Ukrainians speak out against Trump's expected land swaps in Russia conflict
But there are questions about how those whose homes are on the bargaining table feel about the changing battle lines.
CNN Reporter Nick Paton Walsh has been speaking with Ukrainians in Sloviansk, a city at risk of becoming Russian territory.
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Sky News AU
10 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Putin heaps praise on ‘sincere' Donald Trump, hints Russia and US could strike nuclear arms deal
Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded the Trump administration's 'energetic' and 'sincere' efforts to end the war in Ukraine — and suggested the US and Russia could reach a deal on nuclear arms control at their summit in Alaska on Friday. Putin appeared optimistic that forthcoming meetings in Anchorage between Moscow and Washington could 'create long-term conditions for peace between our countries, as well as in Europe, and in the world as a whole,' he told senior officials during a briefing on Thursday. 'The current American administration… is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict,' Putin said, according to CNN. A possible peace deal is possible in the 'next stages' of negotiations if the US and Russia can 'reach agreements in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons,' the 72-year-old said, referring to nuclear arms. The US and Russia signed a pact in 2011, known as New START, capping strategic nuclear weapons deployments. The deal expires on February 5, 2026. Here are the latest details on Trump and Putin's meeting in AlaskaThe meeting will take place in Anchorage, Alaska at Joint Base said his sitdown with Putin in Alaska will be 'setting the table' for a possible future meeting about the war in Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested the US and Russia could reach a deal on nuclear arms Trump estimated Thursday there is a 25% chance that his Alaska summit will met with European world leaders ahead of the meeting between Trump and Putin. New START has been tested by Russia's war in Ukraine and has been on life support since Putin announced Russia would no longer comply with its requirements in February. The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The pact also called for mutual site inspections, which were paused during COVID-19 in 2020 and have not resumed. The Kremlin also indicated they want to bring other topics to the table during Friday's meeting — including economic cooperation — alongside conversations about the war on Ukraine. New START has been tested by Russia's war in Ukraine and has been on life support since Putin announced Russia would no longer comply with its requirements in February. The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The pact also called for mutual site inspections, which were paused during COVID-19 in 2020 and have not resumed. The Kremlin also indicated they want to bring other topics to the table during Friday's meeting — including economic cooperation — alongside conversations about the war on Ukraine. 'Naturally, broader tasks on ensuring peace and security as well as the most pertinent and pressing international and regional issues will be touched upon,' Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday, per Russian state media site TASS. The Trump-Putin meeting will begin with a one-on-one conversation, with the leaders only flanked by interpreters, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Ushakov said. The leaders will talk over breakfast and then plan to have a joint press conference. However, Putin — a former KGB agent known as a master manipulator — has repeatedly shown he cannot be trusted. Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the Russian dictator, accusing him of 'tapping' him along and has railed against his 'b*******.' 'We get a lot of b****** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,' Trump said last month. 'He's very nice all of the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' Trump's main goal for Friday's meetings with the Russian leader is to reach a cease-fire deal, but he is 'not very optimistic' the dictator will budge, a US source familiar with the discussion told The Post. The president also mainly plans to listen to Putin's demands to get a clearer picture of how to end the war, the White House has indicated. Putin has reportedly been pushing for Ukraine to give up significant territory Russia has claimed — and not been able to take by force — in order for any lasting peace deal to be reached. Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders on a call Wednesday that a cease-fire was his top priority and said he would not discuss Ukraine territorial concessions, sources said. If no cease-fire agreement is reached, Trump vowed there would be 'severe consequences' for the Kremlin. Zelensky was sidelined for Friday's meeting because it was proposed by Putin himself, the White House said. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff had originally proposed a trilateral meeting — with Trump, Putin and Zelensky — at the president's request before Putin countered with the one-on-one idea, according to White House sources. As Zelensky will not be present, formal discussions to end the Ukraine war will not take place. Both Russia and the US have signaled that future meetings will be needed to reach a resolution. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned against trying to predict the outcome of the Friday talks, but said Thursday that 'given that there will be a joint news conference, the president [Putin] will outline the range of agreements and understandings that can be achieved.' With Post Wires Originally published as Putin heaps praise on 'sincere' Donald Trump, hints Russia and US could strike nuclear arms deal
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
California to change election maps to counter Texas, governor says
California unveiled plans to redraw its electoral districts Thursday, as Democrats push back on what they say is Donald Trump's effort to rig next year's Congressional elections to safeguard his slim Republican majority. Governor Gavin Newsom said he would ask voters to approve new maps that would effectively neutralize changes Texas is planning that are expected to give Republicans more seats in the House of Representatives. "Today is Liberation Day in the State of California," Newsom told supporters at the Democracy Center in Los Angeles. "Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back," he said, a reference to the animal that symbolizes the 39-million strong state. The move came after weeks of maneuvering in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott -- acting at Trump's behest -- is trying to redraw electoral districts to benefit his Republican Party, a process known as gerrymandering. Districts are usually redrawn every ten years after the national census and are supposed to be based on its findings, so that districts accurately represent the people who live there. The mid-decade effort to change the boundaries is seen by Democrats as a naked attempt to bolster the GOP, and to help it retain its narrow House majority in next year's mid-terms. Dozens of Texas Democrats have fled the state in an effort to block the passage of the proposed blueprint during a special legislative session, even as Republicans have threatened to arrest them. Newsom said a special ballot on November 4 would ask California voters to create temporary congressional districts for the next two elections, with power to set boundaries returned to an independent commission thereafter. "We're doing this in reaction to a president of the United States that called a sitting governor of the state of Texas and said, 'find me five seats.' "He is, once again, trying to rig the system. He doesn't play by a different set of rules; he doesn't believe in the rules. "We have got to recognize the cards that have been dealt, and we have got to meet fire with fire." Newsom, who is believed to harbor Oval Office ambitions, has emerged as a leading anti-Trump voice from a Democratic Party still floundering after last year's ballot box drubbing. The two men have frequently locked horns, including over aggressive immigration enforcement raids the administration ordered in Los Angeles. In June, after thousands took to the streets to protest seemingly indiscriminate arrests by masked and unidentified agents, Trump sent in the National Guard and the Marines, claiming it was necessary to restore order. On Thursday, masked Border Patrol agents were seen outside the Democracy Center, part of a museum in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, despite there being no obvious presence of their usual arrest targets. Newsom's press conference came after he had trolled Trump for days on social media, aping the president's instantly recognizable style. A series of all-caps posts from Newsom's official account have employed Trumpian language and been sprinkled liberally -- if not logically -- with punctuation, as well as nicknames, boasts and silly-sounding threats. "DONNIE J. AND KaroLYIN' LEAVITT WILL HAVE THEIR (LITTLE) HANDS 'FULL' TODAY," read one tweet on Thursday, referring to the president and his press spokeswoman.
9 News
2 hours ago
- 9 News
Trump says there will be 'severe consequences' if Putin doesn't agree to stop the war after summit
US President Donald Trump says there will be "very severe consequences" if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't agree to stop the Ukraine war after Friday's summit. Trump was "very clear" in a virtual meeting on Wednesday with European leaders that the US wants to achieve a ceasefire at the upcoming US-Russia summit in Alaska, French President Emmanuel Macron said. In the same meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he told the group that Putin "is bluffing" ahead of the planned meeting with Trump. Putin, Zelenskyy said, "is trying to apply pressure ... on all sectors of the Ukrainian front" in an attempt to show that Russia is "capable of occupying all of Ukraine". Putin is also bluffing about sanctions, "as if they do not matter to him and are ineffective. In reality, sanctions are very helpful and are hitting Russia's war economy hard," Zelenskyy said. Speaking after the video conference between Trump, Zelenskyy and other European leaders, Macron said Trump was prioritising a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. He added that Trump had been clear that "territorial issues relating to Ukraine ... will only be negotiated by the Ukrainian president". Following his meeting on Friday with the Russian leader, Trump will also "seek a future trilateral meeting" — one involving Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, Macron said. "I think that's a very important point in this regard. And we hope that it can be held in Europe, in a neutral country that is acceptable to all parties," Macron said. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had convened the virtual meetings in an attempt to make sure European and Ukraine's leaders are heard ahead of the summit, where Trump and Putin are expected to discuss a path toward ending Moscow's war in Ukraine. Speaking alongside Zelenskyy, who traveled to Berlin on Wednesday to take part in the meetings, Merz described the meeting with Trump as "constructive" and said that "important decisions" could be made in Anchorage, but stressed that "fundamental European and Ukrainian security interests must be protected" at the summit. Zelenskyy and the Europeans have been sidelined from that summit. German government spokesperson Steffen Meyer said the intention of Wednesday's meetings was to "make clear the position of the Europeans". A call among leaders of countries involved in the "coalition of the willing" — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — was expected to take place later on Wednesday. Before arriving in Berlin, Zelenskyy said his government has had more than 30 conversations with partners ahead of the summit in Alaska, but reiterated his doubt that Putin would negotiate in good faith. Writing on his official Telegram channel, Zelenskyy said there was "currently no sign that the Russians are preparing to end the war", and urged Ukraine's partners in the United States and Europe to coordinate efforts and "force Russia to peace". "Pressure must be applied on Russia for an honest peace. We must take the experience of Ukraine and our partners to prevent deception by Russia," Zelenskyy said. The stakes for Europe Trump has said he wants to see whether Putin is serious about ending the war, now in its fourth year, describing Friday's summit as "a feel-out meeting" where he can assess the Russian leader's intentions. Yet Trump has disappointed allies in Europe by saying Ukraine will have to give up some Russian-held territory. He has also said Russia must accept land swaps, although it was unclear what Putin might be expected to surrender. European allies have pushed for Ukraine's involvement in any peace talks, fearful that discussions that exclude Kyiv could otherwise favour Moscow. Trump on Monday ducked repeated chances to say that he would push for Zelenskyy to take part in his discussions with Putin, and was dismissive of Zelenskyy and his need to be part of an effort to seek peace. Trump said that following Friday's summit, a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders could be arranged, or that it could also be a meeting with "Putin and Zelenskyy and me". The Europeans and Ukraine are wary that Putin, who has waged the biggest land war in Europe since 1945 and used Russia's might to try to intimidate the European Union, might secure favourable concessions and set the outlines of a peace deal without them. The overarching fear of many European countries is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine. Land concessions a non-starter for Kyiv Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region that it still controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the leader categorically rejected. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would not give up any territory it controls, saying that would be unconstitutional and would serve only as a springboard for a future Russian invasion. He said diplomatic discussions led by the US focusing on ending the war have not addressed key Ukrainian demands, including security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression and including Europe in negotiations. Three weeks after Trump returned to office, his administration took the leverage of Ukraine's NATO membership off the table — something that Putin has demanded — and signaled that the EU and Ukraine must handle security in Europe now while America focuses its attention elsewhere. Senior EU officials believe that Trump may be satisfied with simply securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, and is probably more interested in broader US geostrategic interests and great power politics, aiming to ramp up business with Russia and rehabilitate Putin. Russian advances in Donbas Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine have been closing in on a key territorial grab around the city of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donbas region comprising Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland that Putin has long coveted. Military analysts using open-source information to monitor the battles have said Ukraine's ability to fend off those advances could be critical: Losing Pokrovsk would hand Russia an important victory ahead of the summit and could complicate Ukrainian supply lines to the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has focused the bulk of military efforts. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces struck an oil pumping station in Russia's Bryansk region overnight on Wednesday, according to a statement from Ukraine's General Staff. Ukrainian drones struck the Unecha station which supplies the Russian army, the statement said, adding that damage and a large fire was reported in the area around the pumping station. Unecha transports oil to two pipelines with an annual capacity to pump 60 million tonnes. The operation was carried out by units of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine's army and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defence Ministry, the statement said.
