War and Recovery

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to slap new sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions[1] on countries that buy Moscow’s crude oil in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.While Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff[2] earlier this month – to a total of 50 percent – on India’s goods, citing its continued imports of Russian oil, he has not instigated similar punitive actions[3] against China, the largest buyer of Russian energy.So, why has the Trump administration mounted pressure on India to stop purchasing Russian oil while taking little ...

The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security, Kaja Kallas, stated that the next package of sanctions against Russia should be ready by next month.“The EU will continue to target Russia’s war economy. The next package of sanctions against Moscow should be ready by next month,” Kallas announced on the network “X.”She stated that “the unity among EU leaders at yesterday’s virtual summit was palpable” and that “everyone is committed to a lasting peace that protects the vital security interests of both Ukraine and Europe.”Kallas ...

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep ...

ANALYSIS: The White House just watered down the only concession it can claim Trump won from Putin — Ukraine securityThe U.S. won’t send troops, and Russia won’t accept forces from NATO states in Ukraine. So, what kind of security guarantee is it, really?Oliver O'Connell20 August 2025 05:30US and European allies begin planning for Ukraine security optionsU.S. and European military planners have started exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, U.S. officials and sources told Reuters on Tuesday. This follows a pledge from President Donald Trump to help defend the country under ...

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep ...

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, may not want to make a deal with Ukraine."We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks," he told Fox News, adding, "It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal." The US president added that the Russian leader faced a "rough situation" if that were the case.Russia plays down Moreover, Russia played down talk of a summit between Putin and Zelenskyy after Trump renewed his call for a meeting between ...

In their meeting in Alaska on Monday,Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump[1], are reported to have agreed[2] that Ukraine should cede Donetsk and Luhansk[3]. Putin wants Ukraine's armed forces to withdraw completely from the areas. In exchange, he would freeze the fighting along the rest of the front line[4] — particularly in the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which are currently largely occupied by Russian forces.In recent years, Putin has repeatedly emphasized the importance of  Donetsk[5] and Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas. He ...

The recent diplomatic maneuvering between Washington and Moscow over Ukraine provides a textbook example of how American foreign policy elites continue to confuse grand gestures with strategic coherence.The March ceasefire proposals, Donald Trump’s phone diplomacy with Putin and the subsequent shifts in negotiating positions reveal not diplomatic sophistication but the persistent American tendency to treat complex geopolitical conflicts as problems that can be solved through the right combination of pressure and inducements.Limits of presidential diplomacyPresident Trump’s recent summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which produced “great progress” but no concrete ...

India's equity benchmarks are set for a flat open on Wednesday, pausing after two sessions of gains driven by hopes of tax cuts, while Asian shares tracked a tech sell-off on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual Jackson Hole conference.Gift Nifty futures (GIFc1) were trading at 24,967 as of 8:00 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 NIFTY will open near Tuesday's close of 24,980.65.[1]Asian markets slipped, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) losing 0.8%, following declines in U.S. equities as investors ditched high-flying tech stocks with their ...

Ukraine and a united Europe will face major consolidation and a powerful armed resistance against Russia, while the time for diplomatic resolution has not yet come. Former President of Ukraine (2005–2010) Viktor Yushchenko shared his comments with Ukrinform regarding the meeting between the Presidents of the United States and Ukraine, as well as European leaders, who gathered in Washington to discuss pathways to ending the war in Ukraine.“My views on negotiations with Trump are pessimistic. Under current circumstances, the diplomatic path is not ready. I am convinced that neither Putin ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House and met US President Donald Trump. A short while ago, European leaders too arrived here.This comes after the US President meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week. in the Oval Office before holding a joint session with leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato at 3 pm EDT (12:30 am IST, Tuesday). After landing in Washington on Sunday night, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for the invitation while firmly restating Ukraine’s position. “We all equally ...

Trump has demanded that India cease buying discounted Russian oil, arguing that it is "fueling the war machine" in the Ukraine conflict. (AI image) The Donald Trump administration has warned of higher secondary tariffs on India if the talks between the US President and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin don’t go well in Alaska on Friday. India at present faces a total 50% US tariffs for its exports to America.US President Donald Trump has imposed a 25% base line tariff on India and an additional 25% tariff for the latter’s crude ...

Trump continuing efforts to end Russia-Ukraine war  CBS News

In August 2025, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian broadcaster RT circulated a video that claimed to authentically show a captured U.S. tank in Ukraine flying both U.S. and Russian flags.[1][2]Days before the video started circulating, Trump met[3] with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska in an unsuccessful bid to secure a peace deal in the war in Ukraine.RT said the footage showed a captured U.S. M113 armored personnel carrier near Mala Tochmacka, an embattled village in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The broadcaster ...

WASHINGTON — Seven European leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington on Monday in a rare display of trans-Atlantic unity. The gathering marked the first time in decades that such a broad delegation of allies had assembled at the White House under such pressing circumstances.Shortly after noon, one by one, the heads of state and NATO partners passed the White House gates, where they were met by President Donald Trump’s chief of protocol, and in Zelenskyy’s case, by Trump himself.Some met with Trump’s special envoy[1] for Ukraine and other officials ...

Jake Horton & Nick BeakeBBC VerifyBBCAs President Donald Trump tries to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, he has been highlighting his track record in peace negotiations since starting his second term in office.Speaking at the White House on 18 August, where he was pressed by European leaders to push for a ceasefire, he claimed: "I've ended six wars… all of these deals I made without even the mention of the word 'ceasefire'."The following day the number he cited had risen to "seven wars". The Trump administration says a ...

Donald Trump has said American troops will not be sent to Ukraine, but the US may provide air support as part of a peace deal with Russia.A day after his extraordinary White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of Kyiv's[1] European allies, the US president[2] told Fox News "when it comes to security, [Europeans] are willing to put people on the ground. We're willing to help them with things, especially, probably, by air".Ukraine war - follow the latest developments[3]Mr Trump did not elaborate, but White House ...

WASHINGTON — Russian dictator Vladimir Putin ordered the largest drone strike on Ukraine in a month on Monday night — just as he hung up the phone with President Trump[1] in a call discussing next steps for peace.As Trump celebrated his significant progress[2] toward ending Russia’s war on Ukraine in White House meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Monday, Moscow launched 270 drones and 10 missiles into the war-torn neighbor’s territory.It came after at least 14 civilians were killed and more than 50 others were injured ...

There are many more ways in which a peace process can fail than succeed. But for either to happen, it first needs to start. And that is often the most difficult step.But after his big summit in the White House, Donald Trump[1] seems to have pulled off the unthinkable: A summit has been organized between Vladimir Putin[2] and Volodymyr Zelensky[3] which would kick-start peace negotiations.What did it take to get here? While a cease-fire will not be a precondition, the Europeans have been granted some of the assurances they wanted ...

In the wake of this week's historic White House meetings, President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine and its allies are "already working on the concrete content of the security guarantees". Sir Keir Starmer has been chairing a virtual meeting of those nations prepared to help secure Ukraine after a peace deal - the so-called "Coalition of the Willing". And Britain has dispatched its Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, to Washington to work out how the US can help. The cogs are clearly turning.But what do "security guarantees" actually ...

Switzerland has expressed its readiness to host a bilateral meeting between Russia and Ukraine, with hopes of potentially bringing the war to a halt. Switzerland's foreign minister announced the offer during an interview on a Swiss news channel, highlighting the country's commitment to facilitating dialogue between the two nations.RELATED STORY | Russia's largest drone strike since July targets Ukraine hours after Trump/Zelenskyy meeting[1]Key to this potential meeting is the suggestion that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attend in person. It's noteworthy given the open International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued ...

Simon Ostrovsky: Russia is selling a spiritual war in order to win a geopolitical one. The fiction that Russia is a haven for white, straight, churchgoing families is smoothing the way for discussions about lifting sanctions on Russia and cutting off aid to Ukraine.And in the polarized echo chambers of America's culture wars, that story is converting many. Some of Russia's newest American fans may be surprised to learn that the fastest growing population in the country isn't Orthodox or even Christian, but Muslim. And despite the church's central role ...

If Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, as urged by President Trump, he will come face-to-face with a man he has spent 3½ years excoriating as an illegitimate leader and puppet. Negotiating directly with Zelensky would run sharply counter to the narrative Putin has carefully constructed and sold to Russians in an effort to justify his 2022 invasion of Ukraine: that the war is part of a broader conflict with the West in which Zelensky and his country are mere pawns. Trump’s call for a ...

President Trump has said that it would be “impossible” for Ukraine to join Nato and that US security guarantees for the country would be limited to air support as divisions began to emerge with European leaders after Monday’s show of unity in Washington.Trump said the idea of Ukraine joining Nato was “insulting” and called the country “a buffer between Russia and the rest of Europe” in his first post-summit interview, echoing Moscow’s talking points.After cordial meetings[1] with President Zelensky of Ukraine and seven European leaders, the change in tone from ...

The White House on Tuesday released dozens of behind-the-scenes photographs documenting last week’s historic meeting[1] between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Several of the 72 images[2], taken by chief White House photographer Daniel Torok, show Trump and Putin[3] arriving at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage for the bilateral summit [4]and locked in conversation in the hallways of the sprawling military installation. Others show the president and his team preparing for the high-stakes summit[5] aboard Air Force One, as well as their return flight to Washington, during which Trump ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- An Alaska man might have walked away as the biggest winner of last week’s high stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage. He rode off with a new motorcycle, courtesy of the Russian government.Putin's delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew's interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western Siberia, now assembles its ...

(Reuters) -A Ukrainian drone attack late on Tuesday knocked out power to areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region under Russian control, the Moscow-installed governor said.Russian forces hold well over half of Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine's southeast. But Kyiv maintains control of the region's main administrative centre and its attacks have periodically knocked out electricity in Russian-held areas.Russia in 2022 annexed the Zaporizhzhia region, along with neighbouring Kherson as well as Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's east, about seven months after invading its smaller neighbour."The reason for the power cuts in Zaporizhzhia ...

We must “truly seek the way forward, to find peace,” the Pope told journalists Tuesday night before returning to the Vatican from Castel Gandolfo, where he had gone for a second period of rest on 13 August. By Tiziana Campisi and Daniele Piccini “There is hope, but we still need to work hard, pray hard, and truly seek the way forward, to find peace,” Pope Leo said Tuesday evening, in response to questions from journalists concerning negotiations for an end to the war in Ukraine. Regarding possible talks with certain ...

Published August 18, 2025 at 8:36 PM Just 48 hours after U.S. President Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Ukrainian and European leaders arrived in Washington, D.C. President Zelenskyy was joined by key European and NATO leaders for a meeting Monday afternoon at the White House. Ukraine wants to make sure it has direct involvement in a potential peace deal while Russia and Europeans are looking for security guarantees.To discuss:Dmitry Babich is a journalist and Russian political analyst.Anton Fedyashin is an Associate Professor of History at American ...

TRUMP: ‘VERY SEVERE CONSEQUENCES’: When he wasn’t announcing his personal picks for Kennedy Center honors (“I turned down plenty … of wokesters,” he said.), President Donald Trump spent most of his day Wednesday reassuring nervous allies that he had no plans to give away the store when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow in Alaska.First in a virtual meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and his key European allies, including Germany, the U.K., and France, and then in remarks at the Kennedy Center, Trump tried to tamp down fears that ...

WASHINGTON — Finnish President Alexander Stubb has proved pivotal in the efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, taking on new importance after he bonded with President Donald Trump over their mutual love of golf. Minutes after emerging from a four-hour meeting with Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other European leaders at the White House on Monday, Stubb described the results to NBC News. “What we have agreed on is to work on European and American security guarantees, essentially, which will be secure from the European ...

WASHINGTON — Free from the supervision of European leaders, President Donald Trump on Tuesday reverted to form, blaming Ukraine for getting invaded by Russia and making dictator Vladimir Putin’s arguments on his behalf.“Russia is a powerful military nation. You know, whether people like it or not, it’s a powerful nation. It’s a much bigger nation,” Trump said in a 25-minute, phoned-in appearance on Fox News’ morning show. “You don’t do that. You don’t take ― you don’t take on a nation that’s 10 times your size.”Related: 'His Brain Is Mush': ...

WASHINGTON — Free from the supervision of European leaders, President Donald Trump[1] on Tuesday reverted to form, blaming Ukraine for getting invaded by Russia and making dictator Vladimir Putin’s arguments on his behalf.“Russia is a powerful military nation. You know, whether people like it or not, it’s a powerful nation. It’s a much bigger nation,” Trump said in a 25-minute, phoned-in appearance on Fox News[2]’ morning show. “You don’t do that. You don’t take ― you don’t take on a nation that’s 10 times your size.”Trump had, at least during ...

Trump didn’t cause Russia-Ukraine war, Stephen A. Smith says, blaming Biden, Obama and Clinton in fiery rant  Fox News

Getty ImagesPutin received a warm welcome in Alaska on FridayThe Kremlin has played down talk of an imminent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.The push for a bilateral meeting comes after the US president met Putin in Alaska last week, and welcomed seven European leaders and Zelensky to the White House on Monday.Trump admitted the conflict was "a tough one" to solve and conceded it was possible ...

Getty ImagesLast Friday, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Alaska for a summit that was high on pomp and pageantry and low on diplomatic breakthroughs in the push to end the Russia-Ukraine war.On Monday, six European leaders rushed to Washington DC to meet with Trump and assess the consequences of that Putin meeting. While the gathering at the White House was historic, it too was heavy on rhetoric and light on tangible progress.With little to show from two summits, pressure is intensifying on a president who made ending foreign ...

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has entered its fourth year with no decisive breakthrough in sight. Amid mounting global pressure and devastating human costs, Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated a surprising new idea: inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Moscow for a peace summit.The proposal, revealed during a recent phone call between Putin and former U.S. President Donald Trump, has sparked both intrigue and skepticism worldwide. Could a Moscow-hosted peace meeting be a real path toward resolution—or just another strategic maneuver in a geopolitical chess game?In this in-depth analysis, we’ll ...

“Moscow won’t end the war until it realizes it can’t continue. So Europe will continue to back Ukraine, including by working on a 19th Russia sanctions package,” Kallas went on, blasting Putin’s claim that Kyiv was responsible for the “root causes” of the war. “The real root cause of the war is Russia’s imperialist foreign policy, not an imaginary imbalance in the European security architecture,” she said.The broadside came just hours after top NATO allies were invited to a debrief with the American administration, with Trump having claimed the discussions ...

(The Center Square) – The White House has helped open the channels of communication between Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe, but the details of any resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war remain murky.The White House continues to highlight the differences in how President Donald Trump has responded to the overseas conflict versus former President Joe Biden. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared some remarks from European leaders to that effect from Monday’s discussions at the White House at a Tuesday press briefing.“Finnish President Alexander Stubb said, ‘I think in ...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! President Donald Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin[1] Monday, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, to begin coordinating next steps in the peace process aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The president posted on his Truth Social[2] platform Monday evening saying that he had called Putin at the conclusion of a day of meetings to begin "the arrangements for a meeting" between the Russian president and his Ukrainian counterpart. Trump's call ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump[1] on Tuesday offered his assurances that U.S. troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before.Trump also said in a morning TV interview that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO[2] and regaining the Crimean Peninsula[3] from Russia are “impossible.”The Republican president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy[4] and other European leaders held hours of talks[5] at the White House on Monday aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine[6]. While answering questions from ...

Getty ImagesPutin received a warm welcome in Alaska on FridayThe Kremlin has played down talk of an imminent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, as Donald Trump renewed his call for the two leaders to meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.The push for a bilateral meeting comes after the US president met Putin in Alaska last week, and welcomed seven European leaders and Zelensky to the White House on Monday.Trump admitted the conflict was "a tough one" to solve and conceded it was possible ...

The front line in Ukraine changed little last winter. Russia aimed to capture the entirety of the Donbas, but it only inched forward. Territory Russia gained since Jan. 1 Ukraine has made minimal gains in its counteroffensive. Dense Russian minefields and fortifications have made every attack extremely costly. Territory Ukraine gained since Jan. 1 Despite nine months of bloody fighting, less than 500 square miles of territory have changed hands since the start of the year. A prolonged stalemate could weaken Western support for Ukraine. Territory changed hands since Jan. ...

Donald Trump says he’s arranging a summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to the White House for a much-anticipated meeting with United States President Donald Trump on Monday.His last trip earlier this year was widely considered a failure, as it was dominated by a tense public berating from Trump.But on this trip, he had considerable backup – from world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.They got what they ...

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Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep ...

Ukrainians have given a lukewarm reaction to this week's White House summit.There is bafflement and unease here after US President Donald Trump[1] switched sides to support his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin[2], dropping calls for a ceasefire and proposing that Ukraine surrender territory.While allies are talking up the prospects of progress, people here remain unconvinced.Ukraine war latest - Trump rules out using US troops[3] Image: Boris Yeltsin (2L) and Bill Clinton (C) sign the 1994 Budapest Memorandum Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 4:14 What security guarantees ...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House and met US President Donald Trump. A short while ago, European leaders too arrived here.This comes after the US President meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week. in the Oval Office before holding a joint session with leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato at 3 pm EDT (12:30 am IST, Tuesday). After landing in Washington on Sunday night, Zelenskyy thanked Trump for the invitation while firmly restating Ukraine’s position. “We all equally ...