Ukraine: All smiles as Vladimir Putin meets Donald's Trump's envoy
Following this round of talks, Ushakov held a conference call for reporters. He insisted that the negotiations with Witkoff had been "constructive and very useful"."May I ask a question?" I began. "What are the main sticking points, the obstacles to peace in Ukraine?""Thank you," Ushakov said. "We'll end it there." Conference call over.From the various alleged peace proposals that have been leaked to the press, there seem to be plenty of "sticking points". There are differences over the territorial concessions Ukraine would be required to make, security guarantees, sanctions relief for Russia and the sequencing - that is, the order in which obligations undertaken be carried out.The day Witkoff flew to Moscow, on the edge of the city, peace was shattered.A car bomb killed a senior Russian general.Yaroslav Moskalik was deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff. The Kremlin accused Kyiv of assassinating him.If that's true, it's a sign of how Russia's war in Ukraine has come much closer to home.There is no guarantee that talks between Putin and Witkoff will bring peace. And there will be concern in Kyiv and in Europe that they were not at the table.What is clear is that Putin and Trump are determined to bring their countries closer - whatever happens with the Ukraine peace process.For Moscow and Washington, now their watchword is co-operation.
On Friday, I attended a ceremony at a Moscow military park symbolising this. It marked the moment, 80 years ago, when American and Soviet soldiers met on the Elbe River in the dying days of World War Two. That was a time when Russia and America were allies. A military band played as people lined up to lay flowers at a memorial to the Meeting on the Elbe.Putin's invasion of Ukraine put the US and Russia on opposite sides, but times are changing again. The White House and the Kremlin are trying to repair relations. Could they secure a peace deal, one that's acceptable to Ukraine?"We are just re-establishing contact," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told me at the ceremony. "We are just trying to find a way out of this terrible crisis which was created by the previous American administration. They ruined many things."Moscow presents itself as peacekeeper. It blames Kyiv and the "collective West" for the fighting.And yet in February 2022, it was President Putin who ordered Russian troops to invade a sovereign neighbouring country, to force it back into Moscow's orbit.So much has changed, not least the attitude of the White House. President Biden had promised to support Ukraine "for as long as we can".Earlier this month, Trump blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war."You don't start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles," Trump said.
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
After Trump moves nuclear submarines close to Russia, Putin responds by beginning 'war game training' with China in bleak show of combined force
In retaliation to US President Donald Trump moving submarines closer to Russia, Putin has begun 'war game training' with China in a bleak display of their allied force. Last night, Trump confirmed two US Navy nuclear submarines are 'getting closer to Russia', after an online spat with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev - now deputy chairman of Russia's National Security Council. In response, Russia and China today showed off their strengthening military ties as they took part in staged mock combat drills and other war games in the Sea of Japan together. A statement from China's Defence Ministry said the Joint Sea-2025 drills were launched in waters nearby Vladivostok, Russia's largest port on the Pacific Ocean. Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, will be participating in the drills which will span across three days. The exercises will include 'submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat', followed by naval patrols in 'relevant waters of the Pacific'. Russia and China, which signed a 'no-limits' strategic partnership shortly before Russia went to war in Ukraine in 2022, conduct regular military exercises to rehearse coordination between their armed forces and send a deterrent signal to adversaries. Although they were pre-planned, the joint naval exercises came just a day after Trump moved submarines packed with nuclear warheads towards Russian waters following his argument with Mr Medvedev on social media. On Telegram, an encrypted social media app, the deputy chairman of Russia's National Security Council said Russia could invoke 'Dead Hand' – a doomsday program with the ability to automatically launch a nuclear counterstrike against major US cities, even if Moscow and President Vladimir Putin are wiped out. His post read: 'As for the talk about the "dead economies" of India and Russia, and "entering dangerous territory" - maybe he should recall his favourite movies about "the walking dead", and also remember how dangerous the so-called "Dead Hand", that does not exist in nature, could be. 'He should remember two things: 1: Russia isn't Israel or even Iran. 2: Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe [a reference to former President Joe Biden] road!' Responding in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: 'Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions. Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances. 'A threat was made… so we have to be very careful. We're going to protect our people. He's entering very dangerous territory!' On Friday, in an interview with cable channel Newsmax, Mr Trump added: 'The subs are getting closer to Russia. We always want to be ready. I want to make sure his words are only words and nothing more than that.' Despite Russia and China both claiming no third country is being targeted by their military cooperation, Japan has objected to the joint drills - stating greater strategic coordination between Beijing and Moscow poses a 'strong concern' for its national security. Whilst announcing the drills on Wednesday, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for Beijing's defence ministry, criticised US Air Force drills with Japan and others in the western Pacific. Mr Xiaogang said: 'The US has been blindly flexing its muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region.' China and Russia have held military exercises together for over 20 years, with 'Joint Sea' exercises beginning in 2012. However, their cooperation, which was once sporadic, has deepened over the past decade, with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping having met more than 40 times. Last night, the White House, Pentagon and Downing Street refused to comment on the escalating tensions, which come just days before Mr Trump's August 8 deadline for Putin to declare a ceasefire in the war against Ukraine. The US President has vowed to impose 'devastating' sanctions on Russia and her closest trading partners if his demands are not met. A source close to the President told the MoS: 'Trump is running out of patience with Russia. He promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and clearly that has not happened. 'Now he's threatening to impose sanctions if Putin doesn't declare a ceasefire and come to the negotiating table to discuss peace.' While the location of the subs is unknown, the US Navy has 71 nuclear-powered submarines in its fleet, all of which can travel thousands of miles without resurfacing. By comparison, the Russian Navy fields fewer than 30 nuclear‑powered submarines. Military experts said Mr Trump will most likely have deployed two Ohio -class vessels. Each is armed with up to 20 Trident II D5 missiles that can deliver multiple thermonuclear warheads with a range of up to 7,000 miles. Sources last night told the Washington Post that Russia is 'seeking clarity' from America about Mr Trump's 'actions and intentions', with Russian officials scrambling to assess the significance of the subs' deployment. RIA Novosti, a state-controlled news agency which has been called 'Putin's mouthpiece', confirmed it had sent enquiries to the White House, Pentagon, US Central Command and the National Security Council, but had not received a response. Mr Trump's dramatic doubling down came after the deadliest Russian air strike on Kyiv this year, when 31 people were killed in a single missile strike on an apartment block in the early hours of Thursday morning. Five children, the youngest aged just two, were among the dead. Mr Trump called the air strike 'disgusting' and announced he was sending his special envoy Steve Witkoff to the region to try and negotiate a ceasefire. Russian lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky said there are enough Russian nuclear submarines in the high seas to tackle the two American subs. Fire breaks out after a Russian attack at the 3 private house and one apartment building as the emergency officials work at the area in Kherson, Ukraine on August 2, 2025 A source close to the President told the MoS: 'Trump is running out of patience with Russia. He promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and clearly that has not happened' 'The number of Russian nuclear submarines in the world's oceans is significantly higher than the American ones, and the subs that US President Donald Trump ordered to be redirected to the appropriate regions have long been under their control,' he said yesterday. 'So no response from the Russian Federation to the American leader's statement about the submarines is required.' Retired US Marine Colonel Mark Cancian called Mr Trump's announcement that he had sent subs steaming towards Russian waters 'highly unusual'. He said: 'This is signalling in its purest form.' Others urged restraint, saying Mr Medvedev does not speak for Putin. Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now a Putin critic living in London, said: 'When you see his [Mr Medvedev's] latest apocalyptic tweet about turning European capitals to dust, remember: this isn't strategic communication from the Kremlin. It's the rambling of a man drowning his terror in vodka.'
Metro
6 hours ago
- Metro
Russian TikTokkers 'arrested for taking selfies outside oil depot inferno'
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A Ukrainian drone strike on an oil depot in Sochi – the Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games – was captured in a video shared online by two TikTok influencers. Footage circulating online shows two young women posing metres away from the inferno, allegedly caused by drone debris hitting a fuel tank. The pair have since been identified as Dasha Vladimirovna, 21, and Karina Evgenyevna, 19 – who have since been detained for accidentally exposing Vladimir Putin's failures to defend Russia. Flames are seen raging behind the two, with pillars of smoke rising into the sky, after the overnight attack. Dasha and Karina do not appear shocked – in the video, they are rapping to the track Crimson Dawn by singer Endshpil, a famous Russian rapper. Before they were identified, police had issued an appeal to members of the piublic, saying: 'During Internet monitoring, a publication was found of two girls filming a video against the backdrop of a fire in Sochi. 'The police have initiated an investigation, measures are being taken to identify the girls, and their actions will be legally assessed.' It was later confirmed that Dasha and Karina had been detained, and there were calls from pro-war outlets for them to issue a public apology over the stunt close to Sochi Airport. Police have not shared the real reason for their arrest, but it is likely that it is the potential glamourising of a Ukrainian strike on Putin's favourite Black Sea resort. The Kremlin has been taking an increasingly hard line against social media stunts seen as highlighting Ukraine's successes in the war. Ukraine's attack is seen as one of the most symbolically and strategically significant ones – deep within Russian territory since the start of the full-scale invasion. The oil depot sustained a direct hit, causing the explosion of a 2,000 cubic metre fuel reservoir and sparking a fire visible across Sochi. More than 120 firefighters and 35 emergency vehicles were deployed to the scene, and operations at the nearby airport were suspended as a precaution. Despite the official account from the governor of Krasnodar, Veniamin Kondratyev, describing the incident as a result of falling drone fragments, widespread footage circulating online paints a starkly different picture. More Trending Videos captured by local residents show towering plumes of black smoke, an orange-glowing night sky, and the sound of drones overhead. In one video, a panicked resident exclaims: 'It's flying, again! Right to the airport!' Moments later, another voice shouts, 'It's a tragedy! Everything's burning!' These images have sharply contrasted with the restrained language used by Russia's regional and federal authorities. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Trump moves nuclear submarines and threatens Russia over 'foolish' statements MORE: Ukrainian prisoner reveals what helped him survive 860 days in Putin's hellish jails MORE: I've studied tsunamis for 25 years – here are the deadly warning signs one is on its way
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump administration denies daily quota for immigration arrests
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