The President's Daily Brief
May 9th, 2025: Putin Embraces China's Xi, Violates His Own 'Victory Day' Ceasefire & India Trades Blows With Pakistan In Another Dangerous Escalation
Fri, 09 May 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: First, Vladimir Putin violates his own unilateral ceasefire with a wave of airstrikes on Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Russian strongman met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in Moscow ahead of his big “Victory Day” celebrations. Later in the show—military tensions escalate between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, as both sides accuse each other of launching drone and missile attacks. Plus—Israeli leaders say they are prepared to defend themselves without American support against the Iranian-backed Houthis, in the wake of the Trump administration’s surprise ceasefire with the terror group. In our 'Back of the Brief—the Catholic Church has elected a new pope, for the first time in history choosing an American to serve as the new Bishop of Rome. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold TriTails Premium Beef: Visit https://TryBeef.com/PDB for 2 free Flat Iron steaks with your first box over $250. Plus, for a limited time enjoy 5% off on almost everything site-wide excluding subscriptions and B-stock. Jacked Up Fitness: Go to https://GetJackedUp.com and use code BAKER at checkout to save 10% off your entire purchase Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Why did Putin violate the ceasefire in Ukraine?
It's Friday, the 9th of May. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Vladimir Putin violates his own unilateral ceasefire with a wave of airstrikes on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Russian strongman met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in Moscow ahead of the big Victory Day celebrations. Later in the show, military tensions escalate between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, as both sides accuse each other of launching drone and missile attacks.
Plus, Israeli leaders say they are prepared to defend themselves without American support against the Iranian-backed Houthis in the wake of the Trump administration's surprise ceasefire with the terror group. And in the back of the brief, the Catholic Church has elected a new pope, for the first time in history, selecting an American to serve as the new Bishop of Rome.
But first, today's PDB Spotlight. We'll start things off with the latest from the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Putin violates his own unilateral ceasefire just hours after it took effect. That's quite the surprise. And by that, I mean, well, there's no surprise there at all. launching a barrage of guided bombs on several Ukrainian cities, killing and wounding a number of civilians.
As we've been tracking here on the PDB, Putin is gearing up for his big Victory Day celebrations all day Friday, which will be attended by 29 foreign leaders commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Putin had recently announced a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire to coincide with the ceremonies, which in theory took effect at midnight on Wednesday.
But Ukrainian President Zelensky had rejected the ceasefire proposal as little more than a cynical public relations maneuver by Putin. And it appears, well, that he was right. Ukraine's foreign minister said Thursday that Russian forces had already violated the ceasefire hundreds of times in the hours after the Kremlin claimed all military actions in Ukraine had been suspended.
While combat activity reportedly decreased, Russian forces launched a number of attacks, including in the embattled Sumy region in northeast Ukraine near the Russian border. That's according to a report from CNN. Ukraine's foreign minister said, quote, Predictably, Putin's parade ceasefire proves to be a farce. Russian forces continue to attack across the entire front line from midnight to midday.
Russia committed 734 ceasefire violations and 63 assault operations, 23 of which are still ongoing." Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to keep the pressure on the Kremlin through their drone warfare campaign, launching several towards Moscow on Wednesday for the third consecutive day.
While the drones were intercepted, the attacks forced Russia to temporarily suspend flights at 13 airports, including four in Moscow. Now, it was the second time this week that the airports had to temporarily halt traffic, embarrassing the Kremlin, of course, and raising questions over their ability to protect their domestic airspace just as world leaders began arriving in the Russian capital.
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Chapter 2: Who attended Putin's Victory Day celebrations?
As we discussed on yesterday's PDB, Putin's Victory Day celebrations will be attended by some three dozen foreign dignitaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, he's the guest of honor, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, voted most likely to be a really despotic dictator, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who came in second in that voting, and Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
Military units from 13 countries, including China, will participate in a massive military parade in Moscow's Red Square alongside Russian troops and an array of military vehicles. Despite the threats to Russia's airspace, China's Xi arrived in Moscow on Wednesday and met with Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday.
Xi proclaimed Russia and China, quote, friends of steel – well, that sounds serious – and mutually pledged with Putin to expand their relations across all areas, including militarily. In a joint statement, the pair vowed to, quote, strengthen coordination in order to decisively counter Washington's course of dual containment of Russia and China.
Chapter 3: How is China supporting Russia in the Ukraine conflict?
Xi aligned himself with Putin regarding the war in Ukraine, saying a peaceful settlement can only be achieved with a deal that addresses the, quote, root causes of the conflict. Now, that's a phrase that's commonly used by the Kremlin to perversely place blame on Kiev for the war, which, as you may recall, started when Russian forces invaded Ukraine's territory.
But their remarks should frankly come as no surprise. The pair signed a no-limits partnership just days before Putin launched his invasion in February of 2022, one that analysts say enabled Putin's aggression and has helped rebuild Russia's defense industrial complex. Frankly, the truth is that without China's assistance, Putin could not keep his war machine humming along.
Throughout the war, China has provided computer chips, advanced software, and dual-use components to Russia that have military applications, including for drones.
Despite China's claim of neutrality, last month, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has intelligence showing that the communist nation is now directly supplying the Putin regime with weapons and munitions and actively manufacturing certain weapons from Moscow from facilities located on Russian soil.
While Xi will be Putin's guest of honor for the Victory Day celebrations, Putin also made time for Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. On Wednesday, the pair signed a strategic partnership agreement in a ceremony broadcast on state TV. They agreed to pursue joint oil and gas initiatives within OPEC and expand trade. That's according to Reuters.
Venezuela joins the company of China, North Korea, and Iran, which have all signed joint pacts with Moscow over the past two years. As authoritarian leaders convene in Russia for Victory Day, Zelensky derided Putin's planned celebrations in Moscow as a, quote, parade of cynicism. The Ukrainian leader said, quote, you simply cannot call it anything else.
It's a parade of bile and lies, as if not dozens of allied states, but Putin personally defeated Nazism. He added that Ukraine would not be, quote, playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin's exit from isolation on the 9th of May.
All right, coming up after the break, military tensions escalate between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, and Israeli leaders say that they are prepared to defend themselves without American support against the Iranian-backed Houthis. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here.
Now, this July, maybe you've heard about this, but this July, there's going to be a global summit of BRICS nations in Rio de Janeiro. This is important. The bloc of emerging superpowers, and that includes China and Russia, Iran and India, are meeting with the goal of displacing the U.S. dollar as the global currency. And they're calling it the Rio Reset.
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Chapter 4: What is the current situation between India and Pakistan?
As BRICS nations push forward with their plans, well, demand for U.S. dollars could decrease, bringing down the value of the dollar. While this transition, of course, won't happen overnight, the Rio reset marks a pivotal moment when BRICS objectives move from possibility toward reality. So, you ask yourself, what can you do to help protect your hard-earned savings?
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In a dangerous new escalation, India and Pakistan traded deadly drone and missile attacks Thursday, pushing both nuclear-armed rivals closer to the point of full-scale war, with each side blaming the other for launching unprovoked strikes on military targets.
Indian officials say their air force struck Pakistani air defense radar systems in Lahore late Thursday, a move they insist was in direct response to what they called, quote, coordinated drone and missile attacks launched by Islamabad on Indian military sites across the disputed Kashmir region.
India's foreign secretary called the strikes, quote, defensive and measured and emphasized that they were prompted by Pakistani shelling earlier this week that killed 16 Indian civilians and wounded nearly 60 others.
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Chapter 5: How are India and Pakistan escalating military tensions?
Meanwhile, Pakistani military officials claimed that Indian drones targeted multiple major cities, including Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi, that's home to Pakistan's military headquarters, killing at least three people and injuring four more. Pakistan's inter-services public relations wing said their air defenses shot down 29 Indian drones across several regions,
and accused India of deploying Harop drones. Now, these drones are capable of loitering for hours above high-value targets to conduct intelligence before striking. One Harop drone reportedly struck a Pakistani military facility near Lahore, damaging key infrastructure.
India, for its part, claims that the strike was deliberate and successful, part of what it described as a, quote, calibrated retaliation. India's foreign secretary made the government's position clear on Thursday, stating, quote, our intention has not been to escalate matters, but instead to respond proportionally to what he called original Pakistani aggression.
That aggression, as we've been tracking here on the PDB, traces back to the late April massacre of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir. That terror attack is something that New Delhi blames on Islamabad-backed Islamic terrorists. Pakistan continues to deny any involvement.
In Islamabad, Pakistan's top military spokesman, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chowdhury, lashed out at New Delhi's narrative, accusing India of manufacturing what he called, quote, war hysteria. Speaking to local media, Chowdhury said the Indian government had, quote, lost the plot and was acting out of, quote, hubris in an already volatile environment.
He added that New Delhi is escalating the crisis to satisfy its mindset rather than choosing rationality. Meanwhile, the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir was rocked by loud explosions late Thursday night as sirens blared and red flashes lit up the sky. Indian officials described it as a Pakistani drone and missile barrage on military installations.
Five districts in the region were blasted, they said, plunging Jammu into a blackout. Indian security forces confirmed eight incoming missiles were intercepted by air defense units. The U.S. is still scrambling to pull both nations back from the brink of full-scale war.
President Trump said Wednesday that New Delhi and Islamabad had gone, quote, tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now, and added, quote, if I can do anything to help, I will be there. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke separately with India's foreign minister and Pakistan's prime minister on Thursday, urging calm. That should do it. The U.S.
consulate general in Lahore has since ordered staff to shelter in place. Now, while both sides insist their actions are defensive, well, the scale and tempo of the attacks suggest something far more dangerous is in motion, which may soon prove difficult to contain.
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Chapter 6: What is the role of the U.S. amidst the India-Pakistan conflict?
Okay, shifting to Israel, the Israeli government is threatening to strike Iran directly if Yemen's Houthi terrorists don't stop launching missile and drone attacks, warning that the Islamic Republic will meet the same fate as its other regional proxies. The sharp escalation from Jerusalem follows frustration over a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with the Houthis this week that excluded Israeli input.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday was blunt, declaring the Houthis would, quote, absorb heavy blows if their assaults on Israeli territory did not stop before turning his attention to the Iranian regime.
Katz reminded Iran of recent Israeli campaigns in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon and issued a stark threat, stating, quote, what we did to Hezbollah in Beirut, Hamas in Gaza, to Assad in Damascus, and the Houthis in Yemen will also be done to you in Tehran.
The warning came on the heels of Israeli airstrikes targeting Houthi infrastructure in Yemen this week in response to Sunday's Houthi missile strike that landed in the perimeter of the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. That was the Houthi's most direct strike on Israel since the start of the war.
The Israeli retaliatory airstrikes have blasted Houthi strongholds, including Sana'a International Airport and industrial areas in Hodeidah and Bajil. But the more enduring concern, Israeli officials say, lies in Washington's diplomatic maneuvering.
On Tuesday, President Trump announced a ceasefire agreement with the Houthis, under which the Iran-backed group pledged to stop targeting maritime assets in the Red Sea. Israeli leaders were not informed of the deal beforehand and were reportedly blindsided by its scope and implications.
Compounding Jerusalem's frustration, a senior Houthi official confirmed the ceasefire covers only attacks on American targets, not Israeli ones. Houthi leader Mohammad Ali al-Houthi went further, declaring the agreement a, quote, victory that separates U.S. support for the temporary entity of Israel and a failure for Netanyahu, end quote.
Israeli officials described the agreement as, quote, astonishing, according to the Times of Israel, and privately voiced concerns that the White House is sidelining Israel in broader regional talks, including ongoing U.S. engagement with Hamas and nuclear diplomacy with Iran.
The IDF, meanwhile, said it intercepted a drone likely launched from Yemen on Wednesday and confirmed another Houthi missile crashed outside Israeli territory. Both incidents came after the ceasefire, serving as immediate proof in Israel's eyes that the U.S. deal failed to deter threats to the Jewish state.
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