President Trump met with NATO’s Secretary General in the Oval Office. Trump announced a new deal to sell weapons to NATO for distribution inside Ukraine and said he is « not happy » with Russia.
President Trump has confirmed that there will be no significant US security guarantee for Ukraine, despite agreement on a deal to exploit the country’s minerals.
Speaking at his first full cabinet meeting since re-taking the White House, Mr Trump said Europe, not the US must underwrite Ukraine’s future security. Mr Trump also confirmed the US was signing a “very big agreement” with Ukraine for access to its mineral resources. He said it would to amount to around $300 billion.
President Zelensky, who is due to fly to Washington on Friday, said that without security guarantees there would be no justice and no real ceasefire in Ukraine.
In a recent development, Britain announced it’s ready to send peacekeeping troops to support any potential peace agreement in Ukraine, as European leaders gathered in Paris to discuss a unified strategy. This emergency summit was convened after the U.S. under Donald Trump signaled talks with Russia to end the war, with Ukraine’s main military ally being involved.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says he is ‘ready and willing’ to send British troops to Ukraine
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called on the US to provide a “backstop” to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again after meeting with European leaders for emergency talks on the war. Speaking to reporters in Paris on Monday, Starmer said Britain and Europe are facing a “generational challenge when it comes to national security” and they need to « step up », with increased spending and military support. The Prime Minister said he would be prepared to put a peacekeeping force into Ukraine, if there is a deal to end the war with Russia.
NATO secretary general on war in Ukraine: Europe is now stepping up
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte discusses talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and Europe’s commitment to spend more in defense on ‘The Story
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
China will continue to play its role, carry out shuttle diplomacy, pool consensus, and pave the way for peace talks and contribute China’s wisdom for the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, Chinese Foreign Ministry said after announcing the start of the second round of shuttle diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced during a press briefing on Wednesday that starting from March 2, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will visit Russia, the EU headquarters, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and France for the second round of shuttle diplomacy on seeking a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
According to Mao, it has been two years since the full escalation of the Ukraine crisis began and the conflict drags on. The most urgent priority now is to restore peace. The sooner peace talks begin, the less the damage that is done.
In the past two years, China has never given up on promoting peace or slackened its efforts to facilitate talks, and China has had in-depth exchanges with countries, including Russia and Ukraine, playing a constructive role in addressing the crisis, Mao said.
China also published its position paper on the political settlement of the crisis, and its special envoy traveled intensively to mediate among different parties. China has not sat idly by or added fuel to the flame, still less profiteered from the conflict, Mao added.
Behind all this, there is only one goal that China hopes to achieve, that is, to build consensus for ending the conflict and pave the way for peace talks, Mao stressed, noting that China will continue to play its role, carry out shuttle diplomacy, pool consensus, and contribute China’s wisdom for the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin marking Russia’s Day of National Unity in Red Square in central Moscow, on Saturday. | Sputnik / Pool / via REUTERS
Russia is moving to expand its military presence in eastern Libya, a plan that could lead to a naval base, giving it a significant foothold on Europe’s southern doorstep.
A defense accord is being hammered out between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Libya’s eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar following their meeting in Moscow in late September, according to people briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.
The escalation of Russian activity in Libya represents a fresh challenge to the U.S. and its European allies, which are already locked in a standoff with the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine and the country’s potential role in any wider Middle East conflict stemming from the Israel-Hamas war. Russia has been heavily active in neighboring Syria throughout that country’s decade-long civil war.
Why did the Church split in 1054 and what are the similarities and differences between the Catholic and Orthodox Church? Fr. Chris Alar explains why this is important in understanding what is happening in the Church and world today, as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine, Russia, Fatima: What Is Heaven Telling Us?
In this Sept. 11 photo, the Ukrainian war crimes prosecutor for the Kharkiv region watches as police investigators a corpse in a body bag in the liberated village of Zaliznychne. (Heidi Levine for The Washington Post)
KYIV — The 25 Russians convicted so far of war crimes in Ukrainian courts include a soldier who forced two Ukrainians at gunpoint to hand over laptops and money, four who beat and tortured Ukrainian soldiers and two who admitted shelling residential buildings in the first weeks of the war.
Over 66,000 additional alleged war crimes have been reported to Ukrainian authorities since the Russian invasion last February, according to Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General. The number is growing by hundreds every day as investigators fan out into areas retaken from the Russians and Ukrainians step up to lodge complaints, ranging from the theft of property to torture, murder, rape, the deportation of Ukrainian childrento Russia and the relentless missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.
It’s a staggering number of cases, one that would overwhelm any judicial system anywhere, legal experts say. But Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin has vowed to investigate all of them and to bring to trial all those in which enough evidence can be gathered. President Volodymyr Zelensky has made justice for the victims of war crimes one of his conditions for eventual peace with Russia. The issue is as important for Ukraine as defeating the Russians militarily if Russia is to be deterred forever from attacking Ukraine, Kostin said.
Moscow’s former chief rabbi discusses anti-Semitism, morality and red line between democracy and authoritarianism in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Pinchas Goldschmidt spoke with Tim Sebastian from Berlin.
Ukrainian forces after the Russians withdrawal from Izium. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The Czech Republic, who currently hold the EU presidency, have called for a “special international tribunal” after a mass grave was discovered in Izium, a town in north-eastern Ukraine.
More than 440 bodies have been discovered by Ukrainian officials, with some found with their hands tied behind their backs.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy invoked the names of other Ukrainian cities where authorities said retreating Russian troops left behind mass graves of civilians, Associated Press reported.
“Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izium,” Ukraine’s president said. “Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for it.”
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Jan Lipavský, the Czech Republic’s minister of foreign affairs said:
Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izyum area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent. We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. #StandwithUkraine
I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression.
Russia left behind mass graves of hundreds of shot and tortured people in the Izyum area. In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent. We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. #StandwithUkraine
TANIKO Madagascar 