Trump-Putin Summit Began With a Cozy Chat Alone in ‘The Beast'
Then things veered off script.
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Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukrainians see 'nothing' good from Trump-Putin meeting
Pavlo Nebroev stayed up until the middle of the night in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv to wait for a press conference between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin thousands of kilometres away. The US and Russian leaders had met in Alaska to discuss Russia's more than three-year invasion of his country. But they made no breakthrough and seen from Kharkiv -- heavily attacked by Russia throughout the war -- the red-carpet meeting looked like a clear win for Putin. "I saw the results I expected. I think this is a great diplomatic victory for Putin," Nebroev, a 38-year-old theatre manager, said. "He has completely legitimised himself." Trump inviting Putin to the US ended the West's shunning of the Russian leader since the 2022 invasion. Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited, described the trip as Putin's "personal victory". Nebroev was not only outraged Ukraine was left out of the meeting, but also considered it a waste of time. "This was a useless meeting," he said, adding: "Issues concerning Ukraine should be resolved with Ukraine, with the participation of Ukrainians, the president." Trump later briefed European leaders and Zelensky, who announced he would meet the US leader in Washington on Monday. The Trump-Putin meeting ended without a deal and Trump took no questions from reporters -- highly unusual for the media-savvy US president. Olya Donik, 36, said she was not surprised by the turn of events as she walked through a sunny park in Kharkiv with Nebroev. "It ended with nothing. Alright, let's continue living our lives here in Ukraine," she said. Hours after the talks, Kyiv said Russia attacked with 85 drones and a ballistic missile at night. "Whether there are talks or not, Kharkiv is being shelled almost every day. Kharkiv definitely doesn't feel any change," said Iryna Derkach, a 50-year-old photographer. She had stopped for the daily minute of silence held across the country to honour the victims of the Russian invasion. She was standing just in front of Derzhprom, a modernist structure considered to be one of the first Soviet skyscrapers, which was damaged by a strike last year. "We believe in victory, we know it will come, but God only knows who exactly will bring it about," she said. "We don't lose faith, we donate, we help as much as we can. We do our job and don't pay too much attention to what Trump is doing," she added. brw/oc/giv
Newsweek
7 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Melania Trump Letter to Putin Handed Over in Alaska
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. U.S. President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a letter from the first lady on Friday during a crunch meeting in Alaska, Reuters reported. According to the news agency, citing two White House officials, the letter raised the plight of thousands of Ukrainian children who have reportedly been abducted by Russian forces since Putin ordered an all-out invasion in February 2022. Newsweek contacted the White House and Russian Foreign Ministry for comment on Saturday via email outside regular office hours. Why It Matters Ukrainian authorities allege that tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been kidnapped by Russian authorities and taken either to Russia or to areas of Ukraine under Russian control. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in response to the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children. Russian authorities said children were removed from war zones for their own safety and described the warrant as "outrageous and unacceptable." First lady Melania Trump, who is Slovenian, taking a personal interest in the fate of Ukrainian children could put additional pressure on Putin over Russia's conduct in the war. What To Know On Friday, Trump met with Putin at the Jointoa, to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine. The talks ended without Putin committing to a ceasefire, though Trump said they had been "very productive" with "many points we agreed on." Reuters reported that during the meeting, Trump gave Putin a letter written by the first lady that raised concern over the fate of thousands of Ukrainian children said to be removed from their families without consent by Russian authorities. The exact content of the letter has not been reported. According to Kyiv, about 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted since February 2022, which it said met the United Nations' definition of genocide. In June 2024, the U.S. said it was aware of "credible reports" of Ukrainian children being listed on Russian adoption websites, which it described as "despicable and appalling." Russian President Vladimir Putin at a news conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 and first lady of the United States Melania Trump at the Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C.,... Russian President Vladimir Putin at a news conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 and first lady of the United States Melania Trump at the Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., on July 3. More ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/ANDREW HARNIK/GETTY According to the British newspaper The Sun, some abducted Ukrainian children were barred from speaking in their own language and forced to sing the Russian national anthem. Moscow said it evacuated children from conflict areas as a humanitarian measure. Trump has said his wife notes that Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities despite the U.S. president's telephone calls with Putin. According to USA Today, the president said in July: "I go home, I tell the first lady, 'You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.' And she said, 'Oh really? Another city was just hit." In recent weeks, Russian state media has criticized the fist lady, with one prominent pro-regime TV anchor describing her as a "Ukrainian agent." Following his meeting with Putin, Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he had "largely agreed" with Putin about potential land swaps between Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously said he would not hand over any Ukrainian territory to Moscow. What People Are Saying U.S. President Donald Trump, commenting on potential Russian sanctions after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Sean Hannity: "I think I don't have to think about that now. … I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now." Trump also said Putin, widely regarded as a dictator, gave him advice on how to run "honest elections." Standing alongside Trump in Alaska, Putin said: "Our negotiations have been held in a constructive atmosphere of mutual respect." Trump said: "I've always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. … We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it." What Happens Next In remains to be seen whether the first lady's letter will prompt any action from Moscow regarding Ukrainian children, and if not, whether the U.S. government will take any action.
NBC News
7 minutes ago
- NBC News
Tariffs and deportations are contributing to rising prices and fewer immigrant workers
After projections that President Donald Trump's mass deportations would negatively impact the American economy, the nation is seeing a jump in wholesale vegetable prices and slowdowns in industries that rely on immigrant workers. Economic measures that are trickling out are leading some to point to the administration's immigration crackdown, along with tariffs, as at least partly responsible for the slump in some economic sectors and for rising prices. The latest comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported Thursday a whopping 38.9% increase in wholesale dry and fresh vegetable prices from June to July, the biggest since March 2022. Phil Kafarakis, president of IMFA The Food Away From Home Association, which represents food producers, suppliers, services and industries outside of grocery stores, said the warning signs should be taken seriously. Because of deportation efforts, 'you are now going to be left with not enough laborers in the fields to pick up and collect product as its coming to harvest,' he said, adding that it is contributing to the current 'horribly, incredibly impactful' effect of tariffs. Combined with drought, excessive flooding and wildfires, the deportations are coming to bear and will become a bigger problem in the late summer and early fall harvests, he said. 'I don't think people realize' there will be a surge in vegetable costs in restaurants, at grocery stores and other places, Kafarakis said. While the administration has not yet hit the deportation levels Trump promised in his campaign, the number of people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June was its highest monthly arrests in at least five years. This week, the Dallas Federal Reserve issued a report stating Texas' economy has softened amid uncertainty. Business owners told the Dallas Federal Reserve that uncertainty about tariffs and immigration policy were posing investment and hiring challenges. 'Immigration enforcement actions are also affecting the ability of some firms to recruit and retain workers,' the agency stated in its report. The federal bank surveys Texas businesses regularly. In its July survey, the inability to hire qualified workers because they lacked permits or legal status 'was the most widespread impact noted among firms experiencing workforce disruption," the reserve bank said. The report quoted a machine manufacturer who said in response to survey questions, 'Foreign-born laborers get the job done. We need them, we use them, and we like them.' Immigrant workers are a big part of Texas' workforce. In an April report, the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank said the share of Texas firms reporting on its survey that they rely on workers who moved to Texas from a different country increased from 15% in 2023 to 25% in 2024. "The increase has been across all sectors, with about one-third of manufacturing respondents relying on immigrant workers," the bank stated then. In a report released Thursday by the immigrant advocacy group America's Voice, the authors noted that the cycling of immigrant workers in and out of the country has stopped, mostly because of border restrictions reducing the inflow of immigrants. 'The country is losing workers without them being replaced, with adverse economic consequences,' the report by Robert Lynch, Michael Ettlinger and Emma Sifre states. Lynch is an economics professor at Washington College. Ettlinger is a founding director of University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy, and Sifre is a data analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Lynch said that the number of workers in agriculture and related industries increased from March to July in 2023 and in 2024. But employment in the industries those same months this year dropped by 155,000 workers, down 6.5%. In construction, the 10 states with the highest concentrations of unauthorized workers saw employment drop .1% from June 2024 to June 2025, while other states saw it increase 1.9%, according to the report. Additionally, the growth in the states not in the top 10 was lower than a year ago, down from 2.3% growth. About 7% of the leisure and hospitality workers are undocumented and are mostly focused in restaurant and hotel sectors, Lynch said. States with higher concentrations of unauthorized workers are experiencing slower growth in this area, he said. Food service employment grew .2% in high immigrant states over the past year compared to 1.5% in other states, the report states. 'A loss of a significant portion of this workforce is likely to be particularly damaging as there were nearly 1 million unfilled jobs in leisure and hospitality in as recently as April of this year,' Lynch said. The numbers of foreign-born workers in the country fell from 33.3 million in January to about 32.1 million in July, a loss of about 1.2 million workers, according to analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers by the National Foundation for American Policy, a trade and immigration research group. Stuart Anderson, the foundation's executive director, said thus far there has not been a corresponding increase in U.S. workers' labor participation. 'The reason why you see slowdowns is because when employers can't find enough workers, they are going to invest less,' he said. Antonio De Loera-Burst, United Farm Workers spokesman, questioned whether there are truly labor shortages in agriculture. He said workers are frightened and acknowledged raids have occurred in some fields and agricultural related worksites. But 'a lot of workers I talk to are desperate for work. There's not enough work,' De Loera-Burst said. Hours are being cut and workers are being told to do in six hours what they used to do in eight, he said. 'We are dead set against deportations,' he said, referring to UFW. He said that what appears to be happening is that growers are using the disruptions of immigration raids on their businesses 'as their latest argument for why Congress should give them their long-standing priority, which is to bring more guest workers and pay them less.' Trump has been under pressure from businesses that rely on immigrant workers, particularly the agricultural industry, to ensure they have a secure and reliable workforce.
