Zelenskyy Meets Starmer for Talks Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
The two leaders embraced before going inside the prime minister's residence, 10 Downing Street, for private talks.
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Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine cause akin to Second World War Allies, Starmer says before Alaska talks
Ukraine is fighting for the same values as the Allies did in the Second World War, Sir Keir Starmer has said ahead of a summit in Alaska that could see an end to the conflict against Russia. The Prime Minister addressed a reception, including veterans, to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which marked the Allies' defeat of Japan. Speaking in Downing Street, Sir Keir said: 'I sat on this terrace this very morning with President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, who is fighting for the same values as we were fighting for. And so when we say never forget, we must pass on the stories of those who have gone before us.' It came as US President Donald Trump suggested European leaders could be invited to a second meeting if the summit is successful, which could pave the way to peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Mr Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday at the summit which could see the drawing up of peace terms for Ukraine. Mr Trump and Sir Keir have spoken optimistically about a potential ceasefire, including at a virtual meeting of Ukrainian allies on Wednesday. Leaders of the European-led 'coalition of the willing' could then join talks between Mr Trump, Mr Putin and Ukrainian leader Mr Zelensky to end the war. The possibility was raised by Mr Trump in the White House on Thursday, before he flew to Anchorage where he will meet Mr Putin. He said: 'We have a meeting with President (Vladimir) Putin tomorrow, I think it's going to be a good meeting. 'But the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not.' The PA news agency understands that Sir Keir will attend a meeting if he is invited. He has been a central player in the coalition group which also includes French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Mr Trump added: 'I think President Putin will make peace. I think President Zelensky will make peace. We'll see if they can get along. And if they can it will be great.' The head of the British armed forces, Sir Tony Radakin, said the West should not be 'cowed' by Mr Putin and praised the strength of Britain and Nato. Writing in the Telegraph on the anniversary of VJ Day, he said: 'Putin doesn't want a war with Nato because he would lose. So we should not be cowed by his rhetoric or his campaign of sabotage, outrageous as it may be. 'The one weapon that is most needed in our arsenal is confidence. Despite the global instability, Britain is secure at home. Nato is strong. Russia is weak. It is not complacent to point this out.' Sir Keir met Mr Zelensky in Downing Street on Thursday. They both said there was 'strong resolve' for peace in Ukraine. The two leaders embraced as the red carpet was rolled out for Mr Zelensky's arrival in Downing Street, and they later discussed the conflict. They expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of a truce 'as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious' about ending the war, a Downing Street statement said. In a separate statement, Mr Zelensky said there had been discussions about the security guarantees required to make any deal 'truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killing'. But concerns linger over the prospect of Kyiv being excluded from negotiations over its own future, and pressured to cede territory, after Mr Trump suggested any agreement may need to involve 'swapping of land'.
USA Today
25 minutes ago
- USA Today
It was sold in 1867, but some Russians want Alaska back from the U.S.
Theories that the United States swindled Russia out of Alaska in 1867 have percolated through the decades. Way back in 1991, as the once-mighty Soviet Union disintegrated and Westerners cheered, Vladimir Putin's favorite rock and roll band released 'Don't Fool Around, America,' a patriotic hit about an even older lost cause – Russia's 1867 sale of Alaska to the United States. This bouncy, accordion-driven single ignored the disorienting collapse of the Soviet dictatorship and instead pointed listeners east, across the Bering Strait, to the 49th U.S. state, demanding: 'Give us our dear Alaska back/Give us our dear native land.' Now the song, by rabble-rousing rockers Lyuba (the Loud Ones), has taken on new significance as President Donald Trump prepares to host Vladimir Putin at an Alaskan military base – and conspiracy theories resurface claiming Uncle Sam swindled Mother Russia out of the 665,000-square-mile Arctic jewel. Russian America Part theory, part wish, longstanding Alaska conspiracies gain prominence in Russia during times of conflict, when nationalists invoke perceived betrayals of the 19th century Russian and 20th century Soviet empires, said Andrei Znamenski, a history professor at the University of Memphis. Such talk 'is amplified' now, amid the Ukraine war and the August 15 Trump-Putin summit, Znamensi told USA TODAY. 'It turns out that Russian America was not sold to the United States. The real events were completely different,' one Russian news outlet wrote recently, describing an alternative – and, historians say, false – account in which Russia's claimed dominion in Alaska was merely leased to the U.S., with the lease long expired. An 'act of spite' The first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska was founded in 1784, and the state today still preserves a handful of Russian Orthodox churches. Some residents of the Aleutian Islands continue to practice a syncretic combination of Orthodox Christianity and shamanism, Znamenski said. But after Russia's defeat at the hands of the British in the costly 1854-56 Crimean War, Tsar Nicholas II decided to cut his losses and relinquish the difficult-to-defend Alaska. Britain, which ruled Canada, was eyeing the rich territory, so Nicholas sold it for $7 million to a less bellicose bidder: The United States. 'It was an act of spite' against England, Znamenski said. Nicholas hasn't been forgiven by nationalist writers, some of whom see him as the dupe of Masonic and Jewish conspiracies. One author, Ivan Mironov, wrote his 2007 book, 'A Fateful Deal: How Alaska was Sold,' while in jail for plotting the assassination of a reformist former deputy prime minister. Paradise lost Alaska and Crimea remain linked in some ways today, both viewed as historic Russian regions lost by weak leaders – Yeltsin, the first president of independent Russia, is reviled for recognizing Crimea as part of Ukraine after the USSR collapsed. In 2016, two years after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine, a black granite memorial was raised in Sailors' Square of the Black Sea city of Yevpatoria with a command to future generations: "We returned Crimea, it's up to you to return Alaska." 'Siberia and Alaska, the two shores are the same,' Lyuba sang. 'Women, horses, thrills along the way.' A music video for the song begins with an animated machine gun severing Alaska from the North American continent. (Lyuba's lead singer was later elected to the Russian parliament, or Duma, as a member of Putin's United Russia party.) All or nothing For most of the Russian nationalist intelligentsia, Alaska is less a jewel to be recovered than a warning against any concession to the West. Alexander Dugin, a leading intellectual of Russia's 'Eurasianist' far right who's closely tied to Putin, has often raised the Alaska example. Dugin, whose adult daughter was killed in a 2022 car bombing blamed on Ukraine's secret service – for which he was the presumed target – was deadly serious in discussing the stakes of the Alaska summit in a recent article. 'Putin has repeatedly admitted that the West never keeps its word, constantly deceives and distorts, and to trust its leaders in any way is impossible under any circumstances,' he wrote August 13 in the Russian-language newsweekly Stolista-S. 'For Trump, it is a deal, for us fate,' Dugin said. 'Ukraine will either be ours or nothing at all.'
37 minutes ago
Trump admin live updates: Trump says we 'want the museums to treat our country fairly'
"We want the museums to talk about the history of our country in a fair manner." 3:56 President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to make Washington "crime-free" as he spoke at the Kennedy Center. "We're going to be essentially crime-free. This is going to be a beacon, and it's going to also serve as an example of what can be done," Trump said. Trump on Friday is expected to hold a summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the White House seeks an end to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. 4 Updates 9:38 AM EDT Trump-Putin press conference is the 'plan' after Friday's summit, White House says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the "plan" on Friday is for President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin to hold a joint press conference after their meeting. Leavitt spoke at length on "Fox and Friends" on Thursday morning about Trump's upcoming trip to Alaska. Leavitt declined to get into specifics about Trump's strategy for negotiations ahead of the meeting, but did reiterate his determination to secure a peace deal. "Tomorrow, bright and early, he will be departing the White House for our joint military base in Anchorage, Alaska, where he will engage in a one-on-one meeting with President Putin, which will be followed by a bilateral lunch with a respective delegation from both countries, and then a press conference," Leavitt said. Leavitt indicated that there is a plan for a joint press conference after the meeting with both Trump and Putin taking questions. "Will this be a joint press conference where both sides get to ask Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump?" the reporter asked. "Yes, that is the plan," Leavitt confirmed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration will move to revoke visas and impose visa restrictions on Brazilian officials and former Pan American Health Organization officials, as well as levy visa restrictions against Cuban, African and Grenadan officials and their family members over their 'complicity' in what he described as the Cuban government's medical labor export schemes. For years, Cuba has allowed countries to bring in medical workers from the country in exchange for financial compensation. The majority of that money goes to the Cuban government -- not the medical workers themselves. 'This scheme enriches the corrupt Cuban regime while depriving the Cuban people of essential medical care,' Rubio said in a statement. According to a study commissioned by the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons report, these and similar labor export programs bring in around $4 billion for Cuba each year. -ABC News' Shannon Kingston President Donald Trump said he will seek "long-term" federal control of the D.C. police force during his remarks at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday. According to Section 740 of D.C.'s Home Rule Act, Trump can only have control of the city's law enforcement for 30 days unless that is extended by Congress. When asked whether he'd work with Congress to extend the emergency authorization allowing him to seize temporary control of local law enforcement, Trump responded, "We're going to need a crime bill, that we're going to be putting in, and it's going to pertain initially to D.C." "We're going to be asking for extensions on that -- long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days," he continued. Trump also indicated that this will pertain "initially" to D.C., hinting that it could be a roadmap to be used in other cities in the future. -ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
