Russia reissues harsh demands in talks with Ukraine
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New York Post
5 minutes ago
- New York Post
Ukraine and Russia set to hold peace talks in Turkey
Kyiv and Moscow will hold a new round of peace talks — the first in seven weeks — on Wednesday in Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov is in Istanbul to meet with his Russian counterparts to discuss the war and hash out the terms for another prisoner of war exchange, Zelensky said. Despite Kyiv's push to reach a cease-fire deal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the world not to expect a 'miraculous breakthrough' from the meeting. Advertisement 3 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a new round of peace talks will be held with Russia on Wednesday in Istandbul. Oleksandr Medvetskyi 'We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning,' Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. A Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters that the meeting at the Ciragan Palace would begin at around noon EST, with all eyes set on how Russia would proceed. 'The Ukrainian delegation has come to Turkey prepared to take significant steps toward peace and a full ceasefire, but everything will depend on whether the Russian side is willing to take a constructive approach,' the source said. Advertisement The Kremlin has remained steadfast in avoiding any progress on the peace talks, with last month's meeting yielding no results. Zelensky has repeatedly pushed for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him face-to-face to negotiate an end to the war, which has raged on for more than three years. 3 Russian President Vladimir Putin has maintained that he will not meet with Zelensky and would only pursue a peace deal if it meets his demands. AP Advertisement The Ukrainian president said Wednesday's meeting will continue to push for the meeting, noting that his team has been tasked with establishing 'the preparation of a leaders' meeting.' Putin, however, has previously stated that he has no interest in meeting with Zelensky, accusing the Ukrainian president of being an illegitimate leader due to the halt of presidential elections in Kyiv while the country is under martial law. Putin claimed earlier this week that he would be open to advancing the stalled peace talks, but only if all of the Kremlin's demands are met. 3 Russia continues to bomb residential buildings in Ukraine as the nightly drone attacks ramp up. STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE/HANDOUT/EPA/Shutterstock Advertisement Putin has said Russia will prioritize its goal of maintaining all the territories it has taken from Ukraine, as well as its demands for Kyiv to completely demilitarize. The Russian strongman has also scoffed at President Trump's 50-day deadline for a cease-fire, which if not reached would result in heavy secondary tariffs against Moscow. Trump also vowed to prop up Ukraine's military with 'billions of dollars' worth of weapons from NATO, which would help Kyiv defend itself in the face of the ever-escalating drone and missile attacks Russia launches on a daily basis. With Post wires
New York Times
36 minutes ago
- New York Times
Deferring to Trump, Senate Pulls Back on New Russia Sanctions
President Trump's threat to penalize Russia if it fails to reach a cease-fire with Ukraine has halted a bipartisan push in the Senate to impose harsh new sanctions on countries that do business with Moscow, effectively freezing an effort by Congress to apply overwhelming pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin. The pause comes as Russia's summer offensive against Ukraine is gaining ground and is the latest instance of the Republican-led Congress deferring to Mr. Trump even on matters on which lawmakers in both parties hold strong views. The legislation, cosponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, has the backing of 83 other senators, reflecting a rare bit of consensus in a polarized Congress around targeting Moscow with exceedingly strong penalties. It would slap sanctions of a minimum of 500 percent on imports from Russia or from any country that buys Russian uranium or oil products. But after initially saying the bill could come to a vote this month, Republican leaders have stepped back to allow Mr. Trump to pursue unilateral action. Their retreat came after the president said this month that he would impose tariffs of 100 percent on Russia and its trading partners if Mr. Putin did not agree to a cease-fire in 50 days — a threat that some analysts and experts doubt Mr. Trump will act on. 'The president, I think, has decided to move sort of unilaterally on that front,' Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said in an interview on Fox News, adding that Mr. Trump 'understands what it's going to take to get the Russians to the table. 'We want to work with him and be partners on that,' Mr. Thune added. 'And when he green-lights the legislation, we'll move forward with it.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
John Brennan ignored ‘veteran' CIA officers to push claim Putin wanted Trump to win in 2016: bombshell House intel report
WASHINGTON — Former CIA Director John Brennan ignored warnings from 'veteran' officers and ordered the publication of a 'substandard' intelligence report that claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin 'aspired' to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election, according to a bombshell congressional report released Wednesday. The House Intelligence Committee had compiled the 'egregious' errors by the CIA back in 2020 — errors that included burying intelligence that the Kremlin was preparing for a possible victory by Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The committee's findings also show that 'fabricated' information from the since-debunked Steele Dossier — funded by Clinton's campaign and put together by an ex-MI6 spy — was crammed into the CIA product over the objections of senior officials. Advertisement 3 President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are seen during the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 30, 2018. REUTERS 'Not only did CIA Director Brennan, FBI Director [James] Comey, DNI [James] Clapper and others include the Steele Dossier in the 2017 ICA, they overruled senior Intel officials who warned them it was fabricated and should not be used,' Gabbard said, calling the move 'the most egregious weaponization and politicization of intelligence in American history.' 'In doing so, they conspired to subvert the will of the American people, working with their partners in the media to promote the lie, in order to undermine the legitimacy of President Trump, essentially enacting a years-long coup against him,' she added. 'The Russia Hoax was a lie that was knowingly created by the Obama Administration to undermine the legitimacy and power of the duly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump.' Advertisement 3 Former CIA Director John Brennan arrives for a meeting at the Capitol in Washington, May 21, 2019. AP 3 Trump shakes hands with Hillary Clinton during a OCt. 9, 2016 presidential debate. Getty Images According to the House report, only a 'scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports constitutes the only classified information cited to suggest Putin 'aspired' to help Trump win.' 'CIA officers said that some of this information had been held on the orders of [Brennan], while other reporting had been judged by experienced CIA officers to have not met longstanding publication standards,' the report noted. Advertisement Other information was 'unclear, of uncertain origin, potentially biased, implausible, or in the words of senior operations officers 'odd,'' the report also stated, and was 'published after the election–over the objections of veteran officers–on orders of DCIA [Brennan] and cited in the [January 2017] ICA to support claims that Putin aspired to help Trump win.'
