed the allegations, the scope of the claims alone is staggering. As you can imagine, China guards its nuclear program with extreme secrecy. Access is tightly restricted, compartmentalized, and closely monitored. For someone at Jiang's level to be accused of leaking information suggests either a catastrophic breakdown in internal controls or a deep political struggle playing out behind closed doors. And that's where this story gets even more interesting. Publicly, Chinese authorities say Zhang is under investigation for serious violations of discipline and law. That's the familiar catchphrase for the Communist Party when removing senior officials. But history tells us that phrase often masks much more than just corruption. As a matter of fact, in many cases, it signals political disloyalty. The purge of Zhang Youxia comes amid a sweeping shakeup inside China's military. Over the past year, Beijing has removed or investigated a growing list of senior officers, including leaders tied to missile forces, procurement, and strategic weapons programs. Xi Jinping has made absolute loyalty within the military a central pillar of his rule. The People's Liberation army is not just a fighting force. It's the ultimate guarantor of Communist Party power. Any hint of divided loyalty or factionalism or independent power centers is viewed as an existential threat. From that perspective, the allegations against Xiang, whether fully substantiated or not, serve a broader political purpose. By removing one of the most senior generals in the country, Xi sends an unmistakable message. No one is beyond reach, not even those once considered part of his inner circle. There are also strategic implications here. China is in the midst of a rapid nuclear expansion, building new missile silos, modernizing warheads, and reshaping its deterrence posture. Any suggestion that information about that effort may have reached US Intelligence would be deeply alarming to Beijing and potentially humiliating. At the same time, analysts caution that details remain murky. Chinese officials have not provided evidence publicly, and independent verification is impossible given the opaque nature of the system. But even without full confirmation, the outcome is Zhang Youxia is gone. And his removal marks one of the most significant military purges China has seen in decades. This is a power struggle at the top of the Chinese system, one that underscores growing paranoia inside Beijing, tightening control by Xi Jinping, and rising instability within the very institution meant to secure Communist Party rule. Coming up next. Even as peace talks proceeded in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, Russia pressed its campaign against Ukrainian civilians, cutting electricity to more than 1 million of the civilian population. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about security, specifically your online security, and to tell you about a great company called Deleteme. They're out there working hard to make people safe online that delete me makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal data online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make, well, everyone vulnerable. Look, it's easier than ever to find personal information about people online. 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ABC welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Turning to the war in Ukraine, Kyiv came under another major Russian aerial attack over the weekend just as peace talks were unfolding in Abu Dhabi, deepening what officials warn may now be the most severe energy crisis of the war. According to a report from Reuters, Russia unleashed 375 drones and 21 missiles during their latest aerial bombardment, including two of their rarely used Zircon hypersonic missiles. Ukrainian air defenses went into action as the fresh wave of missiles and drones targeted critical infrastructure across the capital and surrounding regions. While Ukraine's military intercepted a number of incoming threats, several projectiles got through, triggering widespread power outages and disrupting heating systems as temperatures remain well below freezing, Ukrainian officials said. The attack left roughly 1.2 million properties without electricity nationwide, with additional damage reported to heating networks serving residential districts. In Kyiv, emergency crews worked through the weekend to stabilize the grid, but officials warned that repairs are becoming increasingly difficult as Russia repeatedly hits the same infrastructure. There are also casualties. Kev's mayor said one person was killed and four others injured in the capital, while officials in Kharkiv reported more than 30 injured following strikes on medical facilities, including a maternity hospital. As emergency repairs continue, Kyiv has moved deeper into contingency mode. City officials have expanded heated shelters, distributed hot food and medicine and eased curfew restrictions so residents can reach warming centers, measures that underscore how desperate the situation has become. And, of course, the timing here does matter. The attack struck overnight from Friday into Saturday, landing between the first day of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi and the next round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. And the US Talks at Washington is framed rather optimistically as modest but constructive. Kyiv, however, has been blunt in its assessment. These strikes underscore why Ukrainian officials feel Moscow is not negotiating in good faith. Kyiv's assessment appears to be the more accurate one, as those talks concluded Saturday without any sign of compromise by Moscow on core issues, including territory, even as officials emphasized the importance of keeping the process alive regarding Russia's air campaign. Ukrainian officials said Saturday's attack represents one of the largest coordinated strikes on Kyiv in recent weeks compounding damage from earlier attacks this month. As we discussed on Friday's bulletin, a Jan. 9 strike already forced Keev's mayor to urge residents to leave the city if possible. It's a warning that led to hundreds of thousands temporarily fleeing the capital. Energy executives are now warning that the situation is edging closer to what they describe as a humanitarian emergency, particularly for elderly residents and those unable to relocate. Water pumping stations, public transit and hospitals remain operational for now, but only through backup systems and use of rolling outages. Now, while talks continue on paper, Saturday's Russian strikes reinforce a central concern for Kyiv and its allies, that Russia is using peace talks as a distraction while escalating pressure on civilians to gain leverage on the battlefield and to stack the deck in their favor for any future negotiations. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin, or early Evening bulletin, as it were, for Monday, 26 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb@the first tv.com and if you want to listen to the show ad free. Well, you can certainly do that on all you have to do is 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.