Carney says Trump is ‘creating the opportunity' to end Russia's war in Ukraine
Carney is praising the U.S. government's efforts to end the war in a statement today, after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not attend the summit, which ended without any agreement for a ceasefire or path to end the war.
Analysis: Despite Trump's impatience to broker a settlement in Russia-Ukraine War, Putin presents some obstacles to peace
Carney says in his statement that Canada is co-ordinating closely with Zelenskyy and other partners to intensify steadfast support for Ukraine.
Carney took part in talks Wednesday with European leaders and spoke directly with Zelenskyy on Monday.
The prime minister says on social media that Canada's partners insist that Ukrainians decide their own future with diplomatic efforts reinforced by military and economic pressure on Russia so the war can end.
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CTV News
14 minutes ago
- CTV News
Trump administration halts visas for people from Gaza after Laura Loomer questions arrivals
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives for a joint press conference with President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) WASHINGTON — A day after conservative activist Laura Loomer posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review. The State Department said Saturday the visas would be stopped while it looks into how 'a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas' were issued in recent days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday told 'Face the Nation' on CBS that the action came after 'outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it." Rubio said there were 'just a small number' of the visas issued to children in need of medical aid but that they were accompanied by adults. The congressional offices reached out with evidence that 'some of the organizations bragging about and involved in acquiring these visas have strong links to terrorist groups like Hamas,' he asserted, without providing evidence or naming those organizations. As a result, he said, 'we are going to pause this program and reevaluate how those visas are being vetted and what relationship, if any, has there been by these organizations to the process of acquiring those visas.' Loomer on Friday posted videos on X of children from Gaza arriving earlier this month in San Francisco and Houston for medical treatment with the aid of an organization called HEAL Palestine. 'Despite the US saying we are not accepting Palestinian 'refugees' into the United States under the Trump administration,' these people from Gaza were able to travel to the U.S., she said. She called it a 'national security threat' and asked who signed off on the visas, calling for the person to be fired. She tagged Rubio, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Trump has downplayed Loomer's influence on his administration, but several officials swiftly left or were removed shortly after she publicly criticized them. The State Department on Sunday declined to comment on how many of the visas had been granted and whether the decision to halt visas to people from Gaza had anything to do with Loomer's posts. HEAL Palestine said in a statement Sunday that it was 'distressed' by the State Department decision to stop halt visitor visas from Gaza. The group said it is 'an American humanitarian nonprofit organization delivering urgent aid and medical care to children in Palestine.' A post on the organization's Facebook page Thursday shows a photo of a boy from Gaza leaving Egypt and headed to St. Louis for treatment and said he is 'our 15th evacuated child arriving in the U.S. in the last two weeks.' The organization brings 'severely injured children' to the U.S. on temporary visas for treatment they can't get at home, the statement said. Following treatment, the children and any family members who accompanied them return to the Middle East, the statement said. 'This is a medical treatment program, not a refugee resettlement program,' it said. The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for more medical evacuations from Gaza, where Israel's over 22-month war against Hamas has heavily destroyed or damaged much of the territory's health system. 'More than 14,800 patients still need lifesaving medical care that is not available in Gaza,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday on social media, and called on more countries to offer support. A WHO description of the medical evacuation process from Gaza published last year explained that the WHO submits lists of patients to Israeli authorities for security clearance. It noted that before the war in Gaza began, 50 to 100 patients were leaving Gaza daily for medical treatment, and it called for a higher rate of approvals from Israeli authorities. The U.N. and partners say medicines and even basic health care supplies are low in Gaza after Israel cut off all aid to the territory of over 2 million people for more than 10 weeks earlier this year. 'Ceasefire! Peace is the best medicine,' Tedros added Wednesday. Associated Press, The Associated Press
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
U.S., Russia agreed on Ukraine security pledges, Witkoff says
Published Aug 17, 2025 • 3 minute read Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, left, and US President Donald Trump during a joint news conference at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, US, on Friday, Aug. 15. Photo by Al Drago / Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed at their summit in Alaska last week that the US would be able to offer Ukraine security guarantees, according to Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'We got to an agreement that the US and other nations could effectively offer Article 5-like language to Ukraine,' Witkoff said on CNN's State of the Union, referring to the NATO provision that says if one ally is attacked, it is considered an attack on all member states. But Witkoff, who attended the leaders' meeting at a military base in Alaska on Friday, said their agreement stopped short of allowing Ukraine to achieve its longstanding goal of NATO membership. 'Putin says the red flag is NATO admission,' Witkoff said. Russia went into the summit demanding that Ukraine give up territory that Russia seized in its three-year war. Witkoff said Putin 'made some concessions with regards with all five of those regions,' and added, 'There needs to be a discussion of Donetsk' with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy when he meets Trump at the White House on Monday, suggesting there is room to negotiate. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. European leaders will be joining Zelenskiy at the White House meeting with Trump, in a show of support as Ukraine's leader faces growing US pressure to agree to a quick peace deal with Russia that involves giving up territory. Trump on Sunday insisted that he made 'BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA' in a post on Truth Social. While Trump had gone into Friday's summit with Putin seeking a ceasefire, he'd emerged saying he was going to focus on a final settlement. Witkoff said the switch was made because Putin and Trump made 'so much progress' that there was no need for a ceasefire period in which the details would be worked out. 'The thesis of a ceasefire is that you'd be discussing all of these issues that we already resolved' in Alaska, Witkoff said on CNN, noting that they couldn't finalize any discussion of land swaps because Zelenskiy needed to be directly involved. Trump didn't invite Zelenskiy to the meeting in Alaska. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday the US hasn't ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine as part of the goal of brokering a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, while arguing that additional sanctions would be unlikely to force Putin to accept a deal. Rubio also said that the US remains committed to crafting a deal that includes both 'what the border lines are going to look like' and Russia accepting that Ukraine 'is a sovereign country.' 'They have a right, like every sovereign country does in the world, to have, to enter into security alliances with other countries to prevent an invasion in the future, to prevent threats to their national security,' Rubio said on CBS's Face the Nation. 'That's not an unreasonable request.' Rubio said no US sanctions on Russia have been relaxed and the US may eventually end up imposing tougher penalties if talks stall. 'And so those options remain to the president,' he said. 'The minute he takes those steps, all talks stop.' Engaging with Russia is necessary to end the war, 'as distasteful people may find it,' Rubio said. Asked whether a ceasefire is off the table, Rubio said, 'No, it's not off the table.' At the same time, he added, 'Let's be frank, this is not our war.' 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Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Putin agreed to let U.S., Europe offer Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees, Trump envoy says
Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defence mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war. 'We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,' he said on CNN's State of the Union. He added that it 'was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said that 'we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine and the 'Coalition of the willing' – including the European Union – is ready to do its share.' European leaders to join Zelensky and Trump for White House meeting Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to 'robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing.' He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelensky thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear. 'It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,' he said, 'But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.' Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made. 'We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. 'We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal,' he said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be 'additional consequences' as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there wasn't going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine wasn't at the talks. 'Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear, there are going to be consequences,' Rubio said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But we're trying to avoid that. And the way we're trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities.' Analysis: Trump and Putin in Alaska is a study in contrasts Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter isn't off the table but that 'the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal.' 'The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished,' Rubio said on NBC's Meet the Press. He also said 'we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement' and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. 'We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off,' Rubio said. Zelensky and Europeans leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin. 'I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time,' Witkoff said. He added: 'The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians – that could not have been discussed at this meeting' with Putin. 'We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon.'
