Back on Inauguration Day, few in Washington would have believed that the highly publicized friendship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk would implode before the year’s end.

No political partnership burned brighter or fizzled faster than Trump and Musk’s in 2025. What began as a joint crusade to cut federal spending through the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency quickly devolved into a public falling out that unfolded in a full-blown social media feud.

As 2025 comes to a close, here’s a look back at the biggest political breakup of the year.

October 2024 — First public appearance together

The 2024 presidential campaign was the driving force for the high-profile partnership that ensued.

After the first Trump assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, Musk endorsed Trump in an X post. Musk went on to donate more than $200 million to Trump’s presidential campaign through his super PAC, America PAC.

While the two appeared together for a virtual town hall that August, the X owner and Tesla CEO made his first public appearance with Trump on Oct. 5, as the soon-to-be president returned to Butler three months after the shooting and one month before Election Day.

Musk was jumping for joy as he joined Trump on stage.

November 2024 — Musk appointed to lead DOGE

After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Musk was appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency.

On stage in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, after winning the election, Trump said of Musk, ‘A star is born!’

Two weeks after the election, Trump and his family attended the SpaceX ‘Starship’ launch with Musk.

January 2025 — Inauguration Day

Trump made DOGE official on Inauguration Day by signing an executive order to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government with a mandate to modernize ‘Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.’

Musk joined fellow tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg for Trump’s inauguration.

Early 2025 — DOGE cleans house

As the Trump administration got settled, DOGE got to work pursuing Musk’s ambitious goal of cutting up to $2 trillion from the federal budget.

As of October 2025, DOGE has saved approximately $214 billion through a combination of asset sales, contract or lease cancellations, fraud and improper payment deletions, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings and workforce reductions, according to the DOGE website.

When tens of thousands of federal workers were laid off, protests began erupting across the United States, rejecting Musk’s leadership and Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda.

March 2025 — Trump buys a Tesla 

Amid growing discontent directed at Musk and DOGE, Tesla stocks began seeing a drop earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Musk’s political involvement prompted push back from protesters. Tesla vehicles, charging stations and dealerships were targeted in a string of vandalism attacks.

In a show of support for Musk, Trump turned the White House South Lawn into a Tesla showroom and bought a red Tesla Model S.

‘He’s built this great company, and he shouldn’t be penalized, because he’s a patriot,’ Trump said.

May 2025 — Musk departs DOGE

By May, Musk began paring back his hours leading the controversial agency.

According to the Office of Government Ethics, ‘special government employees’ like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk’s case was May 30.

On his last day at DOGE, Musk joined Trump in the Oval Office for a press conference celebrating the billionaire’s legacy.

June 2025 — Musk torches OBBB

Soon after Musk left the White House, Trump and Musk had their ‘big, beautiful’ breakup, fueled by congressional negotiations for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,’ Musk said in a post on June 3. ‘This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.’

Trump’s megabill included tax cuts, green energy spending cuts and Medicaid reform, but fiscal conservatives, like Musk, argued it didn’t do enough to reduce the nation’s $38 trillion debt crisis.

Trump told reporters he was ‘very disappointed’ in Musk’s criticism of his marquee megabill.

‘Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,’ Trump said.

Musk then fired back on X, arguing that, ‘Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.’

The Tesla CEO urged Trump to ‘keep the EV/solar incentives cuts in the bill.’

After Musk fired off several posts on X, Trump started firing back on his own social media platform, writing on Truth Social that Musk was ‘wearing thin’ and claiming that he asked Musk to leave the White House.

‘I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!’ Trump said.

The president then threatened to ‘terminate Elon’s Government Subsidies and Contracts.’

Musk fired back with a ‘really big bomb,’ accusing Trump of being ‘in the Epstein files.’

‘This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again,’ White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response.

July 2025 — Fall-out fireworks

Congress narrowly passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act by a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

Ahead of its final passage, Musk renewed his criticism of the reconciliation bill on social media.

In response, Trump threatened to use DOGE to investigate Musk’s government subsidies for his companies.

September 2025 — Brought together at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service

Months later, Trump and Musk reunited to honor the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated during a Turing Point USA event in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10.

Trump and Musk were spotted shaking hands at Kirk’s memorial service in a box at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

‘For Charlie,’ Musk later responded to the photo on X.

October 2025 — Trump offers kind words

Aboard Air Force One on Oct. 27, Trump seemed to bury the hatchet when asked about Musk.

‘During Charlie’s beautiful tribute, Elon came over. It’s good with Elon. I like Elon. I have always liked Elon. Elon’s good,’ Trump said.

When asked if he had spoken to Musk since Kirk’s memorial, Trump said the two have spoken ‘on and off, a little bit, very little, nothing much.’

‘Look, he’s a nice guy, and he’s a very capable guy. I have always liked him. He had a bad spell. He had a bad period. He had a bad moment. Stupid moment in his life. Very stupid. I’m sure he’d tell you that, but I like Elon, and I suspect I will always like him,’ Trump added.

November 2025 — Musk back at the White House

On Nov. 18, Musk attended a White House dinner as Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

December 2025 — Moving forward

The dust seemed to settle on Trump and Musk’s ‘big, beautiful’ breakup as 2025 came to a close. 

FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence asked Trump during a cabinet meeting on Dec. 2 whether Musk was ‘back in [his] circle of friends’ after their falling-out.

‘Well, I really don’t know. I mean, I like Elon a lot,’ Trump responded. 

Musk did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment request.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams argued that the Biden administration’s Justice Department engaged in ‘lawfare’ against the former president’s political opponents, including himself on corruption allegations and President Donald Trump over issues such as mishandling classified documents.

‘I think what we have witnessed under President Biden’s Justice Department, Americans should never have to live through that again,’ Adams said on Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ ‘The Story.’

‘You saw everyday Americans who fought for the education of their children being put on watch lists, I think that you saw what happened with Charlie Kirk, when you saw the raiding of President Trump’s home. Debates should have happened … I think that you’re seeing the clear indication that the Justice Department under the previous administration used lawfare to go after those who disagree with them,’ he added.

Asked if he felt as angry about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ before he was targeted, Adams said ‘personal experience allows us to see firsthand the abuse.’

‘I spent my entire life, not only as a police officer, but as a state senator and borough president fighting against injustices,’ Adams said. ‘There’s a real history, a rich history, of me standing up and fighting what the criminal justice system should never be. Yes, that anger was there long before I was a target, but what I saw happen while I was the mayor is really deplorable, and we saw what happened to President Trump’s family as well.’

‘If you were to go back and look at my life story on criminal justice reform and not abuse, it goes back to being a young man who was abused at the hands of law enforcement,’ he continued. ‘And so I’ve always been a clear voice, and it really personalized it of what I was fighting for years because I experienced the lawfare myself.’

Adams was indicted in September 2024 on federal corruption charges related to bribery, wire fraud and accepting illegal foreign campaign contributions from Turkish officials and businessmen. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The mayor has insisted that the case was politically motivated over his criticism of how the Biden administration handled illegal immigration, but prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said in court filings that the investigation began in September 2021, before Adams’ public criticism of the government’s immigration policies or his mayoral election win.

The charges were dropped earlier this year at the request of the Trump administration.

Adams is set to leave office at the turn of the new year, when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in.

The dispute over occupied territories in Ukraine continues to be a sticking point amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow as President Donald Trump seeks to help bring an end to the war between the neighboring countries. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Fox News’ Bret Baier that a peace deal with Moscow could be close following his Sunday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

‘Even with one question today, we’ve been very close,’ Zelenskyy told Baier on ‘Special Report.’ ‘I think we have a problem with one question: It’s about territories.’

Key issues about territory remain unresolved in talks that have taken place over months. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that the West must acknowledge the fact that Russia holds the advantage on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy has been reluctant to cede territory held by Russian forces since the war began in 2022 over to Moscow. 

Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukraine might be open to withdrawing from the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia wants to annex, only if Ukrainian voters give their approval in a referendum. 

‘I think the compromise, if we do a free economic zone that we have, and we have to move some kilometers back. It means that Russia has to make minor steps some kilometers back,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘This free economic zone will have specific rules. Something like this referendum is the way how to accept it or not accept it.’

Putin doesn’t want peace, Zelenskyy said, despite the mounting death toll for Russian forces. 

‘I don’t trust Putin. He doesn’t want success for Ukraine,’ Zelenskyy said. ‘I believe he can say such words to President Trump… but it’s not true really.’

Following his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said they were 90% agreed on a draft 20-point plan, despite Moscow showing no signs of budging on its territorial demands. 

The meeting came after Trump spoke with Putin over the phone where they both agreed that a deal must be reached to end Europe’s longest war in 80 years. 

It also came a day after Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv a day earlier. Moscow also claimed that Putin’s home in the Novgorod region was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, which Ukraine denies. 

Department of Justice officials are facing threats of legal action after the department missed the Epstein Files Transparency Act’s stated deadline to publish all its documents related to Jeffrey Epstein – but the law may lean in the DOJ’s favor.

DOJ officials have continued to review and upload the files more than a week after the congressionally mandated Dec. 19 due date, spurring Democrats and some Republicans to call for a range of consequences, from contempt to civil litigation. The DOJ is, however, defending the drawn-out release process, suggesting that rushing to publish piles of unexamined material would also flout the law.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a recent interview on ‘Meet the Press’ there was ‘well-settled law’ that supported the DOJ missing the transparency bill’s deadline because of a need to meet other legal requirements in the bill, like redacting victim-identifying information.

The bill required the DOJ to withhold information about potential victims and material that could jeopardize open investigations or litigation. Officials could also leave out information ‘in the interest of national defense or foreign policy,’ the bill said, while keeping visible any details that could embarrass politically connected people.

Last week, the DOJ revealed that two of its components, the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, had just gathered and submitted more than 1 million additional pages of potentially responsive documents related to Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases for review.

The ‘mass volume of material’ could ‘take a few more weeks’ to sift through, the DOJ said in a statement on social media, adding that the department would ‘continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files.’ 

The DOJ’s concerns about page volume and redaction requirements echo those frequently raised in similar litigation surrounding compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests, where courts have stepped in to balance competing interests of parties in the cases rather than attempting to force compliance on an unrealistic timetable.

The conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch has seen mixed success over the years in bringing FOIA lawsuits, showcasing the court’s role in mediating such disputes.

Judicial Watch brought several lawsuits against the government over Hillary Clinton’s private email server scandal, leading a federal judge at one point to allow the conservative watchdog to move forward with questioning Clinton aides as part of a discovery process as it sought records on the matter. The decision was later reversed at the appellate court level.

In a separate case, the appellate court sided with Judicial Watch by reversing a lower court ruling as part of a longstanding legal battle the watchdog waged with the DOJ over obtaining Acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ emails. The D.C. Circuit Court found that the DOJ could not withhold email attachments from Yates’ account and ordered further review on the matter.

In the current controversy over the Epstein files, lawmakers are pressuring the DOJ by threatening a combination of political and legal remedies over the 30-day deadline and over what they view as excessive redactions. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed to bring a resolution up for a vote when the Senate returns from the holidays that would direct the Senate to initiate a lawsuit against the DOJ for failing to comply with the transparency act’s requirements.

‘The law Congress passed is crystal clear: release the Epstein files in full, so Americans can see the truth,’ Schumer said. ‘Instead, the Trump Department of Justice dumped redactions and withheld the evidence — that breaks the law.’

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who spearheaded the transparency bill, warned that they plan to pursue contempt proceedings against Attorney General Pam Bondi in light of the DOJ missing the deadline and making perceived over-redactions.

A group of mostly Democratic senators also called on the DOJ inspector general to investigate the department’s compliance with the law.

The DOJ has maintained that releasing unreviewed documents would violate the law, saying last week that it had ‘lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions.’

The Trump administration announced a $2 billion pledge for United Nations humanitarian aid Monday and warned agencies must ‘adapt, shrink, or die’ under its overhaul, according to a statement from the Department of State.

The new package comes as the administration reins in traditional foreign assistance and pushes humanitarian organizations to meet stricter standards on efficiency, accountability and oversight.

‘Individual U.N. agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die,’ the statement said after outlining what it called ‘several key benefits for the United States and American taxpayers.’

‘The United States is pledging an initial $2 billion anchor commitment to fund life-saving assistance activities in dozens of countries,’ the State Department said.

The administration also said that the contribution is expected to shield tens of millions of people from hunger, disease, and the devastation of war in 2026 alone, with a new model significantly reducing costs. 

‘Because of enhanced efficiency and hyper-prioritization on life-saving impacts, this new model is expected to save U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.9 billion compared to outdated grant funding approaches,’ the statement said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the approach is intended to force long-standing reforms across the U.N. system and reduce the U.S. financial burden.

‘This new model will better share the burden of U.N. humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the U.N. to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability, and oversight mechanisms,’ Rubio said in a post on X.

The pledge is smaller than previous U.S. contributions, which officials said had grown to between $8 billion and $10 billion annually in voluntary humanitarian funding in recent years.

Administration officials said those funding levels were unsustainable and lacked sufficient accountability.

Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s senior official overseeing foreign assistance, underscored the administration’s position during a press conference in Geneva.

‘The piggy bank is not open to organizations that just want to return to the old system,’ Lewin said in the statement. ‘President Trump has made clear that the system is dead.’

The funding commitment is part of a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The agreement replaces project-by-project grants with consolidated, flexible pooled funding administered at the country or crisis level.

Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official and head of OCHA, welcomed the agreement, calling it a major breakthrough. ‘It’s a very significant landmark contribution,’ Fletcher said, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also said the deal would deliver more focused, results-driven aid aligned with U.S. foreign policy interests, while the State Department warned future funding will depend on continued reforms.

The U.S. may be signaling an expansion of its Venezuela-focused campaign to include ground operations, based on recent remarks from President Donald Trump.

Speaking Friday with radio host John Catsimitidis, Trump said the U.S. had struck a ‘big facility’ while discussing Washington’s broader effort against Latin American drug trafficking – an apparent reference to a drug production or trafficking site.

‘They have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,’ Trump said, without identifying Venezuela as the target. ‘Two nights ago we knocked that out.’

Asked about the comments on Monday, Trump told reporters the strike was ‘along the shore’ but declined to share whether it was conducted by the U.S. military or another entity like the CIA.

‘I don’t want to say that. I know exactly who it was,’ he said. 

‘We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area. It’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around,’ the president said during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He added there was a ‘major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.’

If the facility was indeed on Venezuelan soil, it would mark the first known attack on land since the U.S. began bombing alleged narco-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters in early September. 

More than two dozen strikes have killed 105 people so far.

While Venezuela is a known hub for trafficking drugs, such as cocaine that originates in Colombia, it is not a production hot spot. Months ago, Trump authorized the CIA to carry out covert action in Venezuela. 

In recent weeks, Trump has ramped up pressure aimed at pushing leader Nicolás Maduro from power by announcing a blockade of Venezuela and seizing two ships carrying sanctioned oil.

The White House and Pentagon have not publicly confirmed whether any recent strike occurred on Venezuelan soil. Maduro’s government has not publicly acknowledged the attack.

After prior strikes in the counter-drug campaign, the administration has touted success, even posting footage on social media of boats being struck. However, if the action was carried out covertly, it would limit what U.S. officials could share. 

Trump’s comments come amid the largest military buildup in the Caribbean in decades, with some 15,000 troops and the world’s biggest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, stationed in the region. 

Outgoing Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated to the New York Times Magazine that President Donald Trump, lacks ‘faith’ and does not reciprocate loyalty. 

She also said that she disapproves of ‘MAGA Mar-a-Lago sexualization,’ and indicated that she expects the U.S. to engage in ‘more war’ as the president seeks to maintain his grip on power.

Greene, a once ardent Trump supporter who had a dramatic falling out with the GOP juggernaut this year, is dishing out scathing criticism of the president she once lauded.

Here are some takeaways from her comments reported by the New York Times Magazine:

Greene says Trump ‘does not have any faith’

Earlier this year, during remarks at the memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Trump said of Kirk, ‘He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent. And I don’t want the best for them.’

By contrast, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk announced that she forgave the suspected killer.

 ‘It just shows where his heart is. And that’s the difference, with her having a sincere Christian faith, and proves that he does not have any faith,’ Greene opined, according to the Times.

Greene on ‘MAGA Mar-a-Lago sexualization’

Greene objected to what she referred to as ‘sexualization’ among MAGA women.

‘I never liked the MAGA Mar-a-Lago sexualization. I believe how women in leadership present themselves sends a message to younger women,’ she noted, according to the Times. 

‘I have two daughters, and I’ve always been uncomfortable with how those women puff up their lips and enlarge their breasts. I’ve never spoken about it publicly, but I’ve been planning to,’ she noted.

Greene says Trump lacks loyalty

The New York Times Magazine reported that Greene said regarding loyalty and Trump, that it is ‘a one-way street — and it ends like that whenever it suits him.’

Last month, after President Donald Trump issued posts lambasting Greene on Truth Social, the congresswoman announced that she would resign from office, noting that her last day would be January 5.

Greene suggests ‘more war’ on the horizon

Greene suggested that the U.S. is headed for ‘more war.’

‘In my opinion,’ Greene opined, according to the outlet, ‘we’re going to see more war. Because what do you do when you really lose power, when you become a lame duck? How do you cling to power? You go to war.’

Greene indicates House Speaker Mike Johnson is following orders from the White House

Greene suggested that House Speaker Mike Johnson is just taking orders from the White House.

‘I want you to know that Johnson is not our speaker,’ Greene asserted, according to the Times. ‘He is not our leader. And in the legislative branch — a totally separate body of government — he is literally 100 percent under direct orders from the White House. And many, many Republicans are so furious about that, but they’re cowards.’

White House responds

The White House pushed back against Greene’s comments about Johnson, asserting to Fox News Digital, ‘We have a very collaborative relationship with Speaker Johnson just like we do with Leader Thune, which is why we’ve had so much success this year.’

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle accused Greene of ‘petty bitterness.’

‘President Trump remains the undisputed leader of the greatest and fastest growing political movement in American history — the MAGA movement. On the other hand, Congresswoman Greene is quitting on her constituents in the middle of her term and abandoning the consequential fight we’re in — we don’t have time for her petty bitterness,’ Ingle noted in a statement. 

Several Republican lawmakers in Minnesota released a statement officially calling on the state’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, to resign in light of the unfolding fraud scandal that has spiraled during his tenure. 

‘Minnesotans have been watching the fraud crisis get worse and worse for years. It has gone on long enough,’ Minnesota state Senators Bill Lieske and Nathan Wesenberg, along with state Reps. Marj Fogelman, Drew Roach and Mike Wiener, said in a Monday press release.

‘This is not about politics or stunts, and we do not make a call like this lightly. The office of the governor deserves respect, and we have tried to give Gov. Walz time to act.’

The group cites Article 8, Section 6 of the Minnesota Constitution, which lists serious malfeasance in the performance of official duties, as the reason to recall executive and interior officers, but stopped short of calling for an official recall effort. 

The lawmakers explained that ‘leadership means doing the right thing even when it is difficult, which is why we are calling on Gov. Walz to resign.’

‘We are talking about billions of dollars in fraud that should have gone to vulnerable Minnesotans. The red flags were everywhere. Yet, year after year, the fraud kept growing, and year after year, nothing changed.’

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors revealed that the fraud scandal in Minnesota, primarily found within the state’s Somali community, could cost taxpayers as much as $9 billion dollars. 

The Monday call from Republicans for Walz to resign comes shortly after a viral video by journalist Nick Shirley, seen more than 100 million times on X, highlighting suspected fraudulent daycare locations prompted even more scrutiny on Walz.

Walz’s office pushed back on the criticism shortly after the video went viral.

‘The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action,’ a Walz spokesperson said. ‘He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed.’

The spokesperson added that Walz has ‘hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.’

Calls for Walz to resign have increased in recent weeks, including from Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Fox News Digital first reported earlier this month.

The lawmakers said in their statement that the fraud scandal is the ‘number one’ issue they hear from their constituents, along with questions about why no one in power has been held accountable.

‘What we are seeing from the governor is what nonfeasance looks like,’ the lawmakers wrote. ‘When a governor fails to do what he is required to do, when he watches a crisis spiral out of control and does nothing to stop it, that is nonfeasance. The governor had a duty to oversee his administration and protect these programs. He failed. There needs to be consequences.

‘For the good of the state, Gov. Walz should step aside. Minnesota needs accountability, a reset, and new leadership that can get us back on the right track.’

North Korea test-fired two strategic cruise missiles as leader Kim Jong Un pledged to continue ‘unlimited’ development of its nuclear stockpile, according to state media. 

The launches involved cruise missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads, according to North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Kim promised to ‘devote all their efforts to the unlimited and sustained development of the state nuclear combat force.’

The weapons flew over the country’s west coast for close to three hours, KCNA said. It did not reveal how far the missiles traveled.

KCNA said the drills were intended to demonstrate the ‘combat readiness of the nuclear deterrence force’ and ensure the country’s ability to carry out what it called a ‘swift and overwhelming retaliatory strike’ in the event of war.

‘The launch drill served as a clear warning to the enemies who are seriously threatening the security environment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’ KCNA reported, using the country’s formal name.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military detected the launch of multiple cruise missiles around 8 a.m. Sunday from the Sunan area near Pyongyang.

A spokesperson for South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the launches were part of a series of recent military activities by North Korea that ‘undermine peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.’

North Korea has also recently highlighted what it claims is progress on a nuclear-powered submarine program, releasing new images of Kim inspecting construction at a shipyard alongside his daughter.

The Korean Central News Agency said the vessel is an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine that Pyongyang intends to arm with nuclear weapons. Kim has described the project as a key step in modernizing and nuclear-arming North Korea’s navy, though the regime has not provided independent verification of the submarine’s capabilities.

Analysts say North Korea fields multiple types of cruise missiles and has conducted several test launches over the past year, but there is no definitive public estimate of how many the regime possesses.

Outside expert assessments estimate North Korea has assembled roughly 50 nuclear warheads, with enough fissile material to potentially produce between 70 and 90 weapons, though exact figures remain uncertain due to the secrecy surrounding Pyongyang’s program.

President Donald Trump has said he remains open to negotiations with North Korea, but Kim has signaled he would only engage with Washington if denuclearization is removed from the agenda – a stance that underscores the wide gap between the two sides.

Cruise missiles pose a particular challenge for missile defense systems because they fly at lower altitudes and can maneuver in flight, making them harder to detect than ballistic missiles.

North Korea remains under sweeping international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs, restrictions that Kim has vowed to overcome through weapons development rather than negotiations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated in a post on X that Ukraine would like to have 30, 40 or even 50 years of security guarantees from the U.S. and that President Donald Trump said the U.S. will consider it.

Zelenskyy met with Trump in Florida on Sunday, as his nation remains locked in a deadly, protracted war against Russia, and the U.S. administration aims to help broker peace.

In a Monday post on X, the president of the embattled Eastern European nation indicated that Trump had ‘confirmed strong security guarantees’ during their meeting.

‘He confirmed the details that had been developed up to this point by our negotiating teams regarding these security guarantees, and he confirmed that they would be put to a vote by the United States Congress. This is a very strong agreement,’ Zelenskyy noted.

During a joint press conference alongside Zelenskyy on Sunday, Trump was asked whether he offered any promises or assurances of security for Ukraine.

‘I did. We wanna work with Europe,’ Trump answered, adding that Europe will ‘take over a big part of it’ but that the U.S. will assist.

Zelenskyy, in another Monday post on X, indicated that Ukraine would like decades of security guarantees from the U.S.

‘In the documents, the guarantees are set for 15 years, with the possibility of extension. I raised this issue with the President. I told him that our war has already been going on for more than a decade, and therefore, we would very much like the guarantees to last longer. We would like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, or 50 years. It would then become a historic decision by President Trump. The President said that the U.S. would consider it,’ the foreign leader noted in the post.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House on Monday for comment, but they did not immediately respond.