Trump says he has spoken to Putin about Ukraine, Iran
US President Donald Trump says he has discussed the recent drone attacks by Ukraine on Russia and developments concerning Iran in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the conversation, Putin told Trump that Russia will have to respond to the Ukrainian drone attacks, the US president said.
Trump said the two men "discussed the attack on Russia's docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides".
"It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace," he said in a Truth Social post.
Trump said he and Putin also discussed Iran.
Putin suggested he would participate in talks aimed at reaching a new nuclear deal with Iran, Trump said.
"I stated to President Putin that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and, on this, I believe that we were in agreement."
Russia said earlier on Wednesday that military options were "on the table" for its response to Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia and accused Ukraine's allies of being involved in them.
UK and US officials have said they had no prior knowledge of the weekend Ukrainian attacks on Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers and, separately, bridges that killed seven and injured 115 more.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
16 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Nationals Leader David Littleproud demand Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rules out kowtowing on US beef imports
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'needs to' immediately rule out kowtowing to Donald Trump on biosecurity laws on US beef imports, Nationals Leader David Littleproud has demanded. Government officials reportedly told The Sydney Morning Herald that Australia could alter its biosecurity laws to allow US beef exports without risks to local industry, in a move to appease Trump as he wages his trade war. Australia banned US beef in 2003 after a mad cow disease outbreak before undoing this in 2019 when the outbreak subsided. Cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US is still banned, however, this could be changed according to the report. Mr Littleproud raised concerns about Australia's cattle industry on Friday and urged the Prime Minister not to use the sector as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the US President. 'There needs to be certainty. The Prime Minister needs to rule it out immediately,' the Nationals Leader said on Sky News. 'He needs to make sure that he's very clear with Australian producers that our biosecurity standards will not be reduced and that … if we want to get imports that originated from Mexico or Canada, that there's some traceability on it like Australian producers have.' He called for the Prime Minister to be transparent with Australian beef producers as concerns fester about the nation's biosecurity following this report. 'I don't think Australian producers are asking for anything unfair here, they're just trying to protect their production systems, making sure that they can not only feed Australians but feed the world,' Mr Littleproud said. 'The Prime Minister and his department who are mooting these things need to be very, very clear with Australian beef producers that it's not on the table and it won't be on the table at all. 'But when you start getting these reports - you don't start seeing these reports unless there's smoke and when there's smoke, there's fire.' Australia exports more than $4b of beef to the US annually, making it the largest market for Aussie beef exports behind China. After Trump revealed his sweeping tariffs and invited impacted nations to negotiate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to protect the nation's biosecurity laws, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and news publishers against tech giants. 'We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination,' he said in a statement. Cattle Australia chief executive Chris Parker issued a statement highlighting the importance of traceability for foreign-produced beef. 'Our position is that the US needs to be able to demonstrate it can either trace cattle born in Mexico and Canada, or has systems that are equivalent to Australia's traceability, before imports of meat could occur from non-US cattle,' Mr Parker said. 'Cattle Australia is in ongoing communication with the Federal Government regarding this issue and the vital importance that our science-based biosecurity system is not compromised as part of trade discussions with any country.' Mr Albanese is expected to have a meeting with Trump either on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada or in the US later in June where the Prime Minister will make Australia's case for tariff exemptions. Australia faces 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium alongside a broad 10 per cent levy on all goods, which is still paused by the Trump Administration.
Sky News AU
16 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
'More punches to come': Bitter feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump predicted to develop even further
A feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has exploded this week, but a US commentator believes there may yet be "more punches to come". A war of words erupted between the pair after Musk, who finished his tenure with the administration overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency, lashed the leader of the free world's signature "big beautiful bill" which would unleash trillions in tax cuts and slash spending. Musk this week hit out, describing the bill as a "disgusting abomination" and criticised those who voted for it after it was passed by the House of Representatives last month. United States President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off government contracts with companies owned by Elon Musk in retaliation. Trump claimed Musk was angry because the bill removed an electric vehicle tax break, introduced by Joe Biden which benefited his company Tesla. Co-host of Steve Bannon's War Room Natalie Winters told Sky News' Rowan Dean she believes there will be 'more punches' to come amid the public arguments between the pair. 'I definitely think this is going to evolve,' Ms Winters said on Friday. 'MAGA diehards, who I think are sort of trying to come to terms and understand where exactly they fall in MAGA diehards overwhelmingly are going to be on President Trump's camp. 'On principle, this bill, Elon is sort of in the right.' Musk continued to attack Trump on social media on Thursday, going as far as alleging the President's name is in the Epstein files. The New York Post's Washington correspondent Diana Glebova said the allegation was a "bombshell" claim but that there may be more to the story than what the public knows. "We don't know the extent that Trump is, of course, involved in these files. They haven't been released, and it is up to the Department of Justice to release them," she told Sky News' Steve Price. "We haven't seen those yet. But the White House said today that Musk's claim was nothing new, that Trump was on the flight logs. But of course we don't the whole story here, so we'll just have to see. "I mean, for Musk to know this information, that would be really interesting if there is something there. Again, the White House is denying that there's a (story) there right now." Glebova said the Democrats would be enjoying the "drama" between Trump and one of his biggest supporters throughout the campaign. She added that Musk would be short on support, having potentially put some Republican supporters offside with his remarks about the President. " I think Democrats are eating this up because, you know, it's drama. It's exciting. And I don't think that many people are supporting Musk right now," she said. He lost a lot of his support from Democrats when he joined Trump on the campaign trail and we saw all those protests against Tesla. You know, he was getting death threats. They were going after his vehicles, like lighting them on fire. "The Republicans were supporting Musk because he was so close to Trump, his right-hand man. But now that Musk has departed from Trump, I mean, I don't know who's supporting him right now."
The Age
26 minutes ago
- The Age
An ice axe and a ‘gangland identity' spice up public-sector union fight
An anonymous email landed in Victorian prison officers' personal inboxes last month with a cryptic Gmail username: iceaxeforleon. Only those with a keen interest in 20th century Russian history might have grasped the reference. Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died when the assassin Ramon Mercader plunged an ice axe into his head. Just like Mercader's pickaxe, the email was pointed. Its target was Jiselle Hanna, a Corrections Victoria project officer and socialist activist who has nominated to be secretary of the Victorian branch of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which has 15,000 members spanning the breadth of the state's public service. The email, headlined 'A troubling campaign for union leadership' and addressed 'Dear member', raised 'serious concerns' about Hanna's campaign. It had received 'hostile endorsements', both from the Victorian Socialists' former Senate candidate Jordan Van Den Lamb, who had 'described law enforcement officers as militarised pigs', and to 'known underworld identity' Mick Gatto, claiming her campaign had accepted a $1000 donation from him. Loading 'Members deserve to know what kind of deal was struck in exchange for his financial support,' the letter said. Hanna was seeking to portray herself as the head of a grassroots movement, but was in truth part of a calculated hard-left political campaign to infiltrate the public sector union, the email claimed. Though the email was anonymous, its author left digital tracks. Supporters of Hanna used two-factor authentication to trace the Gmail account back to the staff email account of an employee of the Victorian branch of the CPSU.
