'I'm not going to make a deal' on Ukraine: Trump
"I'm not going to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both (sides)," he said at a press conference in Washington.
Trump said he would like to see a ceasefire and that Friday would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war.
The president said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during talks with the Russian president in Alaska.
"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told reporters.
Trump also said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet after the upcoming summit on Friday.
"The next meeting will be with Zelenskiy and Putin, or Zelenskiy, and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," Trump said.
Earlier European leaders and Zelenskiy said they would speak to Trump ahead of his summit with Putin, amid fears Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine.
Ukraine and its European allies fear Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and also hoping to seal lucrative joint business deals with Moscow, could align with Putin to cut a deal that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.
Germany said it was convening a series of top-level video conferences on Wednesday to prepare for the summit including one between European leaders, Zelenskiy, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
It will be the first time Zelenskiy and Trump have spoken since the Alaska summit was announced.
Zelenskiy said concessions to Moscow would not persuade it to stop fighting in Ukraine and that there was a need to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin.
"Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits," Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Zelenskiy said Russia was preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine.
"He is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end," he said in a nightly address.
Zelenskiy added, without providing any specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil.
He later held separate phone calls with the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia, which both have cordial ties with Moscow, in order to bolster international support for Kyiv's position ahead of the Trump-Putin talks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said London supported Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine but believed Kyiv must be involved in any settlement on ending the fighting.
"We will never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him, but we will support Ukraine and President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations," Starmer's spokesperson told reporters.
"Any peace must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it, and we will not reward aggression or compromise sovereignty."
The Alaska meeting comes as Trump has hardened his stance towards Moscow, agreeing to allow additional US weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil.
Even so, the prospect of Trump hosting Putin, on US soil, in what will be the first meeting between leaders of the US and Russia since 2021, has revived fears that he might agree to a deal that forces big concessions from Kyiv.
with DPA and EFE
US President Donald Trump says he is not aiming for an agreement on the Ukraine war at his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I'm not going to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both (sides)," he said at a press conference in Washington.
Trump said he would like to see a ceasefire and that Friday would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war.
The president said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during talks with the Russian president in Alaska.
"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told reporters.
Trump also said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet after the upcoming summit on Friday.
"The next meeting will be with Zelenskiy and Putin, or Zelenskiy, and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," Trump said.
Earlier European leaders and Zelenskiy said they would speak to Trump ahead of his summit with Putin, amid fears Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine.
Ukraine and its European allies fear Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and also hoping to seal lucrative joint business deals with Moscow, could align with Putin to cut a deal that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.
Germany said it was convening a series of top-level video conferences on Wednesday to prepare for the summit including one between European leaders, Zelenskiy, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
It will be the first time Zelenskiy and Trump have spoken since the Alaska summit was announced.
Zelenskiy said concessions to Moscow would not persuade it to stop fighting in Ukraine and that there was a need to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin.
"Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits," Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Zelenskiy said Russia was preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine.
"He is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end," he said in a nightly address.
Zelenskiy added, without providing any specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil.
He later held separate phone calls with the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia, which both have cordial ties with Moscow, in order to bolster international support for Kyiv's position ahead of the Trump-Putin talks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said London supported Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine but believed Kyiv must be involved in any settlement on ending the fighting.
"We will never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him, but we will support Ukraine and President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations," Starmer's spokesperson told reporters.
"Any peace must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it, and we will not reward aggression or compromise sovereignty."
The Alaska meeting comes as Trump has hardened his stance towards Moscow, agreeing to allow additional US weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil.
Even so, the prospect of Trump hosting Putin, on US soil, in what will be the first meeting between leaders of the US and Russia since 2021, has revived fears that he might agree to a deal that forces big concessions from Kyiv.
with DPA and EFE
US President Donald Trump says he is not aiming for an agreement on the Ukraine war at his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I'm not going to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both (sides)," he said at a press conference in Washington.
Trump said he would like to see a ceasefire and that Friday would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war.
The president said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during talks with the Russian president in Alaska.
"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told reporters.
Trump also said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet after the upcoming summit on Friday.
"The next meeting will be with Zelenskiy and Putin, or Zelenskiy, and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," Trump said.
Earlier European leaders and Zelenskiy said they would speak to Trump ahead of his summit with Putin, amid fears Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine.
Ukraine and its European allies fear Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and also hoping to seal lucrative joint business deals with Moscow, could align with Putin to cut a deal that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.
Germany said it was convening a series of top-level video conferences on Wednesday to prepare for the summit including one between European leaders, Zelenskiy, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
It will be the first time Zelenskiy and Trump have spoken since the Alaska summit was announced.
Zelenskiy said concessions to Moscow would not persuade it to stop fighting in Ukraine and that there was a need to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin.
"Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits," Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Zelenskiy said Russia was preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine.
"He is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end," he said in a nightly address.
Zelenskiy added, without providing any specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil.
He later held separate phone calls with the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia, which both have cordial ties with Moscow, in order to bolster international support for Kyiv's position ahead of the Trump-Putin talks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said London supported Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine but believed Kyiv must be involved in any settlement on ending the fighting.
"We will never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him, but we will support Ukraine and President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations," Starmer's spokesperson told reporters.
"Any peace must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it, and we will not reward aggression or compromise sovereignty."
The Alaska meeting comes as Trump has hardened his stance towards Moscow, agreeing to allow additional US weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil.
Even so, the prospect of Trump hosting Putin, on US soil, in what will be the first meeting between leaders of the US and Russia since 2021, has revived fears that he might agree to a deal that forces big concessions from Kyiv.
with DPA and EFE
US President Donald Trump says he is not aiming for an agreement on the Ukraine war at his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I'm not going to make a deal. I think a deal should be made for both (sides)," he said at a press conference in Washington.
Trump said he would like to see a ceasefire and that Friday would be a "feel-out meeting" aimed at urging Putin to end the war.
The president said he will try to get some territory back for Ukraine during talks with the Russian president in Alaska.
"Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They occupied prime territory. We're going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he told reporters.
Trump also said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet after the upcoming summit on Friday.
"The next meeting will be with Zelenskiy and Putin, or Zelenskiy, and Putin and me. I'll be there if they need, but I want to have a meeting set up between the two leaders," Trump said.
Earlier European leaders and Zelenskiy said they would speak to Trump ahead of his summit with Putin, amid fears Washington may dictate unfavourable peace terms to Ukraine.
Ukraine and its European allies fear Trump, keen to claim credit for making peace and also hoping to seal lucrative joint business deals with Moscow, could align with Putin to cut a deal that would be deeply disadvantageous to Kyiv.
Germany said it was convening a series of top-level video conferences on Wednesday to prepare for the summit including one between European leaders, Zelenskiy, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
It will be the first time Zelenskiy and Trump have spoken since the Alaska summit was announced.
Zelenskiy said concessions to Moscow would not persuade it to stop fighting in Ukraine and that there was a need to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin.
"Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits," Zelenskiy wrote on X.
Zelenskiy said Russia was preparing its troops for new offensives instead of getting ready to stop the war in Ukraine.
"He is certainly not getting ready for a ceasefire and war end," he said in a nightly address.
Zelenskiy added, without providing any specifics, that Russia was moving its troops for new operations on Ukrainian soil.
He later held separate phone calls with the leaders of India and Saudi Arabia, which both have cordial ties with Moscow, in order to bolster international support for Kyiv's position ahead of the Trump-Putin talks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said London supported Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine but believed Kyiv must be involved in any settlement on ending the fighting.
"We will never trust President Putin as far as you can throw him, but we will support Ukraine and President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations," Starmer's spokesperson told reporters.
"Any peace must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it, and we will not reward aggression or compromise sovereignty."
The Alaska meeting comes as Trump has hardened his stance towards Moscow, agreeing to allow additional US weapons to reach Ukraine and threatening tariffs against buyers of Russian oil.
Even so, the prospect of Trump hosting Putin, on US soil, in what will be the first meeting between leaders of the US and Russia since 2021, has revived fears that he might agree to a deal that forces big concessions from Kyiv.
with DPA and EFE
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
18 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Personal victory for Putin': Ukraine panics as Trump floats land swap of occupied Donbas to end war
Ukrainians living in towns close to the eastern front lines have reacted with 'panic' at the prospect they could soon become part of Russia under a possible land swap deal floated by Donald Trump ahead of peace talks with Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that his Russian counterpart had scored a 'personal victory' by getting invited to talks with Mr Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow. Mr Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, after the US President suggested he and Mr Putin might negotiate a land swap to end the war. The summit, set to take place in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, will be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021 and comes as Mr Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia's nearly three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine. Mr Zelensky, who is not scheduled to take part, has expressed concern that Russia will put forward hard-line demands and that Mr Trump will hammer out a deal that will demand Ukraine cede swathes of territory. Russia is reportedly pushing Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region it controls, covering 9000 square kilometres, as part of a ceasefire deal. 'We will not withdraw from the Donbas … if we withdraw from the Donbas today — our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control — we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive,' Mr Zelensky told reporters. The Donbas encompasses the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both of which Russia claims as its own and has sought to control since its invasion began in 2022. Donbas residents 'Panic' Speaking to CNN in Sloviansk, a Donbas town close to the eastern front lines that remains under Ukraine's control, local journalist Mykhailo said the prospect of suddenly becoming Russian territory was calling 'panic'. 'Many of my friends want to stay here and we all will have to leave,' he said. 'But frankly speaking I don't think it is going to happen.' Mykhailo said he was concerned that the rushed peace talks could fall flat. 'What Trump did wrong he took him out of the bog — he took him out and said 'Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I just like you,'' he said. 'He didn't care that every day Ukrainians die.' In the town's maternity ward, new mother Taisiya was terrified at the prospect the US could give their town away. 'I saw the news,' she said. 'That would be very bad. But we have no influence on that. It's not going to be our decision. People will just give away their homes.' 'Personal victory' Mr Zelensky said Friday's summit would effectively postpone new US sanctions on Russia — sanctions that Mr Trump had promised to impose if Mr Putin refused to halt his war. 'First, he will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory,' Mr Zelensky said. 'Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions.' Mr Zelensky also said he had received a 'signal' from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without elaborating. 'This was the first signal from them,' Mr Zelensky said. To prepare for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a call with US counterpart Marco Rubio, who told a US radio show earlier that Mr Trump did not regard the meeting as a 'concession' to Russia. Why Zelensky wasn't invited The White House, meanwhile, confirmed that Mr Zelensky had been sidelined from the peace talks because Mr Putin had extended the invitation to meet. Mr Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the aim 'for the President is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war'. 'I think the President of the United States getting in the room with the President of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this President the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,' Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, has remained firm that any decisions to end the war without Ukraine will prove futile. 'Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine — they are simultaneously decisions against peace,' the Ukrainian leader said in a statement on Saturday. 'These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real, living peace, one that people will respect.' The European Union (EU), in a statement on Tuesday, also warned 'the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine'. 'Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,' the EU said. 'A just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force.' 'No equipment' On the battlefield, Mr Zelensky warned Russia had made sharp advances near the coal mining town of Dobropillia and was planning new ground assaults on at least three different areas of the front line. 'Russian units have advanced 10 kilometres deep in several spots,' Mr Zelensky said. 'They all have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. Some have already been found, some destroyed, some taken prisoner. We will find the rest and destroy them in the near future.' A map published by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties with Ukraine's military, showed Russia had made a double-pronged advance around 10 kilometres deep in a narrow section of the front line near Dobropillia. Dobropillia, home to around 30,000 people before the war, has come under regular Russian drone attacks. The advance also threatens the largely destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. Russian forces have been accelerating their advances for months, pressing their advantage against overstretched Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday it was engaged in 'difficult' battles with Russian forces in the east, but denied Russia had a foothold near Dobropillia. 'The situation is difficult and dynamic,' it said in a statement. 'New offensive' The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said Russia was sending small sabotage groups forwards. It said it was 'premature' to call the Russian advances around Dobropillia 'an operational-level breakthrough'. A Ukrainian military group that oversees parts of the front in the Donetsk region also said Russia was probing Ukrainian lines with small sabotage groups, describing battles as 'complex, unpleasant and dynamic'. Mr Trump has described his summit with Mr Putin on Friday as a chance to check the Russian leader's ideas for ending the war. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them. Ukrainian police meanwhile said that Russian attacks in the past hours had killed three people and wounded 12 others, including a child.
Perth Now
18 minutes ago
- Perth Now
White House threatens Washington homeless with jail
Homeless people in Washington, D.C., could face jail time if they do not comply with President Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on crime and rid the US capital of homeless encampments, the White House says. "Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental-health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt said the administration was exploring strategies to relocate homeless individuals "far from the capital." She said US Park Police have removed 70 homeless encampments from federal parks since March and are set to clear the remaining two encampments in the city later this week. Andy Wassenich, director of policy at Miriam's Kitchen - an organisation offering services to the homeless - said his team was out trying to warn people. He said there was still a lot of confusion about what the crackdown may bring. Their best advice, he said, was: "Go to shelter if you can, if you can stand it. If you have anybody you can stay with, get off the street, and seek safety and let us know what we can do for you." Trump said on social media that he wanted the homeless out of Washington even before he announced the extraordinary step of temporarily taking over the District of Columbia's police department and deploying 800 National Guard troops as part of a crackdown on crime there - an effort that also includes another 500 federal law enforcement agents. A billionaire real estate developer, Trump described the homeless as one of several groups who have "overtaken" Washington that include "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs." He likened his intended crackdown to his administration's actions to secure the US border with Mexico. US communities have long experienced seemingly intractable problems with homelessness, which reached an all-time national high of over 771,000 men, women and children on a single night in 2024, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's latest homelessness report to Congress. The HUD report estimated Washington's homeless population at 5616, a 14.1 per cent increase from the year before. That made Washington, a city of just over 700,000 people, the 16th out of the 20 US cities with the largest homeless populations, according to the website USA Facts. The top five cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and Denver. But the District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of homelessness among US states, with 83 homeless individuals for every 10,000 people, HUD data showed. with DPA
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Focus on being a DJ': Trump mocks Goldman Sachs chief after note
Solomon previously moonlighted as a disc jockey under the moniker DJ D-Sol. In 2022 he played at Lollapalooza, the four-day music festival in Chicago, alongside acts including Metallica, Dua Lipa and Green Day. However, he gave up his DJing hobby in 2023 after he attracted criticism following a downturn in profits at Goldman. Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the Trump post. In a separate post on Tuesday, Trump threatened to sue the chairman of the US Federal Reserve hours after official data showed inflation steady at 2.7 per cent. The US president said he was considering allowing a 'major lawsuit' against Jerome Powell over his handling of the renovation of some of the central bank's buildings. He blamed the Fed chairman for 'the horrible, and grossly incompetent, job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed buildings'. He wrote on Truth Social: 'Three Billion Dollars for a job that should have been a $50 Million Dollar fix up. Not good!' Tensions escalated between the two men in July when Trump visited the 'very expensive' renovation work at the US central bank. In footage broadcast live, Mr Powell openly disagreed with the US president after he declared new figures had 'just come out' suggesting the cost of renovating some buildings at the Fed had climbed from $US2.7 billion to $US3.1 billion ($4.1 billion to $4.8 billion). His attempt to blind side the Fed chairman backfired when Powell issued a stern rebuttal, as he quickly identified that the White House had included works previously done to another building several years earlier. Trump on Thursday also attacked the Fed chairman for being 'too late' to cut interest rates, which he said had done 'incalculable' damage to the American economy. The latest update in the row came as official figures showed US inflation rose at a slower pace than expected last month. The US consumer prices index was 2.7 per cent in June, according to figures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – better than analyst expectations of 2.8 per cent. Trump recently became embroiled in a row with the BLS, sacking its top statistician earlier this month after official data showed a sharp slowdown in the US jobs market. The president claimed that Erika McEntarfer had 'rigged' jobs data 'in order to make a great Republican success look less stellar'. Trump on Tuesday nominated EJ Antoni, an economist from the Heritage Foundation, a Right-wing think tank, to take over the post. Just hours after his appointment, Antoni said he would suspend monthly publication of the jobs data and move to quarterly statistics claiming that there were concerns over the accuracy of the data. He told Fox Business: 'How on earth are businesses supposed to plan – or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy – when they don't know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy? It's a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately.
