Donald Trump has appeared to sideline the envoy who was supposed to spearhead his campaign for peace between Ukraine and Russia.
false,Saturday 15 March 2025 20:50, UK
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Military chiefs from around the world will meet next week to discuss the „operational phase“ of protecting Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.
As we’ve been reporting, the prime minister hosted a virtual meeting of the „coalition of the willing“ earlier today, which involved leaders of 26 nations, including Ukraine, plus the EU and NATO, to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Speaking after the 90-minute meeting, Sir Keir revealed military chiefs from the group of Western nations would meet on Thursday as they move „into an operational phase“.
He said they would draw up plans to help secure Ukraine „on the land, at sea and in the sky“ if a peace deal can be agreed with Russia.
Catch up on the full story here.
JD Vance has said he would be „shocked“ if Donald Trump were to allow nuclear weapons to be deployed in eastern Europe.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda on Thursday called on the US to deploy warheads to Poland as a deterrent to Russia.
„I haven’t talked to the president about that particular issue, but I would be shocked if he was supportive of nuclear weapons extending further east into Europe,“ Vance said today.
„We are playing literally with the lives of the future of human civilisation,“ he added.
We can now bring you footage of the aftermath of a Russian air attack on the Ukrainian region of Kherson.
We reported on the attack in our 10.02 post.
Donald Trump has appeared to limit the remit of the envoy who was supposed to spearhead his campaign for peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Retired general Keith Kellogg was originally US envoy to Russia and Ukraine, but now his remit covers only the Ukrainian side of things, Trump appeared to confirm in a social media post.
The US president said Kellogg will now only deal „directly“ with Volodymyr Zelenskyy – amid reports that the Kremlin told Washington it did not want him involved in discussions with Russia at all.
Under his initial title, he should have headed, or at least have been heavily involved in, recent peace summits in Saudi Arabia between the US and Russia.
But it now appears Kellogg will not engage with the Russian side at all.
The retired general was excluded from high-level talks on ending the war after the Kremlin said it didn’t want him there.
Vladimir Putin thought he was too pro-Ukraine, a senior Russian official with direct knowledge of the Kremlin’s thinking told our partner network NBC News.
„Kellogg is a former American general, too close to Ukraine. Not our kind of person, not of the calibre we are looking for,“ the official said.
Talks have instead been spearheaded by secretary of state Marco Rubio, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his national security adviser Mike Waltz.
This marks the latest Trump-related blow to Kyiv, as Kellogg has widely been seen as a Russia hawk.
By Sam Coates, deputy political editor
There was one clear, united message from today’s virtual meeting of leaders – that they rejected Vladimir Putin’s „yes, but“ approach to a ceasefire.
The „coalition of the willing“ – the 27 leaders, plus NATO and the EU led by Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron – want the Russian president to mirror Ukraine’s pledge for a 30-day pause in fighting, in order to hammer out a sustainable peace deal.
Sir Keir made that very clear, and suggested the attendees at the meeting were behind this approach.
There were, however, bigger unknowns left hanging.
Read Sam’s full piece here.
A bit more on the Kursk offensive now…
A leading thinktank has echoed Ukrainian counterclaims by saying there is „no geolocated evidence“ to suggest that Kyiv’s forces have been encircled in Russia’s Kursk region.
Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russian forces have „isolated“ Ukrainian forces in the area and that it was „impossible“ for them to withdraw.
Donald Trump then stated in a post on Truth Social that Russian forces have „completely surrounded… thousands“ of Ukrainian forces – presumably in Kursk – and called on Putin to „spare“ their lives.
But Ukraine said its troops had simply pulled back to more defendable areas, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that no troops were „encircled“.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says it has not seen any footage which suggests that Ukrainians in the area are encircled, and also cites several pro-Russian war bloggers pouring cold water on the Kremlin’s claims.
„At least one Russian milblogger explicitly questioned claims that Russian forces encircled Ukrainian forces… and another complained that Russian forces are unable to encircle Ukrainian forces… [because they] cannot conduct rapid, mechanised breakthroughs into rear Ukrainian areas,“ ISW said in an assessment.
Earlier, our deputy political editor Sam Coates asked the prime minister what British troops on the ground in Ukraine would actually look like.
Watch Sir Keir Starmer’s answer here…
With diplomatic talks between Russia and America stalled, the killing on the battlefields continues.
On this episode of The World podcast, Richard Engel reports from the frontline of Mykolaiv, witnessing continued Russian bombardment of the region, while Yalda Hakim reveals what the Russian ambassador in London told her about Moscow’s conditions for a ceasefire.
To get in touch or to share questions for Richard and Yalda, email theworld@sky.uk.
Click here to visit their YouTube channel where you can watch all the episodes.
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
Steve Witkoff didn’t stay long in the Russian capital earlier this week.
According to footage posted of his motorcade leaving and returning to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, he was here for little more than 12 hours.
And for most of that, it seems, he was left waiting.
Witkoff, a former property mogul who has become Donald Trump’s chief negotiator, had been dispatched to Moscow to deliver the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire to Vladimir Putin.
His visit had been scheduled near the start of the week, following the US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
But after arriving around lunchtime on Thursday, he was left twiddling his thumbs for at least eight hours before being called into the Kremlin.
Vladimir Putin was apparently too busy meeting someone else – Belarusian leader Aleksander Lukashenko – for a hastily arranged state visit that had been announced the day before.
Was ally’s visit a classic Putin power play?
We don’t know for sure if the timing of Lukashenko’s visit was deliberate, but it certainly didn’t feel like a coincidence.
Instead it felt like a classic Putin power play.
The Kremlin leader doesn’t like to be backed into a corner and told what to do, especially on his own turf.
This felt like a message to the Americans – I’m the boss, I set the schedule and I’m not beholden to anyone.
He did eventually grant Witkoff that all-important face time, once night had fallen and behind closed-doors.
We don’t know how long they spoke for, nor the exact details of their discussion, but I think we can make a pretty good guess given Vladimir Putin’s comments earlier in the evening.
At a press conference alongside Lukashenko, he made it abundantly clear that he’ll only sign up to a ceasefire if he gets something in return.
And it’s not just one thing he wants.
All Russia’s red lines remain
By the sounds of things, he still wants everything.
His comment regarding the „root causes“ of the conflict suggests all of Russia’s red lines remain – no NATO membership for Ukraine, no NATO troops as peacekeepers, and for Russia to keep all the territory it has seized.
According to Russian media outlet Radio Mayak, Putin’s meetings in the Kremlin finished at 1.30am.
Around half an hour later, Witkoff was back at the airport – leaving Russia, it seems – not with Putin’s agreement but with a list of demands.
It’s now up to Donald Trump to decide what to do next.
Italy’s prime minister has said she does not see a world in which Italian troops would be deployed to Ukraine – either as peacekeepers or in any other capacity.
Speaking after Giorgia Meloni attended the UK’s „coalition of willing“ meeting on Ukraine, the government released a statement saying she „confirmed that Italy intends to continue working with European and Western partners and with the United States to define credible and effective security guarantees“, but that she reiterated that „national participation in a possible military force on the ground is not envisaged“.
Reports from earlier in the week suggested the Italian leader would completely snub today’s virtual call, but Downing Street has since confirmed she joined.
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