
Ahead of Trump–Putin talks, Zelenskyy urges support for US ceasefire efforts
'There have been many calls in recent days, many contacts at various levels,' Zelenskyy said on the Telegram app after speaking with the Czech prime minister. 'All are united by the understanding that the war must be brought to an end and that Europe must develop a common position on every important security aspect.'
Zelenskyy's comments came ahead of a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin 'in the coming days', as a US deadline approaches for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine or face economic penalties.
On Thursday, Putin had named the United Arab Emirates as one of the possible venues for a meeting with Trump, calling it a 'suitable' location for high-level talks.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
21 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Vladimir Putin dials Brazil's Lula a day after speaking to PM Narendra Modi amid Donald Trump's tariff war
A day after talking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to discuss cooperation among the BRICS countries amid US President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on both New Delhi and Brasilia. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's office said that Vladimir Putin initiated the call, which included a discussion of his talks with the US on Ukraine and Brazil-Russia cooperation.(Reuters photos) According to a Kremlin statement, Putin and Lula reaffirmed their determination to further strengthen their countries' strategic partnership and coordination within BRICS. The Brazilian presidential office said that Putin initiated the call, and it included a discussion of his talks with the US on Ukraine and Brazil-Russia cooperation. Earlier on Thursday, President Lula called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and both reinforced the goal of expanding bilateral trade to more than $20 billion by 2030, among other pressing matters. The BRICS nations, especially Brazil and India, have become targets of Donald Trump's tariffs. While Trump justified a 50 percent tariff on imports from India by linking it to New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil, Brazil has also seen high tariffs on its exports to the US in the Republican's efforts to end the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges that he attempted a coup. Brazil expanding trade with India, China to offset Donald Trump's tariffs Brazil has responded to the 50 percent tariff imposed by Donald Trump by seeking to expand trade with other partners, including China, India and Southeast Asia. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said Brazil will not target the US with reciprocal tariffs in response to the 50% trade levy Trump placed on its goods, but will gauge interest for a joint response among its BRICS partners. He has already spoken to Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, and the US tariffs were also among the topics discussed, although the details are still not clear. While Brazil's oil producers gained relief from the tariffs, concern has emerged over the country's dependence on Russian diesel after Trump slapped an extra tariff on India for buying Russian energy.


Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Europe and Ukraine press US ahead of Trump-Putin talks
European officials were reported to have presented their own Ukraine peace proposals to the United States on Saturday as President Donald Trump prepared for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war. Trump announced on Friday that he would meet Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve 'some swapping of territories to the betterment of both'. It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory – an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. US Vice President JD Vance met Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace. The Wall Street Journal said European officials had presented a counter-proposal, including demands that a cease-fire must take place before any other steps are taken and that any territory exchange must be reciprocal, with firm security guarantees. 'You can't start a process by ceding territory in the middle of fighting,' it quoted one European negotiator as saying. European officials contacted by Reuters were unable to confirm the report. Zelenskyy said the meeting was constructive. 'All our arguments were heard,' he said in his evening address to Ukrainians. 'The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine, this is key principle,' he said. He had earlier rejected any territorial concessions, saying 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier'. French President Emmanuel Macron also said Ukraine must play a role in any negotiations. 'Ukraine's future cannot be decided without the Ukrainians, who have been fighting for their freedom and security for over three years now,' he wrote on X after what he said were calls with Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 'Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake.' Zelenskyy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday which Trump described as having achieved 'great progress'. 'Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners,' Zelenskyy said in a post on X earlier on Saturday. Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. After the talks in Britain, Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited a US official as saying: 'Today's hours-long meetings produced significant progress toward President Trump's goal of bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.' It was not clear what, if anything, had been agreed. Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions and Russia has demanded that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that they still control. Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the current peace push as 'the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war'. 'At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine,' she said. Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory. Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say. Ukrainians remain defiant. 'Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories,' Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers.


NDTV
34 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump Tariff Effect: Instagram User Shows Sharp Spike In Walmart Pricing
An Instagram user, Mercedes Chandler, recently shared a video from a Walmart store in the United States asserting how US President Donald Trump's tariffs are directly causing a sharp spike in prices across clothes and other items. The post captioned, "Donald Trump's tariffs are in full swing!" shows Chandler walking across clothing sections comparing old price tags with new ones. The older tags had been either removed or covered up and new higher prices added. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mercedes Chandler (@campcallout) "Guys, the tariffs are in active effect," Chandler says, adding, "Look at these clothes in Walmart. All the tags have these bottom pieces ripped off, but then you find one with the bottom still on - $10.98. The price is raised to $11.98." Showing a children's outfit originally priced at $6.98, hiked up to $10.98, and a backpack originally sold for $19.97 now priced at $24.97, Chandler points out "That's a $4 increase". "If you don't believe me, go to your local, whether it be Walmart or Target and check this out for yourself," they said in the video. Users on Instagram have reacted to the video in different ways. Some were confused, a few criticised the tariffs and others responded sarcastically. "Was it worth it? Are we great yet?", one user commented, taking a slight at Trump's MAGA philosophy. Another said, "Remember when Trump freaked out when Amazon put the tariff charges when you check out? Retail stores should put that in their receipt." A Target employee commented, "...We also are taking the perforated price tags off the clothing starting a few days ago". Another user, supporting the tariffs said, "Wow we get billions and billions from the tariffs and in return we have to pay an extra dollar for a shirt OH NOOOOO the world is coming to an end". Since Trump assumed office in January, he has threatened to impose the main cornerstone of his campaign - tariffs on other countries. He has repeatedly argued that tariffs boost American manufacturing and protect jobs. Now, companies that bring in foreign goods into the US have to pay tax to the government. In return, American buyers will have to pay more for the imports. On Wednesday, Trump escalated his tariff offensive against India by slapping an additional 25 percent duty and subsequently doubling it to 50 percent on Indian goods over New Delhi's continuous imports of Russian oil.