‘On an errand for Vladimir Putin': Nicolle Wallace on Trump and Vance's ambush of Zelenskyy
Michael Crowley, New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent and John Brennan, former CIA Director join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to the stunning Oval Office confrontation where he and his Vice President JD Vance, ambushed the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which concluded with Trump kicking Zelenskyy out of the White House and leaving the world questioning what comes next now that the United States President is standing with the aggressor Vladimir Putin and Russ
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Miami Herald
35 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
B-2 bombers have departed the US as Trump weighs Iran strike
WASHINGTON - B-2 stealth bombers have taken off from the U.S. and are headed over the Pacific, multiple news outlets reported, as President Donald Trump weighs American involvement in the war between Israel and Iran. The moves, picked up by flight tracking services on Saturday, indicate that the administration is getting the Air Force bombers in position if needed for a strike on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported. The planes, accompanied by refueling tankers, may be on their way to a base in Guam, according to the report. Speculation about a potential U.S. strike aimed at Iran's nuclear program has focused on the B-2s, which would be needed to drop 30,000-pound bombs - so-called bunker busters - if Trump decided to target Iran's heavily fortified uranium enrichment site at Fordow. Israel, which is seeking to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities, does not have such weapons. Multiple B-2s appeared to be airborne and heading across the Pacific from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the New York Times reported. The Times cited flight trackers' posts on social media and air traffic control communications. The Pentagon and the White House didn't immediately return messages seeking comment. Trump's is scheduled to return to the White House Saturday and meet with his national security team. The U.S. president has sent mixed signals, discounting European efforts to secure a diplomatic solution between Israel and Iran while keeping possible US involvement in the conflict on the table. "I'm giving them a period of time," Trump told reporters Friday. "I would say two weeks would be the maximum." --- (With assistance from María Paula Mijares Torres and Akayla Gardner.) Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Ukraine warns teenagers the enemy is inside their phones
Advertisement Think of this class, in a secondary school in the western city of Lviv, as the Ukrainian version of 'Scared Straight.' The course, introduced this spring by Ukraine's top internal security agency and the national police at high schools nationwide, aims to deter teenagers from falling under the influence of Russian operatives. They have started paying Ukrainian minors to set fires or plant homemade bombs, Ukrainian authorities say. 'I remind you that criminal responsibility in Ukraine begins at 14 years of age,' said the camouflaged man at the presentation on a recent Wednesday. 'Unfortunately, this easy money can lead either to criminal liability or to death.' For more than a year, Ukrainian authorities say, the Russian state security agency, known as the FSB, has targeted Ukrainian teenagers on social media apps like Telegram, TikTok and Discord. They are offered hundreds or even thousands of dollars to do simple tasks: Deliver a package. Take a photograph of a power substation. Spray graffiti. Advertisement The FSB did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Many young people do not necessarily know they are being recruited. The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, says the teenagers often just search for 'easy money' on Telegram, where the Russians are waiting for them. But some agree to more complicated missions, often because they were blackmailed for the first task they performed, or for compromising photographs hacked from their phones. The SBU said late last month that authorities had accused more than 600 people of trying to commit arson, terrorism or sabotage in Ukraine after being recruited by Russian intelligence services. Of those, about 1 in 4 were minors. (The adults often had criminal records or a history of drug abuse.) One perpetrator was only 13. In May, the head of the national juvenile police said in a TV interview that almost 50 other children had reported to authorities that Russians had tried to recruit them. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both sides have engaged in clandestine warfare. Ukraine has recruited people in Russia for targeted high-level killings, law enforcement sources said. For instance, the Ukrainians claimed responsibility for assassinating a top Russian general and his aide with a bomb planted in a scooter in December. But with the recruitment of young Ukrainians, the Russians are taking a new step by aiming for more indiscriminate attacks, near military recruitment centers or railway stations, said Roksolana Yavorska-Isaienko, an SBU spokesperson for the Lviv region. It is reminiscent of how teenagers were used as suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. Advertisement In December, the news in Ukraine was filled with reports of a significant case. The SBU and the national police detained two groups of teenagers in the eastern city of Kharkiv who they said had been tricked online into joining a fake 'quest' game, in which the 15- and 16-year-olds were sent tasks like setting fires and taking photographs and videos of certain targets, even air defenses. Ukrainian authorities said the Russians used the information to carry out airstrikes in Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city. These claims could not be independently verified. During the class, the camouflaged agent and Yavorska-Isaienko went through other examples, one by one. In March, in the case that resonated the most with the students, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were recruited on Telegram in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk with the promise of $1,700, Ukrainian authorities said. Following instructions, the teenagers built two bombs out of thermos flasks and metal nuts. When they tried to deliver one of the bombs, authorities said, Russian agents detonated it remotely near the train station. The 17-year-old was killed, and the 15-year-old lost his legs. In April, the SBU caught a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old who burned train relay boxes in Lviv. They were recruited on Telegram, authorities said. Searches of their cellphones showed text messages between the teenagers and their Russian handlers. 'Yeah, the money will be there tomorrow,' the handler wrote, adding that it would arrive around lunchtime. 'Got it, bro,' one of the teenagers responded. Eventually, about $178 was transferred to his account. And in May -- just three days before the class -- two teenagers in the western city of Rivne made an explosive device from Russian instructions, put it in an abandoned building, positioned an ax there and covered the whole contraption with paint, authorities said. Then they called emergency services, claiming there was a dead person. After the police responded, the bomb exploded, but no one was harmed. The teenagers were arrested. Advertisement The recent class was about the 200th that the agency has done in the Lviv region since the outreach program started in April. The presenters knew how to hold the teenagers' attention. 'Maybe not all of these special operations are reported in the media -- but believe me, the enemy is not sleeping,' Yavorska-Isaienko said. 'They are working actively and carrying out illegal activities, as strange as it may sound, directly inside your phones.' She added, 'And when you hear an offer to earn quick money for a brand-new iPhone or $1,000, of course, it sounds very tempting. Sometimes, the task is disguised as a simple courier delivery, taking pictures of critical infrastructure or spraying provocative graffiti. That is often the first step toward your recruitment.' This classroom in the Lviv secondary school No. 32 resembled a typical science classroom in the United States, complete with creaky wooden floors; a poster of a tiger on the wall; models of DNA and lungs in the back; and teenagers in hoodies and jeans, heavy-metal T-shirts and a Barbie sweater. But these students did not make jokes or whisper the way many teenagers do. They asked questions: How did the Russians do surveillance? How could they help fight the FSB? These students had grown up with the war against Russia. Relatives were fighting on the front lines. One girl's uncle was missing. Advertisement 'Can I help and report it to the security services if I've already been approached for recruitment?' asked Volodia Sozonyk, 17, a boy in a blue hoodie and a manga T-shirt. 'If they've sent me an address or something I need to do, can I identify that spot for your operatives to help?' Yavorska-Isaienko and the camouflaged man told the students they could anonymously report any recruitment attempts to a new chatbot called 'Expose the FSB Agent.' And Yavorska-Isaienko told the students to use their common sense. 'No one in real life will suddenly offer you $1,000 or $2,000 just like that,' she said. 'You need to understand: The only free cheese is in the mousetrap.' This article originally appeared in
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Deadly Russian assaults on Ukraine continue as date for new peace talks nears
At least one person was killed in Ukraine Friday night as Russia continued its unrelenting attacks, despite both parties reportedly inching closer to a new round of peace talks. A barrage of more than 20 Russian drones rained down on residential areas in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, according to officials. One civilian was killed and almost two dozen were injured, including two girls — 12 and 17-years-old — and three emergency workers. The strikes sparked fires that caused the partial collapse of a four-story apartment building and tore through the upper floors of a 23-story high-rise, leading to the evacuation of about 600 residents. Advertisement 4 Firefighters evacuated residents from a burning apartment building following Russia's massive air attack in Odesa. AP The Kremlin's attack also included 86 Iranian Shahed and decoy drones blasted across the country into Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. 'Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,' Zelensky said in the post. Advertisement He called on Western countries to keep the pressure on Russia, including through sanctions. 'The sooner the sick people in the Kremlin lose the ability to finance the war, the more lives we can save in Ukraine,' Zelensky said. 4 Emergency responders worked at the site of an apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Odesa. via REUTERS In the 24 hours leading up to the nighttime attack, Russia bombarded its neighbor with hundreds more drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, according to Ukraine's air force. Advertisement The attacks followed an assault on Kyiv Tuesday that killed 28 and injured 142 others — marking the deadliest onslaught on the capital city this year. Meanwhile, the warring countries completed another round of prisoner exchanges on Friday, the second trade of POWs and soldiers' remains in two days, though neither side specified how many people were involved in the swap. 4 A kitchen in a high-rise apartment building was destroyed in a Russian drone attack in Odesa. AFP via Getty Images Zelensky said on X that most of his country's POWs had been held by Russia for more than two years, following their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Advertisement The oldest of the released captives was 63 years old and another, a 45-year-old service member, was released on his birthday, Ukrainian negotiator Dmytro Lubinets said. Zelensky also charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with using the return of the dead to obscure the scale of its military losses from the public, the Kyiv Independent reported. 4 Residential buildings, businesses, civilian infrastructure and cars were wrecked in the overnight attacks, officials said. AFP via Getty Images At a press conference Friday, Zelensky said authorities confirmed that at least 20 of the bodies returned as Ukrainians were actually Russian soldiers. The two countries have carried out a series of swaps since renewing peace talks, which in Istanbul last month. The last negotiations were held on June 2 and though Kyiv has not spoken recently of them resuming, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the date for the next round is expected to be agreed upon this coming week. With Post wires
