Newsweek Magazine July 04, 2025 Issue
Kananaskis, Alberta: Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney addresses guests on June 17 during the Group of Seven Summit in Alberta. He vowed 'total solidarity with Ukraine' to its leader Volodymyr Zelensky (right). They were joined by, from left, France's Emmanuel Macron, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, NATO chief Mark Rutte, Japan's Shigeru Ishiba, Germany's Friedrich Merz and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Work begins in Finland on a new Canadian icebreaker for Arctic defense
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) — Dignitaries at a steel-cutting ceremony Wednesday in Finland marked the start of work on a new Canadian icebreaker to be named the Polar Max and aimed at bolstering Arctic defense. The event marked the concrete beginning of a trilateral partnership of the United States, Canada and Finland announced by the White House in July 2024 to bolster defenses in a region where Russia has been increasingly active. Russia has vastly more icebreaker ships than the U.S. and Canada at a time when climate change has made the remote but strategically important Arctic more accessible. The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, aims to leverage Finland's advanced shipbuilding expertise and technologies to help meet U.S. and Canadian demand for new icebreakers. Canada's minister for defense procurement, Stephen Fuhr, said his country is bringing its coast guard into the military and that investing in the Arctic is important for the future. 'The North is opening up, there are many reasons to be up there,' Fuhr said. 'There's security issues, resource development.' The hull will be built at Helsinki Shipyard before being transported to Canada where it's expected to be completed in Levis, Quebec by 2030. Quebec's Economy Minister Christopher Skeete highlighted the benefits of cooperating on the building of the new icebreaker. 'It's a partnership and we have a shared responsibility for the North, so this is a unique and very opportune partnership that allows us to leverage the strengths of both our countries in terms of maritime Arctic protection,' he said. 'The North is becoming more and more accessible, there are more and more rivalries in the North, and so we have to be prepared to assert our sovereignty out there,' Skeete added. During a NATO summit in June, U.S. President Donald Trump said Finland was the 'king of icebreakers' and suggested the U.S. might be willing to buy as many as 15 of them, including the used icebreaker that Trump said might be immediately available. 'We're trying to make a good deal,' Trump said. According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, the U.S. hasn't built a heavy polar icebreaker in almost 50 years. The last remaining one in service is the 399-foot Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star commissioned in 1976. During a talk in February at the RAND research organization, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier said the agency has determined it needs eight to nine icebreakers — a mix of heavy polar security cutters and medium Arctic security cutters. Building an icebreaker can be challenging because it has to be able to withstand the brutal crashing through ice that can be as thick as 21 feet (6.4 meters) and wildly varying sea and air temperatures, the report said.
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
JD Vance Told Volodymyr Zelensky to 'Behave' During Oval Office Meeting
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Vice President JD Vance told Fox News' Laura Ingraham that he greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with a "little icebreaker" during his visit to the White House this week. Vance said on The Ingraham Angle, "President Zelensky walked into the Oval Office, and I was chatting with him, and the president [Trump] and some of the senior Ukrainian delegation. I said, Mr. President, so as long as you behave, I won't say anything. And he just chuckled a little bit, and it was a good little icebreaker." During a February Oval Office meeting, President Trump and Vance abruptly confronted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, culminating in a public shouting match and the cancellation of a signed minerals deal after Zelensky was called "disrespectful" and escorted out of the White House. The meeting—which had initially been intended to formalize U.S. support for Ukraine—collapsed entirely, with lunch and a joint press conference scrapped amid the dramatic fallout. Vance: Zelenskyy walked into the oval office. I was chatting with him… I said Mr. President, so long as you behave, I won't say anything. It was a good little icebreaker — Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2025 This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
2 hours ago
NATO defense chiefs wrap talks on Ukraine security, but the path forward is unclear
Top U.S. and European defense officials spent much of this week privately discussing possible military options in Ukraine that would bolster the Eastern European country's protections against Russia. But the alliance's top military officials appeared to emerge without a concrete plan -- at least not one they were willing to discuss publicly. Gen. Dan Caine, President Donald Trump's top military adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, invited several of his European counterparts to dinner at his home at Fort Myer in Virginia on Tuesday evening. The discussion continued Wednesday online with a briefing by Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top U.S. commander in Europe, who also serves as head of NATO forces, officials said. The talks were aimed at providing military options that Trump and other political leaders in the NATO alliance could use to guarantee Ukraine's security as part of a peace deal between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskyy has aggressively sought security guarantees from the alliance to ensure Russia would not attack again. United Kingdom officials have said previously that Great Britain and France are prepared to lead a multinational force in Ukraine, but it was not clear how many troops would be involved, from which countries, or what exactly the troops would do. On Tuesday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the possibility of NATO-backed security guarantees as a 'breakthrough,' noting that the U.S. was now working 'at pace' with 30 or so other countries, which he called a 'coalition of the willing,' to help Ukraine. 'These guarantees will ensure that if there is a peace, if there is a deal, then we hold to it and there isn't further conflict,' Starmer said in a video post on X. Likewise, Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, said the security guarantees will ultimately help achieve any ceasefire in the three-year war. "If you bring in good security guarantees, this allows Zelenskyy some options as well to work with Putin so he can settle this conflict, and I think w'ere on a path to do that," Kellogg told Fox Business on Tuesday. But along with any commitment of troops, details on these possible security guarantees remained elusive Wednesday, as several officials said the discussions were still in the early stages and would need to become part of a broader political discussion going forward. Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told ABC News Live on Wednesday it was unlikely that NATO would cobble together a security agreement that would be acceptable to both Ukraine and the Europeans and to Russia. 'What you may get is a ceasefire, perhaps even an armistice, a more formal ceasefire that would require NATO security or European security guarantees to Ukraine to ensure that Russia does not restart the war,' Daalder continued. NATO officials struck an optimistic tone Wednesday following meetings with their counterparts, while avoiding discussing specifics. 'NATO has faced important times before,' said Col. Martin L. O'Donnell, a spokesperson for Grynkewich and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, in a statement following the meetings. 'And these have only made our Alliance Stronger,' he added. Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of the NATO military committee, said members confirmed their support for Ukraine during the meeting Wednesday. The 'priority continues to be a just, credible and durable peace,' he wrote. For his part, Trump has said only that he won't send ground troops and suggested the U.S. could help with air assets. 'President Trump has been clear that the U.S. will not be sending boots on the ground, but may be willing to help in other ways,' a White House official told reporters on Wednesday.
