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Russia and North Korea only nations to not face US tariffs, while goods from Ukraine will face new 10% levy
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The White House has defended its decision to not include Russia on its expansive list of countries that will face major new tariffs starting today.
US sanctions on Moscow already “preclude any meaningful trade”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios on Wednesday. At the same time, war-hit Ukraine is facing 10 per cent tariffs from the US administration.
It comes as Vladimir Putin’s top negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, held meetings in Washington with US officials. After arrival, the Kyiv-born and US-educated envoy said that unnamed forces were trying to stir tension between Washington and Moscow
Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers have claimed that hundreds of Ukrainian troops have sought shelter from Moscow’s advancing forces in a Kursk monastery.
Moscow’s troops continue to wage fierce battles in the western Kursk region against Ukrainian forces, in a push to rout them from Kyiv’s last major foothold in the Russian territory seized last August.
Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services, said more than 300 soldiers were hunkering down in the Gornalsky St. Nicholas Belogorsky monastery, as Kyiv looks to organise its defence on the highlands around Gornal.
Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer who specializes in Russia’s war strategy, told Fox News that Putin’s goal with his latest conscription drive is to prolong the war.
“There’s no ceasefire and no peace plan between Russia and Ukraine to be had,” said Koffler, the author of a best-selling book “Putin’s Playbook.”
“What President Trump seeks is regretfully, unachievable. Putin’s goal is to keep fighting, in order to compel Ukraine to capitulate.
“Now that Germany and France are considering to deploy reassurance forces into Ukraine, Putin is factoring in those numbers, so he is increasing his force’s posture, to deter such a deployment or failing to prevent it by force.”
Russia has placed Elton John’s charity focussing on HIV/AIDS prevention on its list of “undesirable organisations”, the prosecutor general’s office said on Thursday.
The office derided what it described as the charity’s “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations”.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation, launched in 1992, works in over 90 countries “to increase access to health care, tackle LGBTQ+ stigma, and end AIDS”.
The foundation, established by the singer and songwriter, has previously clashed with Russian authorities over LGBTQ+ rights. Sir Elton, who has performed in Russia, has criticised what he views as discrimination against gay people by the Russian government.
In the statement by Russian prosecutors, they said the charity is “focused on the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations, Western family models, and gender reassignment.”
Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have sought shelter in a monastery in Kursk, a Russian Telegram channel has claimed.
Moscow’s troops continue to wage fierce battles in the western Kursk region against Ukrainian forces, in a push to rout them from Kyiv’s last major foothold in the Russian territory seized last August, war bloggers have said.
Kyiv now just holds a narrow sliver of Kursk, Ukrainian battlefield map DeepState shows.
Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services, said more than 300 soldiers were hunkering down in the Gornalsky St. Nicholas Belogorsky monastery, as Kyiv looks to organise its defence on the highlands around Gornal.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine and Reuters could not independently verify the reports. The monastery’s Telegram channel made no mention of military operations in the area.
Mash said there was an underground passage beneath the monastery “through which the Ukrainian Armed Forces are evacuating and delivering ammunition for long-term defence.”
The SHOT Telegram channel also said Ukraine was pulling reserves into Gornal via the monastery’s passageway.
Roman Alekhin, whose Telegram channel has over 180,000 subscribers, said Ukraine will try to hold onto the high ground around Gornal “with all their might, regardless of losses.”
Ukraine has denied Russian accusations of attacks on energy infrastructure, describing Moscow’s claims as false.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier. accused Ukraine of attacking Russian energy facilities four times in the past 24 hours despite a US-brokered halt on striking each other’s energy infrastructure.
But Kyiv said it’s troops have adhered to the ceasefire, accusing the Russian army of breaching it itself.
“At the same time, numerous violations of the agreements by the Russian army have been recorded,” Ukraine’s general staff said on Telegram.
Poland wants to spend five per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence in 2026, defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Thursday.
Spurred on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland now spends a higher proportion of GDP on defence than any other Nato member, including the US. It plans to hit 4.7 per cent GDP of spending this year.
During the Nato summit, ministers discussed a ‘White Paper for European Defence Readiness 2030’, aimed at outlining a new defence strategy, and providing a framework for the European rearming surge.
“All ministers… emphasized the importance of this document, the White Paper,” Mr Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters.
“We must be ready for the most difficult scenarios and we must be strong enough to prevent war from breaking out… This is an action to make us so strong that it would not be profitable for any country to attack the European Union or NATO.”
Vladimir Putin’s international envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who is currently visiting Washington, has said dialogue between Russia and the US is “essential” for global peace.
“Holding key Russia-US meetings in Washington, D.C. on April 2–3,” Mr Dmitriev wrote on X.
“Open, productive dialogue between Russia and the U.S. isn’t optional — it’s essential. Global stability and peace depend on it,” he added.
The Czech-led drive to supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition will be continue being financed until earliest September, the country’s foreign minister has said.
Speaking on Thursday before a Nato meeting, Jan Lipavsky told Czech TV that the initiative had received new financing from Canada, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands.
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