Latest news with #JosephKeithKellogg
Toronto Sun
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Ukrainians welcome U.S. aid but see Trump's 50-day ultimatum to Putin as too long
Published Jul 15, 2025 • 3 minute read In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, and United States Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Joseph Keith Kellogg, center right, speak during a meeting, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) AP KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainians welcomed President Donald Trump's pledge of more U.S.-made weapons in their fight against Russia's invasion, even though it is unclear what exactly they will get and how quickly. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The time frame for further arms deliveries that European countries have agreed to pay for is crucial. Russia is making a summer push to break through along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, and its drones and missiles are hammering Ukrainian cities more than at any time in the past three years. Ukrainian officials have made no direct comment about Trump's decision to allow Russia 50 days to reach a deal to end the war, or face what he said would be 'very severe' economic sanctions. While some believe strict tariffs on Moscow could be a game changer, the postponement until September struck others as being too long. For Russia, Trump's delay of new sanctions is a reprieve. Senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev commented: 'Oh, how much can change both on the battlefield and with the mood of those leading the U.S. and NATO in 50 days.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Russian state television pointed out that Trump's decision would bring a bigger financial burden for Europe. Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukraine. Ukraine's depleted army has recently been losing more territory, but there is no sign of a looming collapse on the front line, analysts say. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump after the Republican leader's Oval Office announcement Monday, expressing gratitude for the decision to send more Patriot air defense missiles that are vital to defend Ukrainian cities. 'We discussed … the necessary measures and decisions to provide greater protection for people from Russian attacks and strengthen our positions,' Zelenskyy said on Telegram. 'We agreed to talk more often and coordinate our steps in the future.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Trump and Zelenskyy have had a notoriously fraught relationship, and Washington's consent to providing more weaponry has eased Kyiv's worries. Even so, some Ukrainians felt the U.S. decision won't alter the course of the war. 'If we take the situation as a whole, it hardly looks like this will fundamentally change anything,' Kyiv resident Oles Oliinyk, 33, told The Associated Press. Nina Tokar, 70, was also skeptical. 'I have very little faith in (Trump). He says one thing today, and tomorrow he may say something else.' A Ukrainian army officer fighting in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region said the 50-day delay on sanctions 'is a very long time.' 'They (the Russians) will say, 'Give us two more weeks,' and then in two weeks, 'Give us another week.' It will drag on until October or November,' he told AP, using only the call sign 'Cat' in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp agreed. 'I do believe that the 50 days that Mr Trump has announced is rather long. It's up to September 2. I think that's rather long.' Much remains to be worked out about how the weapons, especially the Patriot systems, will be provided, Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in Brussels on Tuesday. But, in an indication that Europe is relieved that the U.S. hasn't walked away from the conflict, he added: 'The most important thing is that we now have an American readiness to deliver these most needed weapons.' Some European countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, still rely heavily on Russia for energy supplies and could be hit hard by Trump's threatened secondary sanctions on countries that buy its oil and gas — an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said Trump's 50-day delay was a 'signal for Europe to prepare ourselves, because we still have some member states that are exposed to imports of oil and oil products from Russia.' German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said it remains to be seen whether Trump's announcement will be a turnaround but 'what is decisive is that the tone has changed.' The president's threat to impose sanctions after 50 days is 'significant progress,' Pistorius told ARD television. ___ Cook reported from Brussels. ___ Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at Uncategorized NHL NFL Editorials Editorial Cartoons
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as U.S. pledges Patriot missiles to Ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, left, meets with United States Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Joseph Keith Kellogg, at a train station in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 14, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) KYIV, Ukraine — U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration's policy on the more than three-year war. Trump last week teased that he would make a 'major statement' on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin's unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts. Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a 'dictator without elections.' But Russia's relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump's patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to 'STOP!' launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader ' has gone absolutely CRAZY!' as the bombardments continued. 'I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,' Trump said late Sunday. 'He'll talk so beautifully and then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that.' The European Union can't buy weapons Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine badly needed U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles to help it fend off Russia's intensifying aerial attacks. Trump said that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the 'various pieces of very sophisticated' weaponry it is sending. However, the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons. EU member countries are buying and sending weapons to Ukraine, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons. EU countries set up the European Peace Facility so that countries which supply arms to Ukraine could be refunded to backfill their own stocks. Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine's air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said. That has happened at the same time as Russia's bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line. Trump ally says war at inflection point A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money. 'In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,' Graham said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' He added: 'One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.' Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy for international investment who took part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington. 'Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,' Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. 'This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.' 'Equal dialogue, mutual respect, realism and economic cooperation are the foundations of global security,' he added, echoing comments by Putin. NATO chief visits Washington NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress. Talks during Kellogg's visit to Kyiv will cover 'defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,' said the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak. 'Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump's principle, and we support this approach,' Yermak said. Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor's office said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said. Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight. The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea. ___ Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed. ___ Illia Novikov, The Associated Press
