logo
Karoline Leavitt rants American ‘mass media' is casting Trump's Russia deal in poor light

Karoline Leavitt rants American ‘mass media' is casting Trump's Russia deal in poor light

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came out swinging during her latest briefing, accusing reporters of deliberately trying to undermine President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)(AP)
'All weekend, following those historic U.S.-Russia bilateral talks, we listened to clueless pundits on television trying, but failing, to claim that the president had failed,' she told the reporters.
'The so-called experts in the foreign policy establishment, whose record is nothing but endless wars, trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars and dead Americans, have the nerve to try and lecture President Trump, who has solved seven global conflicts in seven months, about peace.'
ALSO READ| TikTok ban update: Trump and White House make big move; positive news for fans
Her remarks followed Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The Russian leader was given rare honors, including a red carpet welcome and a ride in the presidential limousine. But even after three hours of talks, Trump did not secure the ceasefire he had hinted at in advance. Nor did he impose the 'severe' sanctions on Russia that he had suggested were possible.
Leavitt defended the outcome, she described it as a 'listening session' to set the stage for further negotiations. That follow-up took place on Monday in Washington, where Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders from France, Britain, Italy, Germany, NATO, and the EU.
Trump's allies in Congress quickly seized on the momentum
On Tuesday, Republican lawmakers Andy Ogles and Marlin Stutzman formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his efforts to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
Trump has said he is working toward a direct meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
Notably, Russia made clear that NATO's involvement in Ukraine remains a red line. 'We reaffirm our repeatedly stated position of categorical rejection of any scenarios that envisage the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with NATO countries, which is fraught with an uncontrolled escalation of the conflict with unpredictable consequences,' the Russian foreign ministry said Monday, per The Daily Beast.
ALSO READ| Fox News reporter brutally reviews Trump-Putin summit; says Kremlin boss 'came in and steamrolled' POTUS
However, Leavitt argued that the media is doing everything it can to cast Trump's effort in a negative light.
'This is why Americans' trust in the mass media is at a lowest point in more than five decades,' she told the briefing room.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump Publicly ‘Humiliates' EU Chief; ‘BOOTS OUT' Ursula From White House
Trump Publicly ‘Humiliates' EU Chief; ‘BOOTS OUT' Ursula From White House

Time of India

time21 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Trump Publicly ‘Humiliates' EU Chief; ‘BOOTS OUT' Ursula From White House

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen raised abducted Ukrainian children in talks. She called it a moral duty to bring them home, speaking 'as a grandmother.' But Trump told her he thought they were there for a 'different reason.' The dismissive remark shocked EU leaders at the White House meet. It raised doubts on how seriously Trump treats humanitarian crises. Bundestag Vice President also said Trump also asked EU Chief to leave the White House meeting room a few times. Read More

Putin demands Donbas, no NATO or Western troops in Ukraine: Report
Putin demands Donbas, no NATO or Western troops in Ukraine: Report

Business Standard

time21 minutes ago

  • Business Standard

Putin demands Donbas, no NATO or Western troops in Ukraine: Report

Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters. The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine - but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people. In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Dontesk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine - which make up the Donbas - plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender. In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added. Russia controls about 88 per cent of the Donbas and 73 per cent of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to US estimates and open-source data. Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said. Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the US-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said. Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Ukraine's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine. "If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines." Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership. The White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals. Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a US-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically. "Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise," he added. "The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details." TRUMP: PUTIN WANTS TO SEE IT ENDED Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to US estimates and open-source maps. The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground. "Putin is ready for peace - for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump," one of the people said. The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added. A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine. Trump has said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the war and be remembered as a "peacemaker president". He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the US president. "I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended," Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace deal. Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate president. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war. SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources. Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out the contours of what he could accept for peace, according to two Russian sources. If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal - including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-US deal that is recognised by the UN Security Council, one of the sources said. Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine's permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added. "There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war," one of the people said.

Does Putin really want to meet Zelenskyy? Lavrov says Europe promoting its own agenda
Does Putin really want to meet Zelenskyy? Lavrov says Europe promoting its own agenda

First Post

time21 minutes ago

  • First Post

Does Putin really want to meet Zelenskyy? Lavrov says Europe promoting its own agenda

Sergei Lavrov rejected Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to meet Vladimir Putin, accusing Kyiv and Europe of sidelining Moscow's concerns and warning against European troop deployment in Ukraine. This handout photograph published on August 21, 2025, on the official Telegram channel of the head of the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration Myroslav Biletsky shows smoke emanating over buildings following a Russian air attack in Mukachevo, Zakarpattia region.- AFP Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's latest offer to meet Vladimir Putin, accusing Kyiv and its European allies of pursuing an agenda that sidelines Moscow's concerns. Lavrov said Ukraine's leadership was 'not interested' in a genuine peace settlement and was instead focused on securing Western guarantees that Russia views as incompatible with its demands. 'The Ukrainian regime and its representatives directly show they are not interested in a sustainable, fair, long-term settlement,' Lavrov said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He argued that Europe was trying to 'undermine' efforts at a sustainable peace formula by extending security guarantees to Kyiv. 'Europe is promoting its own agenda, focusing only on guarantees and ignoring the root causes,' he said, stressing that Moscow would continue to follow the policy course decided jointly with Washington. Lavrov also warned that any move by European states to deploy troops in Ukraine would cross a red line. 'This would be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation,' he said, calling such an initiative 'foreign intervention in part of Ukrainian territory.' The remarks came after Zelenskyy suggested he was prepared to meet Putin, but only once Ukraine had received firm commitments on security. He floated Switzerland, Austria or Turkey as possible venues and even proposed a trilateral format with US President Donald Trump. 'We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within 7–10 days, and based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting,' Zelenskyy told reporters. Moscow, however, portrayed Zelenskyy's overture as a political ploy. Lavrov pointed out that the Ukrainian leader had previously ruled out talks with Putin, even signing an executive order to that effect. 'Now his proposal is only a tactic, he fears attention to his personality may drop and wants to appear constructive,' Lavrov said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While stressing that President Putin remained open to talks, Lavrov raised doubts over 'the legitimacy of the person who signs the agreement on the Ukrainian side,' hinting at questions over Zelenskyy's standing at home and abroad. The exchange highlighted the deep mistrust that continues to block direct dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv with Zelenskyy conditioning talks on Western guarantees, and Russia insisting that peace cannot be built on terms crafted by Europe.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store