‘Fight for freedom' Pennsylvania Rep. looks to declare Ukrainian Independence Day
The bill, authored by Rep. Chris Pielli (D – Chester), would designate Aug. 24, 2025, as 'Ukrainian Independence Day' in Pennsylvania. Pielli argued that the Commonwealth has made important contributions to Ukraine's defense and 'fight for freedom,' with Pennsylvania munitions plants providing critical weaponry.
'Knowing Pennsylvania's history as the cradle of freedom and democracy, it is vital that we recognize and support the same spirit of 1776 exhibited by the brave Ukrainian freedom fighters,' Pielli wrote in the legislation.
On Aug. 24, 1991, Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union, with over 90% of voters in the country supporting an independence referendum. In 1994, as part of the Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to completely relinquish its nuclear arsenal in exchange for an assurance that the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia would respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and refrain from the use or threat of military force.
In February 2022, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. In the three years since Pielli noted that Russia has killed tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians while destroying large swaths of Ukraine. More recently, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was ready for a ceasefire but suggested that Ukraine had further conditions to accept before any agreement could be settled.
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Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Ukraine's Zelensky to meet Trump in D.C. on Monday after inconclusive summit
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Monday in Washington with President Trump, who has shifted to saying that an overall peace agreement — and not a ceasefire — is the next step in ending the 3½-year-old war. Trump's abrupt reversal, aligning himself with a position held by Russian President Vladimir Putin, came in a social media post Saturday, hours after they concluded a summit in Alaska that produced no agreement to halt the fighting. Putin has long said that Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes the Kremlin's interests into account. After calls with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump posted that 'it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.' In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying that they 'welcomed President Trump's efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia's war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace.' Trump and Ukraine's European allies had been calling for a ceasefire ahead of any negotiations. Trump's statement that a peace agreement should be reached before a ceasefire appears to indicate the U.S. president's thinking is 'shifting towards Putin,' an approach that would allow Moscow to keep fighting while negotiating, said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Zelensky, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he had a 'long and substantive' conversation with Trump early Saturday. He said they would 'discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war' on Monday. It will be Zelensky's first visit to the U.S. since Trump berated him publicly as being 'disrespectful' during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. Trump, who also held calls with European leaders Saturday, confirmed Monday's White House meeting and said that 'if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.' Trump rolled out the red carpet Friday for Putin, who was in the U.S. for the first time in a decade and since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed. On Saturday, he posted on social media that it 'went very well.' Trump had warned ahead of the summit of 'very severe consequences' for Russia if Putin didn't agree to end the war. Zelensky reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not invited to the summit. 'It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,' he said. 'We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security.' He didn't elaborate, but Zelensky previously has said that European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop. Zelensky said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total, the conversations lasted more than 90 minutes. Trump said in Alaska that 'there's no deal until there's a deal,' after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an 'understanding' on Ukraine and warned Europe not to 'torpedo the nascent progress.' During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelensky 'to get it done,' but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. In their statement after speaking to Trump, major European leaders said they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskyy toward 'a trilateral summit with European support.' The statement from French, German, Italian, British, Finnish, Polish and European Union leaders said that 'Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees' and welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them. 'It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,' they said. 'International borders must not be changed by force.' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that 'the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,' noting that Moscow launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met. 'Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing,' she said. Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 600-mile front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war. 'Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war,' said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. 'He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished.' Zelensky voiced support for Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that 'key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.' But Putin's foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that the idea of a three-way meeting 'has not been touched upon yet' in U.S.-Russia discussions. Zelensky wrote on X that he told Trump that 'sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war.' In apparent effort to bolster Zelensky's hand before he meets Trump, France, the U.K. and Germany will co-host a video call Sunday afternoon of so-called 'coalition of the willing' nations that could, in one way or another, help monitor and uphold any deal to end fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said. Russian officials and media struck a largely positive tone after Friday's summit, with some describing it as a symbolic end to Putin's isolation in the West. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington, describing the talks as 'calm, without ultimatums and threats.' Putin has 'broken out of international isolation' and back on the world stage as one of two global leaders, and 'wasn't in the least challenged' by Trump, who also ignored an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, said Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. 'Unless Mr. Putin is absolutely convinced that he cannot win militarily, the fighting is not going to stop,' Bristow told the Associated Press. 'That's the big takeaway from the Anchorage summit.' Kullab and Morton write for the Associated Press and reported from Kyiv and London, respectively. AP writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.
Time Magazine
28 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
Trump's Summit With Putin Need Not Be an Echo of Appeasement
President Donald Trump's unprecedented summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska has failed to deliver the breakthrough on securing a ceasefire in Ukraine that he was hoping for. But Trump proved to be more cautious than many diplomats thought, moving in consultation with European allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—and the failure of the Alaska Summit need not be an unvarnished disaster nor an echo of Neville Chamberlain's 1938 appeasement at Munich. [time-brightcove not-tgx='true'] What comes next matters far more than the predictable failure to make a breakthrough, and now Trump needs to make the war more costly to Putin financially and militarily. It's time to call Putin's bluff. As Trump himself declared before the meeting, if Putin did not agree to stop his war on Ukraine, there must be 'severe consequences,' and the time has come for Trump to tighten the screwsby increasing economic pressure on Putin and by buttressing military assistance for Ukraine. As Admiral James Savridis, Former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, complained: 'Putin strung Trump along again with diplomatic rope-a-dope and there should be military consequences for Putin.' It would be a tragic mistake if this turned into merely another instance when Trump threatens Putin with tough talk, only to back down prematurely. Clearly, Putin is counting on Trump backing down and falling victim to his smoke and mirrors. But that bark-and-no-bite approach would destroy U.S. credibility as much as it would erode Trump's own credibility. Trump's initial reaction, declaring on Fox News that it would be up to President Zelenskyy to push the ball forward, is exactly the opposite of what should be done. The truth is that even now, Trump holds all the leverage while Putin has none. Read more: Why Trump's Summit in Alaska Cannot End Putin's War in Ukraine Despite Putin's braggadocio, claiming a win from the legitimacy of visiting U.S. soil for the first-time in a decade, despite having an ICC arrest warrant to his name after the killing of tens of thousands of civilians and the kidnapping of 20,000 children; still, Trump averted the worst-case scenario of falling for Putin's propaganda, stopping hours of planned follow-up meetings that Putin had planned with Russian business and economic development officials. Trump has been correct in recognizing that none of the 1,200 companies whose exit from Russia we helped accelerate have ever expressed interest in returning to Russia. The fact that Putin even thought that the U.S. needs the Russian economy shows how deluded Putin still is. Putin's only commodities are easily interchangeable raw materials that he brings to the world market; no finished goods, industrial products, pharmaceutical ingredients, fashion or financial products come from Russia at scale. Like a mercantile colony, all Putin has is a lot of land, raw materials, and psychopathic propaganda. The reality is that despite Putin's tough guy bluster, Putin is a failure economically and militarily, and Putin's house of cards is far more vulnerable than many realize. In fact, after three years of grueling warfare, Putin's economy is in tatters as Putin stares down bankruptcy. As we revealed previously, for years now, Putin has been obfuscating how weak the Russian economy really is by hiding and fudging the numbers. Putin refuses to disclose major economic indicators as required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This ranges from foreign trade data, monthly output data on oil and gas, and central bank monetary base data. Due to Putin's obfuscation, few appreciate how close Russia is to running out of cash. The value of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and foreign exchange reserves has dwindled by half since Putin's invasion of Ukraine, as he draws down his windfall oil revenues faster than he can replenish his coffers. That is because Putin is running an unsustainable record budget deficit to fund his war machine in the tens of billions. And with over 1,000 multinational businesses having exited from Russia, the Kremlin is running out of new cookie jars to raid to keep the lights on. Read more: Why The Last Six Trump-Putin Meetings Failed The time has come for Trump to escalate economic sanctions and economic pressure on Russia by cutting off Putin's exports of oil and other natural resources, once and for all. By tightening the screws on Putin's already crumbling economic house of cards, Putin could run out of money very soon—perhaps even by the end of the year. Already, Trump has threatened secondary tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, which aligns with the bipartisan legislation put forward by many of his GOP allies in the Senate, including the 'Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025' legislation co-sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator Richard Blumenthal, which would impose secondary tariffs and sanctions on countries which continue to fund Russia's war machine. Simultaneously, Trump has to fortify military assistance for Ukraine, with our European allies being forced to shoulder an increasing share of the burden as previously-appropriated U.S. support dwindles. Already, there is growing momentum in Congress, including from Trump's GOP allies, for another major military aid package to help Ukraine, despite the misguided cries of outnumbered, outgunned isolationists such as JD Vance not to support Ukraine anymore. Already, there is a bipartisan proposal in the Senate for a new $54.6 billion package in new aid to Ukraine, which would make it the largest aid package for Ukraine yet. Providing Ukraine with desperately needed military aid is the best way to show Putin who really holds the leverage. In particular, replenishing Ukraine's stock of F-16s and Patriot missile interceptors would be an incredibly powerful and effective boost. That military aid is sorely needed. As Ambassador Michael McFaul pointed out on MSNBC, 'since President Trump has been in the White House, the war has gotten more aggressive. There's been more attacks on Ukrainian civilians, the number of drone and missile attacks have gone up'. After trying and failing to secure a ceasefire from Putin, the time has come for Trump to impose the 'severe consequences' against Putin that he has previously threatened. If he fails to do so, then Trump's inaction, after Putin's blatant unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire and other measures to end the war on constructive terms, will be deserving of the comparisons to Chamberlain's Munich summit with Hitler—and go down as a far greater blunder than Joe Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.'
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Put pressure on Putin, Mr. President — it's the only way to end this war
President Trump said he wanted to meet Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to 'see what he has in mind.' 'Probably in the first two minutes,' he added, 'I'll know exactly whether or not a deal can get done.' Mr. President, you have your answer: Putin doesn't want peace, he simply wants conquest. Putin put on his best fake smile, waved for the cameras, then ominously pointed out how many parts of Alaska have Russian names. He rejected a ceasefire, and instead demanded long negotiations for a comprehensive treaty. This is the dictionary definition of 'tapping along.' While he says he wants more talks and ridiculously floats 'next time in Moscow' — an invitation to be dismissed out of hand — his bombardment of Ukraine continues. You're right, Mr. President, that the killing must end, and Alaska showed that the only way to do that is to squeeze Putin. Mr. President, you have your answer: Putin doesn't want peace, he simply wants conquest. AFP via Getty Images Trump said that he would not sanction Russia further after the summit. But he should increase sanctions on Russia immediately — particularly secondary sanctions on oil and other goods that are keeping Putin's war machine afloat. The president should make clear arms supplies will continue, particularly now that Europe is footing the bill, and our military industry is benefiting. Putin did not move on his demands. He must be forced to move — with cash and steel. Tariffs. Weapons. Strong security guarantees for Ukraine. Pressure is the only language Putin understands. According to reports, Putin said that 'if he wanted' he could take all the land he's fighting for in Ukraine. What lies. He's been battling over this territory for three years, and if he really had that kind of advantage, why would he be pushing for a 'land swap' that pole vaults him to the other side of the Ukrainian front lines? He's pretending his victory is a fait accompli, when the reality is he is, at best, grinding along at a pace that would take years for him to complete his 'special operation.' We cannot afford to wash our hands of Ukraine, even if it is true that it is 'Biden's War' and it would never have started during a Trump presidency. First, your voters believe in the fight — 51% of Republicans believe we should be supplying more arms and military support to Ukraine (up from 30% six months ago), and 84% of GOP voters have an unfavorable view of Putin. Second, while we understand you envision Russia as a strategic partner, a weakened Russia benefits your world vision. Consider what has happened already. Iran is providing drones to Russia, yet when you bombed Tehran's nuclear facilities, Putin could provide his ally no help. He has alienated Azerbaijan, and you were able to step up and negotiate a peace deal between that country and Armenia. Putin has less resources to put into the Arctic. Some advisers say this is a distraction from the real enemy, China. But standing up for Ukraine, showing strength for our allies, sends a message to Beijing. There is also a widening rift between China and Russia as Putin's moves become more destructive. In Alaska, Putin again floated the blackmail of nuclear war, the 'point of no return' as he said. President Xi already has bristled at such rhetoric, saying that China 'opposes . . . the threat to use nuclear weapons.' China should make it clear that it is still unacceptable. By rejecting a ceasefire, Putin wants to push a bad deal at the point of a gun. We fall for his flattery, his bluster and his threats at our peril.
