Trump announces 25% tariff on India plus penalties for buying Russian energy
The US president said on Wednesday that India 'is our friend' but its tariffs 'are far too high' on US goods.
The Republican president added that India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, which he said has enabled the war in Ukraine.
As a result, he intends to charge an additional 'penalty' starting on Friday as part of the launch of revised tariffs on multiple countries.
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RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
EU leaders urge more 'pressure' on Russia ahead of Trump-Putin talks
European leaders welcomed US President Donald Trump's plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war in Ukraine, while stressing the need to keep pressure on Russia and protect Ukrainian and European security interests. Mr Trump plans to meet Mr Putin in Alaska on 15 August, saying the parties, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 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 Mr 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 Mr Zelensky and his European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. US Vice President JD Vance met British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and representatives of Ukraine and European allies yesterday at Chevening House, a country mansion southeast of London, to discuss Mr Trump's push for peace. A joint statement from the French, Italian, German, Polish, British and Finnish leaders and the president of the European Commission welcomed Mr Trump's efforts, while stressing the need to maintain support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia. "We share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine's and Europe's vital security interests," they said. "We agree that these vital interests include the need for robust and credible security guarantees that enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity," it said, while adding: "The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine." The leaders also said "they remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force," and added: "The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations." They also said negotiations could only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities. A European official confirmed a counterproposal was put forward by European representatives at the Chevening meeting but declined to provide details. The Wall Street Journal said European officials had presented a counterproposal that included demands that a ceasefire 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. A US official said "hours-long" meetings at Chevening "produced significant progress toward President Trump's goal of bringing an end to the war in Ukraine, ahead of President Trump and President Putin's upcoming meeting in Alaska." The White House did not immediately respond when asked about the European counterproposals. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke and pledged to find a "just and lasting peace" in Ukraine and "unwavering support" for Mr Zelensky while welcoming Mr Trump's efforts to end the fighting, a Downing Street spokesperson said. It was not clear what, if anything, had been agreed at Chevening, but Mr Zelensky earlier called the meeting 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 the key principle." He had earlier rejected any territorial concessions, saying "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier". NBC News citing an unnamed US official as saying that the Trump administration was considering inviting Mr Zelensky to join the US and Russian presidents at their Alaska meeting. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this, and Russian and Ukrainian officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Mr Macron stressed the need for Ukraine to 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 Mr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Mr Starmer. "Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake," he added. 'Clear steps needed' Mr Zelensky has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Russia on Wednesday which Mr Trump described as having achieved "great progress". Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Mr Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Russia called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Ukraine and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Russia 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 Centre, 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 1,000km 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.
The Journal
5 hours ago
- The Journal
Macron calls for the inclusion of Ukraine in planned talks between Putin and Trump next week
LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago FRANCE'S PRESIDENT EMMANUEL Macron has called for the inclusion of Ukraine in talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The American and Russian presidents are to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss Ukraine's future. It is seen as a potential breakthrough after weeks of expressing frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed the planned summit between the two, warning that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to 'dead solutions'. In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's territorial integrity, enshrined in the constitution, must be non-negotiable and emphasised that lasting peace must include Ukraine's voice at the table. Zelenskyy said Ukraine 'will not give Russia any awards for what it has done' and that 'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier'. Touching on Ukrainian anxieties that a direct meeting between Putin and Trump could marginalise Kyiv and European interests, Zelenskyy said: 'Any solutions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time, solutions against peace. 'They will not bring anything. These are dead solutions, they will never work.' Zelenskyy then said that he had spoken with Macron among a list of European leaders. In a post to X, Macron confirmed that the two had spoken, and said, 'We remain determined to support Ukraine, working in a spirit of unity and building on the work undertaken within the framework of the Coalition of the Willing. Advertisement 'Ukraine's future cannot be decided without the Ukrainians, who have been fighting for their freedom and security for over three years now. Europeans will also necessarily be part of the solution, as their own security is at stake. 'I will continue to coordinate closely with President Zelensky and our European partners.' Ukrainian officials previously said Kyiv would be amenable to a peace deal that would de facto recognise Ukraine's inability to regain lost territories militarily. Trump said he will meet with Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, suggesting that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory. The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, calling the location 'quite logical.' Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Zelenskyy said Ukraine was 'ready for real decisions that can bring peace' but said it should be a 'dignified peace', without giving details. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough. 'The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,' Trump said on his Truth Social site. He said earlier at the White House that 'there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both' Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details. Related Reads Trump threatens Putin with 'severe' secondary tariffs if no Ukraine ceasefire within 50 days Trump invited to Russia Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer. Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire. He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal. At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance – calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support. The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January. The Kremlin's Ushakov said that Trump had been invited to visit Russia. 'Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president,' Ushakov said. Additional reporting by Emma Hickey
The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Russia is running ‘slave catalogue' of Ukrainian ‘orphans' with kidnapped children ‘treated like animals'
RUSSIA is allegedly running a grotesque online "slave catalogue" of abducted Ukrainian children in occupied territory. The profiles can be searched by hair colour, eye colour and even "personality" in the latest twisted move by Mad Vlad Putin's regime. 9 Russia is reportedly running a twisted online 'slave catalogue' of abducted Ukrainian children Credit: Reuters 9 Children from an orphanage in the Donetsk region, eat a meal at a camp in Zolotaya Kosa, the settlement on the Sea of Azov, Rostov region, southwestern Russia Credit: AP 9 Ukrainian officials previously warned its children are being trained up to fight in Putin's army Credit: Bring Kids Back Ukraine According to the NGO Save Ukraine, it features almost 300 children labelled as "orphans" or "left without parental care". But campaigners insist many were forcibly taken from their families, re-registered under Russian documents and are now being "matched" with Russian families as if they were animals in a pet shop. Mykola Kuleba, head of Save Ukraine, described it as 'digital trafficking' and a 'slave catalogue'. He warned: "This is not adoption. This is not care. This is digital child trafficking, masked as bureaucracy. "These children are not 'war orphans'. They had names, families and Ukrainian citizenship." According to The Times, the depraved search tool reportedly allows users to filter children by age, gender, health and physical traits - even by whether they are "calm" or "active". The portal is run by Luhansk's so-called Ministry of Education and Science — part of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), a Russian-installed regime in territory internationally recognised as Ukrainian. While some of the children listed were born after Russia seized the area in 2014, Kuleba says most were born before occupation and held Ukrainian citizenship. Kyiv says the catalogue is just the latest stage in Moscow's mass child-snatching campaign — a programme that Ukrainian officials claim has seen tens of thousands of minors abducted since Putin's full-scale invasion in 2022. Yale researchers, UN experts and legal bodies have said the deportations could amount to war crimes. Nazi lies, Vlad's propaganda & troops on border… chilling signs Putin ready to invade ANOTHER European nation after Ukraine In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the illegal transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children. Russia has long defended these relocations as "humanitarian" - but Ukrainian officials and returned captives tell a far darker story. Survivors have described being beaten, starved, locked in basements, forced to sing the Russian national anthem, and banned from speaking Ukrainian in re-education camps. Some say they were told their parents had abandoned them. 9 Pictures show children inside Russian 're-education' camps in a bid to rid them of their Ukrainian heritage Credit: Bring Kids Back Ukraine 9 A chamber in Kherson where Ukrainian children were allegedly abused Credit: Security Service of Ukraine 9 Vitaliy was held at a camp in Yevpatroia and spoke of horrors he saw after begging to be released from an isolation cell Credit: BRING KIDS BACK UKRAINE 9 One 11-year-old, Illia, was forced to have shrapnel removed without anaesthetic after he was snatched by Russian soldiers Credit: BRING KIDS BACK UKRAINE Earlier this year, Moscow announced plans to send 60,000 kidnapped Ukrainian children to remote summer camps in the wilderness - a move critics see as deepening indoctrination. Ukraine's presidential adviser Daria Zarivna has accused Putin of 'weaponising' these children, warning they are being groomed to fight for Russia in future wars. She told The Sun: 'It's a threat to global security, to Ukraine's security.' Lvova-Belova - dubbed "Putin's childcatcher" and sanctioned by Britain for her role in the abductions - has openly bragged about "adopting" a boy from Mariupol. 'I was snatched by Russian soldier' ILLIA, 11, was deported from Mariupol after a Russian missile strike killed his mother and left him with horror shrapnel wounds when he was nine. His neighbours buried his mum's body in their back garden before he was snatched by Vlad's soldiers and taken for surgery at a camp in Donestk. The shrapnel was removed without any anaesthetic and he was forced to write and speak Russian and repeat "Glory to Ukraine as part of Russia". He says Russian forces tried to turn him into a "propaganda tool" but that he is not "one to be duped so easily." Illia's grandmother had been searching for her grandson ever since losing contact with her daughter in March 2022. It wasn't until they spotted the young boy in a video from Russia that she realised he was alone and that her daughter had been killed. His grandmother never gave up hope and set about getting her injured grandson back home where he belonged. Months later, Illia returned home to Ukraine and had further surgery to remove more fragments from his leg, while 11 remain. His grandmother Olena said: "He had a school, he had a home, he had a mother and he lost all of that - his entire childhood. "He kept to himself, he was afraid of noise, he was afraid of sirens. He had no memory. He now has dreams of becoming a doctor so that he can help fighters on the frontline as a combat medic. She is accused of overseeing the heartless bureaucratic machinery that strips Ukrainian children of their identities before placing them in Russian homes. Kyiv's Bring Kids Back Ukraine initiative has so far rescued nearly 700 minors, but thousands remain missing. Officials say no peace deal will be struck with Moscow until every abducted child is returned. 'This is genocide,' said Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets. 'These children are not commodities. They are victims of a brutal campaign to erase our nation's future.' 9 Putin meets with Russia's Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova Credit: AFP
