Putin criticised by Ukraine's ambassador to Australia after inconclusive meeting with Trump
Putin and Trump met for nearly three hours in Alaska, emerging to tell reporters that 'great progress' had been made on a deal to end Russia's war on Ukraine but that there was no peace agreement.
'There's no deal until there's a deal,' Trump said, saying he would brief Nato leaders and Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the meeting.
Putin, through an interpreter, said while he agreed Ukraine's security should be guaranteed insisted the 'root causes' of the conflict must be resolved.
Speaking to the ABC in the wake of the meeting, Ukraine's ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said the root cause of the conflict from Putin's perspective was a sovereign, independent and democratic Ukraine.
'When Putin talks about the 'root cause of war', it's an independent Ukraine on the map of Europe. That's the only cause of war for Russia.
'He planned to take over Kyiv in several days, the entire Ukraine in several weeks … he is pursuing his ambition of destroying democracy next door.'
Putin had given no indication he was prepared to withdraw from his irredentist ambitions, Myroshnychenko said.
'Putin is just out there on his mission to revive the Soviet Union, to revive the Russian empire, and it can't be revived without Ukraine. Just overnight, as we speak, Russians have attacked many Ukrainian cities, sent many drones. So we don't really see any indication of him ending his war.'
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Myroshnychenko said while it was a positive step that the meeting had taken place, a bilateral discussion – with only the US and Russia at the table – could not broker a sustainable peace.
'We welcome America's involvement in this to make sure this war can end, but we understand it can't end without Ukraine involved, without Europe involved … we can't discuss the security of Europe without Europe at the table.'
In Anchorage, Alaska, Trump and Putin's planned one-on-one meeting was replaced by a three-on-three meeting that also included US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff on the American side.
Alongside Putin was Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, a former ambassador to the US.
After the meeting, the two presidents addressed reporters but took no questions.
The Russian president spoke first, urging both countries to 'turn the page' on their fraught relationship and 'go back to cooperation'.
He said he and Trump had worked out 'an understanding' but no final agreement and urged European leaders to 'not throw a wrench in the works' and to 'not use backroom dealings' to undermine the progress that had been made.
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'I have every reason to believe that moving down this path we can come – and the sooner the better – to the end of the conflict in Ukraine.'
But Putin also insisted that the 'root causes' of the conflict must be resolved. Those 'root causes' have previously included demands for Ukraine's formal renunciation of Nato membership as well as its 'denazification' – an ill-defined set of demands that include the removal of Zelenskyy as president.
The US president, who spoke more briefly than Putin, described the meeting as 'extremely productive'.
Trump warned: 'There's no deal until there's a deal. I will call up Nato … I'll, of course, call up [Ukraine's] president Zelenskyy and tell him about today's meeting. It's ultimately up to them.'
The chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Kateryna Argyrou, said Putin went to Alaska with 'nothing to offer except more war'.
'No ceasefire, no retreat from his maximalist demands … even as discussions were taking place, Russian missiles and drones were raining down on Ukrainian cities and towns.'
Argyrou said Putin only wanted Ukraine's surrender, not peace. 'His recycled propaganda about 'root causes' is simply code for denying Ukraine's right to exist as a sovereign, independent nation – a denial made real through the devastation Ukrainians face every day.
'There can be no lasting peace until Russia faces the truth: Ukraine is a sovereign nation.'
Argyrou urged Australia to 'stay united' with allies in backing Ukraine's defence and enforcing sanctions against Russian figures.
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Opinion: For Putin, an outbreak of peace means certain death
More than a million Russians have been killed or seriously wounded on the battlefields of Ukraine. But there is one man who owes his life to the continuing slaughter. For Vladimir Putin, an outbreak of peace means certain death – by assassination, overthrow and execution, or in an international prison cell as a war criminal. The Russian president's only credible hope of survival in the gangster state he has himself created is to prolong the 'special military operation' in Ukraine or to win in such outrageously successful terms that he can turn his attention to other former client states, other victims. Survival, after all, was Putin's objective in launching the invasion in 2022. In his interminable ramblings about history, the Russian president makes great pretence that all of Ukraine – not just the eastern regions of Donbas, Donetsk and Crimea – is part of Russia's empire. Putin claims that it is his mission to reunite former territories while denying Kyiv the chance to join the Nato alliance with the West. From the point of view of Russian interests, these might seem to make sense as a rationale for the war. But if rationales can change, Putin's true, cynical motives cannot. His strategy for clinging to power – and thus to life – comes directly from Niccolo Machiavelli, the calculating philosopher who wrote the handbook for dictators. War, he taught, is the one essential lever of power. And the psychopathic Putin can use this lever particularly effectively because he is willing to sacrifice millions of lives in his own interests – those of Russians, Ukrainians, Europeans and even Americans if necessary. Europe is fortunate that Ukraine has proven such a dogged and courageous adversary. If the Ukrainians had not fought so ferociously against an enemy who outnumbers them many times over, Putin would have turned his war machine on another target – quite probably Poland. War is the reason he has remained Russia's ruler for more than 25 years. If he had not been able to create distractions, he would have been booted out of office long ago. Standards of living have been slowly eroded to the point that many people are worse off than they were even under the Soviet government. Russia's economy has stalled, inflation has soared to 10 per cent and even the country's much-touted energy revenues are in decline. Corruption is too weak a word to describe the wholesale plundering that replaced Communist bureaucracy. Russia is the ultimate mafia state and Putin is its godfather. I have good reason to know. There has been a price on my head since 2005, when I was denied entry to Russia and put on a wanted list in a bid by Putin to take control of my asset management firm and steal $230 million of taxes my business had paid to the Russian government. Four years later, my lawyer and close friend Sergei Magnitsky was beaten to death in a Russian isolation cell for exposing this vast fraud. Murder by the state has become so common in Russia that the death of any prominent figure is widely assumed to be an assassination – typically by car bomb, poisoning or falling from a high window. Putin is paranoid about his personal safety – and with good cause. As instability rumbles, he will be all-too aware of the threats that loom from anti-government activists, foreign 'enemies' and even power-hungry officials inside his own tent. One way or another, it is very likely that when he leaves the Kremlin, it will be in a coffin. Like any gangster, Putin's primary instinct is for survival. After that comes money. When he flew to Alaska for the so-called peace talks last Friday, he had two real objectives: to avoid financial penalties; and re-establish himself as a respected international power-broker. In both of these aims, he succeeded. In truth, Donald Trump had already been outmanoeuvred before the US presidential jets touched down in Anchorage. He had boxed himself into a corner by repeatedly boasting before last year's elections that he was going to end the war in 24 hours. When that proved impossible, Trump issued a series of ultimatums, with much tub-thumping about tariffs, sanctions and taxes if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. Each of those deadlines passed without consequences. Trump had already lost much of his leverage when he ceased sending military aid to Ukraine. And when Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky was bullied in front of the cameras at the White House in February, Putin knew he had carte blanche to continue waging war indefinitely. But this did not guarantee that the Kremlin delegation could safely thumb their noses at the Trump administration on American soil. The US President does have the power, after all, to cripple Russia's economy if he chooses. This cannot be done by direct measures. But, indirectly, Trump can wield financial doomsday weapons. By threatening China, India and Brazil with sky-high tariffs, he can make it impossible for Moscow's major trading partners to keep doing business with Russian companies. And, with no one to buy his oil and gas or send him weapons, Putin would swiftly be finished. Friday's so-called summit, then, was an opportunity for the Kremlin to ensure the disaster didn't happen. So, Putin gave Trump everything he needed – starting with praise. The war would never have happened, he said, if Trump had been President in 2022. Every gangster needs a fall-guy, and former president Joe Biden fits that bill. Next, Putin offered empty pledges that his goal was peace. The only obstacle, he said, was Ukraine's war-mongering government. This has been his disingenuous position from the outset: if the Ukrainians would simply accept they have no right to independence, Russia could rule their country without any need for violence. Finally, and behind the scenes, he will have ensured Trump is fully rewarded. We don't know what private deals might have been done under the table in regard, for example, to Ukraine's mineral wealth. But we do know that Trump is a man who regards other countries as 'real estate', waiting to be exploited. We also know he accepted a luxury Boeing 747 worth an estimated $400 million – complete with gold-coloured walls and furnishings – from the Qatari royal family when he signed up to a business partnership with them. Whether Putin has found ways to outdo this, we do not know. But however it was managed, Russia has avoided those Armageddon tariffs. Yet that was only half of Putin's agenda in Alaska. He was also intent on demonstrating his legitimacy as a world leader. He could have been arrested as a war criminal the moment his plane landed. Right now, he should be where his crimes deserve – wearing an orange jumpsuit, shackled in a cage in Guantanamo Bay. But there was never the slightest risk of that. Instead, he has flaunted his power, reminding the world that he is 'untouchable', however illusory – in reality – that might be. For Russia is a laden juggernaut, labouring up a steep hill that never ends. The driver dares not take his foot off the accelerator, because he will stall fatally – and be dragged out of the driving seat. Putin has to keep going, ignoring the screams from the engine, mowing down anyone in his path. And he will.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
In maps: Why the entire peace deal hangs on this small strip of Ukraine
Although the Kazenyi Torets river runs through four major towns and is flanked by a railway and a road, you could drive the length of its valley without setting eyes on it. Hidden for most of its length by a thick band of marshy woodland on either bank, its waters are mostly left to kingfishers and frogs. Crucially, though, this placid river runs through the centre of the last quarter of Donetsk region held by Ukraine, and the string of towns on its banks have been forged into a fortress – a near-impregnable stronghold that has resisted Russian attacks for more than a decade. Eleven years ago, I watched the war in Ukraine begin on its banks. Three years ago, I sat again by the river and wondered as Russian shelling grew closer if it was the last time I would see it. Now, it is at the very heart of contentious negotiations to end the war. Vladimir Putin has written all of Donetsk region into the Russian constitution and has made clear he wants the entire region – especially this last, defiant valley – as a price for peace. Donald Trump appears to be ready to push Volodymyr Zelensky to make such a trade. Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's special envoy to Russia, said on Sunday there would be an 'important' and 'particularly detailed' discussion about the fate of Donetsk region when Mr Zelensky arrives in Washington on Monday. Mr Zelensky is reluctant: 'Russia is still unsuccessful in Donetsk region and Putin has been unable to take it for 12 years,' he said on Sunday, saying discussions about land swaps there are so important they should only be discussed bilaterally between Ukraine and Russia. To understand why Russia covets it so much, and Ukraine refuses to give it up, it is worth looking at a map. Here's why the 'Donetsk fortress' matters: Terrain Upstream, at the southern mouth of the valley, lies the city of Kostiantynivka. It is followed by Druzhkivka; Kramatorsk; and lastly Sloviansk, where it arcs to the east before meandering through a flood plain of reedbeds and reservoirs until meeting the Siversky Donets – the principal river of the Donbas. In fact, the very word, Donbas – used to describe the coal rich east of Ukraine now largely occupied by Russia – is a contraction of 'Donets Basin'. The irony is that the area's geological past means that this part of the basin is in fact a highland. And as a highland in a vast area of plain, it has huge strategic, military significance. True, these are not the Himalayas; the highest point is a little over 300m above sea level, and the incline is so gradual that if you were not paying attention you might not notice it. But nonetheless, it is a highland – a network of ridges and valleys that stands above the great Pontic Steppe that dominates the southern half of Ukraine and Russia. The Torets cuts a valley through the northern western extremity of this upland. On its right bank in particular, the land rises steeply to a ridge on which sits the town of Chasiv Yar and the current frontline. Today, those slopes and ridges are riddled with Ukrainian defensive lines built up over more than a decade. Inclines have been measured, deadground paced out, the rise and fall of the land integrated into kill zones and artillery ranges. This, in other words, is a valley that guards the entrance to the central heart of Ukraine, protecting it. Not just that, but it is a bastion protecting the whole of the current front line. Should it fall – or be handed over – not only will the Ukrainian steppe behind it be open, but Russian troops would have a platform to encircle Ukrainian forces both to Kharkiv in the north and Zaporizhzhia in the south. If Ukraine is forced to give it away, then, holding the frontline, or even defending the rest of the country at all, would be immeasurably harder should Russia decide to attack again and seize the territory which Putin still calls 'Novorossiya' – New Russia. Infrastructure Armies are, at the end of the day, very large groups of people. And like any large group of people, they need places to sleep. And places to eat. They need to get around, they need fuel, they need hospitals and coffee shops, and all the other things that most of us take for granted. In other words, they need a city. When Ukraine lost control of Donetsk, the regional capital, in 2014, it was left at a major disadvantage: the enemy possessed the most comfortable and advanced cluster of infrastructure between the Russian border and the central Ukraine city of Dnipro. The Ukrainians were left with the villages outside that had relied on the big city for much of their economic well being. The country towns of Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka were the next best thing. It was a landscape of post-Soviet neglect: a derelict glass factory that had once made the stars to adorn the top of the Kremlin; the distant slag heaps of the mining towns; towns mostly made up of small houses where many people scraped a living from their allotments; a road linking them that even before the war was badly in need of resurfacing. But served by a major railway and a highway that connect all four towns to both Kharkiv and Kyiv, the valley was convenient for logistics, for resupply and medical treatment. And there was just enough of a domestic economy to serve the rest of the army's needs: from supermarkets to pizza joints and petrol stations. Over time the conurbation – the towns sometimes seem to run into each other as you tumble down the H20 highway – was turned into both a fortress and an economic and logistical centre. Kramatorsk's military airbase, which lies on the ridge on the eastern side of town, became the command centre for the eight-year, low-level war fought between 2014 and 2022. It was not without friction. The influx of soldiers caused tensions. A portion of the local population was always sympathetic to Russia. Even after the full-scale invasion it was possible to meet locals who would admit – nudge nudge, wink wink – that their views had not changed. Since the invasion began, the towns have taken on even greater significance. Kostiantynivka was the logistics hub to support both Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar, and Toretsk during the Russian assaults on them. Further north, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk have acted as the rear areas for battles around Lyman, Izyum and the ongoing struggle in the Siversk Salient. If the valley falls, the Ukrainians lose not only fortifications and favourable topography: they lose the urban logistics and infrastructure that make it possible to sustain an army and a defence. And don't forget the several hundred-thousand civilians who call the valley home. Many have even moved back after fleeing at the start of the full-scale invasion, reasoning that Kramatorsk is at least as safe – or safer – than other parts of the country. The next possible defensive towns – Izyum and Bavinkove in the Kharkiv Region, Petropavlivka in Dnipropetrovsk Region – either lie dozens of miles away or will be left vulnerable, their flanks open, if the Torets valley fortress falls. History Putin's interest in this corner of Donbas is partly political: he has told the Russian public that his goal is to liberate the whole of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, so he needs to capture it to be able to claim a victory true to his word. Not since French general Robert Nivelle declared the Germans 'shall not pass' at Verdun has a fortress town taken on such political and emotional, as well as strategic, significance. This, in fact, is where the Russo-Ukrainian war began – in April 2014 when a handful of heavily armed desperadoes led by a Russian intelligence officer called Igor Girkin stormed into the town hall, police station and security service office in Sloviansk. They quickly moved on to other towns down the valley and over the hills, storming police stations and abducting, torturing and murdering opponents as they went. Two of their victims – the local councillor Volodymyr Rybak and a teenage activist called Yuri Poporavka – were tortured to death and dumped in the Torets. The Ukrainian recapture of Sloviansk and the rest of the Torets valley in June that year was their first big success of the war – in fact, the first time the Ukrainian military proved it could take on and defeat Russian-led forces. Ever since, Sloviansk in particular has become totemic to both sides. To the Russians, it is the birthplace of their astro-turfed, FSB-led 'rebellion' that provided the excuse for invasion. To the Ukrainians, it is the ground zero of their battle for national survival. The legend has been magnified 1,000-fold since the full scale invasion. In the summer of 2022, the Ukrainians stubbornly defied a Russian attempt to storm the fortress valley from two sides. The enemy came within earshot of Sloviansk from the north, the rumble of Russian artillery creeping closer by the day. But they were never able to get into the valley before they were thrown back in a Ukrainian counter offensive. Ever since, Russia's operations – from the nine-month battle for Bakhmut to the current assault on Pokrovsk and Toretsk – have been directed ultimately at Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. So many Ukrainians have now died trying to defend and hold the fortress belt towns; so many men and women from all over Ukraine know the valley and its potholed highway; so many have stopped for their last coffee before the front at its petrol stations that surrender is almost unthinkable.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war live: ‘Russia must end this war,' Zelenskyy says as he arrives in Washington for Trump talks
Update: Date: 2025-08-18T05:13:29.000Z Title: Opening summary Content: Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared 'Russia must end this war' as he arrived in Washington DC ahead of a crucial talks with Donald Trump over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A host of European leaders will join Zelenskyy on Monday for the summit as they seek to provide a counterpoint to Vladimir Putin's arguments following his talks with the US president on Friday. The leaders – British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Finnish president Alexander Stubb – cleared their diaries to fly to the US at short notice, which is seen as a measure of how alarmed they were by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage. After the Alaska talks Trump reportedly endorsed the Kremlin's plan to end the war in Ukraine, including Kyiv giving up territory that Russia has been unable to seize and no ceasefire until a final deal has been agreed. Zelenskyy said in a post on X as he arrived in Washington late on Sunday that he was grateful to Trump for the invitation and 'we all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably'. He also said that 'peace must be lasting'. 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started,' Zelenskyy said. 'And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.' Here are some of the latest developments: Zelenskyy met European leaders in Brussels earlier on Sunday and reiterated Ukraine's stance on land swaps, saying on X: 'Ukraine's constitution makes it impossible to give up or trade land. Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral – Ukraine, the US, Russia. So far, Russia gives no sign this will happen, and if Russia refuses, new sanctions must follow.' Ahead of Monday's peace talks in the US, Emmanuel Macron said that in order to have a 'lasting peace deal for Ukraine, Ukraine needs a strong army'. He added that European allies want 'Ukraine's territorial integrity to be respected' and that 'Ukraine must be represented in any talks on Ukraine's future'. The French president also said that 'our goal for tomorrow's talks is to present a united front between Ukraine and its European allies'. The Washington talks will also be attended by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte. Zelenskyy has hailed the decision to offer security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal as he prepared to meet Trump. 'Security guarantees, as a result of our joint work, must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation,' the Ukrainian president said. In announcing his visit to Washington, Keir Starmer praised Trump for his 'efforts to end Russia's illegal war in Ukraine'. At the same time, the British PM reasserted Europe's red lines, saying the 'path to peace' could not be decided without Zelenskyy and that Russia should be 'squeezed' with further sanctions. Starmer has deliberately sought to position himself as a leader who can get along with Trump while consistently stressing the red lines over any peace plan. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Russia and Ukraine were both 'going to have to make concessions' for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war. In interviews on Sunday Rubio said the talks in Alaska had 'made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement – but there remains some big areas of disagreement'. 'We're still a long ways off,' Rubio added. 'We're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made and towards one.' He declined to go into specific areas of agreement or disagreement. Trump's Ukraine envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Putin had agreed that the US and European allies could offer Ukraine a Nato-style, 'Article 5-like' security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war. Witkoff added that Russia had agreed to unspecified concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the war, particularly the eastern Donetsk province. 'We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as gamechanging,' he said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organisations in Vienna, said early on Monday that Russia agreed that any future peace agreement must provide security guarantees to Kyiv, but added that Russia 'has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees'. European Union council president Antonio Costa said he 'welcomed the United States' willingness to participate in providing security guarantees to Ukraine'. He said: 'Transatlantic unity is paramount at this moment to achieve a sustainable peace in Ukraine.'
