Ukraine's Zelenskiy says he hopes to meet Trump at G7 meeting in Canada
Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskiy
has said he plans to attend the Group of Seven summit in Canada next week and hoped to meet US president
Donald Trump
on the sidelines of the meeting.
Mr Zelenskiy told a news briefing he planned to discuss continued support for
Ukraine
, sanctions against Russia, and future financing for Kyiv's reconstruction efforts during the upcoming summit.
'Anyway, the final decision is in the White House, it depends on the president of the United States of America,' Mr Zelenskiy said regarding the
possible imposition of tough sanctions against Russia.
'I hope that we will have a conversation (with Trump) at the G7 summit and I hope that if no decisions are made before then, I will be able to have at least an understanding of how close we are to that decision,' he added.
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Mr Trump last week said that he had not decided whether to deploy sanctions against Russia that are being considered by the US senate.
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The Irish Times view on the US and Ukraine: Trump's intentions are far from clear
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Mr Zelenskiy said at a joint press conference with the German defence minister Boris Pistorius that Kyiv was unlikely to be able to compensate for US weapons systems if such deliveries stopped.
He also said that Ukraine intends to expand co-operation with Germany in joint weapon production.
'We need financing... Germany is one of those countries where they understand it and they know the rules and they always do what they say,' Mr Zelenskiy said.
Mr Pistorius said on Thursday that his country's military support for Ukraine had reached €7 billion this year and a further €1.9 billion are pending parliamentary approval. - Reuters
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Raids and fear cast a large shadow over Club World Cup's big launch
'When Donald Trump came in the laws just changed and it's hard for immigrants now ... you've got a lot of people being deported, people who have been in the United States for two decades. It's not nice, it's not right when someone who hasn't committed a crime has to go back somewhere. 'I just don't respect somebody like [Trump] that deports so many people and hurts so many families ... this country was built on immigrants. Nobody's from here.' It seems unlikely this is the kind of hard political messaging Gianni Infantino was hoping to associate himself with when Fifa booked the New York rapper French Montana as its headline act at Saturday's Club World Cup opening ceremony, a global spectacular taking place against a background of unrest over Trump's immigration and repatriation policies. French Montana moved to New York from Morocco aged 13 and has been outspoken in his support for the rights of undocumented US immigrants, although his place on the political spectrum has been muddied a little this year by an unexpected appearance on the Lara Trump track No Days Off. READ MORE His comments in interviews in 2019 and 2018, and his presence at the centre of Fifa's publicity for the launch night of its $1 billion show, will provide a deeply uncomfortable reminder of the perils of fawning over divisive political leaders. Infantino has spent the past year energetically cosying up to the US president, attending his inauguration in a state of high excitement and even delaying Fifa's annual meeting in order to follow Trump around a little longer on his visit to Qatar. French Montana is at least in tune with the Fifa zeitgeist. Already this week the news that officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be part of the security operation for Saturday's game between Al Ahly and Inter Miami has sparked widespread disquiet. A year out from the World Cup that the US is sharing with Canada and Mexico, there is concern not only that supporters may stay away over fear of document checks and status wrangles, but that Fifa's showpiece men's club event is in danger of being piggybacked on as a political event by the Trump administration. Members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (Ero), assisted by the FBI and other federal agencies perform an arrest in Miami on May 28th. Photograph: Todd Heisler/The New York Times CBP has been openly promoting its role at Fifa's tournament for the past few months under the hashtag #CBPxFIFA. This came to a head this week as it ended up deleting a Facebook post that stated its agents would be 'suited and booted and ready to provide security for the first round of games'. The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that Ice and CBP officers will be present at Club World Cup fixtures, saying: 'All non-American citizens need to carry proof of their legal status.' This is not without recent precedent. CBP often operates at big sporting events, including February's Super Bowl in New Orleans. But it isn't hard to see how this might be interpreted as containing an element of threat. Ice officers are being escorted around Los Angeles by the US national guard, a hugely controversial move that has contributed to the current unrest in the city. CBP has also declined so far to address the reasons for the removal of its post about Fifa's grand jamboree, which fuelled fears the event may be rolled into the aggressive enforcement of Trump's immigration policy. A glance at CBP's X feed makes plain this is by no means a politically neutral entity. One post reads: 'The alarming riots in L.A. which have put hundreds of law enforcement officers at risk, are precisely why the Big Beautiful Bill is so important.' Another states: 'While rioters wave foreign flags and burn ours, our officers will always raise the stars and stripes with pride.' Approving references to Trump's policies are intercut with remarks about 'lies' from 'the mainstream media and sanctuary politicians'. Questions will naturally be asked about whether this constitutes an appropriate hashtag partner for football's apolitical governing body. Infantino was asked this week about the presence of immigration agencies at Fifa's launch party. His answer was characteristically vague, focusing instead on security issues. But there is concern on that front in Miami, fuelled by the chaos of the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia at the same venue last year, which led to arrests, barriers rushed and a one-hour kick-off delay. Fifa president Gianni Infantino gives US president Donald Trump a football to autograph during a signing ceremony after a state dinner with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha on May 14th. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images The Hard Rock Stadium has warned of 'multiple security and ticket check points', and the Miami Herald has unearthed a police video used as a training tool for the tournament in which a sergeant is heard saying: 'If things go south, we get prepared, we get ready. For civil unrest and unruly fans, this will get us ready for those events.' And Fifa is dipping its toe into some overheated waters here. Only this week the Trump administration explicitly instructed anything up to half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came legally to the United States under a Biden-era programme to 'leave immediately' if they have yet to make the step from 'parole' to full status. The state of heightened security has affected Fifa's party. On Wednesday a luxury pleasure flotilla chartered by the TV station Telemundo and containing Fifa officials and the Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was boarded by CBP officials in Biscayne Bay off the Miami coast. The event, staged to celebrate the approach of the World Cup, was abruptly cancelled. Officials later stated the raid was a routine inspection that uncovered some safety violations. But the mayor has since described the incident as 'deeply troubling' and told local media: 'Ensuring that all community members feel safe and included is crucial to maintaining our county's reputation as a welcoming destination for both residents and visitors.' Saturday's opening game, which gets under way at 8pm local time (1am in Ireland) is now a source of multiple migraines for Infantino. Trump will be absent, required instead to oversee his own Grand Military Parade in Washington. While this is no doubt a bone-deep personal disappointment for Infantino, it will at least spare him the embarrassment of marrying up his headline act's political statements with the capricious and easily offended commander-in-chief in the seat next to him. The game also coincides with a day of nationwide anti-Trump protests. Styled as the No Kings movement, a warning against the exercise of extreme executive power in the first year of Trump's second term, the protests will elide naturally with unrest over the actions of Ice and CBP. The wider Miami area will stage at least 10 No Kings events, including one half an hour's drive from Infantino's coronational seat at the Hard Rock Stadium, although it is unlikely Republican Miami-Dade will see anything like the scale of unrest in Los Angeles. As one Aventura man put it on Thursday morning: 'This is Florida. We don't truck with that s**t here.' This appears to be the politically sanctioned position. The state governor, Ron DeSantis, speaking on the Rubin Report this week, took the extraordinary step of encouraging members of the public who feel threatened by protests on Club World Cup match day one to drive through the crowds, an apparent extension of Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law. As DeSantis put it: 'If you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you.' The tagline for the opening night of Fifa's US mission is A New Era Begins. As things stand that new era will kick off against a rolling background of spot-check fear, off-message headline acts and an opening game shadowed by the prospect of governor-approved assault with a motor vehicle a few miles down the road. Over to you, Gianni. – Guardian
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ukraine and Russia exchange more prisoners of war following Istanbul agreement
Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war (POWs) on Saturday, the Russian ministry for defence said, and Russia handed over the bodies of 1,200 dead Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv. The exchanges are part of agreements reached by the warring sides during talks in Istanbul earlier this month. Ukraine earlier on Saturday confirmed it had received the bodies of its soldiers killed in action. However, Russian state media reported, citing sources, that Moscow had not received any of its war dead back from Kyiv, echoing a statement Russia made on Friday, when it said it had returned the bodies of 1,200 slain Ukrainian soldiers and received none of its own. The Russian ministry of defence did not say how many POWs were involved in the swap with Ukraine on Saturday, but it posted video showing its soldiers holding Russian flags and cheering before boarding a bus. READ MORE The Russian soldiers are in Belarus, where they are receiving medical treatment before transfer back to Russia, the defence ministry said. It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces have stopped Russian troops advancing in the northeastern Sumy region and are now battling along the border to regain control. In remarks released for publication by his office on Saturday, Mr Zelenskiy said that Moscow has amassed about 53,000 troops in the direction of Sumy. 'We are levelling the position. The fighting there is along the border. You should understand that the enemy has been stopped there. And the maximum depth at which the fighting takes place is 7km from the border,' Mr Zelenskiy said. Reuters could not verify battlefield reports. [ An Irish team training combat medics in Kyiv: 'No one thinks the war will end soon' Opens in new window ] Russia's troops have been focusing their assaults in the eastern Donetsk region, but since the start of the month, they have intensified their attacks in the northeast, announcing plans to create a so-called 'buffer zone' in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. The Russian war in Ukraine is in its fourth year but it has intensified in recent weeks. Ukraine conducted a drone attack that took out multiple aircraft inside Russia and also hit the bridge connecting Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula using underwater explosives. Mr Zelenskiy said that the Ukrainian troops had maintained their defensive lines along more than 1,000km of the frontline. He also dismissed Moscow's claims that Russian troops had crossed the administrative border of the Ukrainian central region of Dnipropetrovsk. Mr Zelenskiy said that Russia was sending small assault groups 'to get one foot on the administrative border' and make a picture or a video but these attacks were repelled. Dnipropetrovsk region borders three regions that are partially occupied by Russia – Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Russia now controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Mr Zelenskiy acknowledged that Ukraine was unable to regain all of its territory by military force and reiterated his pleas for stronger sanctions on Russia to force Moscow into negotiations to end the war. – Reuters
The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Battle tanks, 7,000 troops & WW2 planes … spotters guide to Trump's £30m birthday bash with 18-mile ring of steel
THOUSANDS of US troops flanked by battle tanks and advanced stealth jets will march on the streets as President Donald Trump kicks off a grand military parade - on his birthday. Patriotic tunes will fill the air in Washington DC as the commander in chief turns 79 - with the Army 's 250th anniversary. 12 Soldiers dressed in Revolutionary war-era uniforms charge during the US Army's Twilight Tattoo event Credit: AFP 12 Soldiers from the Marine Corps, lined up at the Veterans Day Parade in NYC 12 A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to be used in the US Army's 250th Birthday Celebration is seen near the US Capitol Credit: Reuters 12 US soldiers stand beside IAV Stryker armoured vehicles that are staged ahead of a 14 June military parade in Washington, DC Credit: EPA 12 The main stage for the US Army's 250th birthday celebration parade Credit: AFP 12 Trump turns 79 today Credit: AP The grandiose military parade will showcase As many as 7,000 troops and seven band contingents have reportedly been called to participate in the show. They will be accompanied by at least 150 military vehicles and some 50 aircraft. Some 2,000 civilians could also take march alongside the US military. READ MORE ON TRUMP And the whole celebration will be enclosed with an 18 mile ring of steel to protect the parade. Drones and a small army of cops will be on hand to keep order - with there expected to be protests across the country as part of "No Kings" day, a series of anti-Trump rallies by people objecting to the parade. It comes after a week of unrest in many cities - with June 14 this year marks the 250th anniversary of the US Army, also known as Army Day. Most read in The US Sun The day also coincides with Trump 's 79th birthday. To celebrate both things in style, Trump planned to throw a military parade to showcase America's might. French President Emmanuel Macron joins 3,700 members of the military in Paris to mark Bastille Day, with guest Donald Trump For years, the president is said to have had his eyes on a full-blown military show, but has failed to put up a working plan - until now. Plans are to roll down battle tanks, massive military equipment, and aircraft and missiles, just as Trump first envisioned the parade during his first term. The president, who is expected to give a speech during the parade, has pitched the occasion as a way to celebrate US power and service members' sacrifice. The parade will also showcase antics from different eras of the Army's history, right from the Revolutionary War in 1775 to the modern developments of the US Army. Contingent members are expected to wear corresponding uniforms and carry equipment respectively. Among the military equipment set to be flaunted are 26 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 27 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, two World War II Sherman tanks, a World War I-era Renault tank, eight CH-47 helicopters, 16 UH-60 Black Hawks and four WWII-era P-51 aircraft. While US officials have yet to release the cost of the planned parade, the figure is expected to reach up to a whopping $45million. This includes the cost of transporting all the military equipment across Washington and putting up safety measures for the public expected to gather at the parade. Army spokesman Col. Dave Butler said that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary. He added: 'We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us. 'We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. 12 12 12 A US soldier works atop an Abrams tank that is staged in West Potomac Park ahead of a 14 June military parade Credit: EPA 12 Tanks rest on the back of a rail car before being used for the parade Credit: AFP 12 US Army soldiers on top of an M1 Abrams tank during a media preview of the Army's Parade Credit: AFP 12 A US Park Police officer poses for a photograph next to a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to be used in the US Army's 250th Birthday Celebration Credit: Reuters "A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.' Trump appeared to tease the grand plan last month in a post on Truth Social, where he wrote: "We are going to start celebrating our victories again!' He also vowed to rename May 8, now known as Victory in Europe Day, as 'Victory Day for World War II,' and to change November 11, Veterans Day, to 'Victory Day for World War I". Meanwhile, immigration rioters protesting against the Trump administration in LA could show up in Washington, experts fear. AMERICA'S 250th MAGA CELEBRATION By Sayan Bose, Foreign news reporter Trump is also planning a Trump floated plans to showcase America's greatness in its true sense - packed in a year-long grand festival to mark the country's anniversary, dubbed the semiquincentennial, in a grand style that can be seen in the video above. Trump, who led his 2024 election campaign on the promise to make America great again, will take this opportunity to portray the country's might in the most patriotic way. It was just a year ago when he called all Americans to prepare for the Great American State Fair - a gigantic carnival of joy that would mark America's 250th birthday in true Trump fashion. Various contingents could take part in a grand parade in front of millions of people visiting the fair - and Trump could build a "National Garden of American Heroes' with statues of important figures in American history. This may include giant structures of George Washington, Neil Armstrong, and Muhammad Ali. Use our But Trump warned protestors would be "met with very big force" if they attempted to sow chaos during the parade. He told reporters from the White House: "For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force." Law enforcement agencies are preparing for hundreds of thousands of people to attend Saturday's parade, US Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool revealed. McCool said thousands of agents, officers and specialists will be deployed from law enforcement agencies across the country. Iran's foreign ministry has described further discussions as "meaningless", after Israeli attacks on the country. In comments carried by state television, spokesman Esmail Baghaei said: "The US did a job that made the talks become meaningless." However, he stopped short of ruling out the talks. The Mizan news agency, run by Iran's judiciary, quoted him as saying it is still "not clear what we decide about Sunday talks".
