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BBC News
a few seconds ago
- BBC News
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Frank Gardner BBC Security Correspondent Getty Images It is quite possible that Monday's meeting in the White House could prove even more crucial to the future of Ukraine - and for all of Europe's security - than last Friday's US-Russia summit in Alaska. On the surface, that Putin-Trump reunion seemed to live down to every expectation. There was no ceasefire, no sanctions, no grand announcements. Were Ukraine and Europe about to get cut out of a deal cooked up behind closed doors by the world's two foremost nuclear powers? Not, apparently, if Ukraine and its partners can prevent it. The presence of Sir Keir Starmer, President Macron, Chancellor Merz and other leaders alongside President Zelensky in Washington is about more than making sure he does not get ambushed in the Oval Office again, in the way he did on 28 February. They are determined to impress upon Donald Trump two things: firstly, that there can be no peace deal for Ukraine without Ukraine's direct involvement and secondly, that it must be backed by 'cast-iron' security guarantees. Above all, Europe's leaders want the US President to see that Ukraine and Europe present a united front and they are eager to ensure he is not being swayed by his obvious personal rapport with Vladimir Putin into giving in to the Russian leaders' demands. Watch: How the Trump-Putin summit unfolded... in under 2 minutes This is where the Sir Keir Starmer's diplomatic skills will be sorely tested. Trump likes Starmer and listens to him, and in a month's time Trump will be coming to the UK on a state visit. He also likes Mark Rutte, the NATO Secretary-General who will be in attendance, a man who is sometimes called 'the Trump Whisperer'. The US President appears to be less fond of President Macron and the White House was sharply critical recently of his intention to unconditionally recognise a Palestinian state at the next UN General Assembly. For a peace deal in Ukraine to have any chance of working, something has to give. European leaders have said frequently that international borders cannot be changed by force and President Zelensky has said time and time again he will not give up land and besides, Ukraine's constitution forbids it. But Putin wants the Donbas, which his forces already control around 85 per cent of, and he has absolutely no intention of ever handing back Crimea. Yet as the former Estonian PM and now Europe's top diplomat Kaja Kallas once said to me: victory for Ukraine in this war does not have to be exclusively about reconquering occupied land. If Ukraine can obtain the sort of Article 5-type security guarantees now being talked about, sufficient to deter any future Russian aggression and thereby safeguard its independence as a free and sovereign state, then that would be a form of victory. It does now appear that what the US and Russia have been discussing is a proposal that broadly trades some Ukrainian land for security guarantees that it won't have to give up any more to Russia. But the question marks are huge. Could Ukraine accept a deal that ends the war but costs it land, especially when so many thousands have died trying to save that land? If it is asked to give up the remaining 30 per cent of Donetsk Oblast that Russia has yet to occupy then does that leave the path westwards to Kyiv dangerously under-defended? And what of Starmer's much-vaunted Coalition of the Willing? Earlier talk of deploying tens of thousands of boots on the ground have since been scaled back. Now it's more about 'safeguarding skies and seas' while helping Ukraine to rebuild its army. But even if peace does break out on the battlefield we are still in dangerous territory. Every military expert I have spoken to believes that the moment the fighting stops Putin will reconstitute his army, build more weapons, until he is in a position, perhaps in as little as three to four years, to grab more land. If and when that happens it will be a brave Typhoon or F35 pilot who is prepared to fire that first missile on an advancing Russian column. Zelensky and allies head to White House for Ukraine talks
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
South Korea's nuclear power output surges as coal use plunges
SINGAPORE/SEOUL, August 18 (Reuters) - South Korea's nuclear power output is racing ahead of official targets due to fewer maintenance outages, a new plant coming online and reactors running at full tilt, helping to rein in generation costs and pushing down coal usage. Generation from nuclear plants grew 8.7% year-over-year in the six months through June - three times official plans for 2.9% annual growth - while coal-fired output plunged 16%, data from state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) showed. "The basic principle of generator operation in the power market is minimization of generation costs. Nuclear power generally has lower fuel costs than other generation sources such as coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG)," a Korea Power Exchange (KPX) spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. "If nuclear and renewable facilities continue to be additionally expanded in the future, generation from gas and coal is likely to continue to decrease," the spokesperson said. A 29% annual decline in maintenance outage times and a 6% increase in installed nuclear capacity in the first half of 2025 also boosted output, KPX said. The 1.4 GW Shin Hanul #2 plant southeast of Seoul came online in April 2024. South Korea is Asia's No.2 nuclear power generator after China. It is ramping up nuclear generation as policy resistance to the technology is waning, with Japan restarting idled plants and new reactors beginning commercial operations in India. The country of 51 million people operates 26 nuclear reactors with 26.05 GW of capacity and is building four more, including two units totalling 2.8 GW expected online in 2026. Tighter safety checks and maintenance shutdowns after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan curbed nuclear output in South Korea last decade, lifting coal and LNG use. However, nuclear output has risen 6.1% annually since power consumption stabilised in 2022, and President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June, has pledged continued support. Nuclear's share of power generation rose to 31.7% in 2024 from 25.9% in 2019, KEPCO data showed, offsetting most of coal's decline to 28.1% from 40.4% across the same years. That helped South Korea cut its energy import costs, with overseas coal volumes falling 8% annually on average from 2022 levels, according to customs data, and the coal import bill falling 23% over that period to $15.4 billion last year. The growth in nuclear power is crowding out coal-fired power on transmission lines in South Korea. "Plenty of coal plants are sitting idle not by choice, but because there's no spare capacity on the transmission lines to carry more power," said Seunghoon Yoo, professor in the energy department in the Seoul National University of Science and Technology. Transmission constraints have also capped renewables, which along with hydropower provide just over a tenth of annual power generation, compared with a global average of 30%, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA, opens new tab). Power demand has mainly been driven by higher cooling requirements since 2022, KEPCO data showed, as industrial demand declines. Slow power demand growth has also discouraged operation of expensive gas-fired plants through the day despite the proximity of most of those facilities to Seoul. Gas is increasingly used to manage volatility, KPX said. "There has been an increasing pattern of gas plants operating during the morning peak hours, stopping around midday when demand is at its minimum, and restarting for the evening peak," the power exchange said. Electricity use by semiconductor manufacturers and data centres is rising but has not impacted fuel procurement, South Korea's energy ministry said.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Russia strikes Kharkiv with ballistic missile, injures 11, Ukraine says
KHARKIV, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Russia hit a residential area in Kharkiv with a ballistic missile, injuring at least 11 people, Ukrainian authorities said late on Sunday, as the U.S. president presses Kyiv to accept a quick deal to end the war that Moscow had started. Among the injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was a 13-year-old girl, Oleh Synehubov, governor of the broader Kharkiv region said on the Telegram messaging app. Kharkiv, which lies in northeastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, has been the target of regular Russian drone and missile attacks since the start of the war that Moscow launched with a full-scale invasion in February 2022. "The blast wave shattered windows in nearby apartment buildings," Ukraine's State Emergency Service said on Telegram. It added that some residents had to be evacuated. Reuters' witnesses saw medics attending to residents on a street and rescuers inspecting damage in residential buildings. A 57-year-old woman was injured in Russia's guided aerial bomb strike on the northeastern region of Sumy that also damaged at least a dozen residential houses and an educational institution building, regional authorities said. "The enemy continues to deliberately target civilian infrastructure in the Sumy region — treacherously, at night," Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional administration in Sumy, said on Telegram. Reuters could not independently verify what weapons Russia used. There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes, but thousands of people have died, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. President Donald Trump, who hosted President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for bilateral talks aimed at ending the war, has urged Kyiv to make a deal with Moscow, stating, "Russia is a very big power, and they're not."
