Latest news with #pro-Kiev
Russia Today
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Trump clarifies Ukraine envoy's duties
US President Donald Trump has appointed Keith Kellogg to lead talks with Kiev. Earlier, media reports suggested that the retired lieutenant general was ousted from peace talks with Russia at Moscow's request. 'I am pleased to inform you that General Keith Kellogg has been appointed Special Envoy to Ukraine,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. He added that Kellogg will lead direct talks with Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky and senior officials. 'He [Kellogg] knows them well, and they have a very good working relationship together,' Trump said. NBC News and Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources, that Russian officials demanded that Kellogg be excluded from peace talks due to his pro-Kiev position. The retired US Army lieutenant general was absent from last month's Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia and this week's US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah, where the delegations proposed a 30-day ceasefire. On Thursday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow to formally present the details of the initiative to Russian officials. Witkoff's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was hailed as 'very good and productive' by Trump. Putin expressed support for a potential 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict, but has raised concerns regarding how it can be implemented. He also offered the Ukrainian forces encircled in Russia's Kursk Region time to surrender, guaranteeing them their lives and dignified treatment. Regarding ties between Moscow and Washington, the Russian president acknowledged the Trump administration's efforts to rebuild them, but said the process remains challenging. 'We know the new administration, headed by President Trump, is doing everything to restore at least part of what was practically reduced to zero, destroyed by the previous American administration,' Putin said.
Russia Today
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Vance says pro-Ukraine protesters ‘scared' his daughter
US Vice President J.D. Vance has said that a group of loud pro-Ukrainian protesters accosted him on the street and frightened his daughter. Vance angered Kiev supporters last month when he and President Donald Trump berated Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office. 'Today while walking my 3 year old daughter a group of 'Slava Ukraini' protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared,' Vance wrote on X on Saturday. 'I decided to speak with the protesters in the hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them leaving my toddler alone. (Nearly all of them agreed.) It was a mostly respectful conversation, but if you're chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you're a sh*t person,' he wrote. It was not the first time Vance was targeted by Ukraine's supporters. Over the weekend, hundreds of people held up pro-Kiev signs on the route in Vermont that Vance and his family were expected to take on their way to go skiing. During a heated exchange in the White House on February 28, Vance accused Zelensky of being ungrateful for the military and financial support the US has provided since 2022. Trump suspended weapons deliveries and limited intelligence sharing earlier this week after arguing that Zelensky was not receptive to his efforts to broker a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Trump told reporters on Friday that he believed it was 'more difficult' to deal with Ukraine than Russia and reiterated that Ukraine did not 'have the cards' to make demands during negotiations.
Russia Today
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky is done
Vladimir Zelensky is done as the leader of Ukraine and should be removed, journalist and former CIA analyst John Kiriakou told RT, commenting on the verbal spat between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. The meeting became heated when Zelensky resisted Trump's demand to negotiate peace with Russia, leading the latter to accuse him of ingratitude and an unwillingness to end the conflict. Consequently, Zelensky left the White House prematurely, without signing an agreement that would have granted the US rights to Ukraine's natural resources. The planned joint press conference was canceled. 'For all intents and purposes, Zelensky is done. I wouldn't be surprised if in three months Zelensky is living in London or some such place,' Kiriakou said on Friday. He noted that Zelensky, who, citing martial law, refused to step down after his presidential mandate ended last year, will 'have to be removed' because he 'continues to be an impediment to peace.' 'You know, they've got this provision in the Ukrainian constitution where they don't have to have elections during a time of martial it's time to take a second look at that, get him out, and elect somebody who can negotiate in good faith with the Russian government,' the analyst suggested. Kiriakou noted that without the support of Washington, which Kiev effectively lost when Zelensky antagonized Trump on Friday, the Ukraine conflict can be considered 'over.' '[Zelensky] can't rely on NATO… if the US pulls out. And it looks very much that the US is in the process now of pulling out. The conflict is over. It's done. This is today's reality,' he stated. Zelensky has previously dismissed the possibility of stepping down. In an interview with Fox News following the meeting with Trump, he responded to a call from US Senator Lindsey Graham 'to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with.' Zelensky stated he won't do that unless asked by the Ukrainian people. According to Kiriakou, losing the support of such a pro-Kiev figure as Graham is yet another sign that Zelensky time at the helm is over, as is the conflict itself. 'In the US Congress, we have workhorses and we have show horses. And Lindsey Graham is a show horse. So when you've lost Lindsey Graham, you've lost the war. [It] is a message to Vladimir Zelensky that it's time to just stop,' the analyst said.
Russia Today
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky responds to resignation calls from pro-Kiev hawk
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who has refused to hold new elections since his presidential term expired last year, dismissed calls to step down in an interview with Fox News following his contentious White House visit on Friday. US President Donald Trump's meeting with Zelensky at the White House earlier in the day escalated into a heated argument, with Trump telling Zelensky he was 'in no position to dictate' and accusing him of failing to show gratitude to the American people for the aid Washington had provided to Kiev. The spectacle led many critics to question whether Zelensky could ever regain the reputation of a reliable partner. Even the notoriously pro-Kiev US Senator Lindsey Graham, who has visited Ukraine to meet with Zelensky on multiple occasions over the years, noted that the Ukrainian leader had crossed a line with his behavior. 'What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don't know if we can ever do business with Zelensky again,' Graham told reporters. 'He either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.' Fox News host Bret Baier pressed Zelensky on whether he would consider following the senator's suggestion and resigning. Zelensky responds to Lindsey Graham's demand to step down, reiterates once again he will not be resigning to ensure a peace deal. 'I don't know if he will be happy after my words: this decision can do only people of Ukraine [sic],' Zelensky replied. When pressed again on whether he would resign to allow for a peace deal in the Ukraine conflict, Zelensky dismissed Graham's proposal. 'I was always ready... I'm not sure that is a good idea for such proposes [sic],' he said, adding, 'Americans vote for American president... Only Ukrainians vote for their president.' Zelensky's five-year presidential term concluded in May 2024, but he has repeatedly refused to hold new elections, citing ongoing martial law. Trump has previously labeled Zelensky a 'dictator without elections' with a '4% approval rating.' After Friday's disastrous White House meeting, Trump told the press that he believed Zelensky was more focused on tying the US down to long-term military support of Ukraine than on achieving a peace deal. 'We're looking for peace. We're not looking for somebody that's going to sign up a strong power and then not make peace because they feel emboldened,' Trump said. 'We're not looking to go into a 10-year war... This is a man that wants to get us signed up and keep fighting.' Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized this week that Zelensky would stand 'absolutely no chance' of coming out on top unless the election was 'grossly rigged.' Moscow has also repeatedly stressed that any deal between Russia and Ukraine signed by Zelensky would be of dubious legal validity due to his expired presidential mandate.
Russia Today
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
EU state arrests Ukrainian over alleged coup plot
A Ukrainian national has been arrested in Slovakia in connection with a coup threat, local media reported on Thursday, citing a police statement. The man, who has not been named, will be expelled from Slovakia and returned to Ukraine. The move comes after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has refused to follow NATO and EU policy on the Ukraine conflict and survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Kiev activist last year, linked recent anti-government protests in his country to interference by Ukrainians. Last week, up to 100,000 people took to the streets of Bratislava and other cities in protest at what they claim is Fico's perceived alignment with Russia. 'Currently, one person is at the border aliens police office, where administrative expulsion is being carried out,' police chief Jana Maskarova told Dennik N newspaper, adding that the Ukrainian national will be placed on the country's blacklist. On Wednesday, Erik Kalinak, head of the advisory council to Prime Minister Fico, alleged a link between recent anti-government protests in Slovakia and a military unit of foreign nationals fighting for Ukraine against Russia known as the Georgian Legion. In a post on X on Thursday, the Legion rejected the 'baseless and absurd accusations made by the Slovak authorities.' READ MORE: Maidan coup veterans behind cyberattack – EU state's PM The accusation came weeks after Kiev blocked the flow of Russian gas through its network to Slovakia and amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two neighbors. Speaking on Tuesday, Fico proclaimed: 'Our enemy is Zelensky. Zelensky caused the problems we have. I don't like him because he harms Slovakia.' Last Tuesday the prime minister, citing a report by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, claimed that the country's political opposition was preparing a coup in the country – akin to the one that took place in Kiev back in 2014. He also alleged that 'there is a group of experts on the territory of the Slovak Republic that had actively operated in Georgia and during the Maidan in Ukraine.' Several days later, Fico stated that Bratislava would expel these 'foreign instructors.'
