Latest news with #RTWeathermanFoundation
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Unrelenting violence in Ukraine is taking a ‘super personal' toll on Trump, daughter of president's envoy says: ‘Feels things very intensely'
President Trump has been deeply affected by the distressing images of barbarism and bloodshed coming out of Ukraine, according to the daughter of his top envoy to the country — and that may be motivating his 'major statement' about the war with Russia expected next week. Meaghan Mobbs, the daughter of retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, said the war's relentless casualties have become 'super personal' for Trump and that he feels an acute responsibility to end it himself. The toll of the destruction could also be behind the president's swift and unsparing change in posture when it comes to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. 'The thing about people get so wrong about the president — the president is a very personal person,' Mobbs told The Post. 'He feels things very intensely when he talks about seeing the satellite images of bodies on a field, and that he wants the killing to stop. That's not coming from a place of being pro-Russian,' she continued, referring to criticism the commander-in-chief has received for mentioning Russian losses. 'That's our place of being pro-human. He feels very personally about these things.' Mobbs has seen the violence firsthand, not just from her close relationship with her father but because she operates the RT Weatherman Foundation — one of the leading relief groups helping the Ukrainian military and citizenry survive the onslaught from Putin's forces. 3 Meaghan Mobbs is the daughter of US Gen. Keith Kellogg and a leading humanitarian in Ukraine. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images / Shutterstock 'Things are really bad, and I can tell you they're really bad because I'm literally seeing them with my own eyes, or I'm literally experiencing this,' she said. The more than three-year war is reaching a pivotal moment, with Russia unleashing back-to-back record-breaking drone attacks in July and notching up a grim number of civilian fatalities. NATO jets were forced to scramble when Russian forces fired 728 Shahed and decoy drones along with 13 cruise and ballistic missiles on Tuesday night — just hours after Trump accused Putin of throwing 'bullsh-t' over peace talks. 'I didn't make any progress with him today at all,' Trump also said after another previous call with his counterpart. 'I'm very disappointed … I don't think he's looking to stop.' 3 Ukraine has been hit by mounting barrages frim Russia since Trump and Putin spoke in early July. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images A 1-year-old boy was then 'deliberately' executed on Wednesday in a targeted drone attack in southern Ukraine — where terrified residents say they feel they are being hunted in a sick game of 'human safari,' officials said. Putin's defiance is a failure the president — who has long touted his ability to work with the Russian leader and even made campaign promises off it — has taken to heart, according to Mobbs. 'I think the president had just always wanted to directly manage the relationship with Putin, because he sees himself as the only one able to manage that relationship because of their connection,' she explained. Trump made it clear on the campaign trail that he 'has a desire to solve the war, and it's no small job,' Mobbs said. 3 President Trump said he was issuing a 'major statement' about the war in Ukraine next week. Getty Images 'He always knew that he was going to be the point person for Russia,' she added. The frustration with Moscow, amplified by the heart-wrenching images of escalating violence, including a picture of the toddler's lifeless body and then a maternity ward full of newborns being wrecked in a drone attack, may have prompted Trump to take decisive action. 'I'll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,' Trump told NBC News on Thursday. 'You'll be seeing things happen.' Trump did not elaborate on what he meant, but it has been speculated that a huge tariff — 500% on any country buying Russian oil — that's been proposed in the Senate could be his trump card. Whatever the statement is, the coming week could shape up to be the most crucial moment in the war — and one that Mobbs thinks has been an inevitable conclusion since Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 'We've never been neutral. We've always been going to do what is in the best interest of America,' she said, disputing claims that Trump has harbored pro-Russian interests. 'I think the President always believed you're going to do what was in America's best interest. Under that very nature that makes us not neutral.'
Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Times
From Kyiv I tell my Ukraine envoy father: ‘Please, dear God, see this'
It might have been the explosions in the dead of night, but a 'strange feeling' told Meaghan Mobbs that Russia was not all that interested in peace. 'Loud night in Kyiv, Dad!' she wrote in a June 5 post on X that went viral, not because Mobbs was different from thousands of others enduring Moscow's onslaught on Kyiv last month, but because of who her father is. General Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's Ukraine envoy, probably did not need reminding about President Putin's approach to peace talks, having watched as the Russian leader appeared willing to discuss ending the war only to then dramatically escalate his bombardment of Ukraine. But his daughter's daily check-ins, delivered straight to his phone, have only sharpened Kellogg's understanding of what is happening on the ground. Mobbs, whose RT Weatherman Foundation has been leading humanitarian work since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, emerged as one of the most vocal American advocates for Ukraine and one of the few who has the ear of those in a position to influence US policy. 'The Ukrainians might not have a better friend than Mobbs,' The Washington Post wrote in February, as the US president seemed to be turning away from Kyiv and instead embracing Putin. In one of her first newspaper interviews, Mobbs told The Times: 'People responded [to the X post] saying, you should just be telling your dad this stuff privately. Of course I do, all the time. At the same time, I do think it's necessary to publicly call attention to those things, for better or for worse. 'It was born out of frustration, desperation, like, 'please, dear God, see this',' she said of the X post, which ended up being viewed more than half a million times. 'My dad … is one of the few people intimately aware every day of what's happening, so it's not at all on him. 'I had zero expectation it was going to get the attention it did because I thought it was relatively well known in DC that I'm extraordinarily close with my father. Does he take my advice? Who knows. But I know it needed to be said.' Mobbs, 38, who spends her time between her home in Virginia and running the foundation from the front lines of Ukraine, said she texted her father daily in the hope her messages filtered through to those in the administration who are pushing for rapprochement with Moscow. 'Every morning I tell him what's happening on the ground and tell him: 'Dad. I love you, have a great day',' she said. The Kremlin is well aware of Mobbs's work in Ukraine. Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served as chief of staff of the National Security Council in the first Trump administration, was originally appointed as special representative for Ukraine and Russia but was removed from the portfolio after two months, the first of several Trump advisers sympathetic to Ukraine to be sidelined. Russian officials were said to have made a formal complaint about him. There was even a rumour that Mobbs's advocacy played a role in the demotion. She called the Kremlin's apparent dislike of her 'a badge of honour', adding: 'They were just very unhappy with dad. I mean, he did go to Ukraine in 2023 with the Weatherman Foundation. I think that the Russians were like the 'Kyiv Caliph' is not neutral. 'It was very easy to find me and the work that I do. And certainly at the foundation, we make no bones about it. We are not neutral … we assist the Ukrainian military in a variety of different ways.' Mobbs's foundation runs a logistics hub on the Romanian-Ukrainian border, from which about 10,000 pallets of medicines, medical supplies and other aid have been delivered to more than 70 Ukrainian hospitals and humanitarian organisations. The group also helps to evacuate and repatriate American volunteers who are wounded and killed fighting in Ukraine. A month after Kellogg returned from his Weatherman-organised tour of Odessa, Kharkiv and Izyum, he testified before the US Senate Armed Services Committee. 'It is no mystery why this war happened,' he said. 'The Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, has always resented the American victory in the Cold War, and has spoken openly of his desire to reverse it.' Mobbs, a former US army officer and mother of two daughters, said: 'The thing with my father is he is not manipulable. He served all four years in the previous Trump administration, he was in every major national security division. He was on every call with Putin. He's very experienced. The Russians don't want that, they want someone they can manipulate.' Trump had claimed he could leverage his relationship with the Russian leader to bring peace, but Mobbs sees Putin's continued aggression as proof that he is 'not one bit interested' in ending the war, at least not on US terms. The conflict has only become deadlier since Trump returned to office with a promise to end it on day one. The civilian casualty count in the first five months of 2025 is nearly 50 per cent higher than in the same period last year, according to United Nations figures. Mobbs is one of three children Kellogg has with his wife, Paige, a retired army officer who served during the 1983 American invasion of Grenada. Mobbs said both parents inspired her path into the military. She is a former paratrooper and combat veteran, and the youngest-ever presidential appointee to the US Military Academy's West Point Board of Visitors. As a self-proclaimed supporter of Trump's Maga (Make America Great Again) movement, she stands at the not-so-common confluence of pro-Trump and pro-Ukraine America. 'I was volunteering with Trump's campaign in 2016. I was officially on his campaign in 2020. I almost ran his entire portfolio for veterans and military families. I voted for him three times,' Mobbs said. 'I'm supportive of 95 per cent of Trump's agenda, but I think this is the one area where I am really struggling to understand the thought process behind these policy decisions. 'There is a willingness to give some kind of leash to this idea of diplomacy, but it is not being backed up by brute strength,' she said of the administration's decision to engage Putin. 'I think Putin is clearly insulting our president at this point. He's clearly thumbing his nose at him. He clearly thinks that we're not gonna do anything. I don't want my president embarrassed, just as I wouldn't have wanted Biden embarrassed.' Mobbs, who is also a director at the Independent Women's Forum, described a deep schism in 'Trumpworld'. There are those, like her, who believe in American exceptionalism and are 'very fearful of the current orientation towards isolationism', led by figures like JD Vance, the vice-president. Vance was accused of excoriating European values during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in February and of humiliating President Zelensky of Ukraine during his visit to the White House weeks later. That isolationism, or as she calls it, 'protectionism' and 'restrainism', has created the most serious rift with America's western allies since the Second World War. 'The president actually loves Europe,' she said. 'He loves the UK in particular — the pageantry of all of it. This goes back to where my fear has always been, not the president, not the kind of core original Maga. It's this infiltration of it by those that are more anti-Europe, more isolationist, and just don't believe in us doing anything outside our own borders.' She does, however, agree more broadly with the administration that European countries should be contributing more to Nato and not relying on the US for protection. 'I mean, the numbers speak for themselves with regard to GDP allocated towards defence,' she said. 'You are looking at a crisis in London, quite frankly, around your ability to field an effective fighting force.' Last week the Pentagon announced it was pausing deliveries of key air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment to Ukraine. Trump claimed former President Biden 'emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves'. Days later, Trump reversed the decision, saying Putin was 'killing too many people'. • Trump says Putin 'just wants to kill people' — is their bromance over? Mobbs predicted that if something 'catastrophic' were to happen, or Ukraine lost significantly more territory on Trump's watch, the war could become his 'Afghanistan moment'. A similar rout of American allies in Ukraine would be an immutable stain on his record, said Mobbs, whose work with the foundation began in Kabul during the fall of Afghanistan. 'Biden is absolutely responsible for a hell of a lot of where Ukraine is now positioned on the battlefield,' Mobbs said. 'But historians are not going to talk about how the war started, they're going to obsess over how it ended. And so for the president to say, 'this is Biden's war, it's not mine', I think that could have been true maybe in January, maybe even February if something had been resolved. But the fact of the matter is, we're going into the deadliest summer. 'The longer it goes on, the deadlier it gets, the more expansive, the more risk that is taken on, it absolutely becomes [Trump's war]. I think that the president is being poorly served by those around him if they're not telling him that he now owns this, and this will be part of his legacy. Americans don't care about foreign policy until they suddenly very much care about foreign policy.' She thinks Trump would be better served listening to Kellogg, who has been with the president since 2015, longer than almost any other single adviser. But Trump has instead promoted aides, including Steve Witkoff, his golfing partner and real estate developer with no military record, to lead negotiations with Moscow. Mobbs hopes the US will follow through with its threat of imposing sanctions on Russia, which Trump had promised, but failed to enforce, since taking office. Last month, he pointed out sanctions 'cost a lot of money' and signalled he was waiting to see whether a deal between Russia and Ukraine would be signed instead. However, after yet another deadly bombardment this week, Trump's patience with Putin seemed to be wearing thin. 'If they thumb their nose at the president, and they thumb their nose at the idea of peace, then we respond by arming Ukrainians to the teeth and enforcing sanctions on Russia,' she said. 'Maybe this is me being my father's daughter — he is probably the most optimistic person I've ever met — but I remain firm in my belief in the goodness of America. I think Churchill had it right when he said America will get it right in the end, even if it takes a while.'
Boston Globe
28-02-2025
- Boston Globe
Family of US marine veteran killed in Ukraine tells funeral he died fighting for freedom
In December 2023 he was guarding a military bunker in the eastern industrial region of the Donbas when Russian forces overtook his unit's position. When one of his unit was wounded, Hertweck attempted to drag him back to the safety of the bunker but was hit by gunfire in the process. He died soon after. At the funeral service in Kyiv's Independence Square, Hertweck's mother, father, sister, and brother were presented with Ukrainian and US flags as part of a military honors ceremony. Advertisement Leslie Hertweck told those gathered that her son had died in a 'fight for freedom.' 'He was taken too young and he died a true hero,' she said through tears. 'I'm a very proud mom of what he did, that he came here for your people, for the country of Ukraine, to fight for freedom. And that's what Ethan stood for, was freedom.' She described her son as 'stubborn, he was strong, he was serious. But he loved and had a soft heart.' 'We know that we will miss him. But we will see you in heaven, Ethan, as you're with my mom and all those who've gone before us,' she said. 'Slava Ukraini.' Hertweck was initially classified as missing in action and his family and fellow servicemen worked for months to retrieve his remains, which were believed to be behind Russian lines after the territory near the city of Avdiivka was captured by Moscow's forces. Finally, in December 2024, his body was part of a swap between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. With the assistance of the RT Weatherman Foundation, a group that provides support and legal aid to families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, he was identified by his DNA. Advertisement His family plans to repatriate him to the United States and lay him to rest in his native California. Jay Andrus, 25, a US Marine veteran who trained in Ukraine with Hertweck, said the period his friend was listed as missing was difficult for family and friends to bear. 'It's good that we got his remains back because it kind of haunts you knowing that your friend is out there in the dirt and you don't know where he is,' Andrus said. 'He's back and he's going home, like every Marine should.' He added that Hertweck, like so many foreign soldiers that have fought for Ukraine during the war, 'genuinely, really wanted to help people.' 'It's clear as day: a country is being invaded, innocent people are dying, women and children,' Andrus said. 'You're just going to sit there with the training and the lifestyle that you're used to, watching the news and do nothing about it? I understand why [Hertweck] came, that's the reason why I came too.'
The Independent
28-02-2025
- The Independent
Family of US marine veteran killed in Ukraine tells funeral in Kyiv he died fighting for freedom
A funeral service was held in Kyiv on Friday for a U.S. Marine Corps veteran killed while serving alongside Ukrainian forces. Family and friends said 21-year-old Ethan Hertweck had given his life fighting for freedom. Hertweck, from California, traveled to Ukraine soon after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, initially assisting some of the millions of women and children who were fleeing the country in the earliest days of the war. After returning to the United States for several months, he returned to Ukraine to receive a combat medical license, and trained Ukrainian troops before himself joining a combat unit as a medic. In December 2023 he was guarding a military bunker in the eastern industrial region of the Donbas when Russian forces overtook his unit's position. When one of his unit was wounded, Hertweck attempted to drag him back to the safety of the bunker but was hit by gunfire in the process. He died soon after. At the funeral service in Kyiv's Maidan Square, Hertweck's mother, father, sister and brother were presented with Ukrainian and U.S. flags as part of a military honors ceremony. 'He came here for your people' Leslie Hertweck told those gathered that her son had died in a 'fight for freedom.' 'He was taken too young and he died a true hero,' she said through tears. 'I'm a very proud mom of what he did, that he came here for your people, for the country of Ukraine, to fight for freedom. And that's what Ethan stood for, was freedom.' She described her son as 'stubborn, he was strong, he was serious. But he loved and had a soft heart.' 'We know that we will miss him. But we will see you in heaven, Ethan, as you're with my mom and all those who've gone before us,' she said. 'Slava Ukraini.' Hertweck was initially classified as missing in action and his family and fellow servicemen worked for months to retrieve his remains, which were believed to be behind Russian lines after the territory near the city of Avdiivka was captured by Moscow's forces. Finally, in December 2024, his body was part of a swap between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. With the assistance of the RT Weatherman Foundation, a group that provides support and legal aid to families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, he was identified by his DNA. His family plans to repatriate him to the United States and lay him to rest in his native California. 'He's going home, like every Marine should' Jay Andrus, 25, a U.S. Marine veteran who trained in Ukraine with Hertweck, said the period his friend was listed as missing was difficult for family and friends to bear. 'It's good that we got his remains back because it kind of haunts you knowing that your friend is out there in the dirt and you don't know where he is," Andrus said. 'He's back and he's going home, like every Marine should.' He added that Hertweck, like so many foreign soldiers that have fought for Ukraine during the war, "genuinely, really wanted to help people.' 'It's clear as day: a country is being invaded, innocent people are dying, women and children,' Andrus said. 'You're just going to sit there with the training and the lifestyle that you're used to, watching the news and do nothing about it? I understand why (Hertweck) came, that's the reason why I came too.'
Associated Press
28-02-2025
- Associated Press
Family of US marine veteran killed in Ukraine tells funeral in Kyiv he died fighting for freedom
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A funeral service was held in Kyiv on Friday for a U.S. Marine Corps veteran killed while serving alongside Ukrainian forces. Family and friends said 21-year-old Ethan Hertweck had given his life fighting for freedom. Hertweck, from California, traveled to Ukraine soon after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, initially assisting some of the millions of women and children who were fleeing the country in the earliest days of the war. After returning to the United States for several months, he returned to Ukraine to receive a combat medical license, and trained Ukrainian troops before himself joining a combat unit as a medic. In December 2023 he was guarding a military bunker in the eastern industrial region of the Donbas when Russian forces overtook his unit's position. When one of his unit was wounded, Hertweck attempted to drag him back to the safety of the bunker but was hit by gunfire in the process. He died soon after. At the funeral service in Kyiv's Maidan Square, Hertweck's mother, father, sister and brother were presented with Ukrainian and U.S. flags as part of a military honors ceremony. 'He came here for your people' Leslie Hertweck told those gathered that her son had died in a 'fight for freedom.' 'He was taken too young and he died a true hero,' she said through tears. 'I'm a very proud mom of what he did, that he came here for your people, for the country of Ukraine, to fight for freedom. And that's what Ethan stood for, was freedom.' She described her son as 'stubborn, he was strong, he was serious. But he loved and had a soft heart.' 'We know that we will miss him. But we will see you in heaven, Ethan, as you're with my mom and all those who've gone before us,' she said. 'Slava Ukraini.' Hertweck was initially classified as missing in action and his family and fellow servicemen worked for months to retrieve his remains, which were believed to be behind Russian lines after the territory near the city of Avdiivka was captured by Moscow's forces. Finally, in December 2024, his body was part of a swap between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. With the assistance of the RT Weatherman Foundation, a group that provides support and legal aid to families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, he was identified by his DNA. His family plans to repatriate him to the United States and lay him to rest in his native California. 'He's going home, like every Marine should' Jay Andrus, 25, a U.S. Marine veteran who trained in Ukraine with Hertweck, said the period his friend was listed as missing was difficult for family and friends to bear. 'It's good that we got his remains back because it kind of haunts you knowing that your friend is out there in the dirt and you don't know where he is,' Andrus said. 'He's back and he's going home, like every Marine should.' He added that Hertweck, like so many foreign soldiers that have fought for Ukraine during the war, 'genuinely, really wanted to help people.' 'It's clear as day: a country is being invaded, innocent people are dying, women and children,' Andrus said. 'You're just going to sit there with the training and the lifestyle that you're used to, watching the news and do nothing about it? I understand why (Hertweck) came, that's the reason why I came too.'
