Senior Ukrainian security officer shot dead in broad daylight in Kyiv
The senior Ukrainian spy was shot dead by an assassin using a silenced pistol on the streets of Kyiv.
Colonel Ivan Voronich, a senior operational officer in Ukraine's security service, was crossing the street near a block
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NZ Herald
13 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Diplomatic sources say profits from $390b seized by the EU could form new war chest
He said at least eight member states had signed up to the scheme as he announced it alongside the US president in the Oval Office on Tuesday. A Nato official said: 'It is widely considered that Nato's support mission for Ukraine – Nsatu – will play the lead role in co-ordinating purchases of American weapons and their eventual delivery to Kyiv.' Ministers and officials said it would be more logical for Nato to oversee the scheme than one of its member states because of concerns over transparency. Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, joked that the scheme would need a 'sugar daddy' to oversee it – a reference to Rutte calling the US President 'daddy' at the recent Nato summit. However, there were some reservations about using Nato to purchase weapons on behalf of Ukraine because of fears it could be seen as a provocation by Moscow. Under the most likely plan, a central, Nato-controlled cash pot will be topped up by European allies and Canada. The money will then be used to make purchases from a 'shopping list' of American weapons and ammunition created by the Ukrainian Government. Radosław Sikorski, Poland's Foreign Minister, suggested to EU colleagues the bloc's contribution from the fund could come from the profits of frozen Russian assets. 'Should it be a burden shouldered by our taxpayers or the Russians,' he told the room, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Brussels had been discussing its own war chest for weapon purchases using the seized assets. But using the cash towards the new scheme is seen as more efficient and a better way to maintain Trump's support for Ukraine. European sources have noted a significant about-turn in the President's stance on Ukraine, after previously being accused of being friendly towards Moscow. Topping up the American scheme will also come as a direct contribution to the Nato defence spending target of 3.5%, making it easier for countries to hit the goal. Details of the military aid deal are still to be finalised, according to Nato officials, although the first deliveries of Patriot air-defence batteries are expected in Ukraine within days. Sources said they would still have to hammer out particulars, such as what long-range missiles could be made available to Kyiv. Most of these decisions will be in the hands of the White House in the coming days as the scheme takes shape. Meanwhile, the EU is expected to sign off on its 18th package of sanctions against Russia at a meeting today. 'Catch-all powers' The measures are expected to hand unprecedented 'catch-all' powers to customs officials, who will be able to seize shipments out of the bloc they believe could make their way to Russia. The system being introduced by Russia is purchasing European goods to fuel its war machine through third countries, such as Kazakhstan or Turkey. Under the scheme, exporters of seized shipments will have to provide cast-iron evidence that the freight will not make its way to Russia before it is released. Brussels will also target Moscow's 'shadow fleet' of oil tankers, sanctioning a refinery in India and a bank in China suspected of supporting President Vladimir Putin's sale of fossil fuels abroad.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Ukraine war: Putin, unfazed by Trump, will fight on: sources
Russia's President Vladimir Putin intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by Donald Trump's threats of tougher sanctions, and his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance, three sources close to the Kremlin say. Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops, believes Russia's economy and its military are strong enough to weather any additional Western measures, the sources said. Trump on Monday expressed frustration with Putin's refusal to agree a ceasefire and announced a wave of weapons supplies to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. He also threatened further sanctions on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days. The three Russian sources, familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, said Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believes Russia - which has survived the toughest sanctions imposed by the West- can endure further economic hardship, including threatened United States tariffs targeting buyers of Russian oil. "Putin thinks no one has seriously engaged with him on the details of peace in Ukraine - including the Americans - so he will continue until he gets what he wants," one of the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. Despite several telephone calls between Trump and Putin, and visits to Russia by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Russian leader believes there have not been detailed discussions of the basis for a peace plan, the source said. "Putin values the relationship with Trump and had good discussions with Witkoff, but the interests of Russia come above all else," the person added. Asked for a comment on the Reuters reporting, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly blamed former President Joe Biden for allowing the war to erupt during his administration. "Unlike Biden, President Trump is focused on stopping the killing, and Putin will be faced with biting sanctions and tariffs if he does not agree to a ceasefire," she said. Putin's conditions for peace include a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality and limits on its armed forces, protection for Russian speakers who live there, and acceptance of Russia's territorial gains, the sources said. He is also willing to discuss a security guarantee for Ukraine involving major powers, though it is far from clear how this would work, the sources said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will never recognise Russia's sovereignty over its conquered regions and that Kyiv retains the sovereign right to decide whether it wants to join NATO. His office did not respond to a request for comment for this story. A second source familiar with Kremlin thinking said that Putin considered Moscow's goals far more important than any potential economic losses from Western pressure, and he was not concerned by US threats to impose tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil. Two of the sources said that Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield and its economy, geared towards war, is exceeding the production of the US-led NATO alliance in key munitions, like artillery shells. Russia, which already controls nearly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has advanced some 1415 square km in the past three months, according to data from the DeepStateMap, an open-source intelligence map of the conflict. "Appetite comes with eating", the first source said, meaning that Putin could seek more territory unless the war was stopped. The two other sources independently confirmed the same. Russia currently controls Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, plus all of the eastern region of Luhansk, more than 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Putin's public position is that those first five regions – Crimea and the four regions of eastern Ukraine - are now part of Russia and Kyiv must withdraw before there can be peace. Putin could fight on until Ukraine's defences collapse and widen his territorial ambitions to include more of Ukraine, the sources said. "Russia will act based on Ukraine's weakness," the third source said, adding that Moscow might halt its offensive after conquering the four eastern regions of Ukraine if it encounters stiff resistance. "But if it falls, there will be an even greater conquest of Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Kharkiv." Zelenskyy has said Russia's summer offensive is not going as successfully as Moscow had hoped. His top brass, who acknowledge that Russian forces outnumber Ukraine's, say Kyiv's troops are holding the line and forcing Russia to pay a heavy price for its gains. TRUMP AND PUTIN The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war, Europe's deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Neither Russia nor Ukraine give full figures for their losses, and Moscow dismisses Western estimates as propaganda. Trump, since returning to the White House in January after promising a swift end to the war, has sought to repair ties with Russia, speaking at least six times by telephone with Putin. On Monday, he said the Russian leader was not "an assassin, but he's a tough guy." In an abrupt break from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, Trump's administration has cast the war as a deadly proxy conflict between Russia and the United States, withdrawn support for Ukraine joining NATO and floated the idea of recognising Russia's annexation of Crimea. Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow's relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia. Putin has yet to accept a proposal from Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, which was quickly endorsed by Kyiv. Recent days have seen Russia use hundreds of drones to attack Ukrainian cities. However, Trump told the BBC in an interview published on Tuesday that he was not done with Putin and that a Ukraine deal remained on the cards. The first source rejected Trump's assertion last week that Putin had thrown "bulls***" around, saying there had been a failure to transform positive talks with Witkoff into a substantive discussion on the basis for peace. A White House official said on Monday Trump was considering 100% tariffs on Russian goods as well as secondary sanctions on other countries that buy its exports as a means to drive Moscow to the negotiating table. China and India are the biggest buyers of crude. Despite existing sanctions and the cost of fighting Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two, Russia's $US2 trillion ($NZ3.35 trillion) economy has performed far better than many in Russia or the West expected. The economic ministry forecasts a slowdown to 2.5% annual growth in 2025 from 4.3% last year. The second person said that Trump had little leverage over Putin and suggested that even if Washington imposed tariffs on the purchasers of Russian crude then Moscow would still find a way to sell it to world markets. "Putin understands that Trump is an unpredictable person who may do unpleasant things but he is manoeuvering to avoid irritating him too much," the source said. Looking ahead, one of the sources said there was likely to be an escalation of the crisis in coming months, and unscored the dangers of tensions between the world's two largest nuclear powers. And, he predicted, the war would continue.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Ukraine ‘shouldn't target' Moscow: Trump
Donald Trump stated Ukraine should not target Moscow and has no plans to supply long-range missiles. Photo / AFP Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Donald Trump stated Ukraine should not target Moscow and has no plans to supply long-range missiles. Photo / AFP Donald Trump says Ukraine should not target Moscow and that he had no plans to supply Kyiv with long-range missiles, following a report the US leader had encouraged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hit the Russian capital. The Financial Times reported that Trump had brought up a potential counter-offensive with Zelenskyy and even asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether he could hit Moscow, if Washington provided long-range weapons. Asked by reporters at the White House if Zelenskyy should target the Russian capital, Trump replied: 'No, he shouldn't target Moscow'. He was also asked if he was willing to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles and said: 'No, we're not looking to'. Citing two people familiar with the call, the Times reported that Trump spoke to Zelenskyy on July 4, a day after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
