Donald Trump’s version of Pax Americana, the idea that the US can through coercion impose order on the world, is facing its moment of truth in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran.
In the words of the former CIA director William Burns, it is in “one of those plastic moments” in international relations that come along maybe twice a century where the future could take many possible forms.
Trump's goodwill is being tested as Russian President Putin continues to pummel Ukrainian civilians and the U.S. pushes for a peace plan Moscow has yet to agree to.
This presidency places authoritarian ambition above all – and now the people of Ukraine are paying the price
To see the true face of Donald Trump, look no further than Ukraine. Laid bare in his handling of that issue are not only his myriad weaknesses, but also the danger he poses to his own country and the wider world – to say nothing of the battered people of Ukraine itself.
Don’t be fooled by the mild, vaguely theatrical rebuke Trump issued to Vladimir Putin on Thursday after Moscow unleashed a deadly wave of drone strikes on Kyiv, killing 12 and injuring dozens: “Vladimir, STOP!” Payattention instead to the fact that, in the nearly 100 days since Trump took office, the US has essentially switched sides in the battle between Putin’s Russia and democratic Ukraine, backing the invaders against the invaded.
100 days of Trump’s presidency, with Jonathan Freedland and guests. On 30 April, join Jonathan Freedland, Kim Darroch, Devika Bhat and Leslie Vinjamuri as they discuss Trump’s presidency on his 100th day in office, live at Conway Hall London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at guardian.live
(Bloomberg) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as Washington intensifies its push for a deal to end the war on Ukraine. Read More
At the scene of the deadliest attack on our capital this year, I see the war on Ukraine is still very real – and Putin shows no signs of ending it
War teaches you to believe only in what happens, rather than what is merely said or promised. A day after the “peace talks” in London, which the US secretary of state Marco Rubio didn’t even turn up for, Ukrainians were not anxiously waiting for the results of a possible deal, which looked unfeasible anyway. Instead, they were counting their dead.
According to Ukraine’s air force, in the early hours of Thursday morning Russia launched 11 Iskander ballistic missiles, 37 KH-101 cruise missiles, six Iskander-K cruise missiles, 12 Kalibr cruise missiles, 4 KH-59/KH-69 missiles and 145 drones. For Kyiv and Kharkiv residents that night, this was not just a case of reading numbers on a news feed,but hearing and feeling explosions rock their cities. It turned out to be the deadliest night for the Ukrainian capital this year.
Nataliya Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist and CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Lab
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President Donald Trump’s message for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “STOP!" airstrikes on Ukraine echoes a remark made by former President Biden in 2022.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- A Russian drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukraine city, killing three people and injuring 10 others, officials said Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump rebuked Russia's leader for a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv while Washington is endeavouring to stop the more than three-year war. Read More
Russia is ready to make a deal with Ukraine, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. This comes after President Donald Trump's demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin stop deadly strikes in Ukraine.
The concessions offered so far by President Trump fall short of Russia’s stated war aims. But President Vladimir V. Putin appears certain that he has the upper hand in talks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claims about deadly Kyiv strike highlight Kremlin’s reliance on Kim regime’s soldiers, ammunition and missiles
North Korea’s role in the war in Ukraine has come into sharp focus after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said a Russian missile that killed 12 people in Kyiv had been supplied by the regime in Pyongyang.
“According to preliminary information, the Russians used a ballistic missile manufactured in North Korea,” Zelenskyy said. “Our special services are verifying all the details.
President Trump also sought to divert blame should negotiations fall apart, a sign that he is perhaps more pessimistic about a deal than he was when he took office in January.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday offered rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, urging the Russian leader to "STOP!" after a deadly barrage of attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Read More
Russia pounded Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones Thursday, killing at least 12 people in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July and drawing a rare rebuke of Moscow from U.S. President Donald Trump just as peace efforts were coming to a head. Read More
US president says he is ‘not happy’ over Kyiv attack as death toll rises to 12 with 90 people injured
We understand that while the visit will be cut short after Zelenskyy’s meeting with Ramaphosa, their media activities will still proceed, meaning we should hear from the Ukrainian president in the next few hours.
Rachel and I will keep an eye on this development to see if Zelenskyy takes part in a scheduled press conference in Pretoria in case he wants to say more about the attacks overnight.
When his jet lands in Moscow, Steve Witkoff – Donald Trump’s envoy and longtime friend – will mark his fourth visit to Russia this year, a pointed gesture that says as much about who he is meeting as who he is not.
The 68-year-old real estate executive, who holds no formal diplomatic credentials, was expected in London on Wednesday for talks with Kyiv and European allies.
Washington, like Moscow, prefers bilateral talks to a wider diplomatic process. Kyiv and other European governments are rightly alarmed
There could hardly be clearer evidence than Donald Trump’s latest attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the US administration’s last-minute snub of London peace talks, that what matters to him is not Ukrainian sovereignty and safety, nor the transatlantic alliance, but a deal with Vladimir Putin. The US president says an agreement is close, with leaks suggesting that Washington would recognise annexed Crimea as Russian with Moscow giving little if anything in return. For Mr Trump, it is Ukraine’s president who is harming negotiations by saying he will not recognise Russia’s control.
Mr Putin is passionate about maximising Russian interests, attentive to every detail, skilled in negotiations, and believes that time is on his side. Mr Trump does not care about the outcome as long as he can claim he has ended the war, has little interest in the detail and has a habit of handing over the prize at the start of the process.
US president says Ukraine can have peace or it can fight for another three years before losing everything
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, citing the Ukrainian air force, reports that overnight Ukraine claimed to have shot down 67 out of 134 drones used in Russian attacks.
Additionally the air force reported that 47 drones did not reach their target. Attacks, it said, happened in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia regions.
The decision by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pull out of the meeting and an objection by Ukraine’s leader to a key U.S. proposal raised questions about the state of the negotiations.
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