Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as president pledges Patriot missiles to Ukraine
Trump last week teased that he would make a 'major statement' on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin's unbudging stance.
Putin 'talks nice and then he bombs everybody,' Trump said late Sunday, as he confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine badly needed U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles to help it fend off Russia's intensifying aerial attacks.
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
Also, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as members of Congress.
Talks during Kellogg's visit to Kyiv will cover 'defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,' said the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
14 minutes ago
- NBC News
Coca-Cola dodges after Trump says soda will switch back to cane sugar
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Coca-Cola in the U.S. will begin to be made with cane sugar, but the company did not explicitly say that was the case when asked later about the president's claim. In a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he had been speaking to Coca-Cola about using cane sugar in the sodas sold in the U.S., and that the company agreed to his idea. "This will be a very good move by them — You'll see. It's just better!" Trump wrote in the post. But Coca-Cola did not commit to the change when asked later by NBC News about Trump's social media post. "We appreciate President Trump's enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon." It remains unclear whether Coca-Cola agreed to Trump's cane sugar proposal, or if the beloved soda will still be made with corn syrup going forward. The Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again initiative, named for the social movement aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pushed food companies to alter their formulations to remove ingredients like artificial dyes. Coca-Cola produced for the U.S. market is typically sweetened with corn syrup, while the company uses cane sugar in some other countries, including Mexico and various European nations. The company in 1984 announced it was going to 'significantly increase' the amount of corn syrup it was using in its U.S. products, the New York Times reported at the time. Coca-Cola said it would use corn syrup to sweeten bottled and canned Coke, as well as caffeine Coke, but left itself 'flexibility' to use other sweeteners like sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, the Times reported. Kennedy has been critical of the amount of sugar consumed in the American diet and has said that updated dietary guidelines released this summer will advise Americans to eat "whole food." Trump has been known to enjoy Coca-Cola products. Diet Coke button, which allows the president to order the soda on demand, has joined him in the Oval Office for both of his terms.
Reuters
14 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says he is ending government funding California's High-Speed Rail project
WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he is ending government funding for California's High-Speed Rail project. The announcement follows the release of a U.S. Transportation Department report from the Federal Railroad Administration that cited missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections. "Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
NBC News
16 minutes ago
- NBC News
Arkansas can enforce critical race theory ban in classrooms, federal court says
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Arkansas can enforce its ban on critical race theory in classrooms, ruling the First Amendment doesn't give students the right to compel the state to offer its instruction in public schools. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued against the ban, one of several changes adopted under an education overhaul that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed in 2023. The prohibition is being challenged by two teachers and two students at Little Rock Central High School, site of the 1957 desegregation crisis. A federal judge had granted the injunction to the students but not the teachers. "Just as ordinary citizens cannot require the government to express a certain viewpoint or maintain a prior message, students cannot oblige the government to maintain a particular curriculum or offer certain materials in that curriculum based on the Free Speech Clause," the judges ruled. Attorneys for the teachers and students said they were disappointed in the ruling. "It gives us pause and concern about a steady erosion of individual rights and protections in this great country," attorney Mike Laux said in a statement. "Nonetheless, major aspects of this lawsuit remain viable, and they will proceed in due course." Critical race theory is an academic framework dating to the 1970s that centers on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation's institution. The theory is not a fixture of K-12 education, and Arkansas' ban does not define what constitutes critical race theory. Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin praised the court's ruling. "With its ruling today, the 8th Circuit continues to ensure that the responsibility of setting curriculum is in the hands of democratically elected officials who, by nature, are responsive to voters," Griffin said in a statement. Arkansas is among several Republican-led states that have placed restrictions on how race is taught in the classroom, including prohibitions on critical race theory. President Donald Trump in February ordered federal money for K-12 schools cannot be used on the "indoctrination" of children, including "radical gender ideology and critical race theory." "Big win for common sense, education freedom — and parents who just want our schools to teach kids how to think, not what to think," Sanders, who served as Trump's press secretary during his first term, posted on X after Wednesday's ruling. The judges said they weren't minimizing the students' concerns "whether in this case or in the abstract — about a government that decides to exercise its discretion over the public school curriculum by prioritizing ideological interests over educational ones."
