Zelensky gifts Trump golf club of Ukraine war veteran
Mr Trump welcoming Mr Zelensky to the White House on Aug 18, and later thanking Ukrainian serviceman Kostiantyn Kartavtsev in a video for the gift of a golf club.
KYIV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave US counterpart Donald Trump a golf club during
his visit to Washington this week that had belonged to a serviceman fighting Russia's invasion, Kyiv said on Aug 19.
Mr Trump, an avid golfer who owns several courses, accepted the gift and presented Mr Zelensky with symbolic keys to the White House in return, the Ukrainian leader's office said.
The warm exchange marks a stark turnaround from February, when Mr Zelensky left the White House early following
a televised shouting match with Mr Trump and US Vice-President J.D. Vance.
Since that tense encounter, Mr Zelensky has sought to repair ties, flattering Mr Trump in public appearances and praising his efforts to secure peace.
'The president of Ukraine presented the president of the United States with a golf club,' Mr Zelensky's office said Aug 19.
The club previously belonged to Mr Kostiantyn Kartavtsev – a Ukrainian soldier who 'had lost a leg in the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion while saving his brothers-in-arms', the office said.
Mr Zelensky showed Mr Trump a video of Mr Kartavtsev, it said.
Later on Aug 19, Ukrainian veteran organisation United by Golf published a video of Mr Trump holding the golf club and thanking Mr Kartavtsev.
'I just watched your swing. I know a lot about golf and your swing is great,' Mr Trump said in the video.
'You're an amazing person, and you just keep playing golf and doing all of the other things. Your country is a great country. We're trying to bring it back to health,' he added.
Mr Zelensky also brought a letter for Mrs Melania Trump from his wife Olena thanking the US first lady for writing to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urging him to save children's lives.
Foreign leaders visiting the White House have been trying to woo Mr Trump with various gifts.
In late February, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought him an invite for an official visit with a letter signed by King Charles III. AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
23 minutes ago
- Straits Times
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 21, 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Palestinians rush for cover as smoke billows from an Israeli strike on a building in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Aug 20. Israel takes first steps of Gaza City military operation Israel's military announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City on Aug 20 and called up tens of thousands of reservists while the government considered a new ceasefire proposal to pause nearly two years of war. 'We have begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City,' Brigadier-General Effie Defrin, Israel's military spokesman, told reporters. A military official briefing reporters earlier on Aug 20 said reserve soldiers would not report for duty until September, an interval that gives mediators some time to bridge gaps between Hamas and Israel over truce terms. But after Israeli troops clashed with Hamas fighters in the Palestinian enclave on Aug 20, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader sped up the timeline for taking control of Hamas strongholds and defeating the militant group that triggered the conflict with an attack on Israel in October 2023. READ MORE HERE India test-fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile India said on Aug 20 it had successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile which, when operational, should be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to any part of China. The Agni-5 missile was successfully launched in India's eastern Odisha state, with authorities saying it 'validated all operational and technical parameters.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 18 persons nabbed and 82 vapes seized in HSA ops in Raffles Place and Haji Lane Singapore 3 Sengkang Green Primary pupils suspended for bullying classmate, with 1 of them caned: MOE Singapore Woman trapped between train doors: Judge rules SBS Transit '100% responsible' Singapore Religion growing in importance for Singaporeans: IPS study Life Record number of arts patrons in 2024, but overall donation dips to $45.74m Life 'Loss that's irreplaceable': Local film-makers mourn closure of Singapore indie cinema The Projector Singapore Nearly 2 years' jail, caning for man caught with at least 100 sexually explicit videos of children Singapore Grab users in Singapore shocked by fares of over $1,000 due to display glitch India and China, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for influence across South Asia and relations plummeted in 2020 after a deadly border clash. READ MORE HERE Trump buys more than $100m in bonds in office PHOTO: EPA US President Donald Trump has bought more than US$100 million (S$128 million) in company, state and municipal bonds since taking office in January, according to new disclosures which shed further light on the vast holdings of America's billionaire president. The forms, posted online on Aug 19, show the Republican former real estate mogul made more than 600 financial purchases since Jan 21, the day after he was inaugurated for his second term in the White House. The Aug 12 filing from the US Office of Government Ethics does not list exact amounts for each purchase, only giving a broad range. READ MORE HERE Poland accuses Russia of drone 'provocation' Poland said on Aug 20 that a Russian military drone flew into its airspace and exploded in farmland in the east of the country overnight, calling it a 'provocation'. 'Once again, we are facing a provocation from the Russian Federation, with a Russian drone,' Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters. The explosion occurred in a cornfield near the village of Osiny some 100km from Warsaw and near the borders with Ukraine and Russian-allied Belarus. READ MORE HERE Seville storms past Lyles for Lausanne 100m win Jamaica's Oblique Seville trumped Olympic champion Noah Lyles in the 100m at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne on Aug 20, just three weeks away from the world championships in Tokyo. Once again, Lyles stuttered out of the blocks, a slow start handing Seville the advantage from the start, something the Jamaican then never looked in danger of ceding. Seville clocked an impressive 9.87 seconds in torrential rain at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lyles battling back in a strong finish to snatch second in 10.02sec.
Business Times
23 minutes ago
- Business Times
Oil prices climb 2% on drop in US crude inventories as investors focus on Ukraine peace push
[NEW YORK] Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent on Wednesday on a bigger-than-expected weekly drop in US crude inventories as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end the Ukraine war, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now. Brent crude futures were up US$1.05, or 1.6 per cent, to settle at US$66.84 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 86 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to settle at US$63.21. The US Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 6.0 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended Aug 15. That was bigger than the draw of 1.8 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll and the decline of 2.4 million barrels that market sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group cited in its figures on Tuesday. 'We had a decent-sized crude drawdown. We saw a rebound in exports ... That and the strong refinery demand really makes this a bullish report,' said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. On Tuesday, crude prices fell more than 1 per cent - with WTI closing at its lowest level since May 30 - on optimism that an agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war seemed closer. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'Much of the choppy price action has been driven by daily updates to the Ukraine/Russian negotiations that have gone back and forth from bearish to bullish as far as the impact on future oil balances is concerned,' analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. US President Donald Trump conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to make a deal. Russia was the second-biggest producer of crude in 2024 behind the US, so any agreement that could ease sanctions on Moscow should boost the amount of Russian oil available for export to global markets. On Tuesday, Trump said he had ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said the US might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia's war in the country. On Wednesday, Russia said attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine without Moscow's participation were a 'road to nowhere', sounding a warning to the West as it scrambles to work out guarantees for Kyiv's future protection. Russia said it expects to continue supplying oil to India despite warnings from the US, Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow hopes trilateral talks will soon take place with India and China. Trump has announced an additional tariff of 25 per cent on Indian goods exported to the US from Aug 27, as a punishment for buying Russian oil. India's state-run refiners Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum have bought Russian oil for September and October delivery, resuming purchases after discounts widened, two company officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday. Russian forces have advanced in the east of Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, taking the village of Novoheorhiivka close to the Donetsk region, Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday. 'The likelihood of a quick resolution to the conflict with Russia now seems unlikely,' Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, said in a note. Other oil suppliers In other supply news, Iran believes the moment has not yet arrived for 'effective' nuclear talks with Washington, Tehran's top diplomat said on Wednesday. Iran was the third-biggest producer of crude in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in 2024 behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq, so any agreement to ease sanctions on Tehran should boost Iranian oil exports to global markets. In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, crude exports slipped in June to their lowest level in three months, according to data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI). In Norway, the second biggest oil producer in Europe after Russia, combined oil and gas production exceeded an official forecast by 3.9 per cent in July, according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD). REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
FBI warns of Russian hacks targeting US critical infrastructure
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Russian flag on the facade of a historic building alongside the American flag on the facade of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File photo Hackers associated with some of Russia's most prolific cyber espionage units have over the last year been leveraging a vulnerability in older Cisco software to target thousands of networking devices associated with critical infrastructure IT systems, the FBI and Cisco said on Wednesday. Hackers working within the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Center 16 are extracting 'device configuration information en masse, which can later be leveraged as needed based on then-current strategic goals and interests of the Russian government,' Cisco Talos researchers Sara McBroom and Brandon White wrote in a threat advisory published to the company's blog. In a separate advisory, the FBI said that over the last year it had detected the hackers collecting configuration files 'for thousands of networking devices associated with U.S. entities across critical infrastructure sectors.' In some cases the configuration files are modified to enable long-term access for the hackers, who use that access to conduct reconnaissance in targeted networks, with a particular interest in industrial control systems. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Moscow denies conducting cyber espionage operations. The hackers are exploiting a seven-year-old vulnerability in Cisco IOS software, targeting unpatched and end-of-life network devices, according to a separate threat advisory published on Wednesday by Cisco Talos, Cisco's threat intelligence research unit. Other state-backed hackers are likely conducting similar hacking operations targeting the devices, the Cisco Talos researchers wrote. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 18 persons nabbed and 82 vapes seized in HSA ops in Raffles Place and Haji Lane Singapore 3 Sengkang Green Primary pupils suspended for bullying classmate, with 1 of them caned: MOE Singapore Woman trapped between train doors: Judge rules SBS Transit '100% responsible' Singapore Religion growing in importance for Singaporeans: IPS study Life Record number of arts patrons in 2024, but overall donation dips to $45.74m Life 'Loss that's irreplaceable': Local film-makers mourn closure of Singapore indie cinema The Projector Singapore Nearly 2 years' jail, caning for man caught with at least 100 sexually explicit videos of children Singapore Grab users in Singapore shocked by fares of over $1,000 due to display glitch Organizations within the telecommunications, higher education and manufacturing sectors across North America, Asia, Africa and Europe have been most targeted, 'with victims selected based on their strategic interest to the Russian government,' the researchers said. The hacking unit linked to the activity has been operating for at least a decade, according to the researchers, and is likely a subgroup within the FSB's Center 16. In March 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice charged four Russian nationals within the group of illegally targeting the global energy sector between 2012 and 2018. REUTERS
