Trump says he will meet Putin ‘very shortly' to discuss end to Ukraine war
'I'll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner, but I guess there's security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make,' Trump told reporters at the White House late on Friday.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that the deal could cement some of Putin's territorial gains in Ukraine, effectively freezing the battle lines in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Putin has claimed four Ukrainian regions in their entirety, although much of their territory remains under Ukrainian control.
US and Russian officials were working on a deal under which Russia would halt its offensive in exchange for the territorial concessions – making it a politically fraught proposal in Ukraine, Bloomberg said.
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The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
US and Russia suggest ‘West Bank-style occupation of Ukraine'
The U.S. and Russia are set to suggest a 'West Bank-style' occupation of Ukraine as a way of ending the war, according to The London Times. Under the proposed plans, Russia would have both economic and military control of the occupied parts of Ukraine, utilizing its own governing body, mimicking Israel's control of Palestinian territory taken from Jordan during the 1967 conflict. The suggestion was put forward during discussions between President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and his Russian counterparts, a source with insight into the U.S. National Security Council told the paper. Witkoff, who also serves as the White House's Middle East envoy, reportedly backs the suggestion, which the U.S. believes will solve the issue of the Ukrainian constitution prohibiting giving up territory without organizing a referendum. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected any notion of ceding territory, the new occupation proposal may lead to a truce following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. According to the proposal, Ukraine's borders would remain officially unchanged, similar to the borders of the West Bank, even as Israel controls the territory. 'It'll just be like Israel occupies the West Bank,' the source told The Times. 'With a governor, with an economic situation that goes into Russia, not Ukraine. But it'll still be Ukraine, because … Ukraine will never give up its sovereignty. But the reality is it'll be occupied territory and the model is Palestine,' the source added to the paper. The proposal will almost certainly be part of discussions between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin set for Friday in Alaska. On Wednesday, Zelensky met with European leaders and Trump ahead of the Russia summit. Zelensky is not set to attend Friday's summit in person. Trump reaffirmed during the Wednesday meeting that territorial issues can only be negotiated between Russia and Ukraine, according to French president Emmanuel Macron. The French leader also said Trump wants a ceasefire plan to be finalized during his Friday meeting. 'Any issue which deals with the territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be discussed just like that, without looking at our constitution and the will of our people,' Zelensky told the press on Friday. 'As to our principles, as to our territorial integrity, in the end, will be decided on the level of leaders. Without Ukraine (at the table), it's impossible to achieve,' Zelensky added. Zelensky said that a ceasefire should be reached and then security guarantees. He also said that sanctions against Russia should be imposed if no ceasefire deal is reached in Alaska. As details of any potential ceasefire are being discussed, the U.S. believes that the 'West Bank-style' deal is the reality of war and the refusal of other nations to directly fight Russia, according to The Times. In May, U.S. Senior Director for Counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka, told Politico that 'The Trump administration lives in the real world.' 'We recognize the reality on the ground,' he added. 'No. 1, that's the beginning because we're not utopianists and we're not human engineers. We're not some kind of pie-in-the-sky believers in utopia.' He went on to say that 'We recognize the reality on the ground and we have one priority above all else, whether it's the Middle East or whether it's Ukraine. It's to stop the bloodshed. Everything else comes after the bloodshed has been halted.' The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel's occupation of the West Bank is illegal. The occupation isn't recognized by the U.S., and it's only partially recognized by Russia. Last September, the United Nations ordered Israel to end the occupation by a vote of 124 to 14, with 43 countries abstaining. The resolution stated that Israel must adhere to international law within 12 months, pull back its military, end all settlement efforts, evacuate all settlers from the occupied territories, and remove parts of the wall separating the West Bank. Israel has ignored the resolution and voted against the measure, as did the U.S. Israel has faced widespread condemnation over its occupation and the settlement efforts. More than 150 have been established in recent years. Citizens of Israel who live in the West Bank must adhere to Israeli law, while Palestinians are subject to martial law, and they're unable to vote in Israeli national elections.
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
As Ukraine battles to hold lines, Trump may find Putin difficult to persuade
For Ukraine, the break in the frontline is unfortunately timed. Lightly armed Russian saboteur groups – three on one count – cut though Ukrainian positions in the Donbas countryside east of the key junction at Dobropillia. Though one group has been eliminated, as of Tuesday two were thought to remain at large – and although their numbers are small for now, perhaps 20 to 30, the breach is significant. At the beginning of the year it was safe to visit Dobropillia, which had become a bustling market centre busy with soldiers and locals, nearly 15 miles north of the frontline in Pokrovsk. But since then the town, where once busy supply roads from Pokrovsk to Kramatorsk split, has come under sustained attack with glide bombs, while FPV (first person view) drones strike targets on the move. It is part of an increasingly coordinated battle strategy by the invaders. Experts say Russia has become more effective at targeting Ukrainian drone teams in the field and forces on the move. Even before the weekend, the southerly T0514 supply road to Kramatorsk was at risk of attack, while a Russian military blogger described 'the systematic elimination' of Ukrainian crews. At the same time, Ukraine's forces appear increasingly stretched. Critics such as Bohdan Krotevych, a former chief of staff at the Azov brigade, say too much attention has been focused on infantry counterstrikes in Pokrovsk – 'a soap bubble that will soon burst' – and not enough on augmenting defences to hold existing lines. Ukraine's military, at the urging of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sent in Azov to try to eliminate the infiltrators. But however small their numbers are, there are more Russians nearby. Ukraine's high command said on Tuesday there were about 110,000 Russian troops near Pokrovsk – and Zelenskyy said another 12,000 were expected to come from Sumy in the north-east to join them in an offensive. All this comes two days before Donald Trump hosts Vladimir Putin at a US military base in Alaska. It is not entirely clear what Putin has offered to win the prize of a summit on American soil, amid talk that Trump's negotiator, the real estate developer Steve Witkoff, misunderstood what the Russian leader said last week. However, Zelenskyy thinks Putin will offer to agree to a ceasefire only if Ukraine voluntarily gives up the 3,400 square miles of Donetsk oblast it holds, including Kramatorsk. It is not an offer that Ukraine can accept, as Zelenskyy has repeatedly made clear in the last week. But Trump may well find it difficult to persuade Putin to shift his position if the Russian leader sees that Kyiv cannot snuff out the incursion. Already Putin thinks Russia is slowly winning the Ukraine war, and while previous advances near Pokrovsk have been costly and slow for the attackers, it is possible there will be an acceleration in momentum. Last August, Ukraine launched a surprise offensive into the Kursk region of Russia, penetrating more than 12 miles deep. It restored morale in Kyiv and promised a bargaining chip in future peace negotiations. But as Russia fought back, that notional value has disappeared. Though the Kursk offensive prevented Russia from mounting an effective offensive in Donbas in 2024, with the benefit of a longer view the problem for Ukraine may only have been deferred into 2025. Throughout the war, Russia has shown it struggles to capture small urban centres. It took a year to capture Bakhmut, also in Donbas, in May 2023. Pokrovsk was evacuated last August and was expected to fall within weeks. Though Russian forces have reached the edge of the city they have still not captured it, concentrating instead on slowly trying to envelop it. Where Russia has been more successful is in rural areas. It will now hope to cut off more roads coming west into Kramatorsk, the heart of Donetsk oblast that Putin so badly wants. The invaders are helped by the growing range of FPV drones, including unjammable fibre-optic craft, rapidly extending the so-called 'kill zone' to 9-12 miles or more. Even so, any Russian progress cross-country is likely to be slow: 34 miles has been occupied in 17 months since the centre of the Donestk front began to give way in February 2024, according to the Institute for the Study of War. On Wednesday afternoon Trump insisted there would be 'very severe consequences' for Putin unless he agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukrainian politicians such as Halyna Yanchenko, an MP in Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, pin their hopes on Trump levying secondary sanctions on Russia's oil exports to China, worth €4.1bn last month, partly because there is no prospect of any other form of US intervention. An extraordinary set of figures provided by Zelenskyy illustrated the key problem Ukraine faces and what Putin is prepared to do. On Monday, he said, there were 531 soldiers on Russia's side killed, 428 wounded and nine captured, while on Ukraine's side 18 were killed, 243 wounded and 79 went missing. Despite the disparity, Russia attacks every day, taking similar numbers of casualties as it does so. As long as there continues to be no domestic resistance in Russia, the likelihood is that Putin will feel he can afford to string out negotiations with Trump, despite the threats.
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Spanish people know deadly heatwaves are now an annual event. So why are our politicians in denial?
Growing up in Madrid, intense summer heat was nothing unusual. I quickly learned always to cross the street in search of shade, and never to be caught out in the sun at 3pm. But as a child in the early 1980s, I never felt dizzy after spending more than a few minutes outdoors, nor did I struggle to study or sleep at home because of the heat. Back then, air conditioning was a rarity, something only Americans had. But we were fine: the stuttering fan in my mother's Ford Fiesta was enough to keep us comfortable on holiday escapes from the capital. What is happening in Spain now goes far beyond discomfort. More than 1,500 deaths have already been linked to heatwaves this summer alone. Public-sector workers are collapsing from heatstroke on our city streets. Entire communities in the Madrid suburbs have been devastated by wildfires. On Monday, 198 weather stations recorded temperatures of 40C or higher. Following a record-breaking July, the first 20 days of August will probably be the warmest on record. Alongside housing, the climate crisis is Spain's most visible and most persistent problem: every summer reminds us of this. You can't ignore it, or escape it; so why are Spain's politicians still so reluctant to tackle the climate emergency? Fighting global heating is a worldwide challenge, but protecting populations against the consequences – with an awareness that Europe is heating faster than other continents – must also be a national and a local priority. Within Spain, the climate crisis too often becomes an excuse for superficial, party-political feuds. In the population at large, there has been years of broad popular consensus, but contrast that with Spain's politicians, for whom the issue has become increasingly partisan, with the right and the left fighting over totemic policies about cars and bikes. Even Spain's centre-left coalition government, led by Pedro Sánchez's Spanish Socialist Workers' party (PSOE), has taken only modest steps to reduce emissions from industry and transport. And as they do on other issues, the socialists rush to point the finger at regional and local governments run by the conservative People's party (PP), supported in some cases by the far-right Vox, which has pushed falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the climate crisis. It is true that Spain's regional and local governments, powerful and well funded, also bear great responsibility: for protecting the most vulnerable from extreme heat, adapting public spaces, planting trees and ensuring there is sufficient shade and water fountains. One urgent necessity is the creation of 'cool banks', especially for people in overcrowded and overheated homes, those with health vulnerabilities, the very young and the very old. Valencia has a network of these climate shelters, while Barcelona has mapped out hundreds of public spaces where people can escape the heat, from libraries to museums. But too many local governments are still failing to provide respite. Madrid is among the worst offenders. Public cooling centres are almost nonexistent, and shopping centres remain the most common refuge. The capital's conservative regional and local governments have been passive or even hostile towards public demands to reduce dangerous heat levels in neighbourhoods, with too few green spaces and too many cars. When Madrid's city hall does spend money, it often misses the point: the most absurd example is Puerta del Sol, the central square that after months of renovation work still feels like a concrete frying pan all summer. Only after protests did the city council finally install a few flimsy shades, at a cost of €1.5m. For those Madrileños who have the option, the traditional way to make August bearable has been to escape the city for the coast. My childhood memories of cooler summers visiting grandparents in northern Spain feel very distant now. The north still enjoys bearable nights and some rain in the summer, but heatwaves have become more frequent there too. The change is fast and visible, even in daily life. This year in the Basque country, beach bathing has been repeatedly banned because of the portuguese man o'war, a creature resembling a jellyfish, but one that is much more toxic and dangerous. Once confined to warmer Atlantic waters, it has only begun appearing here in recent years. On a recent walk along San Sebastián's beach, I spotted dozens, fortunately tiny, each circled in the sand to warn passersby. More medical resources and surveillance are now being devoted to this new threat – another example of the small everyday adaptations we are having to make. The most dramatic consequences of the climate crisis make headlines around the world: the tragic deaths of workers in vulnerable jobs, picking fruit or cleaning streets, and wildfires killing people, destroying homes and even a Roman-era mining site – now a burned-out Unesco world heritage site. But across Spain, the signs are everywhere: crops ruined by hail, high-speed trains disrupted, and neighbourhoods baking in the heat. This is the new reality we are living with. It has become a regular fixture in our calendars. A journalist colleague of mine observed earlier this year that the most important annual climate event for the media is not Cop, it's the summer. It was February in the northern hemisphere, and he was already preparing their annual heatwave coverage. My newsroom in Madrid does the same, with ever more sophisticated data and analysis. The frustrating question is why our politicians are still shrugging off this reality, as though it were just an inconvenience. How many broken records and how many heatwave deaths will it take to change this? María Ramírez is a journalist and the deputy managing editor of a news outlet in Spain
