Vladimir Putin has hailed Donald Trump as “courageous” for his response to an assassination attempt as he congratulated the next US president.
Mr Trump won a decisive victory in the 2024 election – comfortably clearing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency and clinching five battleground states.
Throughout his campaign, Mr Trump said he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine in just 24 hours – without explaining how he would do so.
Speaking in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday, the Russian leader also noted the president-elect’s “desire to restore relations,” but added he has “no idea” what to expect from Mr Trump’s second term in office.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already congratulated the Republican on his win, he raised concerns that his plan to end the war with Russia quickly means “losses for Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump told Sky’s partner network NBC News that he has not spoken to Mr Putin yet, but said “I would think that we’ll speak”.
Image: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2018. Pic: AP
After giving a speech at an international forum in Sochi, Mr Putin said Mr Trump’s “behaviour at the time of the attempt on his life made an impression on me”.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
“He turned out to be a courageous man,” the Russian president said. “And it’s not just about the raised hand and the call to fight for his and their common ideals…
“He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a man.”
Advertisement
Putin won’t be popping champagne corks just yet
It was a classic curveball from Vladimir Putin.
Initially, the Kremlin played it cool. “No plans to congratulate Donald Trump,” it said, “the US is a hostile nation”.
But halfway through another one of Putin’s marathon Q&As, that suddenly changed.
It felt like the start of a courtship – an attempt by Russia’s president to rekindle their bromance.
He praised Trump’s bravery and called him a real man. Flattery of a man who sees himself as a tough leader.
As for the claim Russia is “open to dialogue”? Read that as “call me”.
This was an overture from Putin, no doubt, but he doesn’t want to make the first move.
I think that’s because Moscow is still cautious about another Trump term. The first failed to live up to their expectations.
Despite warm words from Trump, sanctions increased and the US sent weapons to Ukraine.
So unlike 2016, Russia’s not popping any champagne corks just yet.
Mr Putin said he felt Mr Trump was “hounded from all sides” when he was last president, and added: “I do not know what is going to happen now.
“I have no clue. For him, this is his last term. What he will do, these are questions for him.”
The Russian president added what Mr Trump has said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News that if the new Trump administration seeks peace rather than “continuation of war” then it will “be better in comparison with the previous one”.
But when asked about Kamala Harris’s debate suggestion that Mr Putin will “eat Donald Trump for lunch”, he bizarrely responded: “Vladimir Putin does not eat people.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:11
‘Putin doesn’t eat people’
It came as the president-elect told NBC News that he has spoken to about 70 world leaders after winning the 2024 election, but not Mr Putin.
It comes as Mr Zelenskyy said in Budapest on Thursday he was not aware of any details of Mr Trump’s plan to end the Ukraine war quickly – but fears a quick resolution would mean major concessions for Kyiv.
“If it’s just fast, it means losses for Ukraine,” he said. “I just don’t yet understand how this could be in any other way. Maybe we do not know something, do not see.”
Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy met at Trump Tower in New York in September – days after the future president complained at a rally that “we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal” to end the war.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:43
People line up for food in Gaza
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF.
They claim Israel is weaponising food, and the new distribution system will be ineffective and lead to further displacement of Palestinians.
They also argue the GHF will fail to meet local needs, and violates humanitarian principles that prohibit a warring party from controlling humanitarian assistance.
In the meantime, scores of Palestinians in Gaza, like Islam Abu Taima, have resorted to searching through rubbish to find food.
Image: Palestinians are having to search through rubbish to find food
She found a small pile of cooked rice, scraps of bread, and a box with a few pieces of cheese inside it – which she said she will serve to her five children.
“We’re dying of hunger,” she told the Associated Press news agency.
“If we don’t eat, we’ll die.”
Image: Islam Abu Taeima finds a piece of bread in a pile of rubbish in Gaza City. Pic: AP.
It is unclear how many of the GHF’s aid trucks will enter Gaza.
It claims it will reach one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
There are questions, however, over who is funding it and how it will work.
Image: Trucks transporting aid for Palestinians in Rafah. Pic: Reuters.
It has been set up as part of an Israeli plan – rather than a UN distribution effort.
Israel, which suggested a similar plan earlier this year, has said it will not be involved in distributing the aid but supported the plan and would provide security.
It says aid deliveries into Gaza are taken by Hamas instead of going to civilians.
Aid groups, however, say there is no evidence of this happening on a systemic basis.
Israel began to allow a limited amount of food into Gaza last week – after a blockade that prevented food, medicine, fuel and other goods from entering the Palestinian enclave.
A letter has been signed by hundreds of judges and lawyers calling on the UK government to impose trade sanctions on Israel.
It also calls for Israeli ministers to be sanctioned and the suspension of Israel from the UN over “serious breaches of international law”.
“Genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide,” the letter says.
The Israeli government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of genocide in Gaza.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:58
At least 31 dead after school attack
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, following the deadly attacks by the militant group on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
The health ministry’s figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters in Gaza.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are being urged to use their visit to Canada to seek an apology for the abuse of British children.
Campaigners have called on them to pursue an apology for the “dire circumstances” suffered by so-called “Home Children” over decades.
More than 100,000 were shipped from orphan homes in the UK to Canada between 1869 and 1948 with many used as cheap labour, typically as farm workers and domestic servants. Many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.
Canada has resisted calls to follow the UK and Australia in apologising for its involvement in child migrant schemes.
Image: King Charles and Mark Carney on Monday. Pic: PA
Campaigners for the Home Children say the royal visit presents a “great opportunity” for a change of heart.
“I would ask that King Charles uses his trip to request an apology,” John Jefkins told Sky News.
John’s father Bert was one of 115,000 British Home Children transported to Canada, arriving in 1914 with his brother Reggie.
“It’s really important for the Home Children themselves and for their descendants,” John said.
“It’s something we deserve and it’s really important for the healing process, as well as building awareness of the experience of the Home Children.
“They were treated very, very badly by the Canadian government at the time. A lot of them were abused, they were treated horribly. They were second-class citizens, lepers in a way.”
John added: “I think the King’s visit provides a great opportunity to reinforce our campaign and to pursue an apology because we’re part of the Commonwealth and King Charles is a new Head of the Commonwealth meeting a new Canadian prime minister. It’s a chance, for both, to look at the situation with a fresh eye.
“There’s much about this visit that looks on our sovereignty and who we are as Canadians, rightly so.
“I think it’s also right that in contemplating the country we built, we focus on the people who built it, many in the most trying of circumstances.”
The issue was addressed by the then Prince of Wales during a tour of Canada in May 2022. He said at the time: “We must find new ways to come to terms with the darker and more difficult aspects of the past.”
On Tuesday, the King will deliver the Speech from the Throne to open the 45th session of Canada’s parliament.
Camilla was made Patron of Barnardo’s in 2016. The organisation sent tens of thousands of Home Children to Canada. She took on the role, having served as president since 2007.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
A spokesperson for the Canadian government said: “The government of Canada is committed to keeping the memory of the British Home Children alive.
“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada deeply regrets this unjust and discriminatory policy, which was in place from 1869 to 1948. Such an approach would have no place in modern Canada, and we must learn from past mistakes.”
At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured after an Israeli airstrike targeting a school in Gaza, health authorities have said.
Reuters news agency reported the number of dead, citing medics, with the school in the Daraj neighbourhood having been used to shelter displaced people who had fled previous bombardments.
Medical and civil defence sources on the ground confirmed women and children were among the casualties, with several charred bodies arriving at al Shifa and al Ahli hospitals.
The scene inside the school has been described as horrific, with more victims feared trapped under the rubble.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.