Latest news with #PeaceNegotiations
Telegraph
19-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Trump is not responding forcefully enough against Russia
President Donald Trump is getting serious about the Russian threat. After pledging new arms shipments to Ukraine and threatening crippling secondary tariffs if Russia does not sue for peace in fifty days, Trump blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin's peace entreaties as 'all talk and no action.' Despite these castigations, Trump maintained hope that Putin might make moves towards peace in Ukraine before the fifty-day mark. This optimism does not reflect the current mood in the Kremlin. Trump's major announcement was greeted with relief rather than alarm in Moscow. The Moscow Stock Exchange increased by 2.7 per cent and the Russian rouble rose 0.8 per cent against the Chinese yuan. Russian officials feared sweeping new sanctions and were pleased to see that Trump was only willing to impose largely unenforceable tariffs against the BRICS countries. The rhetoric emanating from Putin's coterie of hardliners was as confrontational as ever. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to strike Western countries if they escalated the Ukraine War. Rossiya-1 defence commentator Igor Korotchenko implored Russia to intensify its strikes on Ukrainian critical infrastructure and expressed hope that these attacks would force Ukraine's capitulation within fifty days. The Russian military is converting this bellicose rhetoric into aggressive actions. On July 16, Russia fired over 400 missiles and drones on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russia has amassed 160,000 forces around Kupiansk in Kharkiv and the Donetsk battlegrounds of Pokrovsk and Kostiatynivka. A large-scale Russian summer offensive in eastern Ukraine is expected to commence within days. These warning signals indicate that Trump is not responding forcefully enough against Russia. A genuine maximum pressure approach is needed to compel Putin to accept a peace agreement in Ukraine. This maximum pressure strategy should consist of three interrelated components. The first is the removal of loopholes in the sanctions regime that provide Russia with the resources it needs to prosecute further aggression. Although Rosatom is involved in the occupation of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and has assisted Iran's civilian nuclear energy programme, the US has refrained from sanctioning it. This exemption has helped Rosatom leverage its labyrinthine corporate structure and allegedly finance Russia's defence industry. Instead of imposing secondary tariffs on importers from Russia, the US should impose targeted sanctions on refineries that produce Russian oil. Vaibhav Raghunanda, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, estimates that these sanctions would deprive the Kremlin of $750 million in annual tax revenues. Shadow fleet sanctions also need to intensify until the estimated 600 tankers that Russia uses are designated. The US needs to coordinate with the EU on curbing Russian sanctions evasion loopholes in their formative stages. The sanctions regime is fundamentally reactive in nature, and this allows Russia to hone its circumvention tactics before Western powers can respond. The second is the broadening of the array of weapons that reach Ukraine. Trump's Nato ally-funded arms package will most likely include a Patriot Air Defence battery and ATACM long-range missiles. While $10 billion in arms supplies sounds like a lot, it is important to emphasise that Patriot batteries cost $1 billion to build, their interceptor missiles cost $3.7 million each and ATACMs cost $1 million per missile.
Russia Today
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Putin and Erdogan discuss Ukraine and Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by phone. The leaders discussed the Ukrainian conflict, as well as the recent escalation in Syria, according to a statement published by the Kremlin on Friday. According to the statement, Putin and Erdogan touched on the possibility of holding a third round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul. The sides met for two rounds of direct talks in Türkiye earlier this year, rebooting discussions that Kiev had unilaterally abandoned in 2022 to pursue military victory with Western assistance. At their most recent meeting in June, the negotiators exchanged draft proposals outlining visions for a potential peace deal and agreed on further prisoner exchanges. Moscow has since confirmed its readiness to continue the TO FOLLOW
Russia Today
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Putin and Trump need to meet
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for an in-person meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, describing it as the only realistic path to ending the Ukraine conflict. In an interview with the Ultrahang YouTube channel published on Thursday, Orban called Trump 'the man of peace' but voiced skepticism about the sincerity of other Western governments and officials in Kiev. 'Everyone says they want peace, but there's still war. That means someone is lying,' he said, accusing some parties of having a vested interest in prolonging the bloodshed. 'They want the war to continue, no matter what they say.' A deal won't come from Kiev. It must come from Washington and Moscow. Until then, there will be no peace. 'The conflict will not stop until the Russian and American presidents sit down at the negotiating table,' Orban added. He expressed hope that such a meeting could lay the foundation for a broad agreement addressing not only Ukraine, but also global trade and arms control. Earlier this week, Trump said he was 'very, very unhappy' with Putin and threatened Moscow's trade partners with 'severe' secondary tariffs if no diplomatic progress is made within 50 days. Budapest has consistently criticized efforts to arm Kiev and opposed its EU and NATO ambitions, warning it prolongs the conflict at growing cost to European economies and taxpayers. Trump has indicated that Washington will no longer fund Kiev's war effort, but allowed other NATO members to continue purchasing US-made weapons for Ukraine. Since returning to office in January, Trump has held several phone calls with Putin and has alternated between assigning blame to Moscow and Kiev for the lack of progress. In May, Ukraine agreed to resume direct negotiations with Russia under pressure from Washington. However, talks stalled after two rounds, with Kiev declaring the process 'exhausted' and indicating it had only participated to avoid appearing dismissive of Trump's diplomatic initiative. Moscow has said it remains committed to achieving its core objectives in Ukraine but prefers a diplomatic solution. The Kremlin has expressed hope that, despite his public statements, Trump is also applying private pressure on Kiev.
Forbes
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Trump's New Russia Policy Is A Turning Point But Will It Be Enough?
Trump announced a new policy towards Russia and supporting Ukraine on July 14th, 2025.(Photo by Anna ...) On July 14, in an announcement that caught both allies and critics off guard, former President Donald J. Trump issued his strongest rebuke yet of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. Trump's new Russia policy gave a 50-day deadline to the Russian leader: start peace negotiations or face a 100% tariff on all Russian exports, along with sanctions on third-party nations that continue to buy Russian oil. He also announced the sale of Patriot missile systems to NATO allies—though not directly to Ukraine—and restated his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO, sending troops, or invoking the Budapest Memorandum. Although these steps don't amount to a full strategic shift, they mark an important change: for the first time, Trump seems to recognize the threat posed by Putin not only to Europe but to global peace—and eventually, to American leadership. A Tentative Step in the Right Direction. This new stance warrants recognition. It embodies a growing realism that Moscow's aggression in Ukraine cannot be ignored, minimized, or postponed. But if this truly marks the start of a renewed American approach to international order, it will require more than tariffs and arms sales. It will need moral clarity, sustained commitment, and global leadership. (In the spirit of full disclosure, the writer is a past President of the Canada Ukraine Foundation and a senior advisor to the Centre for Eastern European Democracy in Toronto). There are compelling reasons why helping Ukraine is not only consistent with American interests—it is essential to preserving them. While Trump's new measures are a step forward, they also expose the limits of his policy: These omissions create critical gaps. A containment strategy that delays decisive support risks prolonging the war and emboldening other autocratic regimes. A Time to Lead, Not Hesitate President Trump's New Tone on Ukraine Is Appreciated, but It Cannot Mark the End of the Discussion. The stakes are too high. China is observing. Iran is too. America's allies are watching as well. Ukraine has earned our support not just through shared ideals but through action, sacrifice, and resilience. The cost of peace must not lead to abandoning those who have stood with us. America's legacy is built on resolve, not retreat. If we are to remain leaders of the free world, let this Trump's new Russia policy be the start of a broader strategy —one that balances strength and stands firm when freedom itself is at stake.
Forbes
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
How President Trump Can Bring The Ukraine War To A Successful Close
People gather near a nine story residential building in Solomianskyi district, where an entire building's section from the 1st to the 9th floor was destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile strike on June 17, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Oleksandr Gusev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images) Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images President Trump can bring the Ukraine war to a successful close. Vladimir Putin respects and responds only to power. He'll say and promise whatever he thinks will advance his agenda of conquest. President Trump is chagrined that Putin hasn't acted on the President's proposal for a ceasefire as a preliminary step to ending the war. He rightly suspects the Russian dictator has been stringing him along. As a result, he says the U.S. will send Ukraine a Patriot missile system and perhaps other defensive weapons as well. To reach a genuine peace, Washington must pour in needed weapons—both defensive and offensive. The Europeans should increase their assistance as well. The Ukrainians know how to fight. But from the war's beginning Kyiv has been short-changed on what the country needs to throw out Putin's invaders. Incredibly, the Biden administration acted in fear, thinking that Putin might get really mad and use nuclear weapons. Putin played the timid souls of these make-America-weak policymakers like a violin. He wasn't about to cross the nuclear threshold. But such threats achieved his aim, preventing Ukraine from getting what it needed to win the conflict. This involved not only weaponry, but also crippling restrictions on hitting targets inside Russia. When Donald Trump began his second term, Vladimir Putin believed Russia was about to win its war of conquest against Ukraine. He felt the U.S. and NATO were tiring of the fight and would force Ukraine to a disastrous agreement that would make Kyiv a vassal of the Kremlin. Then Putin would effectively end Moldova's independence and, far more ominously, seek to undermine NATO by chipping away at the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Moscow had seized these small countries in 1940 and made them part of the Soviet Union. They regained their freedom in the early 1990s. Putin would hit them through relentless cyber attacks and increasingly aggressive military moves on their borders. Poland, now the crucial linchpin for European independence, would face similar assaults. Putin dreams of not only restoring the Russian empire but also becoming the master power of Europe. Here's what must be done to shatter Putin's nightmarish fantasies once and for all: President Trump and NATO should unleash a torrent of weapons for Ukraine and remove all restrictions on targets inside Russia, expect for the Kremlin itself. To pay for Ukraine's armaments, the U.S. and Europe should seize the $300 billion in frozen Russian bank assets. At the same time, harder sanctions on Russia should be imposed. The Kremlin's economy is weakening, in no small part because of sanctions slapped on after the initial invasion. The alleged growth of the past two years has come from massive military spending and money printing, hardly the ingredients for genuine prosperity. Inflation is rising, consumers are cutting back and manufacturing is weakening. Putin has serious manpower problems since he won't conscript men in politically sensitive places like Moscow and St. Petersburg. North Korea is tripling the number of front-line troops it's providing Putin to 30,000. Putin's position is vulnerable. Ukraine doesn't have to seize all of the territory Russia now holds. It needs only to thwart Putin's summer offensive, pushing back the Russians a good bit. The message would then be clear: The Russian tyrant won't break Ukraine. His ugly ambitions would be shattered. Putin would have to negotiate a peace that would undergird a truly independent Ukraine. That would save both Ukraine and Europe. It would also undermine China's dangerous delusion that the U.S. is a declining power.
