Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump ‘demands control' of pipeline in Ukraine carrying Russian gas

Independent

13-04-2025

The US is demanding control of a key pipeline in Ukraine used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, while Kyiv negotiates a minerals deal with the Donald Trump administration.
Prospects for a breakthrough in the deal between Washington and Kyiv are scant given the 'antagonistic' atmosphere of the talks, a source told Reuters following last week's meeting.
The US has demanded that its International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline running from the town of Sudzha in western Russia to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod.
Senior economist Volodymyr Landa told The Guardian Washington's bullying 'colonial-type' demands had little chance of being accepted by Kyiv.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump said on Saturday that talks to end the war in Ukraine might be going well, adding that there was a time when you had to put up or shut up.
His envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg for four hours to discuss a 'Ukrainian settlement' on Friday.
Ukraine can nearly produce full range of weapons it needs, says Zelensky aide
Ukraine can nearly supply its armed forces with the full range of military equipment if requires, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
In remarks reported by the Kyiv Independent, Oleksandr Kamyshin told a briefing marking Ukraine's Gunsmith Day, in which it was said that Ukraine had developed a total of 324 types of weapons domestically between 2022 and 2024: 'Today, according to various estimates, 30 per cent to 40 per cent of what our troops use on the front lines is made in Ukraine.
'It's not only about war — it's about our economy. As of last year, defence manufacturing made up a significant share of our GDP. After our victory, I'm confident we'll be exporting Ukrainian-made weapons to the world.'
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:15
Opinion | It'll take more than a 'reassurance force' to fill the US-sized hole
Our associate editor Sean O'Grady writes:
There's a terrible sense of poignancy – if not doom – around all the meetings of the 'coalition of the willing', impressive as the grandiloquent words, the formidable roll call of nations and the glittering array of military uniforms might be.
To be brutally frank, and with the best will in the world, these capable, dedicated ministers and generals may be wasting their time.
The problem is American resistance to the whole idea. The danger is that if Vladimir Putin doesn't like the COTW reassurance force – and everything suggests that he hates it – and obstructs Donald Trump's peace deal, then Trump will agree.
The best Putin will accept so far is a conventional UN peacekeeping force, ie the kind of thing that so recently proved useless and was humiliated by Israel in Lebanon. No Nato members, under any flag, will be allowed in. If nothing is agreed, Putin will carry on, likely with Trump's acquiescence – because it seems to me that Trump is basically a coward.
It'll take more than a 'reassurance force' to fill the US-sized hole in Brussels
As members of the 'coalition of the willing' gather at Nato's Brussels headquarters today, it won't just be about achieving peace in Ukraine and guaranteeing European security, writes Sean O'Grady. It will be a question of how – and if – they can sway Donald Trump and the White House to provide even the most tokenistic 'backstop'
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:46
Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking its energy infrastructure five times in past 24 hours
Russia's defence ministry has claimed that Ukraine had carried out five attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the past day, in an alleged violation of a US-brokered moratorium on such strikes.
Ukraine and Russia agreed to pause strikes on each other's energy facilities last month, but both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratorium.
It was not possible to verify Russia's claims, and Moscow has repeatedly made false claims about Ukrainian attacks since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 11:52
Turkey and Russia's top diplomats discuss Ukraine ceasefire efforts, source says
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan have discussed efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, a Turkish diplomatic source has told Reuters.
The pair also discussed energy cooperation issues and bilateral relations during a meeting on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in southern Turkey, the source said.
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 12:13
Trump's envoy 'tells him quickest way to end war is for Ukraine to cede four regions to Russia'
Shortly after dining with a Russian negotiator in Washington last week, Donald Trump's envoy to Moscow is reported to have told the US president that the quickest way to end the war would be to support a strategy handing Vladimir Putin the four Ukrainian regions he sought to illegally annex seven months into his full-scale invasion.
Steve Witkoff, a former real estate mogul, who met with Mr Putin on Friday, was said to have made the remarks by two US officials and five people familiar with the situation, Reuters reported. Mr Witkoff has previously been unable to name all four regions to which he referred.
However, Mr Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is claimed by two sources to have pushed back against Mr Witkoff, saying that Ukraine would never agree to completely hand over all four territories to Russia.
The meeting is reported to have ended without Mr Trump making a decision to change Washington's strategy.
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 12:42
Republicans called White House to complain after Trump envoy's interview on Ukraine, report says
Mutiple Republican members of the US congress were so alarmed by Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's remarks about Russia's war during an interview with Tucker Carlson that they called the White House national security adviser and secretary of state Marco Rubio to complain, a source has told Reuters.
During the interview last month, Mr Witkoff praised Mr Putin as 'super smart' and not 'a bad guy', while claiming the 'central issue' and 'elephant in the room' in peace negotiations is whether Ukraine can cede four regions – which he was unable to name – to Russia.
According to the report, some US officials worry that Moscow is taking advantage of Mr Witkoff's – a former real estate mogul – lack of experience at the negotiating table.
'Witkoff must go, and Rubio must take his place,' Eric Levine, a major Republican donor, said in a letter sent on 26 March to a group including fellow donors to the party.
Andy Gregory12 April 2025 13:10
US demands control over Ukraine pipeline carrying Russian gas - report
The US has demanded control of a key pipeline in Ukraine that is used to send Russian gas to Europe, according to reports, while Kyiv negotiates a mineral deal with Donald Trump's administration.
Prospects for a breakthrough in the minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv were scant given the meeting's "antagonistic" atmosphere, a source told Reuters, following last week's meeting.
The US has demanded that the government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline, which runs from the town of Sudzha in western Russia to the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod.
Senior economist Volodymyr Landa told The Guardian that Washington's bullying 'colonial-type' demands had little chance of being accepted by Kyiv.
Ukrainian prime minister Volodymyr Zelensky last week said a minerals deal should be profitable for both countries and could be structured in a way that would help modernise Ukraine.
The latest draft would give the US privileged access to Ukraine's mineral deposits and require Kyiv to place in a joint investment fund all income from the exploitation of natural resources by Ukrainian state and private firms.
The proposed deal, however, would not provide US security guarantees to Kyiv – a top priority of Mr Zelensky – for its fight against Russian forces occupying some 20 per cent of its territory.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar13 April 2025 04:16