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The Hill
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Putin shows more signs of ignoring Trump on ending Ukraine war
Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasingly showing signs of ignoring President Trump's entreaties to work toward an end to the Ukraine war, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long warned. Russia overnight launched one of the largest missile and drone attacks on Ukraine yet, killing at least a dozen people and injuring scores more. Zelensky in posts on social media said nearly 300 attack drones had been launched by Russia overnight, as well as 70 millions of various types, including ballistic missiles. Kyiv was attacked as part of the onslaught, as well as 11 other regions, Zelensky said. 'These were deliberate strikes on ordinary cities. Ordinary residential buildings were destroyed and damaged. In Kyiv, dormitories of the university's history department were hit,' he said. 'There were also strikes on enterprises. Tragically, people were killed, including children.' Zelensky, who Trump memorably chewed out in an Oval Office meeting in February, said the new strikes were a justification of new sanctions on Russia, which he accessed of dragging out the war. 'The world may go on a weekend break, but the war continues, regardless of weekends and weekdays. This cannot be ignored,' said Zelensky, who argued that 'silence of America, silence of others around the world only encourage Putin.' Trump vowed to end the Russia-Ukraine war during last year's campaign but has had little success in doing so. The new assault by Russia comes after diplomatic efforts by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to push Putin toward the negotiating table. Rubio earlier this month said peace would only be possible after a Putin and Trump phone call, essentially saying lower-level negotiators could do little without a push from Putin. On Monday, Trump held a two-hour call with Putin, and later spoke with Zelensky. After the call, he said Kyiv and Moscow needed to discuss a peace plan, effectively backing away from his previous calls for an immediate ceasefire. Trump has outlined a global sanctions regime in which Russia's crucial oil exports are cut off, by imposing penalties on both Russia and its key trading partners. Following the calls on Monday, he told reporters he remained optimistic that Putin would come around to peace. 'I think he's had enough. It's been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years,' Trump said. He added that Putin was having trouble 'extraditing' himself from the war, echoing comments from Vice President Vance heading into the discussion. 'I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war,' Vance told reporters on Air Force Two. Other observers might argue that Putin has little interest in ending the war. At times it also has appeared that Putin is calling Trump's bluff by concluding that the U.S. president will not follow through on threats of sanctions against Russia. Zelensky, for his part, said Sunday there would be little progress unless Trump truly followed up with efforts to pressure Russia. 'Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped. Sanctions will certainly help. Determination matters now – the determination of the United States, of European countries, and of all those around the world who seek peace,' he wrote. 'The world knows all the weaknesses of the Russian economy. The war can be stopped, but only through the necessary force of pressure on Russia. Putin must be forced to think not about launching missiles, but about ending the war.' Trump envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellog condemned the violence in a post on X on Sunday, though his statement did not explicitly single out Russia or Putin for blame. 'This is Kyiv. The indiscriminate killing of women and children at night in their homes is a clear violation of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols designed to protect innocents. These attacks are shameful. Stop the killing. Ceasefire now,' Kellog wrote.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will Vance remark about US bailing on Ukraine encourage Putin to sink nascent peace talks?
Vice President JD Vance's suggestion this week that the U.S. could walk away from supporting Ukraine if peace talks with Russia stagnate could serve as catnip for the Kremlin, according to experts who say Russian President Vladimir Putin might choose to smother progress in hopes of getting America to wash "its hands of the war." While President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. may disengage from the negotiations as a last resort if they prove futile, Vance has taken the rhetoric a step further by saying the U.S. is definitely open to doing so. "We're more than open to walking away," Vance told reporters on board Air Force Two on Monday, just moments before a high-stakes phone call between Trump and Putin. "The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes." But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautioned that no one wins if the U.S. steps aside from the talks, except for Russia. "It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace because the only one who benefits from that is Putin," Zelenskyy wrote in a Monday post on X. Vance's remark about abandoning mediation between the two countries would only embolden Russia, even though a lack of U.S. involvement still wouldn't give Putin everything he wants, according to John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Russia program, a nonprofit research institute based in Washington. Read On The Fox News App For the moment, Moscow still benefits from U.S. involvement in the talks because the Kremlin wants the U.S. to help advance a deal that benefits Russia and alleviates sanctions, Hardie said. "But, for the Kremlin, the United States washing its hands of the war would be the next best outcome if it means an end or reduction to U.S. support for Ukraine, especially since President Trump may well move to normalize relations with Russia anyhow," Hardie told Fox News Digital. "So the administration's threat to walk away risks perversely incentivizing Kremlin intransigence. A better approach would be to ramp up the economic and military pressure on Russia if Putin continues to reject compromise." Russia still desires normalization with the U.S., which can only happen if the war ends swiftly and relatively amicably, said Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank. "That reset in relations is a giant carrot the administration is dangling in front of the Kremlin," Rough told Fox News Digital. "If the U.S. walks away because Russia will not make peace, however, then that carrot disappears as well." Rough noted that other administration officials besides Vance, including Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have mentioned the possibility of walking away from a deal, so Vance's comments don't necessarily reflect a huge change in policy. And it's unclear right now what exactly stepping aside would mean. "The purpose of those comments has been to impress on the Kremlin that U.S. patience is not limitless," Rough said. Vance hasn't shied away from issuing bold foreign policy statements since becoming vice president. From sparring with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February to appearing to counter Trump when Vance remarked in May that the war in Ukraine was far from over after Trump indicated a deal might emerge soon, Vance has been outspoken in a way most vice presidents haven't been. When asked for comment or if there were any concerns about Vance's Monday statement, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Vance's office. Vance's office declined to provide comment when asked if his remarks would encourage Russia to sit the negotiations out and continue its attacks. Why Zelenskyy Keeps Pushing Nato Membership Even Though Trump Says It's Not Happening Vance has adopted an outspoken approach as vice president, starting off with his fiery February statements at the Munich Security Council in which he asserted that Europe needed to "step up in a big way to provide for its own defense." That boldness has carried over into the Russia-Ukraine negotiations, where Vance has taken a proactive approach, at times appearing to be forging his own path. Vance and Rubio engaged in discussions to end the conflict in Ukraine with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on Sunday, among other issues. Vance and Rubio also discussed the Trump administration's efforts to end the war with Vatican prelate Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher on Monday. Aboard Air Force Two on Monday, Vance said the negotiations had reached "a bit of [an] impasse" between the two countries and that the conflict is not the Trump administration's war to wage but rather belongs to former President Joe Biden and Putin. "There is fundamental mistrust between Russia and the West. It's one of the things the president thinks is, frankly, stupid, that we should be able to move beyond," Vance told reporters. "The mistakes that have been made in the past, but ... that takes two to tango." "I know the president's willing to do that, but if Russia's not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to have to say ... this is not our war," Vance said. "It's Joe Biden's war, it's Vladimir Putin's war. It's not our war. We're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say, 'You know what? That was worth a try, but we're not doing it anymore.'" Trump Insists Ukraine-russia Peace Deal Is Close, But Mistrust In Putin Leaves Experts Skeptical Vance's Monday statement came just before Trump was scheduled to speak with Putin, seemingly undercutting the high-leverage telephone call and also underscoring Vance's influence over foreign policy matters in the White House. Specifically on Ukraine negotiations, Vance has remained outspoken, engaging in confrontation when Zelenskyy visited the White House in February. In that exchange, Vance accused Zelenskyy of being "disrespectful" after Zelenskyy pointed out that Putin has a track record of breaking agreements and countered Vance's statements that the path forward was through diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. "Do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?" Vance asked at the Oval Office meeting. Almost immediately after the U.S. signed a minerals deal with Ukraine on May 1, Vance said the war in Ukraine wouldn't end in the near future, despite the fact that Trump indicated the previous week that an agreement was on the horizon. "It's not going anywhere," Vance told Fox News on May 1. "It's not going to end anytime soon." Still, he characterized the agreement as "good progress" in the negotiations. Trump and Putin spoke over the phone Monday to advance peace negotiations to halt the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, just days after Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey to conduct their first peace talks since 2022. After the call, Trump said both countries would move toward a ceasefire and advance talks to end the war. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested continued U.S. involvement may not be a viable option moving forward, but he has been reticent about specifics on what would actually prompt him to walk away from the talks. For example, Trump said on May 8 in an interview with NBC News that he believes peace is possible but that the U.S. wouldn't act as a mediator forever. "Well, there will be a time when I will say, 'OK, keep going, keep being stupid," Trump said in the interview. "Maybe it's not possible to do," he said. "There's tremendous hatred." Still, Trump signaled that the U.S. would take a backseat in the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv after his call with Putin. "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. Trump has continued to distance the U.S. from the conflict, and he later described the conflict as a "European situation." "Big egos involved, but I think something's going to happen," Trump told reporters on Monday. "And if it doesn't, I'll just back away and they'll have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation." Trump also doubled down on extracting the U.S. from the war, claiming it didn't involve U.S. personnel. "It's not our people, it's not our soldiers … it's Ukraine and it's Russia," Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday while hosting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Trump Says He Could 'Walk Away' From Russia-ukraine Talks, Cites 'Tremendous Hatred' On Both Sides According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sanctions against Russia could ramp up in the event Russia fails to cooperate. "President Trump has made it very clear that if President Putin does not negotiate in good faith that the United States will not hesitate to up the Russia sanctions along with our European partners," Bessent said Sunday in an interview with NBC. Vance has previously said the concessions that Russia is seeking from Ukraine to end the conflict are too stringent but believes there is a viable path to peace and wants both to find common ground. "The step that we would like to make right now is we would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another," Vance said at the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington on May 7. Russia's demands include Ukraine never joining NATO and preventing foreign peacekeeper troops from deploying to Ukraine after the conflict. Russia is also seeking to adjust some of the borders that previously were Ukraine' article source: Will Vance remark about US bailing on Ukraine encourage Putin to sink nascent peace talks?
New York Post
21-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
JD Vance doesn't want lovelorn Americans to use ‘destructive' dating apps
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance is worried about love being found in the wrong places — like Tinder, Hinge or Bumble. The veep is so concerned about dating apps that he brought the issue up with Pope Leo XIV when they spoke over the weekend in Rome, raising the issue in a conversation about AI. 'If you look at basic dating behavior among young people — and I think a lot of this is that the dating apps are probably more destructive than we fully appreciate,' Vance said in a New York Times interview published Wednesday, noting that he spoke to the Holy Father about his concerns. Advertisement 3 Vice President JD Vance talks to reporters on board of the Air Force Two at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, in Rome, on May 19, 2025, after attending the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 'I think part of it is technology has just for some reason made it harder for young men and young women to communicate with each other in the same way,' Vance added of the dangers of online dating. 'Our young men and women just aren't dating, and if they're not dating, they're not getting married, they're not starting families.' Advertisement The Catholic VP has long discussed ways to increase the birthrate in the US and encourage families, as couples choose to have families later and later — or not have kids at all. More and more people are meeting their partners online instead of striking up conversations in person. The threat of AI, Vance said, is even more concerning with young people engaging with 'chatbots' online and becoming isolated from society, unable to make genuine connections. 'There's a level of isolation, I think, mediated through technology, that technology can be a bit of a salve. It can be a bit of a Band-Aid. Maybe it makes you feel less lonely, even when you are lonely. But this is where I think AI could be profoundly dark and negative,' Vance told the outlet. Advertisement 3 Studies show that over half of young people use dating apps to find partners. dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images 3 Vance has expressed concern about the future generation of Americans not marrying and having kids. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 'I don't think it'll mean three million truck drivers are out of a job. I certainly hope it doesn't mean that. But what I do really worry about is does it mean that there are millions of American teenagers talking to chatbots who don't have their best interests at heart? 'Or even if they do have their best interests at heart, they start to develop a relationship, they start to expect a chatbot that's trying to give a dopamine rush, and, you know, compared to a chatbot, a normal human interaction is not going to be as satisfying, because human beings have wants and needs.' Advertisement The newly elected Pope has said he's worried about the Catholic response to the development of AI and how that will change society — similar to what his previous namesake, Pope Leo XIII, went through with the Industrial Revolution. Vance said AI could bring about other issues as well, like the lack of cybersecurity, where your bank accounts could be hacked, and how China will use the technology.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump takes foot off ceasefire push in Russia-Ukraine war
President Trump stepped back from his demands for an immediate 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine following calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, instead suggesting Moscow and Kyiv should start negotiations over what broader peace talks might look like. The president's rhetoric since the calls indicates a shift that will be welcomed in the Kremlin, which has expressed an openness to peace talks but set maximalist terms that are impossible for Zelensky or his European partners to swallow. Trump's reported deference to Putin surprised European leaders who he briefed soon after, according to Axios. Trump has repeatedly threatened sanctions against Putin for continued devastating attacks on Ukraine, but has yet to follow through. Even if he did, it is unlikely to change Putin's calculations, said Mark Shrad, a Russia-Ukraine relations expert and political science professor at Villanova University. 'I'm kind of a pessimist when it comes to sanctions across the board, especially when it comes to Putin,' he said, noting that the United States and Europe have repeatedly drawn red lines and imposed new sanctions over Russia's incursions into Ukraine, starting in 2014. 'And the Russian economy just keeps plodding along. And it hurts, yeah. But, you know, the Russians are used to pain. I don't think another round of sanctions is going to do anything that the previous umpteen rounds of sanctions haven't done.' Ukraine's backers say the only solution is forcing Russia into a weaker position on the battlefield by arming Kyiv's military. Trump has outlined a global sanctions regime in which Russia's crucial oil exports are cut off, by imposing penalties on both Russia and its key trading partners. Following the calls on Monday, he told reporters he remained optimistic that Putin would come around to peace. 'I think he's had enough. It's been a long time. This has been going on for more than three years,' Trump said. He added that Putin was having trouble 'extraditing' himself from the war, echoing comments from Vice President Vance heading into the discussion. 'I'm not sure that Vladimir Putin has a strategy himself for how to unwind the war,' Vance told reporters on Air Force Two. Chris Miller, a professor of international history at Tufts University, said the U.S. wasn't giving Putin any reason to come up with a way out of Ukraine. 'I think the Trump administration has overestimated Russia's desire for a deal. In fact, Russia thinks it can still win the war on the battlefield, which is why it has not offered meaningful concessions,' he said in an email. 'Unless the Trump administration takes steps to weaken Russia's military prospects, the Kremlin will keep betting on the battlefield as the best way to achieve its goal of controlling Ukraine over the long run.' Putin has ignored Trump's public pleas to end attacks on Ukraine, reportedly launching its largest drone attack yet on regions including Kyiv on Sunday, just a day before the scheduled call with the U.S. leader. Russia was quick to release a statement on the two-hour Putin-Trump call after its conclusion on Monday, through its state news agency TASS. Putin said in the statement that Russia 'is ready and will continue to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a potential future peace treaty outlining a number of positions, such as settlement principles, the timeframe for signing a potential peace agreement, and so on, including a potential ceasefire for a certain period in case relevant agreements are reached.' Trump has already signaled support for some of Putin's demands, such as keeping Ukraine out of NATO and recognizing Crimea as Russian territory. However, Russia has insisted on far larger territorial concessions and the toppling of Zelensky, conditions seen as non-starters in Europe. Trump characterized his call with Putin as 'excellent' in a Truth Social post later Monday afternoon, saying Russia and Ukraine would immediately meet for direct talks on ending the war. 'The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,' Trump wrote. The two countries have continued some communications, mainly over prisoner swaps. Putin last week skipped direct talks in Istanbul that he proposed, but a low-level delegation met with the Ukrainian team and agreed on a swap of 1,000 prisoners. Without U.S. support, experts say Ukraine may be able to hold the line against Russian forces, but would struggle to sustain a military resistance against Moscow's much larger army. Hawks in the Senate are calling for Trump to do more to pressure Russia, and contradicting his optimism about Putin. 'I think Vladimir Putin is a liar and that they're always going to ask for too much, and they're going to use that as a pretext to continue to kill, rape and kidnap Ukrainians,' Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said this week. Tillis said administration officials 'need to lean into Putin and let him know that we'll be there for the duration if he doesn't come to terms' on a peace deal, noting the Senate has a sanctions package ready to go. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last month said Putin was 'playing America like a patsy.' Democrats have ripped into Trump for his failure so far in delivering on his promise to bring a swift end to the war. 'What Vladimir Putin is doing now is playing for time,' Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a hearing on Tuesday. 'He's playing this president like a fiddle, and the longer he plays it, the more opportunity he has to gain territory in Ukraine, and the harder it's going to be to get him to the table.' Jean-Noël Barrot, France's foreign minister, said Europe can't afford to wait on Trump when it comes to combatting Putin. The European Union on Tuesday passed its 17th sanctions package against Russia since it invaded Ukraine. 'Of course, it would be helpful if the United States slammed its fist on the table — if that much-discussed sanctions package presented by the senators could be adopted,' Barrot told Radio France. 'But without waiting for the U.S. to act, let us take responsibility ourselves. Let us deter Vladimir Putin from continuing this war. Let us push him to abandon his imperialist delusion by enacting sanctions that are truly dissuasive.' Laura Kelly contributed reporting Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Need to be honest': Vance questions Biden's health as president after cancer diagnosis
WASHINGTON − Vice President JD Vance questioned whether Joe Biden had been fit for duty in the White House following news the former president has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Speaking to reporters on Air Force Two after meeting Pope Leo XIV in Rome, Vance said he wishes the best for Biden, adding that "hopefully he makes the right recovery." Vance then reflected on Biden's four years in the White House. "Whether the right time to have this conversation is now or at some point in the future, we really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job," Vance said. "You can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with the recognition that whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president ‒ I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people." More: Former President Joe Biden diagnosed with 'aggressive form' of prostate cancer "That's not politics. That's not because I disagreed with him on policy," Vance said. "That's because I don't think that he was in good enough health." Biden, 82, was diagnosed on May 16 with prostate cancer that had spread to the bone after a nodule was discovered on his prostate following urinary symptoms, a spokesperson said. Biden has a Gleason score of 9 and a grade group 5, which is on the higher end of the scale, meaning the cancer is more likely to grow and spread quickly. Biden's most recent annual physical as president took place in February 2024. The president's physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, did not identify any signs of cancer, describing Biden as a "healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." The report cited Biden's sleep apnea treatment and stiffened gait from arthritis. "I blame him less than I blame the people around him," Vance said of Biden. "Why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?" More: After Joe Biden medical diagnosis report, here are risks and symptoms of prostate cancer In February 2023, a skin lesion was removed from Biden's chest, but his doctor said no additional treatment was needed for what is known as basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. Biden, the oldest person ever elected as U.S. president, dropped out of the 2024 presidential election last July after he struggled to piece together coherent thoughts during a disastrous debate with President Donald Trump that exposed an aging president. More: Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis and when illness strikes just as you finally retire Multiple books published in the months after Biden's presidency have detailed efforts by the White House to conceal Biden's decline, forcing Democrats to answer whether they believe the octogenarian president should have passed the torcher earlier. "This is serious stuff. This is a guy who carries around the nuclear football for the world's largest nuclear arsenal," Vance said. "This is not child's play, and we can pray for good health, but also recognize that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job." More: Trump still 'trusts' doctors after shocking Biden cancer diagnosis Trump, in a May 18 statement, said he and first lady Melania Trump were saddened to hear about Biden's cancer and extended their "warmest and best wishes" to the Biden family. The next day, Trump questioned why the "public wasn't notified a long time ago" about Biden's cancer, appearing to put his weight behind an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that the Biden White House knew about the former president's cancer but withheld it from the public. "I think it's very sad, actually," Trump told reporters when asked about Biden's diagnosis. "I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage 9 ‒ that's a long time." Trump misstated Biden's diagnosis. Stage 9 cancer does not exist. Biden's cancer is considered stage 4, the most severe level, which is defined by the cancer spreading to other parts of the body. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on May 19 said Trump still has faith in the quality of health care being provided to him in the wake of his predecessor's cancer diagnosis. "He trusts his physicians," Leavitt said. This story has been updated to include new information. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: VP Vance questions Biden's health as president after cancer diagnosis
