Latest news with #Rossiya-1
Boston Globe
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
European leaders visit Kyiv in a show of solidarity for Ukraine
Advertisement A senior U.S. official, speaking on background because of a lack of authorization to discuss the negotiations, said that President Donald Trump had been in touch with European leaders throughout the week, before the announcement in Kyiv, and that he signaled to Starmer and Macron on Saturday morning that he supported their proposal for sanctions absent a ceasefire by Monday. Trump is also not opposed to having the United States help monitor a ceasefire, but did not make firm commitments about what that would entail or require, the official said. White House officials stressed that Trump has left sanctions on the table repeatedly, including in a recent Truth Social post. The Trump administration proposed the 30-day ceasefire, to which Kyiv agreed, during talks this spring in Saudi Arabia. Advertisement Earlier in the day Saturday, Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, released a photograph of the five leaders huddled around a phone. Sybiha said they were talking with Trump. 'Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday,' Sybiha wrote on social media. 'If Russia agrees and effective monitoring is ensured, a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations.' Before the European leaders gave their news conference, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry dismissed the threat of new sanctions, telling Russian broadcaster Rossiya-1 that the country was 'accustomed to such pressure measures and knows how to minimize their consequences.' He had earlier said that Russia remained opposed to any ceasefire unless Western nations stopped providing military aid to Ukraine, according to the Russian news agency Tass. The visit of the European leaders to Kyiv -- which began with a solemn tribute to the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers killed in battle as the men laid flowers at a makeshift memorial -- came one day after Russia's celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. At that celebration, Putin welcomed President Xi Jinping of China and other foreign dignitaries to Moscow for a military parade meant to project Russia's power and Putin's bid to reshape the global order on his terms. The two events crystallized both the changing contours of the war in Ukraine and the broader geopolitical shift underway since Trump entered office. In only a few months, Trump has reversed core tenets of U.S. foreign policy, and is presiding over the weakening of the trans-Atlantic bond that helped set Europe on the path to peace after the cataclysm of World War II. Advertisement At the moment, Ukraine is caught between an emboldened Russia, buoyed by China, North Korea and Iran, and a Europe scrambling to fill the void left by the United States. It has been more than 120 days since the United States announced a new round of military assistance to Ukraine. It remains unclear if the Trump administration plans to spend the remaining $3.85 billion that Congress has authorized for additional withdrawals from the Defense Department's stockpiles. Ukraine is racing to build up its domestic arms production and its European allies have increased their military assistance. Even if Russia agrees to a ceasefire, Ukraine and its allies believe that the only way to ensure a lasting peace is through military strength. But the coming weeks will test whether European resolve and resources can match the scale of the challenge as the war's outcome increasingly becomes Europe's problem to solve. Most of the pressure Washington has brought to bear to end the fighting has been directed at Kyiv, though Trump has recently shown flashes of frustration with Moscow. Daniel Fried, a former top U.S. diplomat and fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said there was hope that U.S. and European policies on Ukraine are converging but many tests remained. 'The moment of truth' will come, he said, if Putin refuses the 30-day ceasefire. And then, if there is a ceasefire, he said, the next test may come if Russia violates the truce. 'What, then, will be the U.S. response?' he said. This article originally appeared in
Russia Today
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia standing alone against West
Russia is standing alone against the West, which is waging an 'existential war' against the country, President Vladimir Putin has said. Putin made the remarks in a documentary titled 'Russia. Kremlin. Putin. 25 years,' filmed by Rossiya-1 broadcaster and released on Sunday. The film marks the 25-year anniversary of Putin becoming the country's president for the first time. He inaugurated on May 7, 2000. The documentary features conversations between Putin and journalist Pavel Zarubin on various matters, including the hostilities between Ukraine and Russia, as well as a broader conflict between Moscow and the West. 'Russia is essentially standing alone against the collective West. This required a serious attitude to the possible development of the situation in this particular sense,' Putin stated. It has been clear from the early 2000s that the West has been acting 'insidiously' against Russia, speaking about one thing and doing the opposite, Putin noted. The West's failure to hear Russia's repeated warnings, as well as its refusal to fully recognize the country's sovereignty and respect its national interests, has ultimately led to the ongoing crisis, the president explained. 'This 'civilized world' decided that Russia had weakened, historical Russia called the Soviet Union had collapsed, and the remaining parts needed to be finished off. The largest of them was the Russian Federation, and it also needed to be partitioned into 4-5 pieces. I was responsible for the future of the country. Of course, I began working to ensure that this never happened,' he said. Moscow has repeatedly described the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as 'cannon fodder.' Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions by disregarding Moscow's security concerns over NATO's expansion in Eastern Europe and its growing military cooperation with Ukraine. Russia and the collective West ended up locked into an 'existential war,' Putin stressed, adding that many in the West have now openly admitted that. Back in March, for instance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the conflict as 'frankly, a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia' and said the West should abandon its dead-end strategy of propping up Kiev 'for as long as it takes.'
The Independent
12-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump urges Moscow to ‘get moving' on ceasefire as his envoy meets Putin
US president Donald Trump has warned that ' Russia has to get moving' on a ceasefire as American envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian president Vladimir Putin. Kirill Dmitriev, Mr Putin's foreign investment envoy, who attended the talks between Mr Putin and Mr Witkoff, called them "productive". "Welcome to Saint Petersburg, Russia," Kirill Dmitriev, Mr Putin's foreign investment envoy, said in a post on X. "Productive discussions with @SteveWitkoff." A White House spokesperson earlier said Mr Trump would use his influence over Russia to negotiate a peace deal. Karoline Leavitt said: 'We believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal to a peace deal, and we're going to use that leverage, and the president is determined to see this through.' In a warning, Mr Trump said: 'Russia has to get moving. Too many people are DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war.' Mr Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin for more than four hours. The pair shook hands when they first met in St Petersburg. "The theme of the meeting is aspects of a Ukrainian settlement," the Kremlin said in a statement after the meeting ended. Russia launches 88 drones on Ukraine, says Kyiv Ukraine's air defences shot down 56 of 88 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack, Ukraine's air force said this morning. At least 24 drones were "lost" as the military used electronic warfare to redirect them, the air force said. Damage was reported in five Ukrainian regions in the centre, east and south of the country. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 07:27 Russia using bilateral talks with US to delay negotiations on war, says think tank Russia's delay in accepting Washington's proposal has frustrated Donald Trump and fueled doubts about whether Vladimir Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield. 'Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to delay negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end the war,' the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment. Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. 'It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,' Ms Bruce said about the war, adding that 'nothing else can be discussed … until the shooting and the killing stops.' Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 07:10 Zelensky sanctions Russian journalists Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has imposed 10-year sanctions on 18 companies and 130 people, including Russian journalists. Alexander Sladkov, a military correspondent for the Rossiya-1 TV channel; Arina Sharapova, a TV host on Channel One; Andrey Norkin, a talk show host on NTV; Iskander Khisamov; editor-in-chief of the website, are among the journalists targeted, Russian news agency TASS reported. The list includes 59 people from the alleged shadow fleet, a network of ships that Moscow allegedly uses to circumvent Western sanctions to export oil and gas. "We are increasing pressure on war propagandists and those who justify Russia," Mr Zelensky said. He added that more sanctions were expected soon. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 06:00 Zelensky honours 19 people killed Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has told how he honoured the memory of 19 people killed by a Russian ballistic missile strike – exactly one week ago. '19 people were killed by a Russian missile, including 9 children,' he wrote on his website. 'I'm now in a shelter at the very school where three of those children studied – tragically, they were killed. 'That same day, there was also a Shahed drone attack, which claimed even more lives. Eternal memory to them all.' Jane Dalton Ukraine hires American law firm for US mineral deal - report Ukrainian justice ministry has reportedly hired American law firm Hogan Lovells to present Kyiv's position in negotiations on a mineral deal with the US. Kyiv is seeking the help of consultants and lawyers "to protect the national interests of Ukraine and to formulate the position of Ukraine", by taking into account American and Ukrainian legislations, a government document said. The funds will be distributed across the economy and justice ministries, the document said, with the aim of hiring consultants with experience in public debt management and external borrowing, and those from leading international law firms, by a 15 April deadline. Deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Monday that Ukraine will send a team to Washington this week to advance negotiations on the draft strategic agreement. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 05:30 Trump urges Putin to 'get moving' on ceasefire deal US president Donald Trump has urged the Russian president to "get moving" on a ceasefire in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin met White House envoy Steve Witkoff in Russia. The focus of the meeting, which lasted over four hours, was "aspects of Ukrainian settlement", the Kremlin said. The Izvestia news outlet earlier released video of Mr Witkoff leaving a hotel in St Petersburg, accompanied by Kirill Dmitriev, Mr Putin's investment envoy. Mr Dmitriev called the talks on Friday "productive".Mr Trump said in a post on Truth Social: "Russia has to get moving. Too many people (are) DYING, thousands a week, in a terrible and senseless war - A war that should have never happened, and wouldn't have happened, if I were President!!!" The Russian leader has said he is ready in principle to agree to a full ceasefire, while emphasizing that crucial implementation details remain unresolved and what he describes as the war's root causes have yet to be addressed. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 04:52 US officials say Chinese fighting for Moscow are mercenaries Over 100 Chinese citizens fighting for the Russian military against Ukraine are mercenaries who do not appear to have a direct link to China's government, officials said. Chinese military officers have, however, been in the theatre behind Russia's lines with Beijing's approval to draw tactical lessons from the war, a former Western intelligence official told Reuters. The head of US forces in the Indo-Pacific, Admiral Samuel Paparo, confirmed on 9 April that Ukrainian forces had captured two men of Chinese origin in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had information about 155 Chinese citizens fighting there on Russia's behalf. China, which has declared a "no-limits" partnership with Russia and has refrained from criticising Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had called Mr Zelensky's remarks "irresponsible" and said China was not a party to the war. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 04:39 Russia claims to have destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones Russia's Defence Ministry said air defence units had destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones within 30 minutes. A ministry statement said that between 10pm and 10.30pm, nine drones were destroyed in the Rostov region on Ukraine's eastern border and four in the Kursk region, on Ukraine's north border. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 04:31 Moscow calls meeting with White House envoy 'productive' Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev described as "productive" talks between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff. "Welcome to Saint Petersburg, Russia!" Dmitriev, who attended the talks, wrote on X in English. "Productive discussions with @SteveWitkoff." Mr Putin was shown on state TV greeting Witkoff in St Petersburg's presidential library at the start of the negotiations and state news agencies later said the talks lasted more than four hours. "The theme of the meeting is aspects of a Ukrainian settlement," the Kremlin said in a statement after the meeting concluded. Mr Witkoff has emerged as a key figure in the on-off rapprochement between Moscow and Washington amid talk on the Russian side of potential joint investments in the Arctic and in Russian rare earth minerals. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar12 April 2025 04:13
Al Jazeera
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Spring brings more Russian advances as Putin rejects a ceasefire in Ukraine
Ukraine faced grim military and diplomatic developments over the past week, as Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a complete ceasefire by suggesting there were 'issues' that needed ironing out. Vladyslav Voloshyn, a spokesman for Ukraine's southern forces, said Russian forces were increasing their mechanised attacks as spring weather firmed up soggy ground. 'The mud has disappeared … there is more vegetation, and there is less visibility. Therefore, the enemy is trying to improve its tactical position,' said Voloshyn. Russian forces on Tuesday entered the village of Stepove in western Zaporizhia, a southern Ukrainian province Russian forces partly occupy. The capture would complicate local Ukrainian logistics, said a Russian official. 'There is a road running from Orekhov to Kamenskoye through Stepove, which the enemy constantly used … They will have to move along longer routes. This brings about positive changes for us on the Zaporizhia front as a whole,' Vladimir Rogov told the Russian state news agency TASS. There was also bad news for Ukrainian forces in the Russian province of Kursk, where they staged a counter-invasion last August, drawing much of Russia's firepower away from Ukrainian soil. Russia recaptured its city of Sudzha on March 13, pushing Ukrainian forces almost to the border, and appeared intent on pressing into Ukrainian territory. 'Not only will we have liberated our own land, but we will also establish the buffer zone that [Putin] has tasked us with creating,' Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, told Rossiya-1 television network. Putin called for the creation of a 'sanitary zone' inside Ukraine a year ago. 'It is crucial that this zone be no less than 20 kilometres wide [10 miles], and preferably 30 kilometres [20 miles], extending deep into Ukrainian territory,' a battalion deputy commander, Oleg Ivanov, told state news service TASS. Putin seeks selective ceasefire Buoyed by these successes, Putin rejected a United States-Ukrainian proposal for a complete ceasefire on the day Sudzha fell to him. 'Who will determine where and who has violated a potential ceasefire agreement along 2,000km [1,240 miles]? And who will then blame who for violating that agreement?' Putin said, referring to the length of the entire Russian-Ukrainian border. 'The situation on the ground … is rapidly changing,' he told reporters. Putin also claimed Ukrainian forces in Kursk were encircled. Ukraine's general staff denied the claim, saying, 'Reports of the alleged 'encirclement' … are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners.' That did not stop US President Donald Trump from believing them. '[Russians] have encircled about 2,500 soldiers, they're nicely encircled,' Trump said in a televised interview. There was no subsequent indication they had been captured. Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, told reporters on Tuesday that instead of a full ceasefire, Putin agreed to a ceasefire on long-range aerial attacks against power stations and general infrastructure, as well as long-range naval attacks in the Black Sea. The agreement was sealed after two meetings between Witkoff and Putin lasting almost eight hours, followed by a two-hour phone call between Putin and Trump. 'Up until recently, we really didn't have consensus around these two aspects, the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing. And today, we got to that place, and I think it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there,' Witkoff said. The Kremlin's version of events suggested a Black Sea moratorium was still not there. Putin 'reacted constructively' to the idea, a Kremlin press statement said, and 'agreed to start negotiations to further study the specific details', whereas on energy and general infrastructure, Putin 'immediately gave the Russian military the appropriate command'. Witkoff said details remained to be worked out on Sunday when US and Russian delegations were to meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would consider the partial ceasefire after speaking with Trump, 'so that we could understand the details', he was quoted as saying by Ukrainian news portal, Obshchestvennoye Novosti on March 19. But the deal between Trump and Putin puts him in a difficult position. The full ceasefire would have stopped a slow but relentless yearlong Russian advance, while a simultaneous long-range ceasefire would have protected Russian energy infrastructure and the Russian Black Sea fleet from attacks by Ukrainian unmanned vehicles, which have been highly successful. On Wednesday, for example, Ukrainian-made drones struck a refinery in Russia's Krasnodar region. Last Friday, they destroyed four Pantsir-1 surface-to-air missile systems on Russian soil; while the day before, three drones reached Moscow. Zelenskyy said a Ukrainian-made drone had passed the 3,000km (1,860-mile) test on Tuesday, suggesting Ukraine was aiming for ever-deeper strikes against weapons factories and refineries in enemy territory. The absence of such symmetry in a partial ceasefire gives Ukraine no respite or retribution for ongoing Russian attacks on its soil. The direct talks between Russia and the US have also frustrated Zelenskyy, who enjoyed unqualified support from former US President Joe Biden. In a virtual meeting with NATO and European Union allies on Saturday, Zelenskyy expressed frustration that Trump was discussing European security guarantees with Putin. 'This is a very bad signal – taking the Russians' opinion into account,' regarding a European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine, he said. 'It is not [Putin's] business to decide anything about Ukraine's and Europe's security,' he said. Putin, on the other hand, sounded bullish when addressing the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, whose leaders he told to get used to Western sanctions. 'Only those countries that can ensure real, full-scale sovereignty and remain resilient, both generally and to external pressures in particular, are capable of dynamic, progressive development in the interests of their peoples,' he said. Any ceasefire would be designed to lead to negotiations for long-term peace, but neither Russia nor Ukraine have budged from their fundamental positions. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told an interviewer on Monday that Ukraine had to agree never to become part of NATO. Russia has also demanded that Ukraine withdraw from its four provinces that Russia has formally annexed and partly controls – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson. Ukraine would never recognise its occupied territories as Russian, said Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy's office, days after being appointed to lead Ukraine's negotiating team on Friday. The EU, too, has taken a grim view of Putin's intentions. 'Those conditions that they are presenting show that Russia doesn't really want peace because they are presenting as conditions all the ultimate goals that they want to achieve from the war,' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of Monday's meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers. Trump's national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said territorial concessions would be part of a deal, while NATO membership for Ukraine was 'extremely unlikely'. 'We can talk about what's right and wrong, and we can also talk about the reality of the situation on the ground,' said Waltz in an interview with ABC News on Sunday. Granting Russia the territories it holds would cripple Ukraine's future defence, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank. 'The current front lines do not provide the strategic depth that Ukraine will need to reliably defend against renewed Russian aggression,' wrote the ISW. 'Russian forces are just across the Dnipro River from Kherson City, roughly 25 kilometres [15 miles] from Zaporizhzhia City, and 30 kilometres [20 miles] from Kharkiv City. Russian troops on the Dnipro River could use a ceasefire to prepare for the extremely difficult task of conducting an opposed river crossing undisturbed.' It concluded, 'Ukraine would likely need an even larger military with greater capabilities to play its critical role in deterring and, if necessary, defeating future aggression,' while 'the US and Europe would likely need to provide military aid to Ukraine more rapidly, in much larger volumes, and at higher cost'. There was some good news for Ukraine during the past week. Germany's Christian Democrats and Social Democrats passed a resolution in the Bundestag on Tuesday to create a 500bn euros ($546bn) fund for defence and infrastructure spending, overcoming a political tradition against high deficits. It still has to pass the upper house of Parliament. Germany on Monday announced a new weapons and ammunition package for Ukraine, which included missiles for the Iris-T. Also on Monday, the European Council said Ukraine will soon receive approximately 3.5bn euros ($3.8bn) after the Council approved a third payment of non-repayable grants and loans to Kyiv under the Ukraine Facility, which supports reconstruction and modernisation.
Al Jazeera
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
After Trump's fiery row with Zelenskyy, Russia heaps praise on US leader
A United States-led ceasefire agreement in Ukraine does not appear imminent, but Washington's relationship with Moscow is growing ever warmer. Russia and the US focused on bilateral issues in their second round of talks last Thursday, following their opening session in Riyadh nine days earlier. Russia floated the idea of resuming commercial flights while the US discussed staffing its Moscow embassy. Neither side mentioned Ukraine in their official statements. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed on Wednesday that, 'There are no talks on the situation in Ukraine as yet.' Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, 'Some first draft provisions of such potential peace plans are appearing,' but not 'a coherent institutionalised peace plan'. Russia steps up war of words with European leaders Since the White House debacle during which US President Trump and Vice President JD Vance led a shouting match against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia has tried to drive a wedge between the Trump administration and Europe, as the continent rushes to support Ukraine and Washington pulls further away. Zakharova has called French President Emmanuel Macron 'detached from reality' in a press conference when he offered to share France's nuclear deterrent. She referred to Ukraine's European allies as the 'war party'. She called Zelenskyy's 'dressing down' in the White House a result of the 'extreme moral degradation' of the 'maniac leader of the Nazi regime'. Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, on Sunday blamed Europeans rather than the US for military aid provided to Ukraine. 'The most lethal weapons are supplied by the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany, Romania, Estonia, and a number of other countries,' he said. Even as its army claimed the village of Privolnoye in Donetsk on Wednesday, Peskov told reporters, 'The Kyiv regime and Zelensky do not want peace. They want the war to continue.' But Trump was a return to sanity, Russian officials said. 'We all understood that it was not Donald Trump who severed relations, but Joe Biden,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an interviewer on Sunday, during which he rejected the idea of European peacekeepers. 'They claim to be training thousands of peacekeepers and providing them with air support, which is an audacious stance,' he said of the United Kingdom and France. 'First and foremost, no one consults us. President Donald Trump understands the situation fully.' Peskov told an interviewer on the Rossiya-1 news network, 'The new [US] administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision.' Trump has echoed Russian arguments, telling Zelenskyy that Ukraine is not helping to achieve a ceasefire but prolonging the war. Meanwhile, Ukrainian delegations are working with European allies to increase military aid, after another breach of US-Ukrainian relations on Friday led to a military and intelligence cutoff. 'The events of the last week have definitely produced an effect here in Oslo and in other countries,' Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian member of parliament with knowledge of security and defence matters, told Al Jazeera. She was in the Norwegian capital as part of a delegation negotiating an increase in military assistance. 'Norway is now considering increasing its support,' she said. Poland announced a new, $200m package of military aid on Thursday. 'Hearing Trump say Ukrainians don't want peace is unfair,' said Sovsun. 'There is nothing I want more than for [my partner] to come home. But I also don't want my son to go and fight in five years.' Trump's administration 'clearly sides with Russia' 'There is no longer any pretence that the administration clearly sides with Russia,' said retired US general Ben Hodges, who commanded US forces in Europe from 2014 to 2018. 'This is a huge strategic mistake for the United States because our European allies are going to come together, they are going to help Ukraine either win or at least get to a much better situation, and Europe will have done it without us and despite us and we will have lost great influence and great credibility,' Hodges said. US credibility was also likely to suffer in the Middle East and the Pacific, said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. 'The Russia-led bloc will likely see the United States abandoning Ukraine as an indicator that the United States will abandon its other allies and will seek to test the limits of US commitment around the world,' the ISW said, referring to Iran and North Korea. During their fiery exchange, Trump and Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday for being 'disrespectful'. 'I've empowered you to be a tough guy. I don't think you'd be a tough guy without the United States … you're not acting at all thankful and that's not a nice thing,' said Trump. The criticism carried a partisan sting. 'You went to Pennsylvania in October and campaigned for the opposition,' said Vance, referring to Zelenskyy's appearance with then-President Joe Biden on the campaign trail. Trump called his predecessor 'a stupid president' for giving Ukraine '350 billion dollars' – a figure approximately three times what Zelenskyy, Biden and the EU say the US has provided. Two days later, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer invited Zelenskyy to meet European leaders in London. 'Those willing will intensify planning now with real urgency,' Starmer said after the summit. 'The UK is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others.' France had already offered troops to Ukraine last year. Ireland and Luxembourg joined the growing coalition this week. 'The European offer of 'boots on the ground' after a deal has helped reassure Ukraine. But the debate has now moved on. And what will count most of all is how far the UK and Europe are prepared to help Ukraine in defiance of the US,' said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London. But even as Europe stepped up, Washington stepped out, suspending all US military hardware and intelligence sharing on Tuesday at 2pm Kyiv time (12:00 GMT)– an unprecedented step in the three-year war. 'Everything that was not literally on Ukrainian soil at the time the freeze was announced was not delivered,' said Sovsun. That included Pentagon aid already approved by Congress, but not military supplies Ukraine was buying from private contractors in the US. Europe ready to assume 'responsibilities': von der Leyen ABC News quoted two unnamed US government officials saying 90 percent of Pentagon aid had been delivered to Ukraine before the cutoff. Within hours of the cutoff, European Union executive chief Ursula von der Leyen said Europe could mobilise 800 billion euros ($866bn) in defence spending. 'Europe is ready to assume its responsibilities. Rearm Europe could mobilise up to 800 billion euros of defence expenditures for safe and resilient Europe,' she said. Of that, 650 billion euros ($704bn) would come by relaxing borrowing limits for national governments, and about 150 billion euros ($162bn) by borrowing jointly through the EU. The EU has never before undertaken joint military debt or procurement. The initiative was up for approval by the bloc's leaders at a special summit on Thursday. 'Recent estimates suggest that only 20 percent of total military hardware supplied to Ukrainian forces is now from the US,' said Chalmers. 'Fifty-five percent is home-produced in Ukraine and 25 percent from Europe and the rest of the world, but the 20 percent is the most lethal and important. Ukraine will not collapse – they already experienced an aid cutoff last year, but the effect will be cumulative.' France's President Emmanuel Macron went even further in replacing US security guarantees in Europe. During an address on Wednesday, he offered to potentially extend France's nuclear deterrent to the continent. 'I have decided to start strategic discussions on the defence of the entire continent with our nuclear weapons. The decision will depend on the heads and commanders-in-chief of European countries,' Macron said in a televised message. The UK and France are the only European nuclear powers. Sovsun has been impressed with the European response so far. 'In the beginning, I was very pessimistic. But then the London summit came and other decisions,' she said. 'I'm actually feeling better than I feared I might. We've seen the level of seriousness with which they've taken it.' Zelenskyy had been about to sign an agreement granting the US exclusive rights to mine rare earths in Ukraine when he was unceremoniously thrown out of the White House on Friday. 'What we need to hear from President Zelenskyy is that he has regret for what happened, he's ready to sign this minerals deal and that he's ready to engage in peace talks,' said Trump's national security advisor, Mike Waltz. Zelenskyy on Tuesday offered a plan for a ceasefire, involving a POW exchange, a cessation of long-range strikes, and a truce in the Black Sea – but only if Russia reciprocated. 'Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,' Zelensky wrote on X. 'It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right.' Trump confirmed during a speech to Congress on Tuesday that he received a letter from Zelenskyy in which the Ukrainian president expressed readiness to enter peace negotiations. One of the reasons for Zelenskyy's disagreement with Trump was over his efforts to tie security guarantees into the rare-earths deal. 'Hopefully, we won't have to send much [military assistance] because I'm looking forward to getting it done quickly,' Trump told a reporter during his White House conference with Zelenskyy. Asked about that on a right-wing US network, Vance said, 'The [Ukrainian] president knows that, look, if you want real security guarantees, if you want to ensure that [Russian president] Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine. That is a much better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years.' He later clarified he was not talking about the UK or France.
