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Ya Libnan
7 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Ukraine will not cede land, Zelenskiy says, as Trump, and Putin plan to meet in Alaska
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo/File Photo It appears that the Putin Trump summit is doomed to fail , if Trump is willing to cede territory to Russia By Andrea Shalal Washington- U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday. Trump made the highly anticipated announcement on social media after he said that the parties, including Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, were close to a ceasefire deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict, one that could require Ukraine to surrender significant territory. Addressing reporters at the White House earlier on Friday, Trump suggested an agreement would involve some exchange of land. 'There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,' the Republican president said. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine could not violate its constitution on the territorial issues, adding that 'Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupiers.' The Kremlin confirmed the summit in an online statement. The two leaders will 'focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis,' Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said. 'This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,' Ushakov said. In a video address to the nation posted on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Zelenskiy said that any decisions without Ukraine would be decisions against peace. 'They will not achieve anything. These are stillborn decisions. They are unworkable decisions. And we all need real and genuine peace,' Zelenskiy said. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Earlier, Bloomberg News reported that U.S. and Russian officials were working towards an agreement that would lock in Moscow's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion. A White House official said the Bloomberg story was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters was unable to confirm aspects of the Bloomberg report. Ukraine has previously signaled a willingness to be flexible in the search for an end to a war that has ravaged its towns and cities and killed large numbers of its soldiers and citizens, but never expressed any willingness to cede territory to Russia Accepting the loss of around a fifth of Ukraine's territory would be painful and politically challenging for Zelenskiy and his government. Tyson Barker, the U.S. State Department's former deputy special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery, said the peace proposal as outlined in the Bloomberg report would be immediately rejected by the Ukrainians. 'The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections and their conditions for a negotiated settlement, while demonstrating their gratitude for American support,' said Barker, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. Under the putative deal, according to Bloomberg, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines. TRUMP AND PUTIN The last time Alaska hosted a high-stakes diplomatic gathering was in March 2021, when senior officials from the administration of Democratic former President Joe Biden met with top Chinese officials in Anchorage. The get-together involving Biden's top diplomat Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi quickly turned into a stunning public clash in front of the cameras, with both sides leveling sharp rebukes of the others' policies that reflected the high tension in bilateral ties. Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war. In his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin. In a sign of his growing frustration with Putin's refusal to halt Russia's military offensive, Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs from Friday against Moscow and countries that buy its exports unless the Russian leader agreed to end the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. It was unclear by Friday evening whether those sanctions would take effect or be delayed or canceled. The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow's oil customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump's second term. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelenskiy. 'There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away,' Tusk told a news conference. 'There are hopes for this.' Tusk also said Zelenskiy was 'very cautious but optimistic' and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement. Reuters
Nahar Net
7 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Trump says Armenia, Azerbaijan commit to end fighting 'forever'
by Naharnet Newsdesk 09 August 2025, 12:55 Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed to a lasting peace after decades of conflict, U.S. President Donald Trump said after the South Caucasus rivals signed a deal welcomed on Saturday by Iran and Western nations. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's long-time President Ilham Aliyev said Trump's mediation should earn him a Nobel Peace Prize -- an award the US leader has been vocal about seeking. The two former Soviet republics "are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Trump said at a White House signing event on Friday. However, the fine print and binding nature of the deal between the long-time foes remained unclear. The two leaders would have a "great relationship," Trump said. "But if there's conflict... they're going to call me and we're going to get it straightened out," he said. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories. They went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. - 'Historic signature' - The Azerbaijan and Armenian leaders shook hands under the satisfied gaze of Trump before all three signed a document the White House called a "joint declaration." Aliyev hailed the "historic signature" between two "countries which were at war for more than three decades." "We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus," he said. Aliyev offered to send a joint appeal, along with Pashinyan, to the Nobel committee recommending Trump receive the Peace Prize. "Who, if not President Trump, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize?" he said. Aliyev also thanked Trump for lifting restrictions on US military cooperation with Azerbaijan, which was announced on Friday. Pashinyan said the "initialing of (the) peace agreement will pave the way to end decades of conflict between our countries and open a new era." The Armenian leader said the "breakthrough" would not have been possible without "peacemaker" Trump. "Today, we can say that peace has been achieved," Pashinyan told a news conference after signing the deal. The agreement includes establishing a transit corridor passing through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The United States will have development rights for the corridor -- dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" -- in the strategic and resource-rich region. Iran, which has long opposed the corridor over fears it would cut the country off from the Caucasus, welcomed the deal on Saturday. However, it also expressed "concern over the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in any way and form, especially in the vicinity of common borders." The foreign ministry in Turkey, a longtime supporter of Azerbaijan, hailed the "progress achieved towards establishing a lasting peace". UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated the two countries "on the bold steps taken in Washington." European Union chiefs said it would pave the way to "lasting, sustainable peace for both countries and across the entire region." - 'Strategic' partner - Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. However, Azerbaijan later outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians. Asked what Armenia stood to gain from Friday's deal, a White House official said it was "an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America." "The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The disputed mountainous enclave of Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but was controlled by pro-Armenian separatists for nearly three decades after a war following the break-up of the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan captured part of the territory during a 2020 war, then took all of it three years later. Almost the entire local population of around 100,000 ethnic Armenians left for Armenia.
Nahar Net
8 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Kyiv won't give up land, says Zelensky as US-Russia summit confirmed
by Naharnet Newsdesk 09 August 2025, 12:57 Ukraine won't give up land to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned early on Saturday, hours after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the far-north U.S. state of Alaska, near Russia, on August 15, to try to resolve the three-year conflict, despite multiple warnings from Ukraine and Europe that Kyiv must be part of the negotiations. Announcing the summit on Friday, Trump said that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details. "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," Zelensky said on social media hours later. "Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing," he said, adding that the war "cannot be ended without us, without Ukraine". Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire. Zelensky said Kyiv was "ready for real decisions that can bring peace" but said it should be a "dignified peace", without giving details. The former KGB officer in power in Russia for over 25 years has also ruled out holding talks with Zelensky at this stage. Ukraine's leader has been pushing to make it a three-way summit and has frequently said meeting Putin is the only way to make progress towards peace. - Far away from war - The summit in Alaska, which Russia sold to the United States in 1867, would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. This was just nine months before Moscow sent troops to Ukraine. Zelensky said of the location that it is "very far away from this war, which is raging on our land, against our people". The Kremlin said the choice was "logical" because the state close to the Arctic is on the border between the two countries, and this is where their "economic interests intersect". Moscow has also invited Trump to pay a reciprocal visit to Russia later. Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January. On Friday, Putin held a round of calls with allies, including China and India, in a diplomatic flurry ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough. The U.S. president has earlier imposed an additional tariff on India for buying Russia's oil in a bid to nudge Moscow into talks. He also threatened to impose a similar tax on China, but so far has refrained from doing so. Away from the talks, across the more than 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) frontline, Russia and Ukraine continued pouring dozens of drones on each other in an overnight exchange of attacks on Saturday. As a result of that, a bus carrying civilians was hit in Ukraine's frontline city of Kherson, killing two people and wounding six.
