The US president does not care who controls east Ukraine, so long as he can access the rare earth minerals underneath
In Donald Trump’s world, everything has its price.
There is no place for sentiment in his politics. Common values cannot secure loans for military aid. And the US president does not care who controls the blood-soaked soils of east Ukraine, so long as he can access the rare earth minerals that lie beneath.
Continue reading...Statements that there can be no negotiations without Kyiv ring hollow when the US president has just sidelined it
In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s incendiary call with Vladimir Putin, UK ministers and officials have had to do some extraordinary contortions.
There is no greater priority in the UK’s foreign policy than keeping the volatile occupant of the White House on side. And that has meant over the past 24 hours that some pronouncements by the British government have seemed at odds with reality.
Continue reading...US defence secretary suggests cutting number of American troops in Europe could even be part of a deal with Russia
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said “everything is on the table” to bring peace to Ukraine and suggested reducing the number of American troops in Europe could be part of any deal.
European leaders are reeling from several abrupt US moves since Wednesday in relation to the Ukraine war and the continent’s security, which has been underpinned by the US since Nato was formed at the end of the second world war.
Continue reading...As Putin’s actions again disrupt the start of a Munich security conference, Brussels largely has itself to blame
The start of the Munich security conference has a habit of being disrupted by a display of power by Vladimir Putin. In 2022, the transatlantic security establishment gathered in the knowledge that Putin was days from launching his attack on Kyiv. In February 2024, the opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in disputed circumstances in a Russian jail and this year Russia’s leader is on the brink of opening talks with Donald Trump that many analysts predict will end with Russia not just gaining Ukrainian territory but dismembering Ukraine as a sovereign independent state.
For Europe it is a humiliation. And yet little that Trump or his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Wednesday about their approach to a ceasefire including the US’s refusal to commit further resources to Ukraine could have come as a shock. Indeed Europe largely has only itself to blame.
Continue reading...Statement from countries including France, Germany and UK comes after US president says he and Putin are ready to begin talks
European powers, including Britain, France and Germany, have said they have to be part of any future negotiations on the fate of Ukraine, underscoring that only a fair accord with security guarantees would ensure lasting peace.
“Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” seven European countries and the European Commission said in a joint statement after a foreign ministers meeting in Paris.
Continue reading...US president says he called Russian leader and agreed to have teams start negotiations immediately
Donald Trump has said that he and Vladimir Putin have spoken directly and agreed to begin negotiations to broker a ceasefire to the war in Ukraine.
In a social media post, Trump said that held a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Putin and that they agreed to “have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.
Continue reading...Family fleeing Gaza were allowed to join brother in UK after applying through scheme meant for Ukrainian refugees
A judge who granted a Palestinian family the right to live in the UK after they applied through a scheme originally meant for Ukrainian refugees made the wrong decision, Keir Starmer has said.
A family of six seeking to flee Gaza were allowed to join their brother in the UK after an immigration judge ruled that the Home Office’s rejection of their application breached their human rights, it emerged on Tuesday.
Continue reading...US defence secretary says Europe should lead in defending Ukraine and that restoring pre-2014 borders is unrealistic
Donald Trump’s newly appointed defence secretary told allies on his first international trip that the US was no longer “primarily focused” on European security and that Europe would have to take the lead in defending Ukraine.
Pete Hegseth, speaking to defence ministers at a lunchtime meeting in Brussels, said Europe had to provide “the overwhelming share” of future military aid to Kyiv – and recognise that restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic.
Continue reading...Putin’s spokesperson rejects Zelenskyy’s plan for transfer of Kyiv-held pockets of Kursk to help end war
The Kremlin has said that Russia will never consider exchanging occupied Ukrainian land for parts of its Kursk region, dismissing a proposal outlined by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Guardian.
Zelenskyy revealed in an hour-long interview earlier this week that he intended to propose a straightforward territorial exchange with Russia to facilitate an end to the war, including the transfer of Ukrainian-held pockets of Kursk.
Continue reading...US president also says he wants a return on US aid given to Ukraine such as rare minerals, in interview with Fox News
US president Donald Trump has floated the idea that Ukraine “may be Russian someday”, as his vice-president JD Vance gears up to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy later this week.
Pushing for an end to the nearly three-year war with Russia, Trump discussed the conflict in an interview with broadcaster Fox News that aired on Monday.
Continue reading...Trump tells the New York Post that he has a plan to end the war but declined to go into details
Donald Trump has said he held talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over a negotiated end of the three year Russia-Ukraine war, indicated that Russian negotiators want to meet with US counterparts.
Trump told the New York Post that he had spoken to Putin, remarking that “I better not say” just how many times.
Continue reading...A bizarre mining business’s fake audit reveals the potential for fraudsters at Companies House
At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about Gofer Mining plc. It appears to be just another multibillion-pound corporate giant, with London headquarters in Canary Wharf and interests stretching from Tibet to Ukraine.
Its lengthy financial accounts are full of prosaic details about mineral weights, rare metal assets and exploration plans.
Continue reading...US attorney general issues memo to break up effort started after 2022 Ukraine invasion to target those close to Kremlin
The US justice department under Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
A memo from the attorney general, Pam Bondi, issued during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding to combating drug cartels and international gangs.
Continue reading...Tribunal’s creation was first proposed days after the full-scale invasion, but lawyers have struggled to find the right courtroom for nearly three years
International lawyers have “laid the foundations” for a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression, the EU has said, hailing a significant step towards holding Vladimir Putin and his top officials accountable for the invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement late on Tuesday, the EU executive declared a breakthrough that it said would mean the Russian political and military leaders “who bear the greatest responsibility” would be held to account.
Continue reading...Germany’s Olaf Scholz criticises Trump’s transactional foreign policy as ‘very selfish, very self-centred’
Ukraine is open to “investment” from allies as long as they help it fight Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, after Donald Trump demanded Kyiv supply the US with rare earth resources – critical elements used in electronics – in exchange for military aid.
The US president’s proposal has been criticised as exploiting Russia’s invasion for material gain, with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, calling the plan “selfish”. However, Ukrainian media reported that the idea may have originated in Kyiv as an incentive to keep weapon shipments flowing into the country.
Continue reading...Former party deputy chair Jack Lopresti said to be carrying out support work to help the country’s fight against Russia
A former Conservative MP ousted in the 2024 election has reportedly joined the International Legion in Ukraine in a non-combat role to help the fight against Russia.
Jack Lopresti, who represented the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency in South Gloucestershire from 2010 to 2024, is carrying out support work for the unit, including foreign relations and diplomacy duties, weapons procurement and work with veterans and charities, the Independent reported.
Continue reading...PM wants to ‘see all allies stepping up’, saying Donald Trump’s threat of sanctions has rattled Vladimir Putin
Keir Starmer has called on European leaders to put more economic pressure on Russia, saying Donald Trump’s threat of sanctions has left Vladimir Putin “rattled”.
Before a meeting in Brussels on Monday, the prime minister said it was necessary to “see all allies stepping up – particularly in Europe” when it comes to inflicting economic harm on Russia, and argued it would help bring about peace by ending the Ukraine war sooner.
Continue reading...Ukraine armed forces say 84 people were rescued or had medical help after strike in Russian territory that Kyiv holds
Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for a deadly missile strike that killed at least four people in the dormitory of a boarding school situated in a part of Russia’s Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces.
Some of the war’s fiercest battles in recent months have been taking place in the Kursk region that borders Ukraine, where Kyiv forces have held swathes of the land since staging a major cross-border incursion last August.
Continue reading...Skeptical senators ruthlessly questioned Trump’s national intelligence director nominee ahead of confirmation vote
Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, refused to call the whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” but sought to rein in her unorthodox views on foreign dictators and opposition to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to oversee the country’s sprawling intelligence community.
In a three-hour hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, Gabbard, a former congresswoman and member of the Hawaii army national guard, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, said she had “no love” for the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017.
Continue reading...Prosecutor at Old Bailey says Katrin Ivanova was only member of Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off plot
A lab technician has been accused of being the only member of a Bulgarian spy ring able to pull off a plot to steal the mobile numbers of Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany.
Katrin Ivanova, 33, was told by prosecutor Alison Morgan KC at the Old Bailey that she had been described by the plotters’ leader as the most technically adept member of the group and that she was necessary to the planned surveillance in Stuttgart.
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