Latest news with #EuropeanAllies
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Business
- Arab News
Oil Updates — crude slips as market ponders potential Russia-Ukraine peace talks
SINGAPORE: Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as market participants contemplated possible three-way talks involving Moscow, Kyiv and Washington to end the war in Ukraine, which would likely lead to the lifting of sanctions on Russian crude. Brent crude futures fell 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $66.28 a barrel by 9:50 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery, set to expire on Wednesday, fell 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $63.10 per barrel. The more active October WTI contract was down 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $62.40 a barrel. Prices settled around 1 percent higher in the previous session. Following talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of European allies in the White House on Monday, US President Donald Trump said in a social media post he had called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents. 'Oil prices are largely responding to outcomes of recent meetings between Trump-Putin and Trump-Zelensky and while no outright peace deal or ceasefire seems imminent, there has been some progress made and chances of further escalation or intensification of sanctions on Russia from US or Europe may be off the table for now,' said Suvro Sarkar, lead energy analyst at DBS Bank. 'Trump's language on secondary sanctions on importers of Russian oil has also eased off ... which would have otherwise posed risk of disruptions to global oil supplies. Hence, we believe geopolitical risks have eased a tad for the oil market this week.' Zelensky described his direct talks with Trump as 'very good' and said they had spoken about Ukraine's need for US security guarantees. Trump confirmed the US would help with such a guarantee, although to what extent was not immediately clear. Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, but Kyiv and its allies worry he could seek to force an agreement on Russia's terms. 'An outcome which would see a ratcheting down of tensions and remove threats of secondary tariffs or sanctions would see oil drift lower toward our $58 per barrel Q4-25/Q1-26 average target,' Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said in a note. 'A result which would see the US apply pressure on Russia in the form of broader secondary tariffs against Russia's oil customers (as those now faced by India) would no doubt move crude to the highs seen a few weeks ago,' Melek said. Two weeks ago, Trump had imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods as a penalty for India's continued imports of Russian oil. New Delhi has accused the US of double standards in singling it out for Russian oil imports, calling the tariffs unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Battle for Ukraine becomes as much about Donald Trump as battlefield
A guarantee of some level of US protection: that was the biggest achievement by Ukraine and its European allies in a remarkable day of lobbying at the White House in Washington. On the tortured and land-mined road to peace in Ukraine, this is as close to a good day as you can get. It became Europe and NATO versus Russia's Vladimir Putin, both sides vying to win over US President Donald Trump. On this particular day, at least, Europe and NATO won. The battle for Ukraine has become as much about Trump as it is the battlefield. Rarely has so much political firepower sat around the one table as in the East Room of the White House today. What this White House meeting was about was "Europe" trying to cleave Trump back from what it saw as the Moscow corner into the Kyiv corner. As lobbying efforts go, they don't come more impressive than this. In workplace conflicts, people sometimes bring a "support person" with them. This has rarely been done in geopolitical conflicts. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy brought not just one support person but the world's second-largest economic grouping, the European Commission. On top of that, he brought the biggest military alliance in history, NATO, and then to add to the list the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Finland. As Trump sat at the table, he could not have failed to have been impressed by the quality and unity of the support that Zelenskyy has managed to keep after three years of a brutal war that was started by Russia and has ravaged his country and its economy. On one side of the table, literally, was the UK's Sir Keir Starmer, France's Emmanuel Macron, Trump, Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Germany's Friedrich Merz. Facing them were NATO's Mark Rutter, Zelenskyy, Finland's Alexander Stubb and the European Commission's Ursula von der Leyen. As Sir Keir said, each of the European leaders had had many conversations — bilateral and as a group — leading to this day. Trump went around the room, seeking comments from each. The common theme of many was that they wanted a three-way meeting between the Russian, Ukrainian and US leaders. Macron went one step further. He said it should be a four-way meeting, with Europe represented given that Russia was a threat not just to Ukraine but to much of Europe. From the warm and engaged dynamics of this group, it seems that "Europe" has — at least for the moment — convinced the US to remain engaged in the effort to find an end to the Ukraine war. Given the importance of the US to NATO, a decision by Washington to withdraw from Ukraine's defence against the Russian attack would place an enormous strain on Europe and the rest of NATO. Putin, who as a dictator does not need to worry about voters tiring of funding a war, would take delight in any US retreat. Then he could try to wait out individual countries within Europe, hoping they would lose the appetite for the fight. The image of the confrontation between Trump and Zelenskyy in the White House in February has been seared into the memory of people around the world. So bad was the breakdown of relations between Trump and Zelenskyy that Trump ordered the cutting of US aid and intelligence to the Ukrainian army for about a week — the Ukrainians were fighting without any significant real-time intelligence. But this visit was different. Zelenskyy was not chided by both the president and one of the president's favourite journalists for not wearing a suit. He dressed up on this occasion — with a jacket rather than his traditional battle fatigue T-shirt. The most important concession from the meeting was that Trump said the US would be involved, once the war ended, in "protecting" Ukraine against any further attack. This was a security guarantee of sorts, although certainly vague. While this was a victory for Ukraine and Europe, Trump stayed fixed on the Putin position that a ceasefire was pointless — that the war should continue until a final status deal was reached. There were two key moments in the meeting — the first was when Trump and Zelenskyy stood together in the Oval Office studying a map on the wall. It emerged later that Zelenskyy was explaining to Trump the areas that Russia had taken, and presumably the areas Russia still wanted — particularly Krematorsk and Sloviansk. The other moment was when Trump left the room to call Putin — and convinced him to agree to a meeting with Zelenskyy. If that meeting happens, that will be progress of sorts. Putin has never wanted to meet Zelenskyy, believing that gives an undeserved status to someone who heads a country that he believes is not a legitimate country. After that bilateral meeting, the Trump plan is that he will join the two leaders at a follow-up. Should the three get to this point, then the chance of an end to the war becomes real. For Ukraine, there's no good outcome to this war. The infliction of this war on Ukraine was an historic injustice. This is a morally unambiguous war. There is no doubt who started this war and the lies upon which that decision was made. The killing of Ukraine's civilians surely amounts to war crimes. This war was forced upon Ukraine by Russian aggression and violence. When you walk around Kyiv one of the things that shocks you is the number of people with prosthetics. Putin's army has not just killed tens of thousands of civilians but left thousands of others without arms or legs. When I watched Putin walk across the red carpet in Alaska as Trump clapped in three bursts I thought of those Ukrainians without arms and legs. I thought of the firefighter I met who had been called to a fire caused by Russian soldiers as they fled the outskirts of Kyiv. On his way to the fire his truck ran over an IED that the Russian army had buried in the road, knowing that Ukrainians would drive to the area to try to put out the fires. I watched this young man trying to learn to walk with prosthetic legs. Had Vladimir Putin not decided to invade Ukraine, that man would have his real legs. The killing and maiming must stop. The least bad outcome for Ukraine is that this killing stops quickly. For all the criticisms people make of Donald Trump, as US president he remains the only person who can strongarm Vladimir Putin into stopping this war. Today was a welcome step along that path, although this road will not be an easy one.
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US would help assure Ukraine's security in a peace deal, Trump tells Zelenskiy
WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday that the United States would help guarantee Ukraine's security in any deal to end Russia's war there, though the extent of any assistance was not immediately clear. Trump made the pledge during an extraordinary summit at the White House, where he hosted Zelenskiy and a group of European allies days after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. "When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help," Trump told reporters, adding that European countries would be involved. "They are a first line of defence because they're there, but we'll help them out." Zelenskiy hailed the promise as "a major step forward," adding that the guarantees would be "formalized on paper within the next week to 10 days" and saying Ukraine offered to buy about $90 billion worth of U.S. weapons. The tone on Monday was much warmer than a disastrous Oval Office meeting that saw Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly criticize the Ukrainian leader in February. But a peace deal still appeared far from imminent. Just before the talks began, Russia's Foreign Ministry ruled out the deployment of troops from NATO countries to help secure a peace deal, adding complications to Trump's offer. Both Trump and Zelenskiy said they hoped Monday's gathering would eventually lead to three-way talks with Putin, whose forces have been slowly grinding forward in eastern Ukraine. In a social media post late on Monday, Trump said he had called the Russian leader and begun arranging a meeting between Putin and Zelenskiy, to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents. Trump told European leaders that Putin suggested that sequence, according to a source in the European delegation. While the Kremlin has not publicly announced its agreement, a senior U.S. administration official said the Putin-Zelenskiy meeting could take place in Hungary. The pair will meet within the next two weeks, according to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The last direct talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Turkey in June. Putin declined Zelenskiy's public invitation to meet him face-to-face there and sent a low-level delegation instead. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in audio remarks on Telegram on Monday that Trump and Putin had discussed "the possibility of raising the level of representatives from the Ukrainian and Russian sides ... participating in the mentioned direct negotiations." Meanwhile, European leaders - who rushed to Washington to back up Zelenskiy - urged Trump to insist that Putin agree to a ceasefire in the 3-1/2-year-old war before any talks can advance. Trump previously backed that proposal but reversed course after meeting with Putin on Friday, instead adopting Moscow's position that any peace agreement be comprehensive. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he liked the concept of a ceasefire but the two sides could work on a peace deal while the fighting continued. "I wish they could stop, I'd like them to stop," he said. "But strategically that could be a disadvantage for one side or the other." Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, in an X post called it "an important day of diplomacy today with the focus on Lasting Peace not a Temporary Ceasefire." Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron both voiced support for a ceasefire as a prerequisite to any direct talks with Russia. Macron also said European leaders would eventually need to be included in any peace talks. "When we speak about security guarantees, we speak about the whole security of the European continent," he told Trump. Trump and Zelenskiy spoke in private before joining the contingent of European leaders including heads of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and NATO for more than two hours of multilateral talks. Zelenskiy navigated Monday's meeting much more successfully than his Oval Office encounter in February, which ended abruptly when Trump and Vance publicly upbraided Zelenskiy as not being grateful enough. In his opening remarks to the media on Monday, Zelenskiy repeated his thanks at least eight times, striking a deferential tone. Rather than visiting alone, Zelenskiy had reinforcements this time. The European leaders traveled to Washington to demonstrate solidarity with Kyiv and push for strong security guarantees for the country in any post-war settlement. Trump greeted Zelenskiy warmly upon his arrival outside the White House, expressing admiration for his black suit. That was a departure from the Ukrainian leader's typical military clothes, which media reports said irritated Trump in February. When a reporter asked Trump what his message was to the people of Ukraine, he said, "We love them." Zelenskiy thanked him, and Trump put his hand on Zelenskiy's back in a show of affection before the two men went inside to the Oval Office. Trump has pressed for a quick end to Europe's deadliest war in 80 years, and Kyiv and its allies worry he could seek to force an agreement on Russia's terms after the president on Friday rolled out the red carpet - literally - for Putin, who faces war crimes charges from the International Criminal Court, which he denies. Russia says it is engaged in a 'special military operation' in Ukraine to protect its national security, claiming NATO's eastward expansion and Western military support for Ukraine pose existential threats. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Trump has rejected claims that the Alaska summit was a win for Putin, who has faced diplomatic isolation since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Both sides must compromise, according to Trump's team. But the president has put the burden on Zelenskiy, saying Ukraine should give up hopes of regaining Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, or of joining the NATO military alliance. Zelenskiy has already all but rejected the outline of Putin's proposals from the Alaska meeting. Those include handing over the remaining quarter of its eastern Donetsk region, which is largely controlled by Russia. Any concession of Ukrainian territory would have to be approved by a referendum. The war has killed or wounded more than a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts, and destroyed wide swaths of the country.
New York Times
19 hours ago
- Climate
- New York Times
More Soldiers and European Firefighters Join Battle Against Blazes in Spain
Spain is deploying 500 more soldiers and European allies are rushing firefighters and equipment to bolster emergency teams struggling to battle blazes that remain out of control around the country. The reinforcements bring the number of Spanish military personnel aiding local firefighters to about 4,000. Even with the extra support, the searing temperatures were complicating attempts to squelch blazes that have already burned more acres than any fires in Spain in recent years. Officials consider 23 active fires to be especially serious, with many of the most worrying blazes mainly in the northwest of the country. The Iberian Peninsula is facing some of the most devastating wildfires in southern Europe, which is enduring one of its worst fire seasons in recent memory as the region swelters under life-threatening heat. Officials warned that the situation could quickly worsen: Spain's meteorological agency warned of 'very high or extreme fire danger' across the country on Monday. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
Zelenskiy, Allies Set to Plead With Trump to Stand Behind Ukraine
Good morning. Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his European allies head to the White House. Hurricane Erin is on the move. And the US approves new uses for weight-loss drugs. Listen to the day's top stories.
