• PM Modi said he’s “not going to be doing Russian oil thing”: Trump.
• Russian oil one of main irritants for Trump in trade talks with India. 
• India’s imports of Russian oil set to rise about 20% this month.
  

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: US President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him India will stop buying Russian oil, while warning that New Delhi would continue paying “massive” tariffs if it did not do so.

“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Asked about India’s assertion that it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”

Russian oil has been one of the main irritants for Trump in prolonged trade talks with India — half of his 50% tariffs on Indian goods are in retaliation for those purchases. The US government has said that petroleum revenue funds Russia’s war in Ukraine.

India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump on Wednesday said Modi had assured him that day that India would stop its Russian oil purchases. India’s foreign ministry said it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the leaders that day, but said that New Delhi’s main concern was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer”.

A White House official said on Thursday that India has halved its purchases of Russian oil, but Indian sources said no immediate reduction had been seen.

The sources said Indian refiners already placed orders for November loading, including some slated for December arrival, so any cut may start showing up in December or January import numbers.

India’s imports of Russian oil are set to rise about 20% this month to 1.9 million barrels per day, according to estimates from commodities data firm Kpler, as Russia ramps up exports after Ukrainian drones hit its refineries.

• Truce inked during Doha negotiations between Pakistan, Afghanistan.
• Kingdom affirms support for all regional, international peace efforts.
• Appreciates diplomatic roles of Qatar and Turkey in brokering deal.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Monday lauded the ceasefire pact between Pakistan and Afghanistan, calling it a vital step toward enduring peace and regional stability.

In a statement, the Saudi foreign ministry said the landmark agreement was reached during a round of negotiations held in Doha.

“Saudi Arabia welcomes the signing by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Afghanistan of an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries, during the round of negotiations held in Doha,” the KSA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“The Kingdom affirms its support for all regional and international efforts aimed at promoting peace and stability, and its continued commitment to ensuring security that achieves stability and prosperity for the brotherly peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

According to the statement, the Kingdom hopes that this positive step will lead to an end to tensions on the border between the two countries.

“The ministry also appreciates the diplomatic efforts and constructive role played by the State of Qatar and the Republic of Türkiye in this regard.”

Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to an immediate ceasefire during talks in Doha, both sides said on Sunday, after a week of fierce border clashes, the worst violence between the South Asian neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

The ceasefire “has been finalised”, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif posted on X on Sunday, saying both sides would meet again on October 25 in Istanbul to discuss “detailed matters”.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the parties agreed on a complete and meaningful ceasefire.

Qatar’s foreign ministry, which mediated Saturday’s talks along with Turkey, said the follow-up meetings were meant “to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire and verify its implementation reliably and sustainably”.

Attack, counterattack

The talks were led by Asif and his Afghan counterpart, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, both sides said.

The ground fighting between the one-time allies and Pakistani airstrikes across their contested 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier were triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in militants who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.

Pakistani forces gave a befitting response to the aggression, killing over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants in a self-defence action. The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said that 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom in the clashes with the Taliban forces and the terrorists.

The Taliban denies giving haven to militants to attack Pakistan and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan and sheltering Daesh-linked militants to undermine its stability and sovereignty. Islamabad denies the accusations.

Militants have been waging a war for years against the Pakistani state in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with their strict brand of Islamic governance.

“The Afghan regime must rein in the proxies who have sanctuaries in Afghanistan and are using Afghan soil to perpetrate heinous attacks inside Pakistan,” the Pakistan Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, said on Saturday, addressing a graduation ceremony of cadets.

The Taliban spokesperson said that at the Doha talks, “It was decided that neither country will take hostile actions against the other, and support will not be provided to groups operating against the government of Pakistan.”

In a follow-up post on X, he said it reflected the Taliban’s longstanding position that Afghanistan’s territory will not be used against any other country. 

The statements made about the agreement do not constitute a joint declaration, he said.

US President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accept Russia’s terms for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in a White House meeting on Friday, warning that President Vladimir Putin threatened to “destroy” Ukraine if it didn’t comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

During the meeting, Trump insisted Zelenskiy surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeatedly echoing talking points the Russian president had made in their call a day earlier, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ukraine ultimately managed to swing Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines, the FT said. Trump said after the meeting that the two sides should stop the war at the battle line; Zelenskiy said that was an important point.

The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the FT report.

Zelenskiy arrived at the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country’s war, but met an American president who appeared more intent on brokering a peace deal.

In Thursday’s call with Trump, Putin had offered some small areas of the two southern frontline regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in exchange for the much larger parts of the Donbas now under Ukrainian control, the FT report added.

That is less than his original 2024 demand for Kyiv to cede the entirety of Donbas plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, an area of nearly 20,000 square km.

Zelenskiy’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours on whether Trump had pressured Zelenskiy to accept peace on Russia’s terms.

Trump and Putin agreed on Thursday to hold a second summit on the war in Ukraine within the next two weeks, provisionally in Budapest, following an August 15 meeting in Alaska that failed to produce a breakthrough.