Ukraine and U.S. considering a drone ‘mega deal', Zelensky says after after talks with Trump
Mr. Zelensky said his latest talks with Mr. Trump focused on a deal that would help each country bolster its aerial technology.
Ukrainian drones have been able to strike targets as deep as 800 miles (1,300 km) into Russian territory.
"The people of America need this technology, and you need to have it in your arsenal," Mr. Zelensky told The Post in the interview conducted on Wednesday (July 16, 2025).
The Ukrainian leader said drones were the key tool that has allowed his country to fight off Russia's invasion for more than three years.
"We will be ready to share this experience with America and other European partners," he said. Ukraine was also in talks with Denmark, Norway and Germany, he said.
On Thursday, Mr. Zelensky announced unspecified future agreements with the United States which he said would strengthen his country, as he appeared in parliament to put forward his new government.
Next year's U.S. defence and national security budget request boosts spending on small drones — in part because of lessons learned during Russia's war in Ukraine, where unmanned aircraft have proven to be an integral part of low-cost, yet highly effective fighting.
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First Post
10 minutes ago
- First Post
Trump pushes to expand Abraham Accords with Azerbaijan, Central Asian nations, say sources
The Trump administration is in advanced talks with Azerbaijan and preliminary discussions with Central Asian nations to expand the Abraham Accords, according to sources. The initiative aims to solidify symbolic ties with Israel, despite regional tensions and the ongoing war in Gaza. read more The administration of US President Donald Trump is in discussions with Azerbaijan about the possibility of the country, along with some Central Asian partners, joining the Abraham Accords, with the aim of strengthening their current relationships with Israel, according to five sources familiar with the matter. As part of the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 and 2021 during Trump's first term, four Muslim-majority nations agreed to normalise diplomatic ties with Israel following US mediation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Azerbaijan and all Central Asian countries, on the other hand, already have longstanding relations with Israel, so any expansion of the accords to include them would be largely symbolic, focussing on strengthening ties in areas such as trade and military cooperation, according to the sources, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private conversations. Such an expansion would demonstrate Trump's willingness to consider less ambitious agreements than his administration's objective of persuading regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to re-establish ties with Israel while conflict rages in Gaza. The kingdom has repeatedly said that it will not recognise Israel until Israel recognises a Palestinian state. A rising death toll in Gaza and malnutrition caused by Israel's blockade of supplies and military operations have fuelled Arab outrage, hindering efforts to expand the Abraham Accords to include additional Muslim-majority nations. The war in Gaza, where over 60,000 people including tens of thousands of women and children have died according to local health authorities, has provoked global anger. Canada, France and the United Kingdom have announced plans in recent days to recognize an independent Palestine. Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan's conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said. While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said. As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia - which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan - were contacted. The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. 'We are working to get more countries to join,' said a US official. The Azerbaijani government declined to comment. The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel. Obstacles remain The original Abraham Accords - inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan - were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power. Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region. Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories. Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic - but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict. Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan. Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near. 'Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,' Trump told reporters earlier in July. 'And it's pretty close.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
The Hindu
10 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Indian fuel exports escape Trump's tariff net, no Russian penalty yet
India's exports of petroleum products such as diesel and jet fuel to the U.S. continue to be exempted from the levy of any import duty or tariff, and President Donald Trump has, for now, not indicated the penalty he plans to impose to deter New Delhi's energy trade with Russia. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump had announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on India, along with an additional penalty, citing concerns over the country's energy and defence ties with Russia, as well as existing trade barriers. However, the executive order he signed thereafter only gives effect to the 25% tariff on Indian goods coming to the U.S. Even this has an exclusion list that includes finished pharmaceutical products (tablets, injectables and syrups), active pharmaceutical ingredients, electronics and ICT goods (semiconductors, smartphones, SSDs and computers), and petroleum products (crude oil, LNG, refined fuels, electricity and coal). The executive order also does not indicate any penalty that is to be levied for Russian trade. According to official data, India exported 4.86 million tonnes of petroleum products to the U.S. in fiscal year 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025) for over $4 billion. Reliance Industries Ltd is the biggest exporter of fuel to the U.S. With fuel exports continuing to be on the exemption list, it means business as usual for India and companies like Reliance, analysts said. Also, a relief would be if no penalty is imposed to punish India for its oil imports from Russia, they said, adding that for now, the U.S. administration has not indicated any penalty. "For now, there is nothing but you never know," an analyst said. From just 0.2% before the Russia-Ukraine war to now accounting for 35-40% of total crude imports, India's reliance on Russian oil has surged — drawing fresh scrutiny with Mr. Trump announcing a penalty on top of a 25% tariff, or tax, on all goods going to the U.S. India historically bought most of its oil from the Middle East, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. However, things changed when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the U.S., began snapping up Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. From a market share of just 0.2% in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia overtook Iraq and Saudi Arabia to become India's No.1 supplier, with a share as high as 40% at one point of time. This month, Russia supplied 36% of all crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, that India imported. Announcing the imposition of 25% tariff or tax on all Indian goods going to the U.S., Mr. Trump had said New Delhi "always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE." "India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25%, plus a penalty for the above (Russian purchases), starting on August First," he said in a post on social media. India bought 68,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Russia in January 2022, according to global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler. That month, Indian imports from Iraq were 1.23 million bpd and 883,000 bpd from Saudi Arabia. In June 2022, Russia overtook Iraq to become India's largest oil supplier. That month, it supplied 1.12 million bpd as compared to 993,000 bpd that came from Iraq and 695,000 bpd from Saudi Arabia. Russian imports peaked to 2.15 million bpd in May 2023 and have varied since then, depending on the discount at which the oil was available. But the volumes never slipped below 1.4 million bpd, which is more than what India was buying from its top supplier Iraq before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In July, imports from Russia averaged 1.8 million bpd, almost double of 950,000 bpd imports from Iraq. Saudi imports stood at 630,000 bpd, according to Kpler. After the Ukraine war, Western energy sanctions against Russia pushed it to cut prices for those buyers still willing to purchase its crude. The discounts on Russia's flagship Urals crude to Brent — the world's most well-known benchmark — were as high as $40 per barrel at one point but have been trimmed since to less than $ 3. G7 countries in December 2022 imposed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude. Under the mechanism, European companies were permitted to transport and insure shipments of Russian oil to third countries as long as it is sold below the capped price — an effort to limit the impact of the sanctions on global oil flows but ensure Russia earns less from the trade. Last month, the European Union decided to lower the price cap to $47.6 and introduced an automatic and dynamic mechanism for its review in the future. The idea is to keep the cap at 15% lower than the average market price. In addition to stoking India's economy, cheap Russian oil gave refiners lucrative business — refining that crude and exporting the products to deficit countries. These included the European Union, which had banned direct crude oil purchases from Russia. This month, the European Union decided to ban the import of refined oil produced from Russian crude.
The Hindu
10 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Letters to The Editor — August 2, 2025
Misplaced remark U.S. President Donald Trump's remark, calling India a 'dead economy', is both inaccurate and disappointing, especially when leading global institutions continue to recognise India as among the fastest-growing major economies. That the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have all projected India's economic stability is a clear indication of economic vitality, not decline. With a young and dynamic population — in sharp contrast to aging demographics and slowing growth in many advanced economies, India's demographic strength, combined with prudent macroeconomic policies and digital advancement, positions it as a key driver of future global growth. Mr. Trump's comments appear to be politically charged rather than fact-based. Rukma Sharma, Jalandhar, Punjab What is odious is that Mr. Trump did not stop with just announcing tariffs. He has revived the U.S's old myopic game of trying to maintain a geo-political strategic balance in South Asia by supporting Pakistan, India's war-happy neighbour. One cannot but notice the fact that Mr Trump has been upping the ante against India ever since it successfully carried out post-Pahalgam retaliatory strikes against Pakistan's terror infrastructure. That India proved its military prowess with minimum collateral damage and the use of indigenous armaments has not gone down well with the Trump administration. Nalini Vijayaraghavan, Thiruvananthapuram The cartoon (Inside pages, 'On the draw' August 1), on Mr. Trump's decision, may be a correct portrayal. The U.S. President is publicity savvy and wants to take the credit when it comes to all major global events. He wants the Nobel Prize and has shamelessly expressed his desire. He is just another politician and not a statesman. Imposing shockingly high tariffs will hurt the business of the exporters to the United States of America, which will, in turn, affect the economies of many countries. Mr. Trump does not care one bit about the sufferings of others. He is whimsical, which is a bad trait for anyone in power. Here is an elected leader who is an example of how one should not be. V. Lakshmanan, Tirupur, Tamil Nadu One cannot help notice these contrasts — ISRO and NASA have successfully launched their NISAR satellite into orbit, which highlights the power of science and cooperation, but the U.S. President seems intent on giving pinpricks to India and the Indian government. One wonders how things will play out. Dhanaraj S., Bodinayakanur, Tamil Nadu The debate in Parliament The parliamentary debate on Operation Sindoor unfolded as expected, with few surprises. The ruling party remained determined to portray the operation as an unqualified success, while key questions raised by the Opposition were left unanswered. Vital issues deserving serious deliberation such as Mr. Trump's repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire, and the alarming security lapses in Pahalgam were largely ignored. From the outset, the ruling party's reluctance to engage in a substantive debate was unmistakable. Repeated references to events under the past dispensation did little more than deflect attention from the core concerns. One can only hope that future parliamentary discussions will rise above partisan posturing and offer genuine, meaningful exchanges. V. Nagarajan, Chennai Civic responsibility India-Bangladesh relations may be strained but there are areas of policy in that country which may be worth considering in India. I recently came across a video on YouTube, on an organisation called BD Clean ( It is a platform of 50,000 volunteers who work with the aim of ensuring a clean Bangladesh and bringing about a change in mentality in the disposal of garbage. The transformation in the country has been spectacular with heavily polluted areas undergoing remarkable transformations. It is an idea that is worth emulating in Indian cities and towns. V. Subramaniam, Chennai
