Latest news with #peaceaccord
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Won't Withdraw Troops From Donbas
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he won't cede the eastern region of Donbas to Russia and pushed for Kyiv to be included in talks over Ukrainian territory as the US and Russian leaders prepare to meet on Friday. Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up Donetsk and Luhansk regions that together form the Donbas, as a condition to unlock a ceasefire and enter negotiations over a longer-term peace accord.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
In a Trump-Putin summit, Ukraine fears losing say over its future
For nearly three years of the war in Ukraine, Washington's rallying cry in backing a fight against a Russian invasion was "no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine.' But when President Donald Trump meets President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Alaska on Friday, the Ukrainians will not be there, barring any last-minute invitation. And Kyiv's swift rejection of Trump's declaration that he is already negotiating with Russia over what he vaguely called "land swaps,' with no mention of security guarantees or arms for Ukraine, underscores the risks for the Ukrainians It also carries political perils for Trump. Ukraine's fear for these past six months has been that Trump's image of a "peace accord' is a deal struck directly between him and Putin — much as Franklin Roosevelt, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill divided up Europe at the Yalta conference in 1945. That meeting has become synonymous with historical debates over what can go wrong when great powers carve up the world, smaller powers suffer the consequences and free people find themselves cast under authoritarian rule. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, himself invited such comparisons in a speech to his people hours after Trump raised the specter of deciding Ukraine's fate in a one-on-one meeting in Alaska, territory that was once part of the Russian empire. (While Putin has made clear that he regards Ukraine as rightful Russian territory dating back to the days of Peter the Great, the Russian leader has not called for the reversal of the $7.2 million sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, during a period of financial distress for the empire.) "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,' Zelenskyy said, noting that the Ukrainian Constitution prohibits such a deal. Then, in what sounded like a direct warning to Trump, he added: "Any solutions that are against us, any solutions that are without Ukraine, are simultaneously solutions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead solutions.' Zelenskyy is the one with the most on the line in the summit. After his bitter Oval Office encounter with Trump in February, which ended in Trump's declaration that "you don't have the cards right now,' he has every reason to fear Trump is at best an unreliable partner. At worst, Trump is susceptible to being flattered and played by Putin, for whom he has often expressed admiration. Ukrainian civilians rush away from the scene of a drone attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 7. Since Trump retook office, many Ukrainians have worried a peace accord would be struck without them. | DAVID GUTTENFELDER / THE NEW YORK TIMES But there are also considerable political risks for Trump. Those would be especially acute if he is viewed as forcing millions of Ukrainians into territorial concessions, with few compensating guarantees that Putin would not, after taking a breather of a few years, seize the rest of the country. "President Trump still seems to be going into this conversation as if Putin is negotiating as a partner or friend,' said Tressa Guenov, director for programs and operations at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. "That will continue to make these discussions difficult if Ukraine isn't involved.' Trump's personal envoy, Steve Witkoff, raised the possibility of a meeting of Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin, and in the past week, it looked like that might be a precondition for the session in Alaska. But Trump waved away the notion when asked about it by reporters Friday. A senior administration official said Saturday that the president remained open to a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, but that the meeting between Trump and Putin was set to go ahead as scheduled. Yet the gap in how Trump approaches these negotiations and how the United States' allies in Europe approach them became all the more vivid Saturday. After a meeting of European national security advisers and Ukrainian officials with Vice President JD Vance, who is on a visit to Britain, leaders of the European Union's executive branch and nations including France, Britain, Italy and Germany called in a statement for "active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war.' They added that any agreement needed to include "robust and credible security guarantees that enable Ukraine to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,' phrases Trump has avoided. "The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine,' the leaders said. Trump has long sought a direct meeting with Putin, declaring publicly that a problem like Ukraine could only be resolved with a meeting between the two top leaders. He also said last week that he expects to see President Xi Jinping of China before the end of the year. And he seems reluctant to impose more tariffs or sanctions ahead of those meetings. In fact, his deadline for Putin to declare a ceasefire or face crushing "secondary sanctions' melted away Friday without a mention from Trump, other than that people should wait for his meeting with Putin. The fact that Trump is even meeting with Putin represents a small victory for the Russian president, Guenov said. "Trump still has given Putin the benefit of the doubt, and that dynamic is one Putin will attempt to exploit even beyond this meeting,' she added. While Trump has insisted that an understanding between himself and the Russian president is crucial to a broader peace, Putin, Guenov said, would certainly welcome any land concessions Trump is willing to grant. Already the president has signaled that is where these talks are headed. Trump on Friday suggested that a peace deal between the two countries could 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 — the suggestion flatly rejected by Zelenskyy. Ukrainian firefighters and rescue workers lower the covered body of a person killed in a Russian strike on an apartment building in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on June 22. | DAVID GUTTENFELDER / THE NEW YORK TIMES "We're going to get some back, and we're going to get some switched,' said Trump, leaving unclear who the "we' in that statement was. "There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we'll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.' Russian officials have demanded that Ukraine cede the four regions that Moscow claimed to have "annexed' from Ukraine in late 2022, even as some of that land remains under Ukrainian control. And Russia is seeking a formal declaration that the Crimean Peninsula is once again its territory. (Yalta, where the meeting of three great powers was held 80 years ago, is a resort city on the southern coast of Crimea.) Until late last week, it appeared likely that the meeting between Trump and Putin would be held on the traditional neutral grounds of the old Cold War, perhaps in Geneva or Vienna. (President Joe Biden saw Putin in Geneva in June 2021, eight months before the Ukraine invasion, for what turned out to be the only face-to-face meeting of their presidencies.) Putin's willingness to venture into American territory was striking, not least because his arrival in the United States will signal the end of his political and legal isolation from the country. In the past few months, Trump has terminated efforts at the Justice Department and the State Department to collect evidence of war crimes committed by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. But inviting Putin to meet in the United States seemed to extinguish any threat that the United States would provide evidence to the prosecution. "It's bewildering how we could bring in somebody the International Criminal Court has classified as a war criminal,' said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, who has tracked many of the Russian violations. But he emphasized that Putin is entering the meeting with Trump in an extraordinarily weak position economically and that it would benefit U.S. negotiators to realize how few cards Russia holds. "The mystical illusion of power that Putin creates is as real as the Wizard of Oz,' Sonnenfeld said. "The Russian economy has been imploding. Trump doesn't seem to realize that.' Sonnenfeld cautioned Trump against any deal in which Ukraine would give up rights to the Donbas region, particularly given the agreement that the Trump administration negotiated for the U.S. to share in future revenues from Ukraine's mineral reserves through a joint investment fund. "Giving up the Donbas would be disastrous,' he said. "That is where a lot of these valuable minerals are.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times © 2025 The New York Times Company
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Turkey welcomes strategic transit corridor after Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal
ANKARA: Turkey on Saturday welcomed a peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia and said it hoped a planned strategic transit corridor, which could boost exports of energy and other resources through the South Caucasus, would open soon. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace accord on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that also included exclusive U.S. development rights to a transport corridor through Armenia, linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave that borders Baku's ally Turkey. The transit corridor that would pass close to the border with Iran would be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It would be known by the acronym TRIPP, and operated under Armenian law. NATO member Turkey has strongly backed Azerbaijan in its conflicts with Armenia but has pledged to restore ties with Yerevan after it signs a final peace deal with Baku. Speaking in Egypt, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the corridor could "link Europe with the depths of Asia via Turkey," and it would be "a very beneficial development." Later on Saturday, Turkey's presidency said President Tayyip Erdogan had discussed the peace agreement with Ilham Aliyev, his counterpart from Azerbaijan. Erdogan welcomed the agreement and offered Ankara's support in achieving lasting peace in the region, it said. The agreement could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighbouring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders - including between Turkey and Armenia - and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Iran welcomed the agreement "as an important step toward lasting regional peace", but warned against any foreign intervention near its borders that could "undermine the region's security and lasting stability". (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu. Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Mark Potter)
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump hosts leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan for peace accord signing
President Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for the signing of a peace accord he said would bring to an end 35 years of fighting between the two former Soviet republics. 'It's a long time — 35 years they fought, and now they're friends. And they're going to be friends for a long time. But it's a big, beautiful honor to welcome everyone to the White House for this very historic peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan,' Trump said while seated between Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. At the center of the trilateral agreement is a call for developing what will be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). The White House said the transit corridor — a long-held desire for Azerbaijan — will cut through Armenia and respect the country's 'sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people.' 'We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation and bloodshed, and provide bright and safe future for our children. So I am very happy, because today we are writing a great new history,' Aliyev said. The U.S. signed separate bilateral deals with Armenia and Azerbaijan that will allow for investments in energy, technology, economic cooperation, border security, infrastructure and trade. Leaders argued it would be a boost for American companies, as well as for the economies of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Trump touted the event as the latest foreign policy success for his administration at a time when his allies are pushing for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan both argued Friday that Trump would be worthy of the Nobel Prize for his efforts.'I think President Trump deserves to have the Nobel Peace Prize. … We will promote for that,' Pashinyan said. Trump president cited his role in easing tensions between India and Pakistan and the Congo and Rwanda, as well as Cambodia and Thailand. However, he has so far been unable to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine, something he had pledged on the campaign trail to do before even taking office, and fighting has continued in Gaza, leading to a worsening humanitarian crisis. Updated at 4:33 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Iran rejects planned transit corridor outlined in Armenia-Azerbaijan pact
Iran has said it will block a corridor planned in the Caucasus under a United States-brokered peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has been hailed by other countries in the region as beneficial for achieving lasting peace. Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, said on Saturday that Tehran would block the initiative 'with or without Russia', with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia. US President Donald Trump 'thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years', Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News, referring to the transport corridor included in the peace deal. 'This passage will not become a gateway for Trump's mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,' he added, describing the plan as 'political treachery' aimed at undermining Armenia's territorial integrity. The terms of the accord, which was unveiled at a signing ceremony at the White House on Friday, include exclusive US development rights to a route through Armenia that would link Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani enclave that borders Baku's ally Turkiye. The corridor, which would pass close to the border with Iran, would be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, and operate under Armenian law. Velayati argued that it would open the way for NATO to position itself 'like a viper' between Iran and Russia. Separately, Iran's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing concern about the negative consequences of any foreign intervention in the vicinity of its borders. While it welcomed the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the ministry said any project near Iran's borders should be developed 'with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference'. For its part, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautiously welcomed the deal, saying on Saturday that Moscow supported efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region, including the Washington meeting. Similarly to Iran, however, it warned against outside intervention, arguing that lasting solutions should be developed by countries in the region. 'The involvement of non-regional players should strengthen the peace agenda, not create new divisions,' the ministry said, adding that it hoped to avoid the 'unfortunate experience' of Western-led conflict resolution in the Middle East. Meanwhile, Turkiye on Saturday said it hoped the planned transit corridor would boost exports of energy and other resources through the South Caucasus. A NATO member, Turkiye has strongly backed Azerbaijan in its conflicts with Armenia, but has pledged to restore ties with Yerevan after it signs a final peace deal with Baku. The Turkish presidency said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the peace agreement with Ilham Aliyev, his counterpart from Azerbaijan, and offered Ankara's support in achieving lasting peace in the region. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also addressed the planned corridor during a visit to Egypt, saying it could 'link Europe with the depths of Asia via Turkiye' and would be 'a very beneficial development'. Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku described as a 'long-awaited historic event'. Ahmad Shahidov, of the Azerbaijan Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that he expected a final peace declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be signed in the coming weeks. Shahidov said Friday's US-brokered deal constituted a 'roadmap' for the final agreement, which appears imminent given there are no unresolved territorial disputes between the two neighbours.
