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In a post on Truth Social, the US President said Putin had been ‘lost’ to China
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Donald Trump has become increasingly “pessimistic” about ending the war on Ukraine, according to sources close to the President.
In a post on Truth Social, the US President posted a picture of the Russian leader with after Putin met with China’s President Xi and India’s Prime Minister Modi, and added Putin had been “lost to deepest, darkest China”.
It comes as the Kremlin said there are no preparations underway for any confirmed future talks between Trump and Putin.
As European leaders continue to push for a peace deal, Vladimir Putin has said that foreign troops stationed in Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russian forces.
His comments came after French president Emmanuel Macron said that 26 countries had agreed to provide military assistance for Ukraine on land, sea and in the air.
Moscow has ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine as part of a peace agreement and said that the deployment of western troops would be a red line. Kyiv stresses that Russia will attack again without a deterrent.
President Donald Trump has said there is no prospect of US troops being deployed in Ukraine but that Washington may provide air assistance.
US president Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” reverting to a title it held until after World War Two when officials sought to emphasise the Pentagon’s role in preventing conflict.
The Pentagon moved swiftly to change signs at the US military’s five-sided headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, switching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s title on his door to “Secretary of War” and the title of his No. 2, Steve Feinberg, to the “Deputy Secretary of War.”
“It’s a very important change, because it’s an attitude,” Trump said as he signed the executive order at a ceremony in the Oval Office. “It’s really about winning.”
The move would instruct Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions required to make the renaming permanent.
Department name changes are rare and have required congressional approval. Still, Trump questioned whether he really needed a nod from Congress, even though his fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Two Republican senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida, and one Republican House member, Greg Steube of Florida, introduced legislation on Friday to make the change.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, introduced as the Secretary of War by Trump, cheered the change, which he has long advocated.
“We’re going to go on the offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality,” Hegseth said.
Vladimir Putin urged aerospace industry leaders on Friday to press on with efforts to develop booster rocket engines for space launch vehicles and build on Russia’s longstanding reputation as a leader in space technology.
Putin, who has spent the past week in China and the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok, flew to the southern Russian city of Samara, where he met industry specialists and toured the Kuznetsov design bureau aircraft engine manufacturing plant.
Quoted by Russian news agencies, Putin said Russia remained a leading force in the development of the aerospace industry.
“It is important to consistently renew production capacity in terms of engines for booster rockets,” the agencies quoted Putin as saying late on Friday.
“And in doing so, we must not only meet our own current and future needs but also move actively on world markets and be successful competitors.”
Putin noted Russian success in developing innovations in terms of producing engines, particularly in the energy sector, despite the imposition of sanctions by Western countries linked to Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“In conditions of restrictions from sanctions, we succeeded in a short period of time in developing a series of innovative engines for energy,” Putin was quoted as saying. “These are being actively used, including in terms of gas transport infrastructure.”
Zelensky has visited the Flextronics factory in Mukachevo – a site he said has American investment – which he says was hit by Russian missiles last month.
In a post on X, he wrote: “Today, I spoke on site with representatives of the enterprise about the factory’s operations and its recovery.
“Unfortunately, Russian missiles and drones strike across the entire country. But I am very grateful to everyone working here.
“It is crucial for us that American business is present in Ukraine. We will do everything to help the enterprise recover as quickly as possible.”
Dmitry Medvedev has called talks between the “coalition of the willing” “heresy” and “bull****”.
In a video posted on X, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council hit out at the group made up of countries who have said they would be willing to send troops to Ukraine to keep peace in the event of any agreement.
The US government are reportedly considering plans to lead on a Korea-style demilitarised zone between Russian-controlled and Ukrainian-controlled land once the war ends.
NBC News reported on Friday that the offer would come as part of a possible peace plan as the US president continues to make bids to end the war in Ukraine.
No American ground troops would be involved, and a person told NBC that planners are deliberately avoiding proposing NATO involvement or involvement from any group of countries that could suggest NATO involvement in the plan.
Russia has previously rejected any suggestion of European or NATO nations becoming involved in securing any future peace settlement with Kyiv. However, the area could be policed by troops from non-NATO nations such as Saudi Arabia or Bangladesh.
The US Department of Defence informed European countries last week that military support under a program known as Section 333 will be cut to zero from the next fiscal year, a Lithuanian defence ministry official said on Friday.
Two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday the United States will phase out some security assistance for European countries near the border with Russia.
The move has raised concerns among key recipients such as Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
European leaders are trying to build a new world order outside of the “chaos” caused by Trump, The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes in his latest analysis.
But every attempt is “dogged” by the US President, he says. You can read his full analysis below.
A hot mic picked up a conversation between Presidents Putin and Xi where the pair appeared to discuss organ transplants and immortality.
They met as world leaders gathered at a summit in China earlier this week.
India’s diesel exports to Europe soared to an 11-month high in August, as European buyers rushed to stockpile supplies before a looming EU ban on fuels made from Russian crude.
Tanker-tracking firm Kpler says shipments hit about 260,000 barrels per day last month – a jump of 63 per cent on July.
It comes as Europe moves to ban the import of petroleum products refined from Russian oil in third countries from January 2026.
Ukraine’s allies are preparing a new set of sanctions against Russia in a bid to put pressure on Putin to end the war on Ukraine, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday,
“Mr Putin is the cause of this war. He’s the reason for the killing – he is not going to dictate the terms of the peace,” he told a televised news conference.
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