French foreign minister in Kyiv for show of support
Barrot met his counterpart Andriy Sybiga, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and newly nominated Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
He arrived in Kyiv just hours after a fresh Russian barrage on the Ukrainian capital, the latest in a record number of drone and missile attacks Russia has recently fired on Ukrainian cities.
'It is by putting pressure on Russia on the one hand, and providing resolute support to Ukraine on the other, that we will succeed in ending this cowardly and disgraceful war,' Barrot said.
He was speaking at a press conference shortly after visiting the Chernobyl power plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, which sent clouds of radiation across much of Europe in 1986.
In February, Ukraine accused Russia of using an explosive drone to damage the confinement arch protecting the structure — prompting France to pledge 10 million euros ($11.7 million) to help fix the cover.
Accompanied by a small group of journalists including AFP, Barrot inspected the structure, where the hole in the arch was still clearly visible.
Barrot briefly got stuck in the elevator on his way out of the building with some of his team — though the group managed to operate the elevator manually, and emerged unharmed.
Back from Chernobyl, Barrot said Russia 'targets energy infrastructure in defiance of international law, security and nuclear safety.'
He also blasted the latest wave of Russian attacks, which killed two people and damaged an entryway to the capital's Lukyanivka metro station, which he visited earlier.
'This inhumane, cynical and cruel violence has no military purpose,' Barrot said. 'Its sole aim is to terrorize civilians in a failed attempt to undermine Ukrainian morale.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
30 minutes ago
- Arab News
Trump says likely to meet Putin ‘very soon'
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said he could meet with Vladimir Putin 'very soon,' following what the US president described as highly productive talks in Moscow between his special envoy and the Russian leader. The potential summit was discussed in a call between Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that, according to a senior source in Kyiv, included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland. 'There's a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,' Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House, when asked when he would meet the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. He gave no indication where the meeting with Putin might take place. It would be the first US-Russia leadership summit since former president Joe Biden met with his counterpart in Geneva in June 2021. The New York Times and CNN, citing people familiar with the plan, said Trump plans to sit down with Putin as early as next week, and then wants a three-way meeting with the Russian leader and Zelensky. 'It seems that Russia is now more inclined to agree to a ceasefire; the pressure on them is working. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us or the United States in the details,' Zelensky said on Wednesday evening. Trump's phone call with Zelensky 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 afterward he had briefed some European allies. 'Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work toward 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. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Witkoff was returning with a ceasefire proposal from Moscow that would have to be discussed with Ukraine and Washington's European allies. He also cast caution on the timeline for a Trump-Putin meeting, saying there was 'a lot of work ahead,' adding it could be 'weeks maybe.' Trump, who had boasted he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, has given Russia until Friday to make progress toward 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 neighbor, a US and European Union ally, 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. Zelensky confirmed his call with Trump and confirmed European leaders had taken part, although he did not name them. 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 told reporters it plans to impose 'a lot more secondary sanctions' targeting Russia's key trade partners, possibly targeting China. Earlier in the day he had ordered steeper tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. 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 swaths of the country and forced millions to flee their homes. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce US and EU support if it wants the fighting to stop. Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for 'regime change' in Moscow. 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.
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Rubio orders US diplomats to launch lobbying blitz against Europe's tech law
President Donald Trump's administration has instructed US diplomats in Europe to launch a lobbying campaign to build an opposition to the European Union's Digital Services Act, which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on US tech companies, an internal diplomatic cable seen by Reuters showed. In a State Department cable dated August 4 that was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agency said the EU was pursuing 'undue' restrictions on freedom of expression by its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation and the DSA was further enhancing these curbs. The EU's DSA is a landmark law that is meant to make the online environment safer and fairer by compelling tech giants to do more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Trump has made combating censorship - particularly what he sees as the stifling of conservative voices online - a major theme of his administration. Top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have focused on European officials and regulations, accusing them of 'censoring' Americans, an accusation that the European Union rejects. The cable, whose headline described it as an 'action request', tasked American diplomats across US embassies in Europe with regularly engaging with EU governments and digital services authorities to convey US concerns about the DSA and the financial costs for US tech companies. 'Posts should focus efforts to build host government and other stakeholder support to repeal and/or amend the DSA or related EU or national laws restricting expression online,' the cable said in its 'objective' section, referring to US diplomatic missions. It provided specific suggestions to US diplomats on how the EU law may be changed and the talking points to help them make that argument. State Department did not comment for this story. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In March, EU's antitrust and tech chiefs told US lawmakers that the new tech rule aimed to keep digital markets open and is not targeted at US tech giants. The Commission has also pushed back against speculation that the 27-member EU's landmark tech regulatory regime could be included in the EU-US negotiations. 'Our legislation will not be changed. The DMA and the DSA are not on the table in the trade negotiations with the US,' Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told a daily news conference. A campaign for 'free speech' The order to US diplomats marks an acceleration of the administration's efforts to promote what it calls 'America's free-speech tradition,' a policy that has added friction to the already fraught US relationship with European allies. That policy came into focus in February, when Vance stunned European leaders by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring the speech of groups such as Germany's right-wing AfD party and backsliding on democracy. During his trip, Vance went on to meet with the leaders of AfD — classified by Germany's domestic intelligence service as a suspected extremist group — which became the country's largest opposition party after the February election. Trump and his Republican allies have repeatedly accused the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden of encouraging suppression of free speech on online platforms, claims that have centered on efforts to stem false claims about vaccines and elections. The US Supreme Court ruled last year that the Biden administration's contacts with social media companies did not violate America's First Amendment protections around free speech. The directive by the State Department ordered US diplomats to investigate any claims of censorship which it described as 'any government efforts to suppress protected forms of expression or coerce private companies to do the same', adding that the priority should be given to any incidents that impact US citizens and companies. Examples could include arrests, court cases, property seizures and online suspensions, it said. 'Posts should meet with government officials, businesses, civil society, and impacted individuals to report on censorship cases, including but not limited to those related to the DSA,' the cable said. In March, the chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) specifically criticized DSA saying it was not compatible with America's free speech tradition. In May, Rubio threatened visa bans for people who 'censor' speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating US tech companies. 'Overly broad controls' US tech companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have weighed in too, saying the DSA amounts to censorship of their platforms. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the US president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet (GOOGL.O) took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Rubio's directive takes particular aim at DSA's description of illegal content, saying it was expansive and told US diplomats to advocate to get the definition of 'illegal content' narrowed so that it would not curb freedom of expression, including in political and religious discourse. Another suggestion was to withdraw or amend the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, a framework under DSA, which the State Department said was setting 'overly broad controls' on content in a way that was undermining freedom of expression. Other talking points included removing or reducing fines for non-compliance to content restrictions and not relying on 'trusted flaggers,' entities designated by national authorities to report illegal online content to platforms.
Arab News
11 hours ago
- Arab News
White House says Trump open to meeting Putin and Zelensky
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is open to meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House said Wednesday. The meeting could take place as early as next week, The New York Times newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources. The possibility was discussed in a call between Trump and Zelensky that, according to a senior Ukrainian source, also included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland. It came after Washington's envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow for talks with Putin earlier in the day. 'The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky,' said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The New York Times reported that Trump intended to meet first with Putin, and then to follow that up with a three-way meeting involving the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. NATO and Ukrainian officials did not confirm the report when contacted by AFP. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump hailed the meeting between his envoy and Putin as 'highly productive,' but US officials said sanctions would still be imposed on Moscow's trading partners. Trump, who had boasted he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office, has given Russia until Friday to make progress toward peace or face new penalties.
