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New York Post
15 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
China leads exodus from Israel and Iran as nations rush to evacuate citizens over conflict
China has begun evacuating its citizens from Iran and Israel as tensions grow in the region over the escalating bombardments in both nations. The Chinese foreign ministry called on its citizens to board chartered flights out of Iran and Israel on Tuesday following President Xi Jinping's call for a cease-fire between the warring states. 'Military conflict is not a way to solve problems, and the escalation of regional tensions is not in the common interests of the international community,' Xi said in his first public comment since the conflict broke out on Friday. Advertisement 4 Xi Jinping called for a cease-fire between Israel and Iran as Chinese citizens were flown out of both nations on Tuesday. KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images 4 A boy walks by the wreckage of an Iranian missile strike in Israel. Matan Golan/SOPA Images/Shutterstock China's evacuation order coincided with flights out of Israel for 139 people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with the Tourism Ministry offering to help any foreigners coordinate flights out of the Jewish state. Czech Defense Minister Jana Černochová confirmed that a plane carrying 66 Czech nationals landed in Prague on Tuesday morning after they were transported by bus to an Egyptian airport. Advertisement 'It was not possible to send the army plane straight to Israel,' the ministry said, due to the airspace closure around the Jewish state over Iran's retaliatory attacks. A Slovakia-bound plane carrying 73 passengers — mostly Slovaks, but also Poles, Czechs, Austrians, Slovenians and others — landed in Bratislava overnight, said Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar. 4 Slovakia charted a flight with 73 passengers out of Israel as many nations call for their citizens to evacuate. AP Advertisement 4 A man watches smoke billow over Tehran following an Israeli airstrike. BERNO/SIPA/Shutterstock Among the Slovak evacuees were five family members of diplomats working in Tel Aviv, officials added. Poland said Tuesday that evacuation flights for its citizens were in the works and set to take off on Wednesday and Thursday. Israel's Tourism Ministry said that there are about 38,000 tourists currently in Israel, with the agency working with the National Security Council and Transportation Ministry to coordinate flights out of the Jewish state. Advertisement Birthright Israel, a nonprofit that was overseeing 2,800 young adults visiting Israel, also facilitated the evacuation of 1,500 people — including hundreds of Americans — aboard a cruise ship bound for Cyprus on Tuesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered four jets to pick up the Americans and fly them to Tampa, where they can return home. With Post wires
New York Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump reveals what he told Ukraine's Zelensky at Pope Francis' funeral during NewsNation town hall
WASHINGTON — President Trump revealed Wednesday that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take a peace deal with Russia when the two leaders met at Vatican City before the funeral of Pope Francis this past weekend. 'I was telling him that it's a very good thing that, if we produce a deal, that you sign it,' Trump said during a NewsNation town hall hosted by Chris Cuomo. 3 Trump called in to NewsNation for a town hall on Wednesday. NewsNationNow Advertisement 3 Chris Cuomo, Bill O'Reilly and Stephen A. Smith were all on the panel. NewsNationNow 3 Trump and Zelensky sat directly across from each other at Pope Francis' funeral, just days before the long-awaited mineral deal was signed. PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 'Russia is much bigger and much stronger.' Advertisement Pictures circulated of the two leaders sitting face-to-face at the Vatican Saturday, the first time they met after the infamous Oval Office blowup Feb. 28 that led to Zelensky leaving without a minerals deal. Trump has been pressuring both Ukraine and Russia to end the 38-month-old war, and sent out a Truth Social post after his meeting with Zelensky saying the US has to try a different approach with Russia. This is a developing story. Check back for more information.
New York Post
28-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Vance warns ‘Ukrainians aren't winning the war' while Trump says he could join Kyiv's ‘side'
President Trump revealed that he's open to favoring Ukraine in its war with Russia despite his qualms with President Volodymyr Zelensky, while Vice President JD Vance bluntly assessed Monday that Kyiv can't win the fight on its current trajectory. Trump, 78, was asked during a wide-ranging interview with the Atlantic magazine whether there was anything Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin 'could do that would cause you to say, 'You know what? I'm on Zelensky's side now.'' 'Not necessarily on Zelensky's side, but on Ukraine's side, yes,' Trump replied, according to a transcript of the sitdown. 'But not necessarily on Zelensky's side. I've had a hard time with Zelensky. You saw that over here [Feb. 28] when he was sitting right in that chair, when he just couldn't get it.' The president was also coy when asked whether he would ever show 'full-blown support for Ukraine' by sending additional weapons packages. 'Doesn't have to be weapons. There are many forms of weapons,' Trump replied. 'It can be weapons with sanctions. It can be weapons with banking. It can be many other weapons.' 4 President Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart on Saturday. PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock 4 Vice President JD Vance warned that Ukraine can't win the war. AP Trump met with Zelensky for 15 minutes in St. Peter's Basilica ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis, marking the leaders' first face-to-face since the infamous Oval Office meeting that ended in a full-blown argument involving Vance. Following that meeting, Trump lashed out at Putin and suggested that he would punish Moscow. 'There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,' Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday. 'It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!' Meanwhile, on Monday, Vance, 40, delivered a hearty defense of Trump's efforts to broker a peace agreement in the 38-month-old war. 'Have the Russians and Ukrainians stopped fighting? No, but have we made more progress in three months than we made the previous three years? Absolutely,' Vance told Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. 'And you have even the Ukrainians, the Europeans, the Russians, all sort of simultaneously admitting, sometimes begrudgingly, that Donald Trump's diplomacy has advanced the ball there.' 4 President Trump and Vice President JD Vance fumed at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February. Getty Images Vance then warned that while he 'can't say [with] 100% certainty' that peace would be achieved, he was certain that 'if this doesn't stop, the Ukrainians aren't winning the war. 'I think there's this weird idea among the mainstream media that if this thing goes on for just another few years, the Russians will collapse, the Ukrainians will take their territory back, and everything will go back to the way it was before the war,' he added. 'That is not the reality we live in.' Vance also predicted that continued fighting would leave Russia and Ukraine grappling with a demographic 'nightmare' and risk 'escalating it to a nuclear war.' Both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested that the White House could wash its collective hands of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but Trump has declined to specify a deadline for the administration to walk away. 'We'll have to see what happens over the next period of pretty much a week,' the president told the Atlantic. 'We're down to final strokes. And again, this is [former President Joe] Biden's war. I'm not gonna get saddled — I don't wanna be saddled with it. It's a terrible war. Should have never happened. It would've never happened, as sure as you're sitting there.' 4 Russian strongman Vladimir Putin recently proposed a temporary ceasefire for next month. Getty Images Meanwhile, Putin announced plans for a three-day cease-fire beginning May 8 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. 'For some reason everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire — just to provide Putin with silence for his parade,' Zelensky fumed Monday. 'We value human lives, not parades. That's why we believe — and the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8.' '[A cease-fire] must be immediate, full, and unconditional — for at least 30 days to ensure it is secure and guaranteed. This is the foundation that could lead to real diplomacy. We reaffirm this proposal,' he added. 'The American proposal also remains on the table.'
