Latest news with #Ukrainians
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Business
- Spectator
Zelensky is in an impossible position
The Ukrainian president said this week he hopes the war will end by next June. Not this summer. Not this year. But in 12 months' time. Sanctions, he believes, and four years of gruesome war will finally hit the Russian economy, pushing it into a deep budget deficit. The IMF's latest forecast sort of backs this up. Russia's GDP growth is set to slow to 0.9 per cent next year, down from over 4 per cent in 2024. Most of Russia's workforce is already employed and its central bank's key interest rate is at 21 per cent. Still, for many Ukrainians, Russia's downfall feels like yet another fairy tale. They've heard it all before. In the first days of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians were told it would be over in 'two to three weeks'. And when those weeks passed – again, 'two to three weeks'. Russia's stockpiles had almost run out of missiles, Ukrainians were told.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Flattery and sleight of hand: The art of managing President Trump
Marco Rubio, the US foreign secretary, had a dilemma. Peace talks were fast approaching in London last month but Ukraine had signalled it was not ready to accept Washington's proposal to end the war. So he pulled out of the talks, leaving negotiations to more junior officials. Better that than having to return to Washington and report his failure to Donald Trump, his quixotic boss. 'Fundamentally, he didn't come to London, because what they understood the Ukrainians were bringing to London was something that he would not be able to sell back in the White House, so there was no point in him coming,' a source with knowledge of the negotiations said. 'He made it pretty clear when explaining the reasoning behind his decision for not attending with the foreign secretary.' It is just one of the ways that Cabinet officials, advisers and aides are managing the president, killing off dubious ideas or keeping themselves out of the firing line. The result is a surprisingly stable White House. Where Trump 1.0 was marked by leaks, infighting and dismissals, this time around, disagreements have mostly played out quietly behind the scenes. No one has played the game better than Mr Rubio, who has seen his stock rise to the point where he is talked of as a potential 2028 runner. Peter Navarro has watched it all from his palatial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House. He is one of the few survivors of Mr Trump's first term and confided there was little secret to getting along with the president. 'Basically, you help president Trump fulfil his vision,' he previously told The Telegraph. 'Never take the credit. Be willing to take the blame.' However, insiders have worked out a string of tricks to gently bring Mr Trump around to their way of thinking. And Mr Navarro himself has ended up on the wrong side of such strategies. He was one of the key architects behind 'liberation day' when Mr Trump unveiled swingeing tariffs on goods imported around the world. The immediate impact was to plunge markets into free-fall, spooking key Trump administration figures who sensed a political bloodbath. So when Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, hatched a plan to urge Mr Trump to think again, they knew they needed to keep Mr Navarro as far away as possible. They made sure they met the president when the hawkish trade adviser had his own meeting elsewhere in the White House and was away from Mr Trump's ear. It is a feature, not a flaw, of Mr Trump's style of management, say those that know him well, as he enjoys the spectacle of staffers fighting it out to influence policy. It is a divide-and-conquer approach to team building, said Barbara Res, who described her 18 years at the Trump Organisation in a memoir Tower of Lies. 'He will pit two people against each other and divide them, instead of allowing them to join forces in a disagreement with him or complain about him,' she said. 'And he likes to see them fight and see who comes out on top.' She even described how he pitted his own ex-wife, Ivana, against a Trump Organisation employee on rival redevelopments in Atlantic City during the 1990s to see who would do best. Trump 2.0 is different from Trump 1.0. Then Mr Trump's administration was built from scratch, in the days after his shock election win, drawing on members of the Republican Party establishment, Wall Street and the armed forces. They did not make easy bedfellows and the first tranche of memoirs from that time revealed all sorts of tricks used by officials to build guardrails around an unpredictable and inexperienced president. A book by political insider Bob Woodward described how Gary Cohn, Mr Trump's chief economic adviser, was so disturbed by plans to end a free trade agreement with South Korea that he simply removed a draft letter from the president's desk before he could sign it. 'Working inside the White House with him was like living inside a pinball machine,' is how one former staffer put it. John Bolton, Mr Trump's third national security adviser in his first administration, said he found much of his job was simply trying to keep the policy process on track. 'People found out that if they just happened to be the last person to talk to him, as likely as not, they would get the outcome they wanted,' he told The Telegraph. 'Well, of course, the whole National Security Council process is intended to prevent that from happening.' He lasted 18 months in office and is today one of the figures most hated by Mr Trump and his allies. This time around, the president has built an administration of loyalists who stayed close to him through four years in the political wilderness. Much of the policy comes directly from trusted advisers such as Stephen Miller. And last Friday, officials took an axe to the NSC, firing 100 officials, and concentrating decision-making in the hands of a few senior directors. Even so, some of the same rules that applied the first time around still stand. Keep memos brief. Make them graphic. Be the first to arrive with good news. Get yourself on TV as much as possible. And things work best if it sounds like the idea has come from Mr Trump himself. 'Try something like, do you remember that day we were talking about blah, blah, blah, and you said we should stop doing that thing,' said a former aide to Mr Trump. 'first he'll say, 'No, I never said that.' 'Then you come back with well, we were all very surprised and in awe of you taking that position. And eventually he'll say, 'Yeah I guess I did do that.' Other Trump allies take a dim view of the tactics. 'I don't fall in the list of people that try to manipulate him, so I don't need a strategy,' said Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hardline congresswoman and staunch Trump ally. 'I'm real with him. And he's pretty smart about who he's dealing with.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Russia's drone ‘safaris' haunt Ukrainians in front-line city
KHERSON, Ukraine – The new Kherson municipal offices are located a few floors belowground, one of the more glaring signs that civilians here are routinely hunted by drones operated by Russian forces about 3 miles away, on the far side of the Dnieper River. Ukrainian forces liberated 30 percent of the region in November 2022, nine months after Russia's full-scale invasion. Since then, the front line has been at a stalemate; that doesn't mean it's been inactive. Kherson suffers near-daily attacks from all manner of Russian weapons, artillery and missiles. But armed drones, and their targeting of civilians, are drawing increased attention and horror. On Wednesday, a United Nations commission released a report calling the Russian drone attacks crimes against humanity. 'They are killing ordinary civilian people, just elderly people, children, those who are waiting at the bus stop — they are killing them, they are taking videos of that and they are putting them online on their Telegram channels,' said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration. 'They are calling it a 'safari,' and they are just laughing at it and there is nothing we can do to combat the drones.' Prokudin spoke to The Hill from the basement of one of Kherson's new municipal workspaces, part of a new city plan to move all essential services — hospitals, schools, government offices — underground. Nine hospitals are underground at the moment, with plans to build another 12. Kherson is one of five regions Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the United States — and the broader international community — to recognize as sovereign Russian territory as part of any peace deal. President Trump's top envoy for negotiations, Steve Witkoff, has not rejected the possibility outright. There's a growing recognition in Ukraine that liberating the occupied territories by force is not achievable. While 82 percent of Ukrainians said in 2022 that Ukraine should not give up any of its territories even if it prolongs the war, in March of this year, that number fell to 50 percent. For Kherson, Russian forces on the other side of the Dnieper River outnumber Ukrainian forces by three times, Prokudin said, speaking through a translator. 'But at the same time, they don't have the strength and ability to turn this manpower into action and retake these territories,' he continued. 'But still, we don't have the manpower and ability to kick them off from our territory.' Asked about Trump's efforts to achieve a ceasefire, Prokudin said any pause must be used to prepare for a resumption of the war. 'If it happens, we prepare to war,' he said in English. The population of Kherson has plummeted amid the war. About 150,000 people live in the de-occupied region, down from a prewar level of 500,000. Other measures the city is taking to protect remaining residents include bomb shelters spread out among the sidewalks, particularly at gathering points such as bus stops and around the train station. Zarina Zabrisky is an American journalist working in Ukraine, who moved to Kherson to report and produce a documentary on the drone attacks. Zabrisky spoke to The Hill over Zoom from the U.S., but she said she spends about 70 percent of her time in Kherson. She said she fell in love with the city while reporting there after Ukrainian forces liberated the right bank of the river. 'The people are unbelievable, they are very down to earth,' she said, describing locals as passionate, artistic, and blunt. 'If they don't like something, they tell you right to your face. If they like you or love you, they suffocate you in an embrace.' Writing for the Byline Times and the Euromaidan Press, Zabrisky said when she first started reporting the drone attacks in July 2024, editors were in disbelief. 'At that point, only the publication I worked for would believe me. Other editors would say, 'That's not possible.' It took me until October to get it out to other publications.' Stories about the 'human safaris' appeared in The Kyiv Independent at that time, and in December, the Financial Times reported on the civilian 'target practice.' Prokudin said that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 drone attacks per week across the region under Ukrainian control, an area of roughly 390 square miles. The U.N. commission documented drone attacks against civilians in the city of Kherson and 16 other localities stretching over 60 miles in riverfront areas under Ukrainian control. Almost 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured, the commission wrote. Radio and electrical defense systems help to combat about 80 percent of the drones, but Russia is constantly innovating, changing the frequencies to bypass the defenses, Prokudin said. Other defense measures include shooting at the drones with small guns and shotguns, and putting up netting to try to disrupt their flight. Some of the drones drop explosives, while others fly kamikaze missions, crashing into their target and exploding. The daily terror makes Kherson one of the most difficult places to live, which the commission report said is Russia's intention. Prokudin said most of the people who stay in the region are elderly, with no desire to move or start a new life as a refugee. Any young people are likely working for the government. Among them is 23-year-old Victoria Maryshchuk, who works in the press office for the military administration of the city. She spent nearly nine months under Russian occupation following Putin's initial full-scale invasion in February 2022. She's had to move apartments five times over nearly two years because of Russian shelling. But she decided it was important to stick around. 'After the liberation, I realized something important: A city only lives if its people stay,' she said. 'If everyone leaves, Kherson will become an empty target — even a ghost. And I understand that's exactly what the Russians want as they shell us, to make us run so they can try to come back.' Maryshchuk can relate to those still living under Russian occupation, and she hopes they can eventually feel the joy of being liberated. 'It's just really difficult to explain to people how was it, but it's just a feeling that you are not free,' she said of life under Russia's control. In September 2022, when Russia carried out a referendum in the occupied territories — that was dismissed internationally as illegal and carried out under duress — Maryshchuk said she and her family hid in their home to avoid being forced to vote. 'I remember very well that feeling of fear,' she said. 'We knew their referendum was illegal, and we believed that Ukraine would liberate us anyway — so we simply waited.' Two months later, Ukrainian forces retook the territory. But the threat of Russia remains at the doorstep. 'If they stay on the left bank of Kherson region, one day or another they will shell Kherson again,' she said. 'So of course we want to be liberated, all our region be liberated, developed, and we will celebrate our victory.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Post
6 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Russia's war in Ukraine must end, here's how it could happen
The critics and admirers of America's 47th president disagree on everything and agree on nothing. Some treat his words as gospel; others dismiss them out of hand. But no one can say he hasn't tried to deliver on campaign promises. Donald Trump vowed to end Russia's war in Ukraine — and if there's one line he's repeated again and again, it's this: 'Too many people are dying — thousands each week — in a terrible and senseless war.' 6 Scenes of vast destruction in Kyiv, where a warehouse was one of the many targets hit during one of Russia's largest-ever drone strikes. SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Advertisement Moscow's war of choice is truly terrible, but to call it 'senseless' is to miss the point. Russia has been killing Ukrainians for the crime of being Ukrainian since 2014 — predictably, methodically, relentlessly. Russia's war is also criminal, under the very rules of warfare America helped enshrine in 1945. Is it senseless for Ukraine to fight back? A war for survival is immensely costly — but to shield your children from Russian missiles is not a choice; it's a duty. Kyiv has no real options but to resist: Because failure to defend your home is dishonor, followed by annihilation. 6 Russian leader Vladimir Putin has suggested he is serious about ending his nation's war in Ukraine, but has only strengthened his attacks on the nation. POOL/AFP via Getty Images After months of frantic diplomacy, it's finally clear where everyone stands. The White House wants a cease-fire. Ukraine wants peace. Russia wants neither. How do we know? Back in March, Trump dispatched Secretary of State Marco Rubio to demand that Kyiv prove it was serious about ending the war. Within 24 hours, Ukraine not only agreed to halt hostilities in the air and at sea — it offered an unconditional 30-day cease-fire. Advertisement Russia rejected Washington's peacemaking efforts, stonewalled and openly mocked America. Putin mouthed lies about ending the fighting, while unleashing ever more rockets on Ukrainian cities. On Palm Sunday — just 48 hours after Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff met with him — Russia launched its worst attack since 2023: 84 civilians wounded, including 10 children. 6 Pres. Trump dispatched US Sec. of State Marco Rubio to demand serious action from Russia to end its war on Ukraine. REUTERS This week, Russia set a new record by launching nine cruise missiles and 355 of the Shahed drones it sources from Iran, in a single night. Over the preceding three nights, it launched around 900 drones — a grim milestone in a war defined by deliberate cruelty and heinous war crimes. While Trump uses words like Putin is 'playing with fire,' the Kremlin uses rockets to set suburban neighborhoods ablaze. Knowing where we stand inspires little optimism — but it doesn't determine what comes next. Russia chose to invade. Ukraine found the courage to defend itself. But crushing Russia's appetite for war will take more than heroism from Kyiv. It will require resolve from America and every nation that stands for freedom. We can and must give peace through strength a chance! Advertisement If we're serious about protecting US interests, let's get real about the three ways this war could end. 6 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs a lasting peace for his nation if Russia's war on Ukraine is to fully end rather than merely pause. AFP via Getty Images The most likely outcome — and the one Washington is drifting toward — is a frozen conflict, otherwise known as a ticking time bomb. A cease-fire is declared, the front line hardens into a de facto border and Putin keeps what he stole. Ukraine loses what it bled for. The West congratulates itself for 'containing the crisis,' and everyone pretends that's a win. What follows is predictable: Moscow prepares for the next invasion. America's credibility circles the drain and the world tilts toward un-security, where fear reigns, prosperity falters, Russia-China alliance hardens hardens and the cost of freedom rises. Advertisement Then there's the most dreadful scenario: We let Russia have its way. A third-rate power with first-rate imperial arrogance, economy the size of Texas and collapsing demographics is handed a victory — not because it deserves one, but because we failed to help Ukraine. We've seen this movie before. In the 1930s, giving Hitler what he wanted didn't end the war — it made it bigger. 6 Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in Munich i 1938, where their historic act of appeasement paved the way for World War II and Germany's imperialistic power grab. Getty Images The third scenario — called the best case by some — is that we finally step up, arm Ukraine properly to push Russia back. We've got the means. What's missing is backbone. Ukraine regains ground, Crimea stays in legal limbo, and Putin claims victory anyway — because tyrants who control the script never admit defeat. But even this feel-good outcome would fall far short of justice. If stolen children aren't returned, if mass graves and beheaded POWs are ignored, if war criminals are drinking champagne in Moscow instead of facing judgment in The Hague — then what exactly will we have won? What's not even on the table is the one path history tells us brings lasting peace: The aggressor is defeated, disarmed and held to account. That means full restoration of Ukraine's borders, reparations and prison for those who ordered and carried out atrocities. Not to punish the Russian people — but to give them a chance at finally breaking free from a system built on oppression, violence and conquest. This version of peace — just, durable and enforced — is the one worth aiming for. And yet, somehow, it's not even part of the conversation. 6 As far as Pres. Trump is concerned, the killing must end in Ukraine. He recently declared that Putin has gone 'crazy' as his tenor against the Russian leader becomes increasingly critical. AP Last weekend, Trump said Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!' But madness isn't the problem — impunity is. Russia's war makes perfect sense to Putin, that's why he is waging it. Advertisement The real insanity is pretending that angry words or half-measures will stop him. Andrew Chakhoyan is an academic director at the University of Amsterdam and previously served in the US government at the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
The Hill
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Russia's drone ‘safaris' haunt Ukrainians in front-line city
KHERSON, Ukraine – The new Kherson municipal offices are located a few floors belowground, one of the more glaring signs that civilians here are routinely hunted by drones operated by Russian forces about 3 miles away, on the far side of the Dnieper River. Ukrainian forces liberated 30 percent of the region in November 2022, nine months after Russia's full-scale invasion. Since then, the front line has been at a stalemate; that doesn't mean it's been inactive. Kherson suffers near-daily attacks from all manner of Russian weapons, artillery and missiles. But armed drones, and their targeting of civilians, are drawing increased attention and horror. On Wednesday, a United Nations commission released a report calling the Russian drone attacks crimes against humanity. 'They are killing ordinary civilian people, just elderly people, children, those who are waiting at the bus stop — they are killing them, they are taking videos of that and they are putting them online on their Telegram channels,' said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration. 'They are calling it a 'safari,' and they are just laughing at it and there is nothing we can do to combat the drones.' Prokudin spoke to The Hill from the basement of one of Kherson's new municipal workspaces, part of a new city plan to move all essential services — hospitals, schools, government offices — underground. Nine hospitals are underground at the moment, with plans to build another 12. Kherson is one of five regions Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the United States — and the broader international community — to recognize as sovereign Russian territory as part of any peace deal. President Trump's top envoy for negotiations, Steve Witkoff, has not rejected the possibility outright. There's a growing recognition in Ukraine that liberating the occupied territories by force is not achievable. While 82 percent of Ukrainians said in 2022 that Ukraine should not give up any of its territories even if it prolongs the war, in March of this year, that number fell to 50 percent. For Kherson, Russian forces on the other side of the Dnieper River outnumber Ukrainian forces by three times, Prokudin said, speaking through a translator. 'But at the same time, they don't have the strength and ability to turn this manpower into action and retake these territories,' he continued. 'But still, we don't have the manpower and ability to kick them off from our territory.' Asked about Trump's efforts to achieve a ceasefire, Prokudin said any pause must be used to prepare for a resumption of the war. 'If it happens, we prepare to war,' he said in English. The population of Kherson has plummeted amid the war. About 150,000 people live in the de-occupied region, down from a prewar level of 500,000. Other measures the city is taking to protect remaining residents include bomb shelters spread out among the sidewalks, particularly at gathering points such as bus stops and around the train station. Zarina Zabrisky is an American journalist working in Ukraine, who moved to Kherson to report and produce a documentary on the drone attacks. Zabrisky spoke to The Hill over Zoom from the U.S., but she said she spends about 70 percent of her time in Kherson. She said she fell in love with the city while reporting there after Ukrainian forces liberated the right bank of the river. 'The people are unbelievable, they are very down to earth,' she said, describing locals as passionate, artistic, and blunt. 'If they don't like something, they tell you right to your face. If they like you or love you, they suffocate you in an embrace.' Writing for the Byline Times and the Euromaidan Press, Zabrisky said when she first started reporting the drone attacks in July 2024, editors were in disbelief. 'At that point, only the publication I worked for would believe me. Other editors would say, 'That's not possible.' It took me until October to get it out to other publications.' Stories about the 'human safaris' appeared in The Kyiv Independent at that time, and in December, the Financial Times reported on the civilian 'target practice.' Prokudin said that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 drone attacks per week across the region under Ukrainian control, an area of roughly 390 square miles. The U.N. commission documented drone attacks against civilians in the city of Kherson and 16 other localities stretching over 60 miles in riverfront areas under Ukrainian control. Almost 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured, the commission wrote. Radio and electrical defense systems help to combat about 80 percent of the drones, but Russia is constantly innovating, changing the frequencies to bypass the defenses, Prokudin said. Other defense measures include shooting at the drones with small guns and shotguns, and putting up netting to try to disrupt their flight. Some of the drones drop explosives, while others fly kamikaze missions, crashing into their target and exploding. The daily terror makes Kherson one of the most difficult places to live, which the commission report said is Russia's intention. Prokudin said most of the people who stay in the region are elderly, with no desire to move or start a new life as a refugee. Any young people are likely working for the government. Among them is 23-year-old Victoria Maryshchuk, who works in the press office for the military administration of the city. She spent nearly nine months under Russian occupation following Putin's initial full-scale invasion in February 2022. She's had to move apartments five times over nearly two years because of Russian shelling. But she decided it was important to stick around. 'After the liberation, I realized something important: A city only lives if its people stay,' she said. 'If everyone leaves, Kherson will become an empty target — even a ghost. And I understand that's exactly what the Russians want as they shell us, to make us run so they can try to come back.' Maryshchuk can relate to those still living under Russian occupation, and she hopes they can eventually feel the joy of being liberated. 'It's just really difficult to explain to people how was it, but it's just a feeling that you are not free,' she said of life under Russia's control. In September 2022, when Russia carried out a referendum in the occupied territories — that was dismissed internationally as illegal and carried out under duress — Maryshchuk said she and her family hid in their home to avoid being forced to vote. 'I remember very well that feeling of fear,' she said. 'We knew their referendum was illegal, and we believed that Ukraine would liberate us anyway — so we simply waited.' Two months later, Ukrainian forces retook the territory. But the threat of Russia remains at the doorstep. 'If they stay on the left bank of Kherson region, one day or another they will shell Kherson again,' she said. 'So of course we want to be liberated, all our region be liberated, developed, and we will celebrate our victory.'
