Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Russia’s foreign ministry said this morning that it hopes the Trump administration will not make a “fatal” mistake over Venezuela after the US military carried out its latest lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing four men.“We hope that the D. Trump administration, which is characterized by a rational and pragmatic approach, will not make a fatal mistake,” the Russian foreign ministry said. The ministry said that Moscow was concerned about the potential impact of US military action on international navigation, and said it hoped the US would not wade into a situation that would have “unpredictable consequences for the entire western Hemisphere”. On Wednesday, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the “lethal kinetic strike” on the vessel allegedly engaged in “narco-trafficking operations” had killed four people. Pete Hegseth walks on the day of a classified briefing for all senators on Venezuela, on Capitol Hill, on 16 December 2025.
