Trump slams Ukraine’s President Zelensky for refusing to cede Crimea to Russia

Update Trump slams Ukraine’s President Zelensky for refusing to cede Crimea to Russia
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a deal on halting the Ukraine war was "very close," but slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over his refusal to formally cede Crimea to Russia. (AFP/File)
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Updated 24 April 2025
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Trump slams Ukraine’s President Zelensky for refusing to cede Crimea to Russia

Trump slams Ukraine’s President Zelensky for refusing to cede Crimea to Russia
  • Trump wants Ukraine to give up the territory, seized by Russiain in 2014, as part of a potential peace plan
  • Backed by the EU, Zelensky pushed back, saying Crimea is Ukrainian land and he is not authorized to cede it
  • Russia had earlier rejected a US proposal for an immediate ceasefire by imposing far-reaching conditions

KYIV, Ukraine: President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Ukraine’s president, saying Volodymyr Zelensky is prolonging the “killing field” after pushing back on ceding Crimea to Russia as part of a potential peace plan.
Zelensky on Tuesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia in any deal before talks set for Wednesday in London among US, European and Ukrainian officials. “There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said.
During similar talks last week in Paris, US officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territory as part of a deal, according to a European official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump called Zelenkyy’s pushback “very harmful” to talks.
“Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he wrote on social media.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after sending troops to overrun it. Weeks later, Moscow-backed separatists launched an uprising in eastern Ukraine, battling Kyiv’s forces.
Trump also asserted they were close to a deal and that Ukraine’s leader can have peace or “he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” adding that Zelensky’s statement “will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that!“

‘A very fair proposal’
Wednesday’s meeting was pared back at the last minute, while Vice President JD Vance said negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.
“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say ‘yes’ or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told reporters during a visit to India.
He said it was “a very fair proposal” that would “freeze the territorial lines at some level close to where they are today,” with both sides having to give up some territory they currently hold. He did not provide details.
Trump, who is set to travel to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, told reporters later on Wednesday that he did not know if he would meet with Zelensky or other European leaders to discuss the war while in Italy. He also said that has found dealing with Zelensky harder than dealing with the Russians.
Trump who is set to travel to the Middle East next month said it was “possible” that he could meet with Putin while in Saudi Arabia, but that it is more likely he will meet with the Russian leader soon after that trip.
A senior European official familiar with the ongoing talks involving the American team said a proposal the United States calls “final” was initially presented last week in Paris, where it was described as “just ideas” — and that they could be changed.
When those “ideas” surfaced in media reports, Ukrainian officials were surprised to find that Washington portrayed them as final, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations that might bring a ceasefire and open the door to full peace negotiations, as he mourned nine civilians killed when a Russian drone struck a bus earlier in the day.
“We insist on an immediate, complete and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky wrote on social media, in accordance with a proposal he said the US tabled six weeks ago.
Ukraine and some Western European governments have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet on that proposal as his army tries to capture more Ukrainian land. Western analysts say Moscow is in no rush to conclude peace talks because it has battlefield momentum.
Doubts over negotiations
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the talks in London to find an end to the more than three-year war would involve only lower-ranking officials, after the US State Department said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to attend because of a scheduling issue.
Rubio’s abrupt cancelation raised doubts about the direction of negotiations. He had indicated that Wednesday’s meeting could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration remains engaged.
Commenting on those attending the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “as far as we understand, they so far have failed to bring their positions closer on some issues.” He said the Kremlin was still in consultations with American officials but wouldn’t publicly discuss details.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow again later this week, according to Russian officials.
Even achieving a limited, 30-day ceasefire has been beyond the reach of negotiators, as both sides continue to attack each other along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and launch long-range strikes.
A Russian drone struck a bus carrying workers in Marganets, in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday morning, killing eight women and one man, regional head Serhii Lysak wrote on social media. More than 40 people were injured, he said.
Lysak published photos of a bus with windows blown out and shards of glass mixed with blood spattered on its floor.
A Ukrainian delegation in London
Trump has pushed for an end to the war and said last week that negotiations were “coming to a head.” That comment came after Rubio suggested the US might soon back away from negotiations if they don’t progress.
Those still attending Wednesday’s meeting include retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on social media that a delegation including him, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had arrived in London for the talks despite the alterations.
“The path to peace is not easy, but Ukraine has been and remains committed to peaceful efforts,” Yermak said. Officials would “discuss ways to achieve a full and unconditional ceasefire as the first step toward a comprehensive settlement and the achievement of a just and lasting peace.”
Several hours later, Yermak said that he, Sybiha and Umerov met with national security and foreign policy advisers from the countries “participating in the coalition of the willing” and “emphasized our commitment” to the US president’s peace efforts.
He asserted on social media that “Russia continues to reject an unconditional ceasefire, dragging out the process and trying to manipulate negotiations.”
Trump frustrated with both sides
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign last year that he would be able to end the war “in 24 hours” upon taking office. But he has expressed frustration with Zelensky and Putin. Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Some European allies are wary of the American proposal for Ukraine to exchange land for peace. But an official said there’s also acknowledgment by some allies that Russia is firmly entrenched wholly or partially in five regions of Ukraine: Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
If the goal is to obtain a ceasefire immediately, “it should be based on the line of contact as it is,” said the senior French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with French presidential policy.
 


SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
Updated 8 sec ago
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SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
  • The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas

After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening in hopes of making it through the entire test flight and releasing a series of mock satellites.
The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas. Residents voted this month to organize as an official city.
Plans called for the spacecraft to target a splashdown halfway around the world in the Indian Ocean, after popping out eight objects meant to resemble SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites.
It was the first time one of CEO Elon Musk’s Starships — intended for moon and Mars travel — flew with a recycled booster that aimed for the Gulf of Mexico. There were no plans to catch the booster with giant chopsticks back at the launch pad unlike earlier tests.
The previous two Starships never made it past the Caribbean. The demos earlier this year ended just minutes after liftoff, raining wreckage into the ocean. No injuries or serious damage were reported, although airline travel was disrupted. The Federal Aviation Administration last week cleared Starship for another flight, expanding the hazard area and pushing the liftoff outside peak air travel times.
Besides taking corrective action and making upgrades, SpaceX modified the latest spacecraft’s thermal tiles and installed special catch fittings. This one was meant to sink in the Indian Ocean, but the company wanted to test the add-ons for capturing future versions back at the pad, just like the boosters.
NASA needs SpaceX to make major strides over the next year with Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — in order to land astronauts back on the moon. Next year’s moonshot with four astronauts will fly around the moon, but will not land. That will happen in 2027 at the earliest and require a Starship to get two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back off again.


Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
Updated 27 min 17 sec ago
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Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
  • Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down
  • The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022

MOSCOW: Russian authorities said they had battled a major Ukrainian drone attack late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with at least two Moscow airports forced to suspend flights.
The defense ministry said in a Telegram post that 112 Ukrainian drones had been “destroyed and intercepted” in six different regions in the three hours up to midnight.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down.
Some 59 had targeted the southwestern region of Bryansk, the defense ministry said. Others were fired at the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions.
The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022.
The Russian military announces Ukrainian drone attacks most days but rarely of this intensity over such a short period of time.
Moscow, several hundred kilometers from the frontier, is not often the target of such a big attack.
But authorities have been increasingly forced to divert flights from Moscow airports in recent weeks.
This time, the Federal Aviation Transport Agency said restrictions had been introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.
Ukraine said that Russia launched more than 900 drones over three days up to Monday. Thirteen civilians were killed in attacks on Sunday, including three children.
Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it had responded to Ukraine’s “provocation” by launching drone and missile attacks on Russian civilian installations.

 


Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
Updated 59 min 36 sec ago
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Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
  • This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to halt an order allowing migrants to challenge their deportations to South Sudan, an appeal that came hours after the judge suggested the Trump administration was “manufacturing” chaos and said he hoped that “reason can get the better of rhetoric.”
Judge Brian Murphy found the White House violated a court order with a deportation flight bound for the chaotic African nation carrying people from other countries who had been convicted of crimes in the US He said those immigrants must get a real chance to raise any fears that being sent there could put them in danger.
The federal government argued that Murphy has stalled its efforts to carry out deportations of migrants who can’t be returned to their home countries. Finding countries willing to take them is a “a delicate diplomatic endeavor” and the court requirements are a major setback, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in an emergency appeal asking the court to immediately halt his order.
Murphy, for his part, said he had given the Trump administration “remarkable flexibility with minimal oversight” in the case and emphasized the numerous times he attempted to work with the government, according to an order published Monday night.
This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure. The Trump administration has accused judges of thwarting the will of voters by stopping or slowing the White House agenda.
The judge said the men couldn’t advocate for themselves
In a hearing last week called to address reports that eight immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Murphy said the men hadn’t been able to argue that the deportation could put them in danger.
But instead of ordering the government to return the men to the US for hearings — as the plaintiffs wanted — he gave the government the option of holding the hearings in Djibouti, where the plane had flown on its way to South Sudan, as long as the men remained in US government custody. Days later, the Trump administration filed another motion saying that Murphy was requiring them to hold “dangerous criminals in a sensitive location.”
Murphy, though, said it was the government’s “own suggestion” that they be allowed to process the men’s claims while they were still abroad.
“It turns out that having immigration proceedings on another continent is harder and more logistically cumbersome than Defendants anticipated,” the Boston-based Murphy, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, wrote.
The government has argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland. And they’ve said that the men’s home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan — would not take them back.
“The district court’s invented process offers little but delay. While certain aliens may benefit from stalling their removal, the nation does not,” wrote Sauer. Keeping the migrants in Djibouti has also strained the US relationship with that country, officials have said.
The administration has also repeatedly emphasized the men’s criminal histories in the US and portrayed them as national security threats.
The administration is relying on third countries
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on third countries to take immigrants who cannot be sent to their home countries for various reasons. Some countries simply refuse to take back their citizens being deported while others take back some but not all of their citizens. And some cannot be sent to their home countries because of concerns they’ll be tortured or harmed.
Historically that has meant that immigration enforcement officials have had to release people into the US that it wants to deport but can’t.
But the Trump administration has leaned on other countries to take them. In the Western Hemisphere, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have all agreed to take some people being removed from the US, with El Salvador being the most controversial example because it is holding people deported from the US in a notorious prison.
The Trump administration has said it’s exploring other third countries for deportations.
Murphy said in his order that the eight men were initially told May 19 they’d be going to South Africa and then later that same day were told they were going to South Sudan. He noted that the US government “has issued stark warnings regarding South Sudan.”
He said the men had fewer than 16 hours between being told they were going to be removed and going to the airport, “most of which were non-waking hours,” and “limited, if any” ability to talk to family or a lawyer. “From the course of conduct, it is hard to come to any conclusion other than that Defendants invite a lack of clarity as a means of evasion,” the judge wrote.


Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
Updated 28 May 2025
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Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
  • “I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Canada could join his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system for free — but only if it becomes part of the United States.
Otherwise it would cost Canada $61 billion to be part of the system, said Trump, who has repeatedly called for the United States’ northern neighbor to become the 51st state.
Canada has expressed interest in joining the missile system — plans for which Trump unveiled last week to defend against a wide array of enemy weapons — but has firmly rejected any loss of sovereignty.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“But (it) will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State. They are considering the offer!“
There was no immediate response from Canada to Trump’s claims.
Trump announced plans for the “Golden Dome” system a week ago, saying it would eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.
Experts say the scheme faces huge technical and political challenges, and could cost far more than he has estimated to achieve its goals.
Trump also said at the time that Canada was interested in joining the missile system. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney then confirmed that his country had held “high level” talks on the issue.
NATO members Canada and the United States are partners in continental defense through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
But the scheme now seems set to add to the tensions that Trump has sparked with Canada.
Carney politely but firmly dismissed Trump’s calls for Canada to become part of the United States when he visited the White House earlier this month, saying his country was “never for sale.”
The Canadian premier and Trump did however appear to smooth over some of the strains over the tariffs that the US president has slapped on Ottawa.

 


US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting

US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting
Updated 28 May 2025
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US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting

US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting
  • The most visible targets have been students involved in activism over Gaza

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered a suspension of student visa processing as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up vetting of their social media, according to an internal cable.
It is the latest move that takes aim at international students, a major source of revenue for US universities, after Rubio rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration moved to bar Harvard University from admitting any non-Americans.
A cable signed by Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
It said the State Department “plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applications.”
The cable suggested that the suspension could be brief, telling embassies to receive new guidance in the “coming days,” although US missions already frequently see major backlogs in processing applications.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce did not comment directly on the cable but said that “we take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country.”
“It’s a goal, as stated by the president and Secretary Rubio, to make sure that people who are here understand what the law is, that they don’t have any criminal intent, that they are going to be contributors to the experience here, however short or long their status,” she said.
Asked if students seeking to study at US universities should expect visas to be ready before terms begin in the autumn, Bruce said only: “If you’re going to be applying for a visa, follow the normal process, the normal steps, (and) expect to be looked at.”
Rubio last week told a Senate hearing that he has revoked “thousands” of visas since Trump took office on January 20.
Rubio has used an obscure law that allows the secretary of state to remove foreigners for activities deemed counter to US foreign policy interests.
The most visible targets have been students involved in activism over Gaza. Trump administration officials accused students of anti-Semitism, charges strenuously denied by a number of the people targeted.