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Ukraine Could Be Offered Automatic NATO Membership if Russia Welches on Peace Deal: Report

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Ukraine’s future membership of the NATO alliance may play the role of both carrot and stick to encourage more civilized behavior from Russia in future, a report claims.

Unfortunately for Ukraine itself, which makes a great deal of wanting to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to guarantee itself against future Russian aggression, it now seems all but impossible as war peace talks begin. While Russia is obviously against the idea, the United States is also reluctant under President Trump, just as it was under President Biden.

Even European states, who are generally the most enthusiastic backers of Kyiv and who say they support membership one day have proven very reluctant to agree to it immediately. Several European states have argued that Ukraine isn’t ready to be a member of organisations like NATO or the European Union and that, in any case, it would be foolhardy to induct a new member that is already at war and partially occupied by a foreign power.

But that NATO question has a place in negotiations nevertheless, says broadcaster NBC, which cites unnamed U.S. talks “officials” who state it can be used as a security guarantee for Ukraine by limiting Russia’s appetite for further adventurism. As reported, under the alleged plan Ukraine would not be given NATO membership now, but a mechanism would be created that would instantly award that status on Kyiv if Russia violated the future Donald Trump-negotiated Ukraine peace deal. (Read more from “Ukraine Could Be Offered Automatic NATO Membership if Russia Welches on Peace Deal: Report” HERE)

White House Warns Zelensky to ‘Tone Down’ Trump Criticism and Sign Rare-Earths Deal as Peace Talk Tensions Simmer; Zelensky Praises ‘Productive Meeting’ With Trump Envoy

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By New York Post. National security adviser Mike Waltz warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday to “tone it down” when it came to his “unacceptable” criticism of President Trump.

Zelensky, 47, has lashed out at Trump, 78, for excluding Kyiv from US-Russia talks held in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and batted down a reported offer for Washington to take 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare-earth deposits valued at $500 billion.

“For all the administration has done in his first term … and all the United States has done for Ukraine — is just, it’s unacceptable,” Waltz said in a morning appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“They need to tone it down,” the former Florida Republican congressman added, “and take a hard look and sign that deal.”

In an afternoon White House press briefing, Waltz said Zelensky had lobbed “insults” at the American president.

Waltz also claimed that the proposed rare-earths deal had included “the best security guarantee that they [Ukrainians] could hope for, much more than another pallet of ammunition.” (Read more from “White House Warns Zelensky to ‘Tone Down’ Trump Criticism and Sign Rare-Earths Deal as Peace Talk Tensions Simmer” HERE)

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Zelensky Praises ‘Productive Meeting’ With Trump Envoy Keith Kellogg

By Breitbart. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he had a “productive meeting” with retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who was acting as President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

The upbeat meeting seemed to scale back a growing confrontation between Zelensky and Trump over bilateral U.S. peace negotiations with Russia.

“I had a productive meeting with Special Envoy Kellogg – a good discussion, many important details. I am grateful to the United States for all the assistance and bipartisan support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky said on social media Thursday afternoon.

“It’s important for us – and for the entire free world – that American strength is felt,” the Ukrainian president said.

“We had a detailed conversation about the battlefield situation, how to return our prisoners of war, and effective security guarantees,” he said. (Read more from “Zelensky Praises ‘Productive Meeting’ With Trump Envoy Keith Kellogg” HERE)

Starmer Rebuffs Trump, Reassures Zelensky It’s ‘Perfectly Reasonable’ to Cancel Elections in Wartime

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British Prime Minister immediately offered Volodymyr Zelensky affirmation over his democratic status after President Trump blasted Ukraine for cancelling its elections and enforcing martial law on its citizens.

Sir Keir Starmer spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky overnight, with his Downing Street office revealing the Prime Minister had told the Ukrainian he is not a dictator and that it had been “perfectly reasonable” to suspend democracy because of the Russian invasion.

The comments follow Donald Trump airing his views on the state of Ukrainian democracy, saying if Ukraine’s leadership wants a seat at the table, the Ukrainian people should be consulted on who they will send to sit at the table. Later remarks were more strident — perhaps in response to Zelensky’s angry answer to the initial comments, and accusing Trump of repeating Russian “disinformation — and called Zelensky a dictator.

President Trump had said: “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left… I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died”.

These remarks likely come as part of a strategy of pre-positioning by the United States ahead of the coming U.S.-Russia peace talks, and the United Kingdom government was fast to counter-signal against them. Downing Street said of Starmer’s call with Zelensky: “The prime minister spoke to President Zelenskyy this evening and stressed the need for everyone to work together. The prime minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”. (Read more from “Starmer Rebuffs Trump, Reassures Zelensky It’s ‘Perfectly Reasonable’ to Cancel Elections in Wartime” HERE)

Trump Torches ’Dictator’ Zelensky For Opposing Peace Push; President Doubles Down After Zelensky Responds to His Criticism

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By Breitbart. President Donald Trump slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “Dictator without Elections” a day after Zelensky complained about Ukraine not having a seat at diplomatic talks Tuesday between the United States and Russia.

Trump ripped into Zelensky in a lengthy Truth Social post, first addressing him as “a modestly successful comedian” rather than president.

“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” Trump wrote.

Trump added that the United States has spent hundreds of billions more on the war than Europe has:

The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.

(Read more from “Trump Torches ’Dictator’ Zelensky For Opposing Peace Push” HERE)
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President Doubles Down After Zelensky Responds to His Criticism

By Breitbart. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has found himself exactly where he does not want to be: In a war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump addressed complaints on Tuesday coming from Ukraine about it being left out of recent peace talks with Russia while addressing reporters at Mar-a-Lago. A brought up Russia’s insistence that Ukraine hold new elections for president to potentially sign a new peace deal and asked whether Trump would support this idea.

“Well, we have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine. Where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating, and where a country has been blown to smithereens,” the president replied.

Trump referred to the damage Ukraine sustained after Russia’s invasion began in 2022. “You have cities that are absolutely decimated,” he said, comparing it to the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war against terrorist group Hamas.

The president asserted that the Ukrainian people “are tired of it” and that they “want to see something happen.” He criticized Zelensky over reports suggesting he could not locate half of the financial aid the U.S. had sent Ukraine. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down After Zelensky Responds to His Criticism” HERE)

U.S. And Russia Take ‘First Step’ With ‘Very Useful’ Ukraine War Talks, Agree Trump-Putin Meeting to Come

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Russia praised the first round of Ukraine war talks with the United States as “very useful”, while the American delegation said both sides had committed to “make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner” and will work towards a Presidential meeting soon.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first in-person talks of high-level delegations since Russia invaded Ukraine almost three years ago in 2022. After four and a half hours of talks the meeting broke, with both sides relating they felt it had been productive.

In terms of normalising diplomatic relations between Russia and the U.S., both sides are said to have agreed to return to staffing their embassies in the respective nations.

One of the intended outcomes of the talks was apparently laying the groundwork for an in-person meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the actual war-ending negotiation process. No date has been set for that meeting, but it was said work was happening to enable it.

Advisor to President Putin and former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Yury Ushakov, who sat around the table with Rubio and Lavrov, said after leaving the meeting that it was not likely Trump and Putin would meet within the next week but that both wanted to meet eventually. He said: “The delegations of the two countries have a lot of work to do. We are ready for this but it is still difficult to speak about the specific date of the meeting between the two leaders… The issue was discussed. We are working out the terms of this meeting”. (Read more from “U.S. And Russia Take ‘First Step’ With ‘Very Useful’ Ukraine War Talks, Agree Trump-Putin Meeting to Come” HERE)

Major Left-Wing Outlet Accused of Twisting JD Vance’s Words

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Vice President J.D. Vance is accusing The Wall Street Journal of misrepresenting his comments in a Friday headline that suggested he had threatened to use military and economic force to pressure Russia into agreeing to a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Vance claims the headline distorted his words, asserting that he did not propose such extreme measures but was discussing potential diplomatic solutions and a shift in U.S. foreign policy. The controversy highlights ongoing tensions between Vance and the media over his statements on international relations.

The article titled “Vance Wields Threat of Sanctions, Military Action to Push Putin Into Ukraine Deal” twisted the Vice President’s comments, claiming he threatened Russia with military intervention or sanction. Instead, he said that all options were on the table for President Donald Trump’s negotiations between the two countries to end the war to continue, according to a transcript of the interview posted by Vance’s communications director, William Martin.

“Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. would hit Moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv’s long-term independence,” the opening paragraph to the outlet’s article read.

In a social media post, the WSJ stated that Vance vowed to hit Russia with sanctions and military action if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [wouldn’t] agree to a peace deal that guarantees Ukraine’s independence.”

Martin took to social media to accuse the WSJ of publishing “pure fake news” about the vice president.

(Read more from “Major Left-Wing Outlet Accused of Twisting JD Vance’s Words” HERE)

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine Is up to President Donald Trump

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News said he is not ruling out nuclear weapons for Ukraine, and that ultimately it is up to President Donald Trump.

“I’m not here to declare anything on or off the table. That’s not my job. That’s the president’s job. He’s the leader, he’s the master negotiator and dealmaker,” he said.

He added, “Some of us are out there to help set certain types of conditions that could make a deal more likely and that’s what I’ve tried to do here in the context of NATO.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week Ukraine should be given NATO membership or nuclear weapons as a security guarantee against a future Russian invasion as part of a peace deal.

But Hegseth on Wednesday outlined some U.S. positions ahead of negotiations, including that Ukraine should not be offered NATO membership. (Read more from “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine Is up to President Donald Trump” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Ukrainian Military Selling ‘Up to Half’ of US Arms It Receives, With CIA Profiting off It, Tucker Carlson Claims

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Tucker Carlson said he knows for a fact the Ukrainian military is selling upwards of half of the armaments it receives from the United States.

Carlson made several big claims during an episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show,” including that the CIA is profiting off the sale of arms that are meant to go to Ukraine.

Carlson was speaking with Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a retired United States Army officer who was awarded a Bronze Star, his second, during the war in Afghanistan. About halfway through their conversation, Carlson stated that Ukraine has been selling U.S. weapons to Mexican cartels.

The host said it was a “fact,” not a “guess,” that the “Ukrainian military is selling a huge percentage, up to half, of the arms” the United States sends it. . .

“They’re selling it, and a lot of it winds up with the drug cartels on our border,” Carlson went on. “So this is a crime, what’s happening. Our intel agencies are fully aware of this. You tell me they’re not profiting from this? Of course, you think [the] CIA is not profiting from this? Yes, they are. I can’t prove that, but I believe that. What, they don’t know this? I know this, but they don’t know this? They know this. And no one is saying it.”

(Read more from “Ukrainian Military Selling ‘Up to Half’ of US Arms It Receives, With CIA Profiting off It, Tucker Carlson Claims” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Zelensky Calls For U.S. Troops in Ukraine

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Intensifying talk in European capitals about sending peacekeepers to Ukraine’s front lines is welcome but it won’t work without American boots on the ground, President Volodymyr Zelensky says at the Davos World Economic Forum meeting.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been at Davos this week drumming up support, but also attempting to ingratiate himself with President Donald Trump by acting as a conduit for America First messaging to European leaders. Nevertheless, Bloomberg reports the Ukrainian “bristled” at the suggestion the United States wouldn’t put boots on the ground in Ukraine to deter further Russian aggression.

The conversation follows months of talk in Europe, particularly in capitals like Paris, Warsaw, and London, about what happens when the now apparently inevitable ceasefire comes. Preventing Russia from simply using a pause as a chance to catch its breath, re-arm, and then attack anew after a short break is the main concern and European leaders have told President Zelensky they would want to consider deploying their own armies to Ukraine to prevent Russia from renewing hostilities.

But forward-deploying NATO like this and de facto welcoming Ukraine into its protective embrace wouldn’t work, President Zelensky reportedly told Bloomberg on the side-lines of Davos, without American manpower. He is reported to have said: “It can’t be without the United States… Even if some European friends think it can be, no it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States.”

As well as the United States, Zelensky also expressed optimism that China might be persuaded to force Russia to peace, because so much of Russia’s economy and military supply relies on Beijing. While “President Trump is the strongest”, Xi Jinping “can push Putin for peace, I’m sure”. (Read more from “Zelensky Calls For U.S. Troops in Ukraine” HERE)

Russia Signals Possibility of Ukraine Peace Talks — With One Big Condition for U.S.

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By Fox News. Russia is willing to work with President-elect Trump to help improve relations with Ukraine so long as the U.S. makes the first move, Kremlin officials said this week, adding fresh momentum for the possibility of peace talks as its war in Ukraine threatens to stretch into a third year.

Speaking to reporters Thursday in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Russia could be ready to come to the negotiating table regarding its “special military operation” in Ukraine — echoing the phrasing used by the Kremlin to describe its war in Ukraine — so long as the U.S. acted first.

“If the signals that are coming from the new team in Washington to restore the dialogue that Washington interrupted after the start of a special military operation [the war in Ukraine] are serious, of course, we will respond to them,” Lavrov said in Moscow.

But he stressed that the U.S. should move first, telling reporters that “the Americans broke the dialogue, so they should make the first move.”

His remarks come after Trump’s pick for Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News in an interview this month that both Russia and Ukraine appear to be willing to negotiate an end to the war — citing heavy casualties, damage to critical infrastructure, and a general sense of exhaustion that has permeated both countries as the war drags well past the thousand-day mark. (Read more from “Russia Signals Possibility of Ukraine Peace Talks — With One Big Condition for U.S.” HERE)

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Russia Warns Trump: Do Not Test Nuclear Weapon

By The Telegraph. Moscow has warned Donald Trump against resuming the testing of nuclear weapons when he takes office, saying it would “not rule anything out” in response to US aggression.

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister who oversees arms control, noted that Mr Trump refused to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty during his first term.

Referencing this refusal, Mr Ryabkov said: “American policy in its various aspects is extremely hostile to us today.”

“So the options for us to act in the interests of ensuring security and the potential measures and actions we have to do this – and to send politically appropriate signals… we do not rule anything out,” he added.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty banning nuclear test explosions was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996, but has not come into force as some signatory nations have not ratified it. (Read more from “Russia Warns Trump: Do Not Test Nuclear Weapon” HERE)