Germany's Baerbock warns US of pressuring Ukraine into peace deal
"It cannot be in the interests of one of the world's biggest players, the US, either, to conclude a deal, a pact, that leads to further aggression," Baerbock said on the sidelines of a meeting on ramping up defence in the Baltic region on Denmark's Bornholm island.
Ministers from the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8), along with counterparts from Germany, Poland, and France, are meeting in Bornholm to discuss security and cooperation in the Baltic Sea.
"We need a reliable, lasting peace," Baerbock said, adding that this was what the Europeans stand for.
The German top diplomat also noted recent attacks on data cables in the Baltic Sea, widely attributed to Russia, or the so-called Russian shadow fleet used to circumvent sanctions, as threats to the region.
These hybrid attacks showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn't interested in cooperation but in further aggression, Baerbock said.
"After three years of war, the announcement of a three-day ceasefire cannot hide the fact that the Russian president has set his sight on our European peace order," she warned.
Increased cooperation among Baltic partners was therefore an investment in common security, she added, stressing the importance of strong German leadership to maintain peace in Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday unilaterally declared a three-day ceasefire to last from May 8.
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CNBC
6 minutes ago
- CNBC
Trump promised Ukraine 'security guarantees': Here's what they could look like
On the face of it, talks on Monday between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders went well. The U.S. and Ukrainian leaders were pictured looking jovial and smiling together — a far cry from the extraordinary shouting match and public humiliation inflicted on Zelenskyy during his last trip to the White House in February. Monday's talks, which involved a raft of European leaders, appeared to make progress toward ending the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine, with Trump saying a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy would be arranged, followed by a trilateral meeting that he would join. The most significant development result for Kyiv and Europe, however, was Trump's statement that security guarantees for Ukraine would be "provided" by European countries in "coordination with the U.S." Describing that as a "major step forward," Zelenskyy said later that the package of security guarantees for Ukraine — highly coveted by Kyiv's leadership and seen as a deterrent to future Russian aggression — will include a massive purchase of American weapons, with financing reportedly supported by Europe. The agreement would be "formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days," he said. As for what the security guarantees could include, the detail is still scant. Trump commented at a post-talks press conference that Europe would "take a lot of the burden" for these, but said the U.S. would help and would make it "very secure." In any case, security guarantees likely mean that Europe, and the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" of countries offering to oversee a peace deal, is on the hook to fulfill what they've previously promised. French President Emmanuel Macron hinted Tuesday that the "first security guarantee we are working on — and it is the most important — is a strong Ukrainian army, composed of several hundred thousand men, well equipped, with defense systems and higher standards." "The second is to have reassurance forces, the British, the French, the Germans, the Turks, and others ready to carry out these operations — not on the front line, not in a provocative way, but reassurance operations in the air, at sea, and on land. The goal is to send a strategic signal: peace in Ukraine is also our concern," he told French broadcaster TF1-LCI, in comments translated by NBC News. Jaroslava Barbieri, research fellow at Chatham House, told CNBC Tuesday that the overall mood from the talks on Monday was one of "cautious optimism," but there are many unknowns. "However, we have to say that the Kremlin's maximalist demands on Ukraine have not changed and so there's still a number of uncertainties about the security guarantees, the details, who is going to be doing what, if there are any troop deployments then where will they be stationed and for how long, which countries will be contributing?" she asked. European leaders have voiced misgivings over the lack of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine before a peace deal is negotiated, but they seem willing to acquiesce, for now, with the end goal of peace and Ukraine and Europe's security in mind. Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania's former foreign minister, told CNBC Tuesday that Europe still appeared to be struggling to be heard, saying the bloc had not yet found its strength and "ability to create leverage." "What came out of the meeting yesterday was that Europe was asking the U.S. yesterday to continue its assistance, to ask for a ceasefire, to assist any stationing of troops, and then some of the leaders were even saying, 'Well, some of the Ukrainian territories might be lost, but that's a reality.' Well, that doesn't sound like Europe finding it's strength," he said. "It's more like Europe agreeing that, 'we are in a very weak position and we have to please President Trump as much as we can and we have nothing to put on the table'," he noted. What's more, it's unclear whether the Kremlin will even agree to direct talks with Zelenskyy. Putin's presidential aide Yuri Ushakov stated Monday that Trump and Putin had discussed "that it would be necessary to study the possibility of raising the level of representatives of the Ukrainian and Russian sides," but that no firm decision was made. The proposed future summits between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy would keep a process towards a possible resolution of the conflict alive, but it would still follow the Russian script of a no-ceasefire scenario, Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, cautioned. "Putin may already set difficult conditions for a meeting with Zelenskyy. And in a meeting with Zelenskyy, Putin's major goal may be to pin the blame for any failure on Zelenskyy instead of agreeing to a truce or a final deal. The outcome remains very uncertain," he noted.
USA Today
34 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump, Putin rewrite history in Alaska as Republicans stay obediently silent
An obedient silence from Republicans about the 2016 election was really the only win Trump logged last week while meeting with Putin about Russia's unjust invasion of Ukraine. The news out of Alaska on Aug. 15 focused understandably on how President Donald Trump was once again completely and predictably played on the world stage by Russian President Vladimir Putin. But one element of Trump's international embarrassment drew little notice, as he stood with Putin and again took his side, crying "hoax" while rejecting the bipartisan conclusion supported by America's intelligence agencies that Russia interfered with our 2016 presidential election. We can't grow numb to the notion that Trump consistently picks Putin over America. That long-standing resentment of his about accurate intelligence on his presidential election has mutated into a source of looming injustice as Trump's top aides eagerly seek to help him distort that history to comply with Russia's corrupt narrative. It's not enough anymore for Trump to just deny reality. Now he wants to rewrite it so that officials from then-President Barack Obama's administration who correctly identified the 2016 Russian interference are pursued in criminal investigations just for doing their duties. This inversion of justice and intelligence acts as some kind of balm for Trump's constant state of irritated grievance. And it presents an obligatory abdication of truth for Republicans in Congress who now swallow and regurgitate his lies about 2016. Opinion: Midterms are more than a year away, but Trump is already challenging them Trump's only win around Russia is obedient silence That obedient silence about 2016 from Republicans was really the only win Trump logged in Alaska while meeting with Putin about Russia's unjust invasion of Ukraine. Just consider how Republicans in Congress have contorted on this. Trump, standing next to Putin at a news conference in Helsinki in 2018, embraced the Russian president's denials about the 2016 election meddling and rejected the assessment from America's intelligence agencies. It was a strikingly shameful moment from his first term, which had no shortage of shameful moments. Republicans swiftly rebuked Trump, including Marco Rubio, then a senator from Florida, for siding with Putin over America. A bipartisan backlash prompted a rare walk-back from Trump, who, a day later, was forced to say: "I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place." That was Trump, seven years ago, grudgingly accepting what was obviously true. But now he wants you to forget what he claimed to accept and see it all not just as a "hoax" but as a criminal conspiracy against him. We have to take that sort of nonsense seriously because, unlike Trump's first term, his second administration is politically populated with people who would never dissuade him from his worst impulses. This time around, they're jostling to be first in line to amplify those impulses. Trump and Putin are old hands at rewriting history Rubio, now Trump's secretary of State, was in the front row for the Trump-Putin news conference on Friday, Aug. 15. He clearly no longer has a problem with Trump lying about Russia and 2016. Congressional Republicans kept quiet about it this time, too. In Trump's twisted history, his first term was unfairly hobbled by the investigations of election interference, which he again called "the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax" during the Alaska meeting with Putin. "He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax," Trump said as Putin beamed beside him. "But what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that we'd like to have dealt with, but we'll have a good chance when this is over." Hear the shift there? Trump is saying that attention paid to what Russia did in 2016, when Putin clearly favored him over Hillary Clinton as America's next president, is an abuse aimed at him that needs to be prosecuted. That is the shoddy foundation for Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, making the easily debunked claim in July that Obama's administration "manufactured" intelligence about the 2016 election interference, which she handed off to Attorney General Pam Bondi in a criminal referral. Opinion: Gabbard yells 'Russia hoax' to distract MAGA from Epstein for Trump. It won't last. Bondi has set a grand jury in motion on that, not because it serves justice but because it complies with the false narrative Trump and Putin are still pushing. Rubio may be on board with Trump's push for senseless prosecutions to rewrite our history. But his own Senate history is still around for us to read. His party controlled the Senate in 2020 and he was acting chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, issuing a report in August of that year that cited "irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling" in the 2016 election. Special counsel Robert Mueller, appointed by Trump's first attorney general, issued a 2019 report that confirmed the Russian election interference was driven by Putin's desire for Trump to beat Clinton in 2016. Putin declared that in public in 2018, standing next to Trump in Helsinki, saying he thought a Trump presidency would be better for Russia. That turned out to be true. And it might be the only time we hear Putin speak truth, as Trump tries to erase the history of 2016 and replace it with a fabrication that he and Putin prefer. Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
35 minutes ago
Russia launches largest attack of August on Ukraine after Trump-Zelenskyy meeting
LONDON -- Ukraine's air force reported a major Russian attack on Monday night and into Tuesday morning -- the largest overnight barrage for weeks, coming while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump and a delegation of European leaders in Washington. The air force said Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles into Ukraine, of which 30 drones and six missiles were intercepted or suppressed. The air force reported the impacts of 40 drones and four missiles across 16 locations, with debris reportedly falling in three locations. Monday night's attack was the largest attack since Russia launched 309 drones and eight missiles into Ukraine on July 31, according to the daily figures published by the Ukrainian air force and analyzed by ABC News. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 23 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday morning. Thirteen of the craft were downed over the Volgograd region, the ministry said. Regional Gov. Andrey Bocharov said on Telegram that falling debris set fires at an oil refinery and on the roof of a hospital building, though added there were no casualties. The overnight exchanges bookended a day of high-level talks in Washington. Trump, Zelenskyy and a host of European leaders met in the capital on Monday to discuss a possible roadmap to end Russia's full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022. Monday's summit followed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, during which Putin refused an immediate ceasefire and demanded that Ukraine cede the entirety of its eastern Donetsk region in exchange for an end to the fighting, two sources told ABC News. Ahead of Monday's meetings, Trump appeared to be pressuring Zelenskyy into making a deal. "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Trump wrote on social media on Sunday. The president also said Ukraine would not be allowed to join NATO and would not be able to regain Crimea -- occupied by Russia in 2014. Such remarks raised concerns of another fractious Oval Office meeting, akin to Zelenskyy's February visit when the Ukrainian leader was publicly lambasted by Trump and Vice President JD Vance for his alleged ingratitude for American wartime support. But Monday's meetings were cordial, though the parties still appeared to be some way apart on key issues. Trump, Zelenskyy and European leaders all confirmed their support for a direct bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin -- a proposal the Russian president has repeatedly dodged. Such a meeting would be followed by a trilateral meeting involving Trump, the president said. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is "ready" for a trilateral discussion. Trump remarked, "I think it's going to be when, not if." Later, Trump posted to social meda saying he had spoken by phone with Putin "and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy." The Kremlin is yet to explicitly confirm Putin's readiness to attend such a meeting. Yuri Ushakov, a top Kremlin aide, said in a statement that Trump and Putin "expressed their support for the continuation of direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations." "In this regard, in particular, the idea was discussed that the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides should be increased," Ushakov said. "This refers to the representatives who participate in the aforementioned direct negotiations." On the question of security guarantees for Ukraine, Trump said during his meeting with Zelenskyy, "We're going to be discussing it today, but we will give them very good protection, very good security." The president later confirmed that Putin would accept security guarantees for Ukraine, though Russian officials on Monday said that the presence of NATO troops in the country would be unacceptable. Zelenskyy and his European partners again stressed their desire for a full ceasefire, only after which peace negotiations could take place. Trump has repeatedly demanded a ceasefire since returning to office in January, but appeared to drop the idea after last week's meeting with Putin. "I don't think you need a ceasefire," Trump told Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Monday. "I know that it might be good to have, but I can also understand strategically, like, well, you know, one country or the other wouldn't want it." Trump added that he likes "the concept of a ceasefire for one reason, because you'd stop killing people immediately." Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Trump for hosting the meeting, and wrote on Telegram afterwards thanking the White House for "the important signal from the USA regarding readiness to support and be part of" post-war security guarantees. "The leaders personally came to support Ukraine and discuss everything that will bring us closer to real peace, a reliable security architecture that will protect Ukraine and all of Europe," Zelenskyy wrote. Post-meeting comments from European leaders, though, hinted at unresolved obstacles to peace. "You have an American president, European presidents and a Ukrainian president all wanting peace," French President Emmanuel Macron said. "For my part, I have the greatest doubts about the reality of a desire for peace on the part of the Russian president, because as long as he thinks he can win through war, he will do so," Macron added. "His ultimate objective is to take as much territory as possible, to weaken Ukraine and to have a Ukraine that is not viable alone or is within the Russian fold." German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that the thorny issue of Ukrainian territorial concessions was not discussed. "The Russian demand that Kyiv give up the free parts of Donbas is, to put it in perspective, equivalent to the U.S. having to give up Florida," he said. "A sovereign state cannot simply decide something like that. It is a decision that Ukraine must make itself in the course of negotiations," Merz added.
