Politics
Trump says Ukraine ‘gotta make a deal’ after summit with Putin yields no ceasefire
- Trump, Putin cite progress but offer no detail.
- Trump says Zelenskiy ‘gotta make a deal’.
- Zelenskiy says he’s willing to meet Trump and Putin.
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should agree a deal to end the war with Russia because “Russia is a very big power, and they’re not”, after holding a summit with President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield a ceasefire.
“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump’s comments came after he met Putin for nearly three hours in Alaska on Friday at the first US, Russia summit since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The war — the deadliest in Europe for 80 years — has killed or wounded well over a million people from both sides, including thousands of mostly Ukrainian civilians, according to analysts.
Trump said he would hold talks at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, adding: “If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin. Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”
Zelenskiy said after a lengthy conversation with Trump following the Alaska summit that Ukraine was ready for constructive cooperation, and he supported the idea of a trilateral meeting.
“Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace,” he wrote on social media.
But Putin made no mention of meeting Zelenskiy when speaking to reporters earlier. Russian state news agency TASS quoted Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov as saying the possibility of a three-way summit including Zelenskiy had not been discussed.
Security guarantees
In a post-summit interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump signalled that he and Putin had discussed potential land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.
“I think those are points that we negotiated, and those are points that we largely have agreed on,” Trump said.
“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say no.”
When asked by Hannity what he would advise Zelenskiy, Trump said: “Gotta make a deal.”
“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not. They’re great soldiers,” he added.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly underlined the importance of security guarantees for Kyiv as part of any deal, to deter Russia from launching a new invasion at some point in the future.
“We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security,” he said after his call with Trump.
Before the summit, Trump had set the goal of agreeing on a ceasefire in the war and said he would not be happy without it.
Putin signaled no movement in Russia’s long-held positions on the war, but said he agreed with Trump that Ukraine’s security must be “ensured”.
“We are ready to work on this. I would like to hope that the understanding we have reached will allow us to get closer to that goal and open the way to peace in Ukraine,” Putin said at a brief media appearance after the summit where neither leader took questions.
He added: “We expect that Kyiv and the European capitals will perceive all of this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles. That they will not attempt to disrupt the emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigue.”
For Putin, the very fact of sitting down face-to-face with the U.S. president represented a diplomatic victory. The Kremlin leader had been ostracized by Western leaders since the start of the war, and just a week earlier had been facing a threat of new sanctions from Trump.
‘1-0 for Putin’
Some commentators, especially in Europe, were scathing in their reaction.
“Putin got his red carpet treatment with Trump, while Trump got nothing. As feared: no ceasefire, no peace,” Wolfgang Ischinger, an ex-German ambassador to the United States, posted on X.
“No real progress — a clear 1-0 for Putin — no new sanctions. For the Ukrainians: nothing. For Europe: deeply disappointing.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said: “Now Trump seems to be shifting most of the responsibility to Kyiv and Europe, but reserving some role for himself.”
She said, however, that Putin had apparently not succeeded as far as he had hoped in getting Trump to publicly side with him and put pressure on Kyiv.
Cold War historian Sergey Radchenko wrote: “Putin is a determined opponent, and, yes, he basically won this round because he got something for nothing. Still, Trump did not sell out Ukraine.”
After Trump returned to Washington, the White House said he spoke to NATO leaders following the lengthy conversation with Zelenskiy.
Espen Barth Eide, foreign minister of NATO member Norway, told reporters in Oslo: “We must continue to put pressure on Russia, and even increase it.”
Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said the summit had not yielded significant progress toward ending the war but “confirmed that Putin is not seeking peace, but rather an opportunity to weaken Western unity and spread his propaganda.”
‘Next time in Moscow’
Both Russia and Ukraine carried out overnight air attacks, a daily occurrence in the 3-1/2-year war.
Russia launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile targeting Ukraine’s territory, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Saturday. It said its air defence units destroyed 61 of them.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said 139 clashes had taken place on the front line over the past day. Russia said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Trump told Fox that he would hold off on imposing tariffs on China for buying Russian oil after making progress with Putin. He did not mention India, another major buyer of Russian crude, which has been slapped with a total 50% tariff on US imports that includes a 25% penalty for the imports from Russia.
“Because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now,” Trump said of Chinese tariffs. “I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now.”
Trump ended his remarks on Friday by telling Putin, “I’d like to thank you very much, and we’ll speak to you very soon and probably see you again very soon.”
“Next time in Moscow,” a smiling Putin responded in English. Trump said he might “get a little heat on that one” but that he could “possibly see it happening.”
- Says Gaza ceasefire will be the eighth conflict he has helped end.
- Claims resolving India-Pakistan dispute within 24hrs using tariffs.
- Stresses he didn’t act for the Nobel Peace Prize but to “save lives.”
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he was aware of the escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, claiming he would address the situation once he returns from the Middle East, as he described himself as “good at solving wars.”
Trump, who reiterated his claim of having resolved several long-standing global conflicts, including the dispute between India and Pakistan, said the Gaza ceasefire would be the eighth conflict he has helped end.
“This will be my eighth war that I have solved, and I hear there is a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, I’ll have to wait till I get back. I am doing another one. Because I am good at solving wars,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington to Israel.
“Think about India, Pakistan. Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one going for 31, one going for 32, one going for 37 years, with millions of people being killed in every country, and I got every one of those done, for the most part, within a day. It’s pretty good…,” he added.
Trump also spoke about the Nobel Peace prize, stating, “It’s an honour to do it. I saved millions of lives. In all fairness to the Nobel committee, it was for 2024.
“This was picked for 2024. But there are those who say you could make an exception because a lot of things happened during 2025 that are done and complete and great. But I did not do this for the Nobel. I did this for saving lives.”
He also took credit for resolving some disputes by leveraging economic tools like trade and tariffs.
“I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. For example, between India and Pakistan, I said, if you guys want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons, I am going to put big tariffs on you both, like 100%, 150%, and 200%. I said I am putting tariffs. I had that thing settled in 24 hours. If I didn’t have tariffs, you could have never settled that war,” Trump added.
Trump is due to arrive in Israel on Monday (today) to address the Knesset, the parliament, before travelling to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt for a world leaders’ summit on ending the Gaza war.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will also attend the summit, an Axios reporter said on Sunday, citing a senior Palestinian official.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner addressed a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, which many Israelis hoped would be the final one, urging the release of hostages and an end to the war.
The US, along with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, mediated what has been described as a first-phase agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas and prisoners and detainees by Israel.
“For two years we (have been) waiting for this day for this moment… All of us feel happy for the family, for the hostages, that finally…we will see them,” said demonstrator Dalia Yosef, thanking Trump.
- US president says Xi doesn’t want depression for his country.
- Washington ratcheted up economic measures against Beijing.
- Rare earths are major striking point between two superpowers.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States wants to help China, not hurt it, striking a conciliatory tone days after threatening an additional 100% tariff on the world’s second-largest economy.
Trump’s statements on Friday, as well as his threat to cancel a meeting with Xi later this month, sent Wall Street stocks tumbling into negative territory as traders worried the trade war between Washington and Beijing could reignite.
“The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” Trump said in Sunday’s post on Truth Social, adding that “respected President Xi (Jinping)… doesn’t want Depression for his country.”
Trump on Friday said that he would impose the extra levies from November 1 in response to what he called “extraordinarily aggressive” new Chinese export curbs on the rare-earths industry.
Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of acting unfairly, with its Ministry of Commerce on Sunday calling Trump’s tariff threat a “typical example of ‘double standards’.”
The ministry said Washington had ratcheted up economic measures against Beijing since September.
“Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China,” it said in an online statement.
Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of 30% under levies that Trump imposed while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade as well as unfair trade practices.
China’s retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10%.
Rare earths have been a major sticking point in recent trade negotiations between the two superpowers.
They are critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware and renewable energy technology but produced and processed almost exclusively by China.
- Major cyberattack hits global firms via Salesforce.
- Sensitive customer details exposed, no financial data.
- Global tech and airline giants targeted in breach.
SYDNEY: Australian airline Qantas said Sunday that data from 5.7 million customers stolen in a major cyberattack this year had been shared online, part of a leak affecting dozens of firms.
Disney, Google, IKEA, Toyota, McDonald’s and fellow airlines Air France and KLM are also reported to have had data stolen in a cyberattack targeting software firm Salesforce, with the information now being held to ransom.
Salesforce said this month it was “aware of recent extortion attempts by threat actors”.
Qantas confirmed in July that hackers had targeted one of its customer contact centres, breaching a computer system used by a third party now known to have been Salesforce.
They secured access to sensitive information such as customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and birthdays, the blue-chip Australian company said.
No further breaches have taken place since and the company is cooperating with Australian security services.
“Qantas is one of a number of companies globally that has had data released by cyber criminals following the airline’s cyber incident in early July, where customer data was stolen via a third party platform,” the company said in a statement.
Most of the data leaked was names, email addresses and frequent flyer details, the firm said.
But some of the data included customers’ “business or home address, date of birth, phone number, gender and meal preferences”.
“No credit card details, personal financial information or passport details were impacted,” Qantas said.
It also said it had obtained a legal injunction with the Supreme Court of New South Wales, where the firm is headquartered, to prevent the stolen data being “accessed, viewed, released, used, transmitted or published”.
Cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt told AFP that it would do little to prevent the spread of the data.
“It’s frankly ridiculous,” he said.
“It obviously doesn’t stop criminals at all anywhere, and it also really doesn’t have any effect on people outside of Australia.”
In response to questions about the leak, tech giant Google pointed AFP to an August statement in which it said one of its corporate Salesforce servers had been targeted. It did not confirm if the data had been leaked.
“Google responded to the activity, performed an impact analysis and has completed email notifications to the potentially affected businesses,” Melanie Lombardi, head of Google Cloud Security Communications, said.
Cybersecurity analysts have linked the hack to individuals with ties to an alliance of cybercriminals called Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters.
Research group Unit 42 said in a note the group had “asserted responsibility for laying siege to customer Salesforce tenants as part of a coordinated effort to steal data and hold it for ransom”.
The hackers had reportedly set an October 10 deadline for ransom payment.
‘Oldest tricks in the book’
The hackers stole the sensitive data using a social engineering technique, referring to a tactic of manipulating victims by pretending to be a company representative or other trusted person, experts said.
The FBI last month issued a warning about such attacks targeting Salesforce.
The agency said hackers posing as IT workers had tricked customer support employees into granting them access to sensitive data.
“They have been very effective,” expert Hunt said.
“And it hasn’t been using any sophisticated technical exploits… they have exploited really the oldest tricks in the books.”
The hack of data from Australia’s biggest airline comes as a string of major cyberattacks in the country has raised concerns about the protection of personal data.
Qantas apologised last year after a glitch with its mobile app exposed some passengers’ names and travel details.
And major ports handling 40% of Australia’s freight trade ground to a halt in 2023 after hackers infiltrated computers belonging to operator DP World.
Jelly Roll wins big at the Christian music awards
ICAI in talks to provide data for sovereign AI – The Times of India
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle awkward moment caught on camera
-
Tech7 days agoI’ve Tested Countless Mesh Systems. Here Are the Routers I Recommend
-
Tech1 week agoAll Hail the Surprisingly Versatile Packing Cube! These Are Our Favorites
-
Tech1 week agoAI in an ‘industrial bubble’ but will benefit society: Bezos
-
Tech1 week agoAmazon Prime Big Deal Days Is Next Week, but We Already Found 40 Early Deals
-
Tech1 week agoAmazon is overhauling its devices to take on Apple in the AI era
-
Tech6 days agoJony Ive Says He Wants His OpenAI Devices to ‘Make Us Happy’
-
Business1 week agoInvestors are packing up; Pakistan must ask why | The Express Tribune
-
Tech1 week agoCombat Dry Indoor Winter Air With a New Humidifier