‘I will tell Putin to end this war': Trump reveals first details of showdown Putin talks & hints Zelensky could still go
The US President described the upcoming talks as a "feel-out meeting" - and said that his Russian counterpart wants to get the war "over with".
7
7
7
7
He also told reporters that he would tell Putin: "You've got to end this war, you've got to end it."
The historic showdown scheduled for August 15 will mark the first time the pair have met since June 2019, with the White House still weighing up whether or not to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump is also set to dial in with European leaders including Zelensky on Wednesday for an emergency summit in preparation for the Putin meeting.
He said he would call European leaders "who I get along with very well" after leaving the talks.
It comes as a top Vladimir Putin crony urged the tyrant to end his war in Ukraine - just days before crunch talks with Donald Trump, reports say.
The Deputy Head of Putin's administration, Dmitry Kozak, has reportedly encouraged the Russian leader to halt the invasion and begin peace talks.
It comes after sources close to the US President said that they were "very hopeful" Ukraine's leader would be invited to the highly-anticipated talks.
One senior administration official told NBC News that a trilateral meeting remains "absolutely" possible.
Another official briefed on White House conversations said: "It's being discussed."
It is believed that no official invite has been talked about with Kyiv as of yet.
A senior White House official explained: "Right now, the White House is focusing on planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin."
Zelensky has already been adamant that he must be involved in any peace talks as they directly impact on the future of his country.
Speaking last week, the brave leader said any pact struck without Kyiv's involvement would be "stillborn decisions against peace" and would fail before they even began.
"Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace," he said.
"They will not achieve anything."
His powerful stance has now been echoed by European leaders.
Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France, Italy, Poland, Finland and the EU all issued a stark warning saying there can be no peace without Ukraine.
7
7
Longtime Putin ally Kozak, 66, is said to have stepped out of line after years of being secretly opposed to the war, the New York Times reported.
He is believed to have presented a plan to end the fighting, which even included proposals for internal reforms.
Before the full-scale invasion in 2022, Kozak warned the Russian president about the risks of fierce Ukrainian resistance.
He also tried but failed to negotiate a working truce after the war started.
Western officials claimed that Kozak continued to contact them over the last few years, seeking arguments that might sway Putin.
The top Russian aide managed the integration of Crimea into Russia after it was annexed in 2014.
Who is Dmitry Kozak?
by Harvey Geh
LONGTIME Putin ally Dmitry Kozak rose from a St. Petersburg prosecutor to deputy head of Putin's administration through close ties with the Russian President.
Born in what was Soviet Ukraine, he served in GRU special forces before training as a lawyer.
He has managed crucial projects like the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the integration of Crimea after it was annexed.
In 2020 he became Russia's lead envoy to Kyiv, negotiating over Donbas and Transnistria.
Kozak privately warned Putin that invading Ukraine was a mistake, and after proposing a peace deal.
He has been sidelined since his secret opposition to the war.
Many of his duties have been slowly handed off to his de-facto replacement Sergei Kiriyenko.
Because of his central role in Crimea's annexation and Ukraine destabilisation, Kozak faces sanctions from the UK, EU and US.
He also managed preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.
But the top official has lost much of his political influence since Putin's bloody invasion.
The call with European leaders on Wednesday has been organised by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as European leaders desperately scramble to get their message across to Trump.
The online summit will reportedly focus on how to put pressure on Russia, how to deal with Ukrainian territories seized by Russia, security guarantees for Kyiv and the prospect of potential peace talks.
European leaders have made it clear that Putin must first agree to a ceasefire before any peace talks can take place.
7
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump mixes up Russia and Alaska ahead of peace talks with Putin
Donald Trump appeared to confuse Russia with Alaska while announcing his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting is scheduled for Friday in Alaska, with the primary aim of discussing an end to the war in Ukraine. 'You know, I'm going to see Putin. I'm going to Russia on Friday,' Trump told reporters at a Monday press conference in Washington D.C. This will be the first encounter between a US president and Putin since 2021, and Putin's first visit to the US in a decade, despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski expressed cautious optimism about the summit, while Russian officials welcomed the choice of location due to historical connections.
The Independent
17 minutes ago
- The Independent
The state-sponsored killing of journalists is another way to limit freedom of speech
The life of journalist Anas al-Sharif is worth no more and no less than any other life lost during the war in Gaza, or in the terrorist atrocities, perpetrated by Hamas, that preceded it. But his targeted killing – alongside that of the four other Al Jazeera staff members who died with him – does raise further significant questions about the way in which Israel has conducted the war. That an accredited journalist who worked for Al Jazeera (and previously for Reuters) was specifically targeted by the Israel Defense Forces is a development that can only be looked upon with a degree of horror. His death was not the kind of inevitable collateral damage that can take place in any war; for want of a better word, Sharif was the subject of a state-sponsored assassination. The Israeli authorities say he was a terrorist, belonged to Hamas, and served as the leader of a cell. They've produced some documentary evidence, but this has not impressed the independent observers who've examined it, and it raises the question of why, if it was so compelling, it was not released sooner. It certainly does not give any lawful reason for his killing, still less that of his Al Jazeera colleagues – correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Moamen Aliwa and Ibrahim Zaher, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal – none of whom has been claimed by the Israelis to have had any links to Hamas. Truth, as the old cliche goes, is the first casualty of war, and the fact is that Israel – unusually – has banned international journalists from covering the conflict. The Israeli authorities say it is not safe to do so, a grim irony given Sharif's fate. That, though, is not a matter for them to judge: it is one that should be left to the many news organisations, including The Independent, that have proudly dispatched brave journalists into even more hazardous environments over the course of many decades. Moreover, the Israeli policy has meant that the actions of the Israel Defense Forces cannot be independently monitored and reported on in the traditional manner. The images captured during recent aid flights and first reported by The Independent, of a moonscape where once were bustling neighbourhoods and olive groves, have, alongside the reportage of Sharif and his colleagues, given the world some idea of the disproportionate way in which Israel has acted. The result is that Israel stands accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, and the term 'genocide' is increasingly being used in connection with the denial of food and medicines to the people of Gaza. Absent the full measure of international scrutiny, journalists from Gaza itself have had to take on the responsibility of providing this essential function. They have willingly placed themselves in the line of fire to tell the world about the destruction of the Gaza Strip, and its human cost; to assess the extent of terrorist activity; and to draw attention to the plight of the hostages still cruelly held by Hamas. Wearing 'PRESS' flak jackets and helmets, they should have received the normal protections afforded to all journalists, and they might well have if they'd been, say, American or Saudi. The vast majority of the 232 or so journalists who have died in the war in Gaza have been Palestinian – a statistic that almost speaks for itself. According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs' Costs of War project, more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam war, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the United States' war in Afghanistan combined. As the exiled Palestinian writer Ahmed Najad has written in this newspaper, the death of Sharif is an attack on truth itself – and such attacks on freedom of speech and thought are sadly not confined to war zones. The arrest of hundreds of passive, peaceful protesters in London over the weekend shows how the effects of the war in Gaza, and the bitter arguments surrounding it, have spread across the world – or at least, to those parts where dissent is still possible and the press remains relatively uncontrolled by the state. It may well be the case, as ministers darkly hint, that Palestine Action is intent on carrying out activities that its supporters do not know about, but that still does not justify detaining elderly people whose only crime is to hold up a piece of cardboard with a message on it and exercise their right to free expression. A nation that seeks the support of its allies the world over will not succeed in drawing others to its cause by denying international reporters – and indeed, other countries' governments, and citizens – access to the truth. If Israel feels its actions are justified, then it must allow proper scrutiny of them, including coverage of the war it seems intent on perpetrating. The killing of journalists will never elicit anything other than shock from the international community. Benjamin Netanyahu would do well to remember this.
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Joy Reid's substack following climbs after MSNBC firing
On Monday, the former Reid Out host announced that she was a 'Substack Bestseller with thousands of paid subscribers.' While it's unclear how many of her 168,000-plus followers shell out the $8 monthly subscription fee, even a small percentage of paying customers would potentially net Reid six figures per month. 'At the start of the year, I had a grand total of nine thousand subscribers, who mostly came to this page (then called "And another thing with Joy") to read my occasional posts, and to live chat with me as I sat on set at 30 Rock during MSNBC special coverage,' Reid wrote on Monday. 'That modest growth ended abruptly in January, when my then boss, the MSNBC president, told me I wasn't allowed to have a Substack. Other paid plans for her Substack musings include an annual subscription for $80 and a yearly 'Founding Member' subscription for $240. Substack takes a 10 percent commission from each of its authors - as well as a four percent surcharge per payment - leaving Reid with plenty left over to pay the bills. Even if just 5,000 of her subscribers opted for the yearly plan, she would still be raking in a cool $360,000 a year. That doesn't account for any revenue earned from her YouTube series, The Joy Reid Show, which launched on June 9 and counts more than 243,000 subscribers. Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta, for example, has amassed just over 300,000 subscribers on Substack after his resignation from the network in early January. Reid, who rankled MSNBC brass with her extreme online rants, was fired in late February by the network's new boss. An insider at MSNBC told Politico that her controversial social media posts - including shamed Latino Republican's for voting for Trump and claiming the media's preoccupation with Russia's invasion of Ukraine was motivated by the victims being 'white and largely Christian' - 'gave the Standards Department heartburn.' In January, Reid compared President Donald Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
