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The President's Daily Brief
September 5th, 2025: A Chilling Weapon Emerges In The Ukraine War & Europe's Addiction To Russian Oil
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Plus, crypto insiders are sounding the alarm on an intensifying campaign by North Korean hackers to use fake job offers, distill billions in cryptocurrency to fund their sanctioned weapons programs. And in today's Back of the Brief, President Trump appears to be pumping the brakes on his plans to deploy federal troops to Chicago, instead floating New Orleans as the potential next target of his crackdown on crime. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. When we talk about the war in Ukraine on this show, we usually focus on missiles, artillery and drones, how they're being deployed and what they mean on the battlefield. But according to new reports, there's an entirely different weapon being used in this war, and it's being deployed by both sides. An op ed in today's New York Times by investigative reporter Lilia Yaparova is shining a light on this practice. And it's one of those stories that fully demonstrates just how horrible war can be, because what she's describing isn't a new missile system or some secret technology. It's children. Kids being recruited, manipulated and used as tools of sabotage. And the way it happens is alarmingly simple. A teenager gets a message on Telegram or WhatsApp. Even inside a video game chat, the pitch appears to be harmless. Make some quick money by carrying out what seem like simple tasks. Snap a photo of a police car. Spray graffiti on a wall. In one case, a Russian boy was told he'd help a factory collect insurance if he set fire to an airplane. It's often disguised as a game, One ad promised. Yes, we pay for photos here, calling it a kind of Pokemon Go for money. Now, if you don't know Pokemon Go, I don't know what cave you've been hiding in. It's a. It's a mobile game where players roam the real world to capture virtual creatures like Pikachu or, well, actually Pikachu is the only one I know. But these games that are being played in Russia and Ukraine have a darker reality. The so called handlers on the other end are Russian or Ukrainian intelligence officers. And what starts as a small act quickly escalates. A Molotov cocktail tossed at a car. A bomb planted near a police station. A fire lit at a rail yard. Kids as young as 12 years older suddenly carrying out sabotage missions in a war that they barely understand. Yaparova's reporting documents dozens of these cases. A 17 year old Russian boy, as an example, was told he'd be paid the equivalent of 12,000 dol to torch a warplane. He and his friends ended up just burning the grass nearby, faking the video. But the consequences were very real. He got eight years in a penal colony. Another teenager in Ukraine set fire to railway equipment, believing it was just an insurance scam. He was beaten in custody until he confessed to working for the enemy. In both cases, their lives were essentially destroyed before they'd even reached adulthood. And these aren't one offs. Ukraine's security service says it has detained around 175 miners implicated in sabotage operations organized by Russian agents. Human rights activists estimate there are at least 100 cases on the Russian side involving Ukrainian recruiters. Some of these kids end up in psychiatric facilities. Others face years in prison. And in at least a few instances, Russian operatives reportedly tried to kill the kids that they'd recruited remotely detonating explosives while the children carried them. So why is this happening? Because in a war that's dragged on for more than three years, both sides are searching for cheap, deniable ways to strike inside enemy territory. Missiles and drones can be Expensive children? Apparently not so much. They're vulnerable, easy to manipulate, and in the eyes of cynical intelligence officers, they're expendable. This isn't the traditional picture of child soldiers that we've seen in Africa or elsewhere. Kids carrying rifles and marching with militias. This is a modern twist. Children recruited online, blackmailed and pushed into sabotage. It's hybrid warfare at its ugliest. All right, coming up next, President Trump pressures European allies to stop buying Russian oil and will take you inside an intensifying campaign by North Korean hackers to steal billions in cryptocurrency. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, let's be honest, right? Most of us on occasion, maybe often are tired or stressed or dealing with some kind of pain, maybe from a tough workout or a run. And what do we do? Well, typically what we do is, well, we just power through it because the last thing we want is yet another prescription taking up space in the medicine cabinet. Now, that's why I'm very glad to have found a great company. It's called CB Distillery. 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Foreign welcome back to the pdb. It appears President Trump is finally preparing to put the economic screws to the Putin regime as Russia's war on Ukraine continues to rage on, but he's insisting that Europe also step up to do their part. Specifically, the president is demanding that European allies stop buying Russian oil and join the US in imposing tariffs on nations that continue to do so. Trump dropped in on a call on Thursday with Europe's coalition of the willing, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that the continent's continued dependence on Russian energy is essentially helping fund Moscow's war on Ukraine. That's according to a report from Reuters. Financial analysts have long said that Europe's continued addiction to Russian energy is undermining Ukraine's efforts to fend off Moscow's aggression, helping Putin avoid financial ruin. Despite the severe economic decline the war in Ukraine has caused in Russia, a White House official told Reuters. President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war. The official added that Trump also said European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia's war efforts. For some context, since the Kremlin's invasion on February 24th of 2022, European countries in partnership with the US have worked to wean the continent off of Russian fossil fuels, imposing sanctions designed to stop direct oil imports. More recently, the European Commission has proposed legislation to entirely phase out EU imports of Russian oil and gas by 1 January 2028. But progress has been slow. While most European countries, with the exception of Hungary and Slovakia, stopped directly importing Russian crude in 2022 and Russian fuel in 2023, a gaping loophole in the sanctions still allows countries to legally buy Moscow's crude provided refined into fuels elsewhere. Yes, that would be considered a gaping loophole. A report from a Helsinki based think tank released earlier this year found that the EU is actually spending more money annually on purchasing Russian fossil fuels than on financial aid to Ukraine. You know what, let me just repeat that sentence because you know, it's. It's somewhat shocking. A report from a Helsinki based think tank released earlier this year found that the EU is actually spending more money annually on purchasing Russian fossil fuels than on financial aid to Ukraine. Specifically, the report found that EU countries spent roughly 21.9 billion euros on Russian oil and gas during 2024, compared with roughly 18.7 billion euros that was allocated for direct financial support for Kiev. That's what's known as playing both sides against the middle. Much of the Russian fuel products are making their way to Europe through trade with countries like Turkey, India and China, who have maintained open economic relations with Moscow despite the war. For example, in the third year of the war, G7 countries purchased some 18 billion euros worth of oil products from six refineries in India and Turkey, with at least 9 billion of that oil refined from Russian crude, generating an estimated 4 billion euros in tax revenue. For the Kremlin, the ongoing purchases have been a major boon to Russia's wartime economy. Russia still remains one of the world's largest oil exporters, with oil and natural gas exports accounting for roughly a quarter of their entire federal budget. During Thursday's call with European leaders, the White House officials said, quote, president Trump questioned their seriousness While they continue to fuel Russia's economy and war, the president made clear that this is not his war and the Europeans must step up as well, end quote. Following the call, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told the New York Post he believed European allies would join the US Should Trump move to bring additional sanctions against Russia and buyers of their energy products. As we've been tracking here on the pdb, Trump has so far refrained from hitting China with secondary tariffs due to ongoing trade negotiations and has similarly held back on slapping Russia with additional sanctions, hoping for some reason that diplomacy would win the day. Now, diplomacy is always a good idea. You should always keep those diplomatic channels open. But at some point, reality needs to rule the day. But Putin's continued attacks on Kyiv have doused hopes that a peace deal can be reached anytime soon. And it looks like Trump is ready to get more aggressive. Possibly. Last week, the Trump administration officially imposed an additional 25% tariff on India's exports, as we've reported previously, over their ongoing purchases of Russian oil, raising the country's total tariff rate to 50%. Since the outbreak of the war, India has become Moscow's second largest oil customer, of course, after China. But whether Europe can summon the collective will to curb their decades old dependence on Russian energy remains to be seen. If they can, the economic hit to Russia could be significant. Over the past few months, Russian exports of both crude and refined products have already fallen to their lowest seasonal levels in five years. And a recent report from the International Energy Agency said the slump raises serious doubts about Russia's ability to sustain long term production capacity should the war continue. Okay. Turning to North Korea, where hackers are once again ramping up their cryptocurrency theft campaigns, funneling the proceeds into leader Kim Jong Un's sanctioned nuclear weapons programs. The latest scam out of Kim's regime, dubbed contagious interview follows a predictable Pyongyang hacking playbook, a recruiter slides up on LinkedIn or Telegram with a pitch that sounds legitimate. One such message from January, obtained exclusively by Reuters from someone posing as a Bitwise Asset Management representative, read, quote, we are currently expanding our team. We are particularly looking for individuals passionate about cryptocurrency markets, end quote. But once the back and forth over job details and pay begins, the mask slips. The supposed recruiter working for North Korean hacking units directs applicants to download code for a, quote, skills test or to record a video interview. The moment the malware is installed, digital wallets are drained and corporate systems are exposed. Some applicants spotted the red flags when a man claiming to be from Robin Hood approached a machine learning entrepreneur. The man asked why he couldn't just use Zoom or Google Meet for his interview process. He ended up walking away from the hacker. But others haven't been so lucky. One American product manager recorded an interview for someone claiming to represent blockchain crypto company Ripple Labs, only to watch $1,000 in ether and solana vanish from his account. That same night, another consultant narrowly avoided falling victim to a supposed Kraken recruiter, which is another crypto exchange headquartered in San Francisco, before cutting off contact. For many in the crypto world, these intrusions are routine. A business development executive at Switzerland based blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger told Reuter, quote, it happens to me all the time, and I'm sure it happens to everybody in this space. He avoided being hacked, but admitted it was, quote, scary how far hackers have come, and the scale is frankly jaw dropping. Exposed log files reveal more than 230 regime targets between just January and March, including coders, consultants, executives and more. Robinhood confirmed imposters mimicked its recruiters earlier this year, and Kraken's chief security officer bluntly stated, quote, every day there's something going on. LinkedIn and Telegram told Reuters that they were actively scrubbing fraudulent accounts, while CyberSecurity firms Sentinel 1 and Valadin traced the activity directly back to North Korea using IP and email data linked to past regime hacks. The financial stakes are equally severe. Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis estimates North Korea stole at least $1.3 billion in cryptocurren last year alone. And in February, as we discussed here on the PDB regime, hackers pulled off the largest single heist on record, siphoning $1.5 billion from the Bybit exchange in one direct assault. US and UN officials say the stolen digital assets are quickly laundered through a network of shadowy brokers and converted into hard currency, providing Pyongyang with one of the most reliable lifelines for hard cash money that's then funneled into Kim's sanctioned nuclear weapons programs. The FBI, in a warning late last year, said North Korea was aggressively targeting the industry with complex and elaborate social engineering schemes. As we discussed last month, the fake recruiters are only one element of Pyongyang's sprawling cyber offensive. Another is infiltration via regime operatives posing as remote IT contractors using stolen identities, AI generated resumes, and even deep fake interviews. Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike reports that such incidents surged 220% in the past year, with North Korean hackers not just drawing salaries, but in some cases securing admin level access inside corporate systems. Pyongyang, of course, denies everything. Well, there's a surprise. But the implications for the west stretch far beyond missing coins. Each fraudulent job posting, stolen identity and fabricated interview is another revenue stream underwriting the regime's missiles and nuclear programs. All right, coming up next in the back of the brief, President Trump walks back his plans to deploy federal troops to Chicago instead setting his sights on New Orleans. More on that story when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let me take just a moment of your time to talk about protecting your hard earned assets. Now let me ask you this. 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In today's Back of the brief, President Trump is weighing whether New Orleans, not Chicago, will be the next city to receive the full weight of his federal crime crackdown, the same strategy already credited with driving down violence violence in Washington, D.C. from the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump cast the choice in stark terms, asking, quote, do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans where we have a great governor Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that has become quite tough, end quote. The president pledged the National Guard could bring safety to New Orleans, quote, In two weeks, easier than D.C. the remarks were a pivot from just a day earlier when Trump vowed, quote, we're going in to Chicago, a city he's launched long held up as a symbol of Democratic failure on crime. Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker has flatly rejected the plan, drawing Trump's ire as, quote, an embarrassing governor who doesn't want us. Landry, a Republican, by contrast, moved quickly to align with Washington, posting on X that he would welcome the president's help, quote, from New Orleans to Shreveport, Trump conceded that in states led by Democrats, he will, quote, pretty much wait until we get asked, while noting that he's also bracing for potential courtroom battles. Just this week, a federal judge in California ruled his administration had crossed the line, deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles, citing laws that limit military involvement in domestic policing. Yet the president is already floating deployments to other Democrat led cities like New York and Baltimore, accusing their governors of being, quote, in favor of crime and out of tune with the people. At the center of it all is Washington, D.C. since the liberation Day federal takeover, Trump boasted that Crime is down 11% across the board, with nearly 1700 arrests and more than 160 illegal guns taken off the streets. The commander in chief repeatedly called it a template for the rest of the country, a proof of concept in his telling anyway that federal muscle delivers where local politicians fail. And so the standoff sharpens. Democratic leaders from Illinois to New York are closing ranks to defy the plan even as cities suffer from crime and violence. Republican leaders like Landry, well, they're signaling they want in, eager to partner with the administration to replicate the Results from Washington, D.C. now, for Democratic mayors and governors, it doesn't matter if federal resources could assist their cities and populations by reducing crime. What matters to them anyway is that they're seen to be fighting Trump, even if it hurts the people they represent. If President Biden or Obama had decided to fight urban crime by providing federal resources, well, these same Democrat mayors and governors would have slobbered at the chance to show fealty. But it's Trump. So no matter what the situation is, the only answer for them to appease their hard left base is to take the opposite position. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily brief for Friday 5th September. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to to me at pdb@the first tv.com and well, according to my Farmers Almanac, I still have one. You know, today is Friday and that means a brand new episode of our PDB Situation Report hits the airwaves this evening in Technicolor and surround sound at 10pm on the first TV. You can also catch it and past episodes on our very fancy YouTube channel. You can find that on YouTube, of course, at President's Daily Brief, as well as podcast platforms all across podcast land. I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back later today with the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.