Latest news with #Ukraine Russia
The National
a day ago
- Politics
- The National
Trump meets Zelenskyy with future of Ukraine in the balance
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to the White House on Monday for a high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump, who is eager to negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. It is the first time Mr Zelenskyy has set foot in the White House since the disastrous meeting between the two leaders on February 28. Then, Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance were openly hostile towards the Ukrainian leader and the meeting devolved into a shouting match – with the loudest voices being those of the two Americans – that ended with Mr Zelenskyy and his team leaving early. The two sides have since made up, with a positive encounter on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral, but Monday's meeting may well be the most consequential, with the fate of Ukraine's territorial integrity on the line. The meeting comes three days after Mr Trump sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska to discuss the war. Mr Trump had hoped to walk away with a ceasefire deal but instead returned to Washington empty-handed. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN that Mr Trump and Mr Putin had agreed that the US would be able to offer "Article 5-like" security guarantees to Ukraine. 'The only way to have a ceasefire is for both sides to agree to stop firing at one another and the Russians just haven't agreed to that,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC's Meet The Press on Sunday. Mr Rubio said for a peace deal to be reached, 'each side is going to have to give up on something". Mr Zelenskyy has stated his opposition to any deal under which Ukraine would lose more territory. Russia, which took control of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, currently occupies about 20 per cent of Ukraine and despite Kyiv's best efforts, it has been unable to win it back on the battlefield. 'Here's the bottom line," Mr Rubio said. "We all know what the elements of such a deal. There has to be talk about what the territories are going to look like and what the border lines are going to look like at the end of this conflict. 'There has to be talk about Ukraine's legitimate desire for security in the long term to make sure they don't get invaded again. There has to be talk about how Ukraine is rebuilt and how you rebuild a country that's been attacked as often as it has over the last three and a half years. These are all key elements of any agreement – we understand that.' The Trump administration briefed the Ukrainians and European allies immediately after the meeting with Mr Putin and are trying to move as quickly as possible with Monday's in-person meeting. On Sunday evening, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to once again apply public pressure on the embattled wartime President. "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Mr Trump wrote. "Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!" Still, he expressed optimism over the White House meeting. "A big day at the White House. We have never had so many European leaders here at one time. A great honour for America! Lets see what the results will be?" he wrote in another post. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 amid fears that Ukraine was seeking to join Nato, as well as the European Union. Moscow has said it aims to protect Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine, and to "denazify" the country. Mr Zelenksyy will be joined at the White House by European leaders who continue to back Ukraine amid waning US support. The "coalition of the willing" met Mr Trump ahead of the meeting with Mr Putin, emphasising that no peace agreement can be decided without Ukraine and that sanctions and other economic measures should be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire.
The Guardian
09-08-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: Trump flags ‘swapping of territories' as he and Putin set a date for Alaska talks
Donald Trump has said any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would involve territory swaps, as he named a date and location for talks with Vladimir Putin. The US president said: 'But we're gonna get some [territory] back. We're gonna get some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both.' He did not provide further details. Kyiv did not immediately comment on the talks or the possibility of territorial exchanges. Trump said he planned to meet the Russian president next Friday in Alaska. He announced the location in a brief post on his Truth Social site. Russian state media agency Tass confirmed the date and location of the meeting, citing Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. Putin said earlier he was not ready to meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the proposal of a three-way meeting by US envoy Steve Witkoff. 'I have nothing against it in general, it is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this,' Putin said of a meeting with Zelenskyy. 'But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.' Ushakov said another summit with the US president could be held in Moscow, and said an invite had already been extended. The White House has not commented yet on the remarks. The US president's remarks on Ukraine came after Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, said a 'freeze' in the conflict could be close, after speaking with Zelenskyy, who has communicated with Trump and European leaders in recent days. 'There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away,' Tusk said during a news conference. Ukraine's president said late on Friday that Kyiv was in 'constant communication with the American side' as the deadline for a Russian ceasefire passed. Zelenskyy said 'No orders to stop have been given to the Russian army' and that the day had seen more than 100 drone strikes on Ukraine, as well as frontline assaults and other airstrikes. He added that all Ukraine's allies were 'united in the understanding that there is a chance to achieve at least a ceasefire, and that everything depends on the right pressure on Russia'. Viktoriia Roshchyna, the Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian captivity last year, has been buried in Kyiv, in a ceremony attended by relatives and colleagues who paid tribute to her singular professional courage and the importance of her work. Roshchyna was reporting on Russia's systematic policy of extrajudicial detention and torture in occupied parts of Ukraine before falling victim to it herself. She died at the age of 27 last year in murky circumstances, after more than a year in Russian captivity. Her body was returned earlier this year with some of the internal organs missing.
New York Times
08-08-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Suggests a Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal Would Include ‘Swapping of Territories'
President Trump suggested Friday that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would include 'some swapping of territories,' signaling that the United States may join Russia in trying to compel Ukraine to permanently cede some of its land. 'We're going to get some back, and we're going to get some switched,' Mr. Trump said while hosting the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for a peace summit at the White House. 'There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we'll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.' Mr. Trump provided little additional detail about what territory could be swapped or about the broader contours of a peace deal, saying he did not want to overshadow the peace pledge between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ukrainian leaders have been adamantly opposed to relinquishing any of their land to Russia, and the country's constitution bars President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine from ceding any territory. There would also be numerous political and military hurdles for Ukraine in turning over land to Russia. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump told European leaders that he planned to meet with Mr. Putin as soon as next week, and would follow up shortly afterward with a meeting between himself, Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky. Beyond the question of territory, there are a number of equally thorny issues that would need to be settled. Among them is whether Mr. Zelensky would get security guarantees from Europe, the United States or NATO to keep Russia from pausing, then resuming, a war to try and take the rest of the country. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
