Beattie is an anti-establishment media figure who has led the right-wing news aggregator Revolver News. A critic of American foreign policy, including funding for Ukraine, his reported appointment has prompted social media users to voice concern about what it signifies for Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression.

A shortage of infantry troops and supply routes under Russian drone attacks have dealt a blow to Ukrainian forces around the strategic eastern city of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that excluding his country from talks between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be “very dangerous.”