WH Says Putin Willing To Meet Zelensky; Kremlin Does Not Commit - Erin Burnett OutFront - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
The White House says a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is on but the Kremlin is saying not so fast. Plus, details about what other inmates think about Ghislaine Maxwell and why some inmates won't even say her name out loud.
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Yahoo
3 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Russia says discussing Ukraine security guarantees without Moscow 'road to nowhere'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that discussing any Western security guarantees for Ukraine without Russian involvement was a "road to nowhere". NATO military chiefs were set Wednesday to discuss the details of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine amid efforts to broker an end to Russia's offensive. But Lavrov warned that "seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere. "We cannot agree that it is now suggested to solve collective security issues without the Russian Federation," he told reporters. President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the ensuing conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes. US President Donald Trump, who spoke Monday with his Russian counterpart, said Putin had agreed to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine. Lavrov said in their phone call Putin had only told Trump he would "think about raising the level of" talks on Ukraine. Lavrov said any summit between Putin and Zelensky "must be prepared in the most meticulous way" so the meeting does not lead to a "deterioration" of the situation around the conflict. Lavrov also accused European leaders -- some of whom also visited the White House on Monday -- of making "clumsy attempts" to change the US president's position on Ukraine. "We have only seen aggressive escalation of the situation and rather clumsy attempts to change the position of the US president," he said, referring to Monday's meeting. "We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there," Lavrov added. Lavrov also said the West's "confrontational position, a position to continue the war, does not find understanding in the current US administration, which... seeks to help eliminate the root causes of the conflict". Post-war security is a key concern for Ukraine after more than three years of Russian offensive. Moscow has long said it will not tolerate Kyiv joining NATO and has been hostile to the idea of Western troops being deployed to the war-torn country. bur/dt/jj
The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump's hidden goal in Alaska was to break the China-Russia axis
The Alaska summit between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was more than a high-stakes encounter over the Ukraine war. It signaled America's recognition that its own missteps have helped drive Russia closer to China, fueling a de facto alliance that poses the gravest threat to U.S. global preeminence since the Cold War. Washington's miscalculations helped build the China-Russia partnership it now fears most. In a world where the U.S., China and Russia are the three leading powers, the Alaska summit underscored Trump's bid to redraw the great-power triangle before it hardens against America. The president's Alaska reset seeks to undo a policy that turned two natural rivals into close strategic collaborators, by prioritizing improved U.S.-Russia ties. Trump's signaling was unmistakable. In a Fox News interview immediately after the summit, he blasted his predecessor. 'He [Biden] did something that was unthinkable,' Trump said. 'He drove China and Russia together. That's not good. If you are just a minor student of history, it's the one thing you didn't want to do.' The remark captured the essence of America's dilemma. Two powers that are historic rivals — one vast in land and resources, the other populous and expansionist — have been pushed into each other's arms by Washington's own punitive strategies. For decades, the bedrock of U.S. grand strategy was to keep Moscow and Beijing apart. President Richard Nixon's 1972 opening to Beijing was not about cozying up to Mao Zedong's brutal regime, but about exploiting the Sino-Soviet split by coopting China in an informal alliance geared toward containing and rolling back Soviet influence and power. That strategy helped the West win the Cold War, not militarily but geopolitically. Since 2022, however, Washington has inverted that logic. In response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. unleashed unprecedented sanctions designed to cripple Russia economically. Instead, the sanctions drove the Kremlin toward Beijing while tightening Putin's grip on power. What had been an uneasy partnership has become strategic collaboration against a common adversary — the U.S. Rather than playing one against the other, America finds itself confronting a two-against-one dynamic, with China as the primary gainer. Western sanctions have effectively handed resource-rich Russia to resource-hungry China. Beijing has also chipped away at Russian influence in Central Asia, bringing former Soviet republics into its orbit. Meanwhile, despite the grinding war in Ukraine, Russia remains a formidable power. Its global reach, military capacity and resilience under sanctions have belied Western hopes that it could be isolated into irrelevance. On the battlefield, Russia holds the strategic initiative, strengthening Putin's bargaining hand and reducing his incentive to accept any ceasefire not largely on his own terms. The uncomfortable truth for Washington is that it risks losing a proxy war into which it has poured vast resources. The legacy-conscious Trump recognizes this. His push for a negotiated end to the war is not a retreat but an attempt to cut losses and refocus U.S. strategy on the larger contest with China that will shape the emerging new global order. Among the great powers, only China has both the ambition and material base to supplant the U.S. Its economy, military spending and technological capabilities dwarf that of Russia. Yet Beijing remains the main beneficiary of America's hard line against Moscow. In fact, sanctions and Western weaponization of international finance have turned China into Russia's financial lifeline. Russia's export earnings are now largely parked in Chinese banks, in effect giving Beijing a share of the returns. China has also locked in discounted, long-term energy supplies from Russia. These secure overland flows, which cannot be interdicted by hostile forces, bolster China's energy security in ways maritime trade never could — a crucial hedge as it eyes Taiwan. Far from weakening Beijing, U.S. policy has made it stronger. A formal China-Russia alliance would unite Eurasia's vast resources and power — America's ultimate nightmare, as it would accelerate its relative decline. The Ukraine war has drained U.S. focus even as China expands influence in the Indo-Pacific, the true theater of 21st-century geopolitics. This is why the Alaska summit mattered. Trump and Putin seemed to recognize that improved ties could reshape the global balance of power. For Trump, the goal is clear: Reverse America's blunder, separate Moscow from Beijing and refocus power on the systemic challenge posed by China. Critics call this appeasement, but it echoes Nixon's outreach to Mao: exploiting geopolitical rivalries to keep the U.S. globally preeminent. Washington needs similar clarity today, not doubling down on a failing proxy war, but easing tensions with Russia while strengthening deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, where the stakes are truly global. Trump's tariff-first approach, evident in his punitive approach toward India, has already hurt important partnerships. Yet his instinct on the U.S.-China-Russia triangle could be transformative. If he can begin to pry Moscow away from Beijing — or even sow just enough mistrust to prevent a durable Sino-Russian alliance — he will have altered the trajectory of world politics. America need not befriend Russia — it need only prevent Russia from becoming China's junior partner in an anti-U.S. coalition. That requires ending the Ukraine war and creating space for a geopolitical reset. The Alaska summit was only a first step. But it acknowledged what U.S. policymakers resist admitting: continuing the current course will further strengthen China and entrench America's disadvantages. A shift in strategy is not weakness. It is the essence of grand strategy — recognizing when old approaches have outlived their usefulness. If Trump can reengineer the strategic geometry of the great-power triangle, he will have preserved America's place at the apex of the global order.
The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Live updates: Redistricting efforts take stage in California, Texas
Redistricting takes center stage on Wednesday, with California and Texas state lawmakers set to consider their efforts to gerrymander congressional districts to benefit Democrats in the West and Republicans in the Lone Star State. California Republicans have sued the state to stop the effort. Meanwhile, Newsom's social media trolling of Trump is racking up kudos from Democrats. High-level and behind-the-scenes discussions are aiming to find a peace deal for Ukraine and Russia, in the days after President Trump's meetings with presidents of both nations and European allies. NATO's military leaders will convene Wednesday to discuss the unfolding possibility of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal. Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top U.S. military leaders met Tuesday night with European counterparts on Ukraine, a Trump administration official told NewsNation. Trump is working toward a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who appears to be gaining a stronger hand in talks. Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin ally, on Wednesday accused Europe of getting in the way of progress. In D.C., Trump has only one event on his public schedule, a swearing-in ceremony at 4 p.m.
