{"id":196057,"date":"2026-01-07T20:23:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-trump-claims-putin-would-have-all-of-ukraine-without-his-help-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T20:23:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:23:42","slug":"ukraine-war-live-trump-claims-putin-would-have-all-of-ukraine-without-his-help-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-trump-claims-putin-would-have-all-of-ukraine-without-his-help-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war live: Trump claims Putin would have all of Ukraine without his help &#8211; The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.<br \/><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-0 bbjlNt\">Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-1 SkKtY\">Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><br \/>Swipe for next article<br \/>Leader insisted Russia and China have \u2018zero fear of Nato\u2019 without US<br \/>Removed from bookmarks<br \/>From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<br \/>At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<br \/>The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<br \/>President <a href=\"\/topic\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> has lashed out at Nato after the alliance made several critical comments about US military ambitions in recent days. <br \/>The US leader said that if it weren\u2019t for his involvement \u201c<a href=\"\/topic\/russia\">Russia<\/a> would have all of <a href=\"\/topic\/ukraine\">Ukraine<\/a> right now\u201d, adding that Russia had \u201czero fear of Nato\u201d without the support of the US. <br \/>&#8220;Without my involvement, Russia would have ALL OF UKRAINE right now,\u201d he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. <br \/>\u201cRussia and China have zero fear of Nato without the <a href=\"\/topic\/united-states\">United States<\/a>, and I doubt Nato would be there for us if we really needed them.\u201d <br \/>He continued: \u201cEveryone is lucky that I rebuilt our military in my first term, and continue to do so. We will always be there for Nato, even if they won\u2019t be there for us.\u201d<br \/>It comes as President <a href=\"\/topic\/volodymyr-zelensky\">Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> said he hoped to meet <a href=\"\/topic\/donald-trump\">Trump<\/a> very soon, possibly in Washington DC, as peace talks continued in <a href=\"\/topic\/paris\">Paris<\/a>. <br \/>Defence Secretary John Healey addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday and said that the UK\u2019s commitments to Ukraine is \u201cour mission &#8211; both to support the fight today as well as secure the peace tomorrow\u201d<br \/>He concluded his statement with: \u201cOur government will always act in the interest of national security, we\u2019re committed to countering the threats opposed by our adversaries, we are committed to standing by our closest allies and we are committed to keeping Britain secure at home and strong abroad.\u201d<br \/>Defence Secretary John Healey made a statement in the House of Commons on Wednesday and said: \u201cThe UK and France will take a leading role first in using military, economic and diplomatic instruments to ensure the conclusion of a peace agreement.<br \/>\u201cSecond in supporting the development of Ukraine\u2019s defence capabilities and third in commanding a national to national force for Ukraine which plans to deploys to Ukriane after a ceasefire has been agreed.<br \/>\u201cThere a plans to employ from nations in the \u2018coalition of the willing\u2019 to carry out defence and deterrent operations in the air, on the land and at sea to conduct training, planning recovery and regeneration of Ukrainian forces.\u201d<br \/>Mr Healey also explained that they will also create military hubs to support this work across the country and to build protective facilities within Ukraine for weapons and equipment. <br \/>Zelensky himself has admitted that a ceasefire is unlikely given Moscow\u2019s refusal to accede to its demands. But a pledge by the UK and France to deploy troops in Ukraine if there is a peace deal represents progress, writes Bel Trew.<br \/>President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that no additional demands should be placed on Ukraine in peace talks.<br \/>He also called on Kyiv&#8217;s allies to step up their pressure on Russia, in particular via sanctions.<br \/>&#8220;We are doing everything required on our side in the negotiation process. And we expect that no additional or excessive demands will be placed on Ukraine,&#8221; he said during a visit to Cyprus, which has assumed the EU&#8217;s rotating presidency.<br \/>Aldrich Ames, the notorious CIA turncoat responsible for one of the most devastating intelligence breaches in US history, has died at the age of 84 in a Maryland prison.<br \/>His death on Monday was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons.<br \/>Ames confessed to receiving $2.5 million (\u00a31.85m) from Moscow between 1985 and his 1994 arrest, in exchange for US secrets.<br \/>His treachery involved revealing the identities of ten Russian officials and one East European agent working for the United States or Great Britain.<br \/>A member of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is seen firing a Javelin anti-tank missile system during a military exercise at a training ground near a front line, amid Russia&#8217;s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday. <br \/>President Volodymyr Zelensky met President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia as Cyprus formally assumed the European Union\u2019s rotating presidency, which runs for six months.<br \/>\u201cWe are working to make as much progress as possible during this period on opening negotiating clusters and on Ukraine\u2019s accession to the European Union,\u201d Zelenskiy said after the meeting, in a statement posted on X on Wednesday. <br \/>\u201cThe President and I talked about strengthening sanctions against Russia, which must remain in place as long as Russia\u2019s aggression and occupation continue.\u201d<br \/>Christodoulides said that Ukraine will be a \u201ccentral priority\u201d of the presidency. <br \/>Ukraine will hope to push its bid for EU membership in the forthcoming months.<br \/>ritish RAF spy planes and submarine hunters circled above as US special forces boarded an empty Russian-flagged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/business\/donald-trump-brent-venezuelan-nicolas-maduro-truth-social-b2895906.html\">Venezuelan oil <\/a>tanker in the north Atlantic in an expensive performance verging on satire.<br \/>The Marinera was chased <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/tv\/news\/russia-marinera-venezuela-us-coast-guard-video-b2896146.html\">across the oceans<\/a>, switched its nationality to Russian mid-journey, painted Moscow\u2019s flag on its side and chugged along shadowed by one of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/vladimir-putin\">Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s submarines.<br \/>But the elite sailors beneath the sea offered the aging tanker no real protection. And while the Kremlin has loudly condemned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s abduction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/venezuela\">Venezuela<\/a>\u2019s president Nicola Maduro, the Marinera\u2019s voyage did not end with nautical fisticuffs between two nuclear powers.<br \/><em>The Independent\u2019s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports: <\/em><br \/>=<br \/>In a lengthy post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said that Nato\u2019s economic stability was secured by his support. <br \/>\u201cRemember, for all of those big Nato fans, they were at 2 per cent GDP, and most weren\u2019t paying their bills, UNTIL I CAME ALONG,\u201d he wrote on Wednesday. <br \/>\u201cThe USA was, foolishly, paying for them! I, respectfully, got them to 5 per cent GDP, AND THEY PAY, immediately. Everyone said that couldn\u2019t be done, but it could, because, beyond all else, they are all my friends.\u201d<br \/>Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies<br \/><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-0 bbjlNt\">Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in<\/span><span class=\"sc-1ty8yds-1 SkKtY\">Please refresh your browser to be logged in<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMivgFBVV95cUxNdGZscGE3VWVnckUyWVoyRGRYQkJqVUZzcm9YOVBEVnRjS0xfYTNGWVJKNXNFdEdrMG83YXc4S2Y2VXF1NWpFOTAyeEcyb1dhTWRCUF9XYUlLTHdwc3pRS0xJTHhSTHg4RUpqcWtCZ1F1Q1dvRG9wZ2RFc0NlejVnWV93dG84M2lUblkxbUhUZW1hWjluVVNNQzBqZmI3MXhoMzY0ME1uRG1lMDJ3WnE3bzRna045VjFvdWVYQ1dR?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inSwipe for next articleLeader insisted Russia and China have \u2018zero fear of Nato\u2019 without USRemoved from bookmarksFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}