What happened
Russian President Vladimir Putin again raised the specter of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, in a state film broadcast yesterday. A day earlier, Kyiv said it shot down two Russian Su-30 fighter jets over the Black Sea using modified U.S.-made missiles fired from Ukrainian sea drones. As Russia intensifies its airstrikes on Ukraine, Kyiv is getting at least one more U.S. Patriot air-defense system, The New York Times said yesterday.

Who said what
One Patriot system is being moved to Ukraine from Israel after refurbishment and "Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one," the Times said. President Donald Trump's "public remarks on the war have softened in favor of Ukraine," but a former White House official said the "Biden administration had secured the agreement with Israel in September."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Saturday called Ukrainian intelligence's first-ever downing of a Russian warplane from a marine drone "brilliant" and "a testament to Ukraine's capabilities." The attacks "demonstrate the threat Ukraine poses to Russia" and "seek to challenge Moscow's narrative that its victory in Ukraine is inevitable," The Washington Post said. The Kremlin is "trying to scare Ukrainian people into essentially accepting capitulation, when the realities of the battlefield for Russia are far from Russia actually winning," Kateryna Stepanenko of the Institute for the Study of War told the Times. Last year "was the deadliest for Russian forces" since 2022's full-scale invasion, the BBC said.

What next?
"There has been no need to use [nuclear] weapons ... and I hope they will not be required," Putin said in the Russian state film. "We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires." 

What happened
Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who made Berkshire Hathaway a trillion-dollar financial juggernaut over 60 years of shrewd and patient "value" investing, told investors at his annual shareholder summit in Omaha he would retire at the end of the year. The announcement was a shock to attendees, including Vice Chairman Greg Abel, who Buffett officially named as his designated replacement.

Who said what
"The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year-end," Buffett, 94, said at the end of a five-hour question-and-answer session. The "Oracle of Omaha" had named Abel his successor in 2021, but "it was always assumed that he would not take over until after Buffett's death," The Associated Press said. 

Buffett's success was "notable for how much it differed" from his billionaire peers "and how little the money seemed to change him," The Washington Post said. "He has famously lived in the same five-bedroom home in Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500." At the shareholder meeting, he implicitly criticized President Donald Trump's tariffs. "Trade should not be a weapon," he said, but "there's no question that trade can be an act of war." 

What next?
Abel, 62, already manages Berkshire's non-insurance businesses, including BNSF railroad, Dairy Queen, Duracell and See's Candies. Buffett has "done what he can to prepare his successor," but he won't be able to "simply hand off" the "Buffett brand and the glow it imbues on anything his company touches," The Wall Street Journal said. "No one can completely fill those shoes."