Ex-CIA chief: We gave Ukraine enough weapons to bleed, not to win
'I was trying to ring the alarm bell that the seeds of World War Three are being sown in the Donbas right now and we need to do something about it,' said Ralph Goff, a six-time former station chief who spent three decades in America's foreign intelligence agency. 'But there were other priorities.'
In March this year, Goff, now in his sixties, had been preparing to take over as the CIA's chief of clandestine operations, in an effort to reform the agency and make it less risk-averse.
That was until President
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BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Ukraine war: US and Russian delegations head to Alaska for crunch talks
US and Russian officials will converge on the state of Alaska ahead of a highly anticipated Friday meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir pair will meet for the first time in six years, as Trump tries to enact a key campaign pledge to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The US president, who has portrayed himself as a global peacemaker, hopes to leverage his personal relationship with Putin to achieve a ceasefire breakthrough where others have Thursday he assessed there was a "25% chance" the meeting would not be leader Volodymyr Zelensky has been excluded from the talks, and warned that any resolutions made in his absence will be meaningless. The summit comes exactly one week after Trump's deadline for Russia to reach a ceasefire or face tough new was always highly unlikely that Kyiv and Moscow – who have been locked in a bloody war since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – would reach an agreement to end hostilities before that was scepticism about whether Trump would stand by his threat of imposing sanctions on countries that do business with Russia, which would have resulted in a blistering trade war with China. He has, however, gone as far as to say he will impose secondary tariffs on India later this month over its purchases of Russian week's announcement that Trump and Putin would meet had the effect of tacitly pausing the sanctions countdown - and awarding both sides more time to think about their next move. ANALYSIS: What do Putin and Trump each want from summit in Alaska?Putin must 'prove he is serious about peace,' says StarmerWhy did Putin's Russia invade Ukraine? Throughout the week, the American approach to the aims and hopes for the summit has been varied – shifting from the positive, to the cautious, to the the latter extreme, Trump has threatened "very severe consequences" if his Russian counterpart does not agree to end the war. What seemed to harden his approach was a group call on Wednesday with European leaders including the other hand, Kyiv will have been alarmed when Trump mooted the "swapping of territories" and the White House indicated that the president would take a passive approach by treating the meeting as a "listening exercise". All the while, the Russians have remained mostly silent – refusing to engage with speculation and rumours of frozen frontlines, territorial exchanges or minerals deals between Moscow and is consistency in that silence. Whenever Kremlin officials have spoken this week, it has been to reiterate Putin's seemingly intractable position on the conflict. They have restated that the war will only end once Russia gains full sovereignty over the Ukrainian regions it partially occupies – Donetsk and Luhansk, known as the Donbas, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – and a pledge that Kyiv will demilitarise and not join Nato, the military alliance of Western Trump seems convinced that the usually convivial relationship he has cultivated with Putin could help him unlock a deal to end the conflict and further his image as a global peacemaker. The issue has become central to the question of what Trump has delivered on the world stage since returning to the US presidency. He has a domestic audience to keep happy, and many of his supporters backed him for his pledge to swiftly end the war and disentangle America from expensive foreign conflicts more of the summit - his first meeting with Putin for six years - the American hopes that his negotiating style will pay dividends where other efforts to end the war have failed. His top officials have stressed the importance of him meeting Putin in person, and Trump himself has talked up his business-like instincts, saying he may know "in the first two minutes... exactly whether or not a deal can be made". Europe finds itself in the unenviable position of being caught between the two sides and excluded from Friday's their last-minute call with Trump on Wednesday, European leaders emerged tentatively optimistic that once in Alaska the US president would fight their Ukraine itself, they have endured several turbulent months, during which Trump had a memorable White House bust-up with Zelensky and later temporarily paused military supplies for Kyiv - a markedly different stance to his predecessor Joe Biden. Ukraine has been sidelined ahead of Friday, protests by the Ukrainian leader that any agreement struck by Trump and Putin without input from Kyiv would amount to "dead decisions", it became increasingly clear as the week progressed that the US-Russia meeting would remain a bilateral only. While he remained careful to keep Trump onside, Zelensky felt he had to intervene after the US president's throwaway comments about the need to see "some swapping, changes in land" between Russia and Ukraine."We will not withdraw from the Donbas. We cannot do that," the Ukrainian president said, with a hint of exasperation, as speculation over potential territorial concessions reached a height on Tuesday."Everyone forgets the first part: our territories are illegally occupied. For the Russians, the Donbas is a bridgehead for a future new offensive," he said, arguing that he would "pave the way" for further conflict on its soil if it gave up the many of his compatriots, Zelensky is convinced that Putin wants to destroy Ukraine's sovereignty and people, and believes any concession to Russia would result in renewed and perhaps fatal aggression in the near is why he has consistently pushed to be invited into the room with Trump and Putin. While this will not be the case during Friday's summit, the US president has pledged to update Zelensky soon afterwards - and has indicated he is angling for a "quick" three-way meeting in the near future. What Putin would have to gain from such a meeting is unclear. The Kremlin has always said Putin and Zelensky have no reason to meet until much further down the negotiating that could still be far off. Ultimately, Putin's "central objective lies in obtaining... the geopolitical 'neutralisation' of Ukraine," according to analyst Tatyana Stanovaya."It is extremely difficult to convey what is truly at stake... as people often simply cannot accept that Putin might want so much - and be serious about it. Unfortunately, he can."The frenzied lead-up to the Alaska summit has revealed that if Trump's position on a potential resolution of the conflict is still subject to change, Putin's is will offer them a meeting place; common ground at the negotiating table may be harder to find. Follow the BBC's coverage of the war in Ukraine EXPLAINER: Where in Alaska is Trump meeting Putin and why?VISUALS: The war-ravaged Ukrainian territories in mapsVERIFY: Russian attacks on Ukraine double since Trump inaugurationGROUND REPORT: On Ukraine's front line, twisted wreckage shows sanctions haven't yet stopped Russia
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Trump says Putin ready to make deal on Ukraine, US hopes to include Zelenskiy
MOSCOW/LONDON/KYIV, Aug 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he thought Vladimir Putin was ready to make a deal on ending his war in Ukraine after the Russian president floated the prospect of a nuclear arms agreement on the eve of their summit in Alaska. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies have intensified their efforts this week to prevent any deal between the U.S. and Russia emerging from Friday's summit that leaves Ukraine vulnerable to future attack. "I think he's going to make a deal," Trump said in a Fox News radio interview, adding that if the meeting went well, he would call Zelenskiy and European leaders afterwards, and that if it went badly, he would not. The aim of Friday's talks with Putin is to set up a second meeting including Ukraine, Trump said, adding: "I don't know that we're going to get an immediate ceasefire." Putin earlier spoke to his most senior ministers and security officials as he prepared for a meeting with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday that could shape the endgame to the largest war in Europe since World War Two. In televised comments, Putin said the U.S. was "making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict." This was happening, Putin said, "in order to create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole - if, by the next stages, we reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons." His comments signalled that Russia will raise nuclear arms control as part of a wide-ranging discussion on security when he sits down with Trump. A Kremlin aide said Putin and Trump would also discuss the "huge untapped potential" for Russia-U.S. economic ties. A senior Eastern European official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Putin would try to distract Trump from Ukraine at the talks by offering him possible progress on nuclear arms control or something business-related. "We hope Trump won't be fooled by the Russians; he understands all (these) dangerous things," the official said, adding that Russia's only goal was to avoid any new sanctions and have existing sanctions lifted. Trump said there would be a press conference after the talks, but that he did not know whether it would be joint. He also said there would be "a give and take" on boundaries and land. "The second meeting is going to be very, very, very important. This meeting sets up like a chess game. This (first) meeting sets up a second meeting, but there is a 25% chance that this meeting will not be a successful meeting," he said. Trump said it would be up to Putin and Zelenskiy to strike an agreement, saying: "I'm not going to negotiate their deal." Russia controls around a fifth of Ukraine, and Zelenskiy and the Europeans worry that a deal could cement those gains, rewarding Putin for 11 years of efforts to seize Ukrainian land and emboldening him to expand further into Europe. An EU diplomat said it would be "scary to see how it all unfolds in the coming hours. Trump had very good calls yesterday with Europe, but that was yesterday." Trump had shown willingness to join the security guarantees for Ukraine at a last-ditch virtual meeting with European leaders and Zelenskiy on Wednesday, European leaders said, though he made no public mention of them afterwards. Friday's summit, the first Russia-U.S. summit since June 2021, comes at one of the toughest moments for Ukraine in a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Speaking after Wednesday's meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump had said the transatlantic NATO alliance should not be part of any security guarantees designed to protect Ukraine from future attacks in a post-war settlement. However, Trump also said the U.S. and all willing allies should be part of the security guarantees, Macron added. Expanding on that, a European official told Reuters that Trump said on the call he was willing to provide some security guarantees for Europe, without spelling out what they would be. It "felt like a big step forward," said the official, who did not want to be named. It was not immediately clear what such guarantees could mean in practice. On Wednesday, Trump threatened "severe consequences" if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine and has warned of economic sanctions if his meeting on Friday proves fruitless. Russia is likely to resist Ukraine and Europe's demands and has previously said its stance had not changed since it was first detailed by Putin in June 2024.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Investors temper Ukraine hopes ahead of Trump and Putin summit
LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Investors are tempering expectations that Friday's summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will deliver a significant breakthrough on the war in Ukraine despite some hopeful signs. Ukraine's government bonds - key indicators of the mood - rallied when news of the summit emerged this month but have largely stalled at a still-distressed 55 cents on the dollar amid the pre-meeting posturing. Trump himself said it will be more of a "listening exercise" although he hopes it will go well enough for another involving Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy soon afterwards - and threatened "severe consequences" if it doesn't. Europe's leaders meanwhile have been encouraged by Trump's signals on participating in security guarantees, while Putin has praised Trump for "sincere efforts" to stop the hostilities. Kathryn Exum, an analyst at emerging market-focused fund Gramercy, said the fact Ukraine's bonds remain well below the highs they hit when Trump regained the White House despite their near 20% rally this month reflected limited market expectations. "The bar is pretty high for any meaningful progress given the red lines of the parties seem deeply entrenched," Exum said. "I think the market is pricing in a symbolic truce," such as on long-range missiles and drones, she added. "Ultimately though is doesn't change the game for any side." Diliana Deltcheva, head of emerging market debt at Robeco, said EU leaders' calls with Trump on Wednesday, when he offered a potentially significant but vague security offer, were a "modest positive". But she too thinks Friday's summit is unlikely to yield substantive progress. "We had a small overweight (in Ukraine bonds) but now we have neutralised it," Deltcheva said. "From our position, is it too difficult to call the situation... there have been too many false starts." Geopolitical analyst at research firm TS Lombard, Christopher Granville, thinks whatever its ostensible outcome, Friday's meeting will mark the "definitive start of the concluding phase of the Ukraine war". "One way or the other, the situation is on a quickening path," Granville said. Either the sides would find a path towards a lasting ceasefire, or the war would ratchet up and ultimately force the issue. Ukraine's bonds, part of a $20 billion restructuring last year, were up as much 1 cent Thursday, just below the five month highs they hit earlier in the week , . Oil and gas prices have fallen over the last fortnight too, traders say, on hopes of a post-summit "peace dividend" that could avoid costly 'secondary' tariffs being put on major Russia crude buyers like India and China. Investment bank surveys show the majority of fund managers have a small 'overweight' position on Ukraine's bonds, although it has been reducing over the last six months. Gramercy's Exum said investors remain wary because Trump has repeatedly changed tack on the war. His trolling of Zelenskiy as a "dictator" in February and the ugly Oval Office clash shortly afterwards, was "a wakeup call" for overly optimistic investors she said. Robeco's Deltcheva described that meeting as "traumatising", both in terms of the human aspect and for assumptions around the U.S. position. "We all saw how Zelenskiy got treated and how Trump's opinion changed," she said, which made it more difficult for investors to rely on Trump's stance. If Friday's discussion surprises on the positive side though, "then we will probably have to react," she said.
