How Volodymyr Zelenksyy's 'suit' became a million-dollar gambling dispute
In a world of gray area, everything isn't just black and white. Some things are black suits... or not?
That's the question Polymarket gamblers attempted to answer in a market on whether Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be caught on camera wearing a suit before the start of July, between the period of May 22 and June 30. The market attracted an astounding $212 million in volume.
Though it's now July 8, that market remains unresolved because Zelenskyy popped out in something that at least resembled a suit on June 25 and nobody knows what to call it. You be the judge:
While I'd venture to say it is a suit, as that was the purpose the outfit intended to serve when it was made and worn, it's easy to see the other side of the argument. Zelenskyy's outfit isn't a traditional suit by any stretch of the word. That's the problem Polymarket faces as it attempts to resolve a silly question that served no real purpose, like so many other markets.
The Polymarket website said the decision would come down to a "consensus of credible reporting." However, an update on July 1 at 9:33 a.m. said there was no consensus of reporting to confirm he wore a suit. Now, the Polymarket team is settling disputes on both sides, with a final review expected today at 8 p.m. ET, and whichever way it goes is sure to leave some people highly upset. But hey, you know what they say about playing dumb games.
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American Military News
2 hours ago
- American Military News
Russia Launches More Deadly Air Attacks On Ukraine
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A 26-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were killed and at least four other people injured as a result of drone strikes on Chernivtsi, near the Romanian border, regional military administration chief Ruslan Zaparanyuk said on Telegram. In Lviv, near the Polish border, six people were injured in drone attacks, including an 11-year-old boy, Maksym Kozytskiy, who holds the same position in the Lviv region, said on Telegram. Five were treated on site and one man was hospitalized. The western city of Lutsk, which had been hit hard when Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched a record of more than 700 drones and missiles three days earlier, was also targeted on July 12, but no injuries were reported. Three people were injured in Russian strikes on the eastern city of Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The Russian Defense Ministry said its strikes on Lviv, Lutsk, and Kharkiv targeted defense industry facilities. Russia claims it does not targeted civilians despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Russia has stepped up its missile and drone attacks this year, with numbers increasing every month since December, according to a monitoring group, and has intensified barrages on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks while also pressing forward on the front lines — albeit with massive casualties among its troops. 'The pace of Russia's aerial strikes demands swift decisions, and it can be curbed now by sanctions,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram on July 12. 'This war can only be stopped through strength,' said Zelenskiy, who also called for more air defense weapons from the West. 'We expect not just signals from our partners, but actions that will save lives.' Trump has voiced increasing frustration recently with Putin, who has rejected his efforts to secure an extendable 30-day cease-fire in the war, now in its 41st month since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine agreed to the 30-day cease-fire when Trump first proposed it in March, but Russia has attached conditions that experts say were meant to drag out talks while its forces continue their attacks. Two rounds of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul, on May 16 and June 2, led to exchanges of prisoners and the remains of soldiers killed in the war but produced no progress toward peace. 'We get a lot of bullshit from Putin. It's very nice most of the time but meaningless,' Trump, who has spoken to Putin by phone six times since his inauguration on January 20, said on July 8. Trump said the United States is 'sending defensive weapons to Ukraine because Putin is not treating human beings right.' That marked a reversal of course days after a Pentagon announcement that delivery of some weapons to Ukraine would be halted over concerns that US stockpiles have declined too much. Two days later, Trump told US broadcaster NBC that the United States is 'sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons…and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons' to Ukraine. His promise of a major statement on July 14 has led to expectations that he might announce support for new sanctions against Russia, which he has so far refrained from imposing, or pledge more military aid to Ukraine. Trump has said he is studying a bill sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat-Connecticut) that would impose sanctions and tariffs on countries that support Russia's war effort in addition to targeting Russia's banking system. In the NBC interview on July 10, Trump called it 'a very major and very biting sanctions bill' and said he expected it to pass, but added: 'It's at my option if I want to use it.' Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had discussed 'a new and a different approach' to Ukraine peace efforts that Russia proposed when they met on July 10 on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering in Kuala Lumpur. 'I don't want to oversell it, OK, but it was constructive,' Rubio said on July 11. 'We'll find out, but there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the president and our team last night.'
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Russian drone and cruise missile attacks kill at least 2 in Ukraine
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Russia warns US, South Korea and Japan against forming security alliance targeting North Korea
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