Donald Trump Junior accused of killing protected species of duck on hunt in Venice lagoon
Andrea Zanoni, from the Green Europe party, said he had notified the Carabinieri environmental crime unit in Mestre.
He claimed Mr Trump hunted and killed protected species of birds in Campagna Lupia, a town in the province of Venice, last December.
"The US president's son killed a protected species in a protected natural area, and this is a serious criminal offence," Mr Zanoni said.
"No one should be above the law."
Mr Zanoni is currently serving as president of the region of Veneto's justice commission.
A spokesman for Mr Trump said his party had permits and were in a legally allowed area.
A video posted online and reported by Italian media outlets appears to show Mr Trump Jr shooting at ducks inside a special conservation area south of Venice, and then addressing the camera and pointing to an orange-brown duck among at least six other dead waterfowl around him.
The dead birds allegedly included a ruddy shelduck, which is protected by the EU Birds Directive and Italian wildlife protection legislation.
In addition, it is thought Mr Trump needed to reside in an Italian region in order to be granted a hunting permit.
Veneto imposes a different hunting calendar for each species.
Mr Zanoni said he was "100% sure" the Venice Public Prosecutor's Office will soon open a probe into the case.
If so, it is thought Donald Trump Jr could face both a jail sentence and a fine.
A source close to the investigation told Sky News they are "evaluating" possible crimes following Mr Zanoni's complaint.
Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto said he was "waiting for a report".
Sergio Costa, a former Italian environment minister, told Sky News he was "horrified" by the case.
"It's as if Italy became Trump Junior's backyard," Mr Costa said.
"I'll ask the government to report on this and I'm going to file a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office," he added.
An animal rights NGO, LAV, expressed indignation along with other Italian political parties.
Veneto governor Luca Zaia refused to comment on the case.
A spokesman for Mr Trump said "there were countless other hunting groups present" while the hunting party had permits and were in a legally allowed area.
Andy Surabian added: "While it's unclear whether this single duck was unintentionally shot by someone in Don's hunting group, another hunting group, or killed in a different manner and retrieved by the group's hunting dog, Don takes following all rules, regulations and conservation on his hunts very seriously and plans on fully cooperating with any investigation."
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Glasgow Times
a few seconds ago
- Glasgow Times
Trump says Zelensky can stop war with Russia ‘almost immediately' ahead of talks
The US president suggested Mr Zelensky would have to accept there was 'no getting back' Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and Ukraine would not be allowed to join the Nato alliance. Sir Keir and other European leaders will seek to persuade Mr Trump not to push for a settlement which rewards Vladimir Putin's aggression and to get US security guarantees for any military peacekeeping force from the so-called 'coalition of the willing'. Those joining Sir Keir include France's Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Friedrich Merz, Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Alexander Stubb, president of Finland. Nato chief Mark Rutte and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are also attending. In a message on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said President Zelensky 'can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight'. He said there would be 'no going into Nato by Ukraine' – keeping its neighbour out of the alliance and its mutual defence pact has been one of Russia's key aims. But Sir Keir, along with other Nato leaders, has said Ukraine is on an 'irreversible path' to membership of the alliance. Government minister Stephen Kinnock said the 'pathway for Ukraine to Nato' could not be dictated by any other country. The health minister told Times Radio: 'Any decisions taken about Ukrainian territory must be taken with the agreement of the Ukrainian government and President Zelensky. 'The other is that the pathway for Ukraine to Nato and to security guarantees cannot be dictated to them by any other country, and the other is to send a very clear message that we the British people stand firmly shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ukrainian people as we showed when we opened our homes and our hearts to the Ukrainian refugees.' Mr Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has suggested that measures similar to Nato's Article 5 mutual defence provision could be offered by the US without Kyiv joining the alliance. Mr Witkoff, who took part in the talks between Mr Trump and Russian president Mr Putin last week, said it 'was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that' and called it 'game-changing'. '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,' Mr Witkoff told CNN. Mr Zelensky said any peace deal must be lasting 'not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East – part of Donbas – and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack'. He said: 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started. And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.' I have already arrived in Washington, tomorrow I am meeting with President Trump. Tomorrow we are also speaking with European leaders. I am grateful to @POTUS for the invitation. We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably. And peace must be lasting. Not… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 18, 2025 At the White House, Mr Zelensky is expecting to face calls from the US president to concede to full Russian control of Donetsk and Luhansk, two mineral-rich regions of Ukraine that are mostly occupied by Vladimir Putin's forces. In exchange for these demands, the Russian president would reportedly withdraw his forces from other areas of Ukraine and accept the Nato-like guarantee designed to prevent him launching further incursions. Ahead of their Oval Office encounter, the allies are likely to be mindful of the previous occasion Mr Zelensky visited Mr Trump in the White House. February's public spat, which saw Vice President JD Vance accuse Mr Zelensky of not being thankful enough to the US, resulted in American aid to Ukraine being temporarily halted. Mr Trump will again host Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office before a separate meeting with the European leaders.
The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war live: ‘Russia must end this war,' Zelenskyy says as he arrives in Washington for Trump talks
Update: Date: 2025-08-18T09:18:30.000Z Title: Zelenskyy met European leaders in Brussels earlier on Sunday and reiterated Ukraine's stance on land swaps Content: Ukrainian president hopes 'joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace' as he joins leaders from Europe in Washington for crucial summit with Donald Trump Trump rules out Ukraine reclaiming Crimea or joining Nato as European leaders gather in Washington Jakub Krupa (now), Jane Clinton and Adam Fulton (earlier) Mon 18 Aug 2025 05.18 EDT First published on Mon 18 Aug 2025 01.13 EDT From 1.13am EDT 01:13 Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared 'Russia must end this war' as he arrived in Washington DC ahead of crucial talks with Donald Trump over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A host of European leaders will join Zelenskyy on Monday for the summit as they seek to provide a counterpoint to Vladimir Putin's arguments following his talks with the US president on Friday. The leaders – British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Finnish president Alexander Stubb – cleared their diaries to fly to the US at short notice, which is seen as a measure of how alarmed they were by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage. After the Alaska talks Trump reportedly endorsed the Kremlin's plan to end the war in Ukraine, including Kyiv giving up territory that Russia has been unable to seize and no ceasefire until a final deal has been agreed. Zelenskyy said in a post on X after arriving in Washington DC late on Sunday that he was grateful to Trump for the invitation and 'we all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably'. He also said that 'peace must be lasting'. 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started,' Zelenskyy said. 'And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.' Here are some of the latest developments: , saying on X: 'Ukraine's constitution makes it impossible to give up or trade land. Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral – Ukraine, the US, Russia. So far, Russia gives no sign this will happen, and if Russia refuses, new sanctions must follow.' Ahead of Monday's peace talks in the US, Emmanuel Macron said that in order to have a 'lasting peace deal for Ukraine, Ukraine needs a strong army'. He added that European allies want 'Ukraine's territorial integrity to be respected' and that 'Ukraine must be represented in any talks on Ukraine's future'. The French president also said that 'our goal for tomorrow's talks is to present a united front between Ukraine and its European allies'. The Washington talks will also be attended by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte. Zelenskyy has hailed the decision to offer security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal as he prepared to meet Trump. 'Security guarantees, as a result of our joint work, must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation,' the Ukrainian president said. In announcing his visit to Washington, Keir Starmer praised Trump for his 'efforts to end Russia's illegal war in Ukraine'. At the same time, the British PM reasserted Europe's red lines, saying the 'path to peace' could not be decided without Zelenskyy and that Russia should be 'squeezed' with further sanctions. Starmer has deliberately sought to position himself as a leader who can get along with Trump while consistently stressing the red lines over any peace plan. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Russia and Ukraine were both 'going to have to make concessions' for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war. In interviews on Sunday Rubio said the talks in Alaska had 'made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement – but there remains some big areas of disagreement'. 'We're still a long ways off,' Rubio added. 'We're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made and towards one.' He declined to go into specific areas of agreement or disagreement. Trump's Ukraine envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Putin had agreed that the US and European allies could offer Ukraine a Nato-style, 'Article 5-like' security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war. Witkoff added that Russia had agreed to unspecified concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the war, particularly the eastern Donetsk province. 'We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as gamechanging,' he said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organisations in Vienna, said early on Monday that Russia agreed that any future peace agreement must provide security guarantees to Kyiv, but added that Russia 'has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees'. European Union council president Antonio Costa said he 'welcomed the United States' willingness to participate in providing security guarantees to Ukraine'. He also said: 'Transatlantic unity is paramount at this moment to achieve a sustainable peace in Ukraine.' Updated at 2.22am EDT 5.18am EDT 05:18 Separately, at least seven people were killed and some 20 injured in a separate attack on Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, agencies reported. Six children aged 6 to 17 were among 20 other people injured in the attack on Ukraine's second largest city, Oleh Synehubov, governor of the wider Kharkiv region, wrote on Telegram. A ballistic missile attack shattered around 1,000 windows in various buildings in the city, Synehubov said. Some residents had to be evacuated from their homes, officials said. 'Russia is a murderous war machine that Ukraine is holding back. And it must be stopped through transatlantic unity and pressure,' Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X after the attack. 4.46am EDT 04:46 The number of people injured in the Russian shelling of Zaporizhzhia has increased to 17, according to the latest update from the Ukrainian army. Its statement added: The number of victims is being specified. The blast wave and debris damaged residential buildings and commercial premises, and a bus stop was partially destroyed. The necessary services are working at the scene. 4.35am EDT 04:35 Meanwhile, showing growing concern about how the signals coming from the US are being understood by Russia, Zelenskyy's top aide, Andriy Yermak, posted a video of a Russian armoured vehicle carrying two flags, of Russia and the US. 'Russian propagandists show a video in which Russian military equipment goes on the assault with the flags of Russia and the US.' He continued: 'The Russians are using the symbols of the US in their own terrorist war of aggression, marked by the killing of civilians.' 'Utter arrogance,' he added. Updated at 4.42am EDT 3.58am EDT 03:58 Jakub Krupa In one of many posts on social media overnight, US president Donald Trump claimed that 'president Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to'. His comments are likely to alarm European leaders as they could signal growing US pressure on Ukraine to accept a deal, however imperfect or outright bad it is, as Trump is determined to secure a diplomatic success after his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday. We all remember what happened during Zelenskyy's last visit to the White House – even if US state secretary, Marco Rubio, appeared to play down apparent similarities between the two visit in his TV interview over the weekend. But, even more worringly for Europe, Trump also added: 'Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!' This position by Trump appears to violate one of the European red lines for Ukraine, saying that Ukraine must not be blocked from deciding about its future. On Saturday, European leaders adopted a statement saying: 'No limitations should be placed on Ukraine's armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine's pathway to EU and Nato. It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory. International borders must not be changed by force.' It's hard to reconcile the two positions – and there will be some concern that by meeting Zelenskyy first, without the Europeans, Trump could seek to pursue this line even further before he sees a concerted push back from European partners. One to watch. Updated at 5.11am EDT 3.36am EDT 03:36 In the last few minutes, Finland's prime minister Petteri Orpo said that a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine are the most important topics at the meeting of US president Donald Trump, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders. Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, will be among those in attendance. 3.23am EDT 03:23 Jakub Krupa It's Jakub Krupa here, taking over to guide you through the day as we build up to the main event in Washington this evening. Good morning. 3.18am EDT 03:18 Asked behind the scenes at June's G7 summit if he could explain why Donald Trump seemed to like him so much, Keir Starmer admitted he did not really know. But whatever the reason, when it comes to Ukraine, the UK prime minister is once again hoping to exploit this somewhat curious relationship, Peter Walker writes in this analysis. It continues: As soon as it was announced that a string of European leaders planned to join Volodymyr Zelenskyy to back the Ukrainian president in crucial talks with Trump at the White House on Monday, it was obvious Starmer would be joining them. The idea of Britain being some sort of bridge between US and European interests is something of a longstanding UK diplomatic cliche, and not one that always necessarily carries much meaning. But in the case of Ukraine, Starmer has very deliberately sought to position himself as a leader who can get along with Trump while consistently stressing to him Europe's red lines over any peace plan, and trying to sweet-talk the president into offering US security guarantees. You can read the full analysis here: 3.05am EDT 03:05 A Ukrainian drone intercepted by Russia near the Smolensk nuclear power plant detonated after falling but did not cause significant damage to the plant, Russia's nuclear power corporation Rosatom said on Monday. 'The damage is insignificant, there are no casualties,' Rosatom said. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday it had prevented a Ukrainian drone attack on the Smolensk nuclear power plant, Reuters reports. 2.51am EDT 02:51 A Russian drone attack on a five-storey apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Monday killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others, Ukrainian authorities said. The attack, which took place just before dawn, reduced part of the building to rubble and sparked fires on at least three floors, the region's governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram. Russia fired four drones at the building, he said. Ukraine's state emergency service posted videos showing rescuers attempting to break through the rubble to reach a trapped resident, while another showed a floor in flames, AFP reports. 'Five people were killed, including a girl aged about one-and-a-half years old,' Ukraine's prosecution service said. 'At least 18 people were wounded and suffered acute shock, including children.' The city near the Russian border was also hit hours earlier by a ballistic missile that wounded at least 11 people, Mayor Igor Terekhov said. Russia also struck the southern Odesa region with drones early Monday, sparking a fire at a fuel facility, regional governor Oleg Kiper said. 2.38am EDT 02:38 Ukraine's air force said on Monday that Russia had launched four missiles and 140 drones during an overnight attack on Ukraine, Reuters reports. The air force downed 88 drones and recorded hits in 25 locations across six Ukrainian regions, according to the statement posted on the Telegram messaging app. 2.28am EDT 02:28 Here are some images coming to us over the wires. 2.00am EDT 02:00 Ukraine's foreign minister says Russia continues to kill civilians despite peace efforts ahead of the US and Ukrainian presidential summit. 'Russia is a murderous war machine that Ukraine is holding back. And it must be stopped through transatlantic unity and pressure,' Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Monday after a Russian attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Sybiha also posted a photo of the smoking damage to a building, saying: This is a residential building in Kharkiv. This night Russia killed at least four people here, including a child, and injured many more … Moscow must stop the killing in order to advance diplomacy. Updated at 2.10am EDT 1.55am EDT 01:55 Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make his second visit to the White House on Monday with the daunting task of reversing the damage done to Ukraine's security prospects by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. But as Julian Borger writes in this analysis, the Ukrainian president will not be alone as he was on his first trip to the White House in February, when he was ambushed and humiliated by Donald Trump and vice-president JD Vance, who sought to bully him into capitulation to Moscow's demands. This time the Ukrainian leader comes to Washington flanked by a dream team of European leaders, including Britain's Keir Starmer, Germany's Friedrich Merz and France's Emmanuel Macron, who combine economic and military clout with proven rapport with Trump. Their mission will be to use their individual and combined influence to coax the president out of the pro-Russian positions he adopted after just a couple of hours under Putin's sway in the sub-Arctic on Friday. The full analysis is here: Updated at 2.11am EDT 1.50am EDT 01:50 Germany's foreign minister has called for stepped-up pressure on Russia, including more aid for Ukraine, to push Moscow into concessions toward a 'just and lasting peace'. Johann Wadephul was speaking in Tokyo ahead of the summit between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders including German chancellor Friedrich Merz. 'It is probably not an exaggeration to say the whole world is looking to Washington,' Reuters quotes Wadephul as saying at a press briefing on Monday alongside Japan's foreign minister. 'Firm security guarantees are central' because 'Ukraine must be able to defend itself effectively even after a ceasefire and peace agreement', he added. Updated at 1.57am EDT 1.42am EDT 01:42 The White House has released the timings for the day's events in Washington DC. Donald Trump is to hold a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 1.15pm (5.15pm GMT) on Monday at the White House. Trump will then participate in a multilateral meeting with European leaders visiting Washington at 3pm (7pm GMT). 1.33am EDT 01:33 Here are some of the scenes in Washington DC amid the security operation for the crucial leaders' summit. Updated at 2.15am EDT 1.19am EDT 01:19 In saying 'peace must be lasting', Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said on X that must be 'not like it was years ago, when Ukraine was forced to give up Crimea and part of our East –part of Donbas – and Putin simply used it as a springboard for a new attack'. 'Or when Ukraine was given so called 'security guarantees' in 1994, but they didn't work,' the Ukrainian president said. Now, our soldiers have successes in Donetsk and Sumy regions. I am confident that we will defend Ukraine, effectively guarantee security, and that our people will always be grateful to President Trump, everyone in America, and every partner and ally for their support and invaluable assistance. Updated at 2.18am EDT 1.13am EDT 01:13 Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared 'Russia must end this war' as he arrived in Washington DC ahead of crucial talks with Donald Trump over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A host of European leaders will join Zelenskyy on Monday for the summit as they seek to provide a counterpoint to Vladimir Putin's arguments following his talks with the US president on Friday. The leaders – British prime minister Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Finnish president Alexander Stubb – cleared their diaries to fly to the US at short notice, which is seen as a measure of how alarmed they were by Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage. After the Alaska talks Trump reportedly endorsed the Kremlin's plan to end the war in Ukraine, including Kyiv giving up territory that Russia has been unable to seize and no ceasefire until a final deal has been agreed. Zelenskyy said in a post on X after arriving in Washington DC late on Sunday that he was grateful to Trump for the invitation and 'we all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably'. He also said that 'peace must be lasting'. 'Russia must end this war, which it itself started,' Zelenskyy said. 'And I hope that our joint strength with America, with our European friends, will force Russia into a real peace.' Here are some of the latest developments: , saying on X: 'Ukraine's constitution makes it impossible to give up or trade land. Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at the trilateral – Ukraine, the US, Russia. So far, Russia gives no sign this will happen, and if Russia refuses, new sanctions must follow.' Ahead of Monday's peace talks in the US, Emmanuel Macron said that in order to have a 'lasting peace deal for Ukraine, Ukraine needs a strong army'. He added that European allies want 'Ukraine's territorial integrity to be respected' and that 'Ukraine must be represented in any talks on Ukraine's future'. The French president also said that 'our goal for tomorrow's talks is to present a united front between Ukraine and its European allies'. The Washington talks will also be attended by the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte. Zelenskyy has hailed the decision to offer security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal as he prepared to meet Trump. 'Security guarantees, as a result of our joint work, must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation,' the Ukrainian president said. In announcing his visit to Washington, Keir Starmer praised Trump for his 'efforts to end Russia's illegal war in Ukraine'. At the same time, the British PM reasserted Europe's red lines, saying the 'path to peace' could not be decided without Zelenskyy and that Russia should be 'squeezed' with further sanctions. Starmer has deliberately sought to position himself as a leader who can get along with Trump while consistently stressing the red lines over any peace plan. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Russia and Ukraine were both 'going to have to make concessions' for there to be a peaceful resolution to the war. In interviews on Sunday Rubio said the talks in Alaska had 'made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement – but there remains some big areas of disagreement'. 'We're still a long ways off,' Rubio added. 'We're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made and towards one.' He declined to go into specific areas of agreement or disagreement. Trump's Ukraine envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Putin had agreed that the US and European allies could offer Ukraine a Nato-style, 'Article 5-like' security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war. Witkoff added that Russia had agreed to unspecified concessions on five Ukrainian regions central to the war, particularly the eastern Donetsk province. 'We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as gamechanging,' he said. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organisations in Vienna, said early on Monday that Russia agreed that any future peace agreement must provide security guarantees to Kyiv, but added that Russia 'has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees'. European Union council president Antonio Costa said he 'welcomed the United States' willingness to participate in providing security guarantees to Ukraine'. He also said: 'Transatlantic unity is paramount at this moment to achieve a sustainable peace in Ukraine.' Updated at 2.22am EDT
Reuters
3 minutes ago
- Reuters
Dollar firms heading into busy week of geopolitics and Fed speak
SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The dollar gained against the euro and sterling on Monday ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian and European counterparts, while focus also turned to the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium for policy cues. The euro was down 0.2% against the dollar at $1.1683 while the British pound slipped 0.1% to $1.3546. The paring of wagers on a rate cut by the Fed next month helped the dollar find some support amid otherwise muted moves in foreign exchange markets on Monday. Money markets are now pricing in an 85% chance the Fed will ease rates by a quarter point next month, as traders pulled back wagers on the certainty of a cut after a raft of data including a jump in U.S. wholesale prices last month and a solid increase in July's retail sales figures. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework at the Jackson Hole symposium between August 21 and 23. MUFG expects the U.S. central bank to cut rates in September as well, but it's unlikely that the Fed chair will give a clear signal towards that later this week, said Lee Hardman, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank. "It's probably too early for them (the Fed) to have complete confidence that they can cut rates again," he said. The main event for investors on Monday is a White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy, who will be joined by some European leaders, as Washington presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years. Trump had met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday and agreed that a peace deal should be worked upon without a ceasefire. "Financial markets are continuing to trade like there could be some – still undetermined – path to peace," an ING analyst note said. "With risk assets bid and energy prices offered, we expect the dollar to stay under a little pressure as dollar-based investors continue to put money to work," the note said. Trump could offer NATO-like protection of Ukraine, and Russia is open to the idea, one of his top foreign policy officials said on Sunday. In other currencies, the dollar rose 0.1% against the Japanese yen to 147.38 while the Swiss franc slipped 0.1% to 0.8069. Japan's government on Friday brushed aside rare and explicit comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said the Bank of Japan was "behind the curve" on policy, which appeared to be aimed at pressuring the country's central bank into raising interest rates. The Australian dollar rose 0.1% to $0.6515, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.3% to $0.5941, after falling 0.5% last week. Cryptocurrency bitcoin halted its towering rally and eased from a record high. It last traded 2% lower at $115,362.46. Ether similarly slid 4.3% to $4,275.85, after hitting its highest in nearly four years last week.
