The Panel with Allan Blackman and Cindy Mitchener Part 1
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Otago Daily Times
13 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
Trump could meet Putin over Ukraine soon: official
President Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official says, as the US prepares to impose secondary sanctions, including potentially on China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting United States and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since World War 2. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other. The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskyy. "There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon," Trump told reporters. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy." The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump described as having achieved "great progress" in a Truth Social post, although later said he would not call it a breakthrough. A Kremlin aide said the talks were "useful and constructive." The diplomatic manoeuvers come two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil. Trump on Wednesday also said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% duties announced earlier on India over its purchases of Russian oil. "We did it with India. We're doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China," he said. The White House official earlier said that while the meeting between Witkoff and Putin had gone well and Moscow was eager to continue engaging with the United States, secondary sanctions that Trump had threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides had exchanged "signals" on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump. Zelenskyy said he believed pressure had worked on Russia and Moscow was now more "inclined" to a ceasefire. "The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details - neither us nor the US," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington's European allies following Witkoff's meeting. A German government spokesperson said Trump provided information about the status of the talks with Russia during a call with the German chancellor and other European leaders. PRESSURE ON INDIA - AND MAYBE CHINA? Trump took a key step toward punitive measures on Wednesday when he imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil. The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% - among the steepest faced by any US trading partner. India's external affairs ministry called the decision 'extremely unfortunate.' The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal. Trump's comment on Wednesday that he could impose more tariffs on China would be a further escalation between the world's two biggest economies. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week warned Chinese officials that continued purchases of sanctioned Russian oil would lead to big tariffs due to legislation in Congress. The US and China have been engaged in discussions about trade and tariffs, with an eye to extending a 90-day tariff truce that is due to expire on August 12, when their bilateral tariffs shoot back up to triple-digit figures. AIR STRIKES Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on airstrikes by Russia and Ukraine - an idea mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin. Such a move, if agreed, would fall well short of the full and immediate ceasefire that Ukraine and the US have been seeking for months. But it would offer some relief to both sides. Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks "disgusting." Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times. Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump's sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the US, three sources close to the Kremlin have told Reuters. The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was sceptical that yet more US sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during the war.
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
White House says Trump open to meeting Putin and Zelenskyy
The phone call came after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian leadership in Moscow earlier in the day for talks described by the Kremlin as 'productive' – with Trump's deadline looming to impose fresh sanctions over Russia's war in Ukraine. 'Great progress was made!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that afterwards he had briefed some European allies. 'Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,' he said. Minutes later, however, a senior US official said that 'secondary sanctions' were still expected to be implemented in two days' time. Trump, who had boasted he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, has given Russia until Friday to make progress towards peace or face new penalties. Three rounds of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a ceasefire, with the two sides far apart in their demands. Russia has escalated drone and missile attacks against its pro-Western neighbour to a record high and accelerated its advance on the ground. 'A quite useful and constructive conversation took place,' Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists, including AFP, after the three-hour meeting with Witkoff. The two men exchanged 'signals' on their positions, Ushakov said, without elaborating. Zelenskyy confirmed his call with Trump and confirmed European leaders had taken part, although he didn't name them. Sanctions threat Trump has voiced increasing frustration with Putin in recent weeks over Russia's unrelenting offensive. The White House has not officially outlined what action it would take against Russia, but Trump has previously threatened to impose 'secondary tariffs' targeting Russia's key trade partners, such as China and India. On Wednesday, Trump ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. The move would aim to stifle Russian exports, but would risk significant international disruption. Trump said on Tuesday he would await the outcome of the Moscow talks before ordering any economic sanctions. 'We're going to see what happens,' he told reporters. 'We'll make that determination at that time.' Without explicitly naming Trump, the Kremlin on Tuesday slammed 'threats' to hike tariffs on Russia's trading partners as 'illegitimate'. Russia's campaign against Ukraine since February 2022 has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed swathes of the country and forced millions to flee their homes. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support if it wants the fighting to stop. Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Zelenskyy last week urged his allies to push for 'regime change' in Moscow. Nuclear rhetoric The Witkoff visit came as Moscow-Washington tensions are running high. Trump said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, and that they were now 'in the region'. Moscow then said that it was ending a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles, suggesting that it could deploy such weapons in response to what it alleged were similar US deployments within striking distance of Russia. Ukrainian emergency services reported on Wednesday that at least two people were killed and 12 others wounded in Russian shelling of a holiday camp in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. -Agence France-Presse
1News
4 hours ago
- 1News
Full video: Trump speaks on Apple investment, Russia moves
US President Donald Trump is speaking from the Oval Office after signing an executive order to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil. That brings the combined tariffs imposed by the United States on its ally to 50%. He is also discussing a US$600 billion investment from tech company Apple in production within the US. The tariffs comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow this morning, days before the White House's deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or potentially face severe economic penalties that could also hit countries buying its oil. The tariffs would go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes. ADVERTISEMENT Trump's moves could scramble the economic trajectory of India, which until recently was seen as an alternative to China by American companies looking to relocate their manufacturing. China also buys oil from Russia, but it was not included in the order signed by the Republican president.
