NewsNation National Correspondent Robert Sherman has found himself on the frontlines of some of the world’s biggest stories: from Ukraine to Israel and across the United States. He shares what he’s seeing on the ground. Subscribe to his newsletter: Frontlines with Robert Sherman here.
(NewsNation) — Good afternoon.
My intention was to send this roundup of international affairs this morning, but the world is moving swiftly, and it seems like every hour, the dynamic is changing. Here’s where we stand.
VENEZUELA
President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have spoken by phone, we now know with certainty.
Pressed by NewsNation’s own Libbey Dean on how the call went, the president said, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly; it was a phone call.”
Sources told the Miami Herald the U.S. president had sent a stern warning to the Venezuelan leader.
“You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now,” Trump reportedly said.
Neither Washington nor Caracas has publicly corroborated the bluntness of the message, but at this juncture, there is no indication Venezuela’s head of state will step down.
Let us not forget, however, that the president did deliver a cryptic and quite public message to Venezuela on Truth Social just days ago.
“To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” the president wrote.
In response, the Venezuelans released a statement saying: “Venezuela denounces and condemns the colonialist threat that seeks to undermine the sovereignty of its airspace, constituting a new extravagant, illegal, and unjustified aggression against the people of Venezuela.”
Our NewsNation team spent much of the previous week in Puerto Rico, where there are strategic airstrips that serve the region. The comings and goings included F-35 fighter jets and gunships. A Carrier Strike Group is in the region as well.
The tension has been building by the day in the Caribbean. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the region.
UKRAINE
There is right now a political crisis in Ukraine with the resignation of Andriy Yermak, President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff. The resignation comes after Yermak’s home was raided amid a corruption scandal that has penetrated Zelenskyy’s inner circle.
While Zelenskyy has not been implicated in anything directly, it puts him in a tricky spot. He was the political outsider whom voters took a run on because of the longstanding issues of corruption in the country. He was viewed as the one outside the web who could lead. Now, even his administration is running into this issue.
That said, it is noteworthy that Ukraine’s democracy has developed enough since declaring independence in 1991 that an independent anti-corruption agency can investigate the most powerful leaders of a country during wartime.
Nevertheless, the timing could not be worse for Zelenskyy, with pressure mounting from the United States to strike a deal to end the war with Russia. There were high-level talks taking place between the Americans and Ukrainians on U.S. soil over the weekend.
“There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on X. “Our representatives will return to Europe in the coming days, and after speaking with them and receiving a full report on how the negotiations went, we will decide on our further activities.”
At the Élysée Palace in Paris, President Zelenskyy met with French President Emmanuel Macron and held a joint call with European leaders across the continent, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“The Head of State emphasized that it is important to make progress on developing security guarantees and a long-term foundation for the resilience of both Ukraine and the whole of Europe,” Zelenskyy’s office said in a statement.
The NATO secretary-general has said Russia has “no veto” on Ukraine’s application to join the alliance, though we know from the Kremlin’s public comments that this is a nonstarter.
President Trump has reframed the so-called “28-point plan” as a starting point as opposed to a final deal. The agreement was not well received by European leaders, who view giving up the Donbas region (including areas not under Russian control), downsizing the Ukrainian military and freeing NATO ambitions as a capitulation.
But make no mistake about it: The world leader with the most influence over this is not in Paris, London, Brussels, Rome or Kyiv. That leader is in Washington, D.C., and resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Even Zelenskyy himself has acknowledged publicly that they can’t afford to lose American support.
UPDATE ON “LESSONS FROM THE FRONT“
I’m thrilled to share this endorsement today from Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC chief international correspondent who, back in the day, took me under her wing when I was just a college student.
“Unlike most reporters who wait to write a memoir until they are old and cynical, Sherman, in his 20s, writes a book that is fresh and raw,” Caruso-Cabrera said. “At the same time, he reveals the tremendous difficulties of covering Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza, and getting it right.”
That last sentence is especially important to me. The world is a complex place, and every day there is a new challenge in reporting fairly and accurately. This is the element that keeps me up at night. I’m no global expert — just a kid from Cleveland, Ohio, trying to make sense of the world. It’s my conviction that recognizing what we don’t know is where understanding begins.
I can’t thank you enough for coming along for the journey. While Amazon blew through its first few batches of books, more are on the way to satisfy the December 11 launch! Everyone who wants a copy will get one, I promise. For those still interested in preordering, you can do so through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Bloomsbury.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.