Sir Malcolm Rifkind: The handover of new territory to Russia is not an option
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Boston Globe
22 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
NATO defense chiefs hold ‘candid discussion' on security guarantees for Ukraine
Assurances that it won't be invaded again in the future are one of the keys for getting Ukraine to sign up for a peace deal with Russia. It wants Western help for its military, including weapons and training, to shore up its defenses, and Western officials are scrambling to figure out what commitments they might offer. Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday that the country would insist on being a part of any future security guarantees for Ukraine, a condition that European and Ukrainian officials widely see as absurd. Advertisement It was the clearest sign yet that enormous gaps remain in the negotiations over a possible end to Russia's invasion. And it added to the uncertainty over how a European effort to rally a 'coalition of the willing' to protect a postwar Ukraine, possibly with Western soldiers stationed inside the country, would fit into President Trump's plans for a peace deal with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Advertisement 'Seriously discussing issues of ensuring security without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow after a meeting with his Jordanian counterpart. US General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, took part in the virtual talks, Dragone said. US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also due to participate, a US defense official said. Caine also met with European military chiefs Tuesday evening in Washington to assess the best military options for political leaders, according to the defense official, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Trump met last Friday with Putin in Alaska and on Monday hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress. Trump is trying to steer Putin and Zelensky toward a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbor, but there are major obstacles. They include Ukraine's demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia won't mount another invasion in the coming years. 'We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,' Zelensky said in a Telegram post Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight. Kyiv's European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan, and Australia, has signed up to support the initiative. Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the US might play is unclear. Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending US troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia. Advertisement Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept NATO troops in Ukraine. Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said. Russian strikes also targeted ports and fuel and energy infrastructure, officials said. Zelensky said the strikes 'only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential.' Switzerland could host a Putin-Zelensky summit Trump said Monday he has Lavrov, in his Moscow press conference, said Russia is prepared to continue negotiations with Ukraine in any format. He said Putin proposed to Trump raising the level of representation in delegations that recently took part in largely fruitless direct talks in Istanbul. He added that 'a separate block [of talks] should be devoted to examining the political aspects of the settlement, along with the military and humanitarian ones.' Ukraine and Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging out peace negotiations in the hope of capturing more land before any settlement. French President Emmanuel Macron has said the summit could happen in Europe and proposed the Swiss city of Geneva. Switzerland has expressed its willingness to act as host. Putin's ability to travel abroad Advertisement Switzerland intends to ask the ICC to exempt it from sanctions in order to allow Putin in for a summit, according to a senior official in The Hague with direct knowledge of the request. The official was not authorized to speak about the proceedings and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
US Must be Part of Ukraine Security Agreement: Panetta
Leon Panetta, former US Secretary of Defense, shares what he believes security guarantees need to look like from the US and Europe to ensure Ukraine's safety from Russia. Panetta also talks about what to expect the US to guarantee and if he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will agree to a trilateral meeting, & what happens next if Putin does not. Leon Panetta speaks with Tyler Kendall and Michael Shepard on the late edition of Bloomberg's 'Balance of Power.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine's Zelenskiy says Russia struck gas distribution station in Odesa region
KYIV (Reuters) -Russia struck a gas distribution station in the southern Ukraine region of Odesa on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, adding this showed the need to put economic pressure on Russia amid current U.S. efforts to end the war. "All of these are demonstrative strikes that only confirm the need to put pressure on Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy is fully effective," Zelenskiy wrote on X. Zelenskiy did not specify how important the gas station is. Local authorities did not report any problems with gas supplies in the region. Ukraine uses gas not only for industrial needs, but also for heating homes and cooking. The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed the attack on what it said was port infrastructure "used to supply fuel to Ukrainian forces". In recent weeks, Russian forces have intensified attacks on gas and energy infrastructure, attacking a gas interconnector with Romania and fuel depots in several regions in early August. Ukraine has called on Baku to respond to Russian attacks on assets of Azerbaijani state-owned company SOCAR in the Odesa region. Ukrainian authorities say that Russia is trying to disrupt Ukraine's preparations for the winter heating season with its attacks. Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since a series of devastating Russian missile strikes this year, which significantly reduced domestic production. Ukrainian forces have also stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure, a key conduit for generating money for Kremlin's war efforts. Oil is once again flowing to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline, officials from both countries said late on Tuesday, after a Ukrainian drone strike on an oil pumping station in Russia's Tambov region halted supplies. Solve the daily Crossword
