Donald Trump calls for Russia’s Vladimir Putin to reach ‘immediate’ settlement with Ukraine
Donald Trump has urged Vladimir Putin to reach an immediate settlement to end the war in Ukraine, saying it was the Russian president’s “time to act”.
The US president-elect wrote on social media on Sunday that [Volodymyr] “Zelenskyy and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness”.
He called for “an immediate ceasefire” and said, “negotiations should begin”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump and Zelenskyy hold meeting with Macron
Referring to his closeness to Mr Putin, he added: “I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!”
Appearing on Meet The Press, on NBC News, Sky News’ US partner, he was asked if he was actively working to end the near three-year-old conflict, and replied, “I am.”
Mr Trump restated that he was open to reducing US military aid to Ukraine. Asked if the country should prepare for possible cuts in US aid, he said: “Possibly.”
Similarly, he again warned the US could quit NATO if other member states failed to increase their contributions but said: “If they’re paying their bills, and if I think they’re treating us fairly, the answer is absolutely I’d stay with NATO.”
Asked if he would consider pulling the US out of the alliance if that wasn’t the case, he responded: “Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.”
He wouldn’t confirm if he had spoken to Russia’s leader since winning the election in November because he said he didn’t want “to do anything that could impede the negotiation”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens
The former president’s call for an immediate ceasefire goes further than anything incumbent president Joe Biden has said.
It’s his clearest effort so far to resolve one of the world’s major crises before taking office on 20 January and contrasts with the Biden administration, which has made a point of not being seen to press Kyiv for an immediate truce.
Mr Trump’s latest intervention comes the day after he held talks with both the Ukraine president and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
The trio joined other world leaders in the city for the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral after the devastating fire of 2019.
Mr Zelenskyy described his weekend discussions with Mr Trump as “constructive” but on Sunday he warned in a post on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine needs a “just and robust peace, that Russians will not destroy within a few years”.
A workable peace with Russia must be underpinned by “effective peace guarantees”, he said, adding that Ukrainians “want peace more than anyone else. Russia brought war to our land”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow’s oft-stated position that it is open to talks with Ukraine.
Read more:
Assad given asylum in Russia
Trump praises ‘fantastic’ Prince William
First mass at rebuilt Notre-Dame
Washington has been increasing support to Ukraine and on Saturday, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin announced nearly $1bn (£784m) more in weapons.
In a separate social media update on Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy claimed Kyiv has so far lost 43,000 soldiers since the invasion began in February 2022, while a further 370,000 have been injured.
Western officials have said the past few months of grinding positional warfare in eastern Ukraine have meant record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and injured each month.
Files from a ‘birthday book’ compiled for the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appear to include a glowing contribution from the current UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson.
Documents appear to show Lord Mandelson calling Epstein his “best pal” and writing of the friend “taking you by surprise… in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)”.
The pages are contained in files from the estate of the deceased billionaire paedophile, handed over to a Congressional committee.
The collection of birthday tributes include a hand-drawing of a woman’s body, signed “Donald”. They also contain a picture of Epstein holding an outsized cheque, signed by “DJTRUMP”.
Read more on this story:
Alleged Epstein note doesn’t look great for Trump
Pic: X/OversightDems
Beneath the image is a handwritten message that reads: “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated (redacted) to Donald Trump for $22,500.”
The US president has denied any impropriety involving Epstein, whom he once counted as a friend.
Pictures of Mandelson appear to feature in the ‘birthday book’. Pic: US House Oversight Committee
A note, apparently written by Mandelson, referring to Epstein as a ‘best pal’. Pic: US House Oversight Committee
The newly-released files were handed over following a demand by the Oversight Committee of the US Congress.
They are from a book compiled by Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, to celebrate Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
Trump pictured alongside the UK ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, in the Oval Office. Pic: AP
Mandelson’s message to ‘best pal’
A number of pages include pictures of Lord Mandelson, a former Labour minister, and a message that reads:
“Once upon a time, an intelligent, sharp-witted man they call “mysterious” parachuted into my life.
“You would spend many hours just waiting for him to turn up.
“And often, no sooner were you getting used to having him around, you would suddenly be alone…. again.
“Leaving you with some “interesting” friends to entertain instead….
“Or just some dogs to keep you company (he wasn’t always so keen on them)
“But then he would parachute back in…
“Very occasionally, taking you by surprise in some far off places
“Or in one of his glorious homes he likes to share with his friends (yum yum)
“But, wherever he is in the world, he remains my best pal!
“Happy birthday, Jeffrey we love you!!”
Pictures of Lord Mandelson appear on the pages, which include an image of a tropical island.
A picture of a tropical island in the Epstein ‘birthday book’. Pic: US House Oversight Committee
Previously, a 2019 report by JP Morgan bank suggested Lord Mandelson had stayed at Epstein’s New York flat in 2009, while the disgraced financier was in jail.
Epstein was serving an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
At the time, Lord Mandelson was the business secretary in the UK government, under then prime minister Gordon Brown.
Sky News contacted the British embassy in Washington for comment, and was referred to earlier statements from Mandelson, including an interview with Sky News in May this year.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘I wish I never met Epstein’
Asked then about the New York story, he said: “I’m not answering any questions about him. My knowledge of him is something I regret, I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”
Asked why he had an association with Epstein while he was in jail, Lord Mandelson replied: “Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker and I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”
US vice president JD Vance defended Mr Trump on X and called out Democrats for “not caring about Epstein’s victims”.
He wrote: “The Democrats don’t care about Epstein. They don’t even care about his victims.
“That’s why they were silent about it for years. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies.
“No one is falling for this BS.”
Finally, we see the look of the evidence – and it doesn’t look great for Donald Trump.
A lewd birthday message Trump allegedly sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been released by Democrats.
The letter, surrounded by a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a woman, bearing Trump’s name and allegedly his signature, includes the text: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
The alleged birthday note. Pic: X/OversightDems
The alleged note had always been in doubt, as long as the fabled birthday book remained unpublished. There’s more certainty now.
Trump had repeatedly denied all association, saying: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.”
It will amplify questions surrounding his friendship with Epstein and suggestions of improper behaviour. The US president denies any wrongdoing.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
In suing the publishers of The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s attorneys have argued that “no authentic letter or drawing exists”.
Expect arguments over authenticity to continue – forensic investigations, who knows, to establish the provenance of the picture signed “Donald”.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump threatens ‘war’ on Chicago
Man accused of Trump assassination attempt on trial
Trump and Epstein together in 1992. Pic: NBC News
What isn’t in doubt is the traction it will lend to calls for a full release of the Epstein files. The birthday book handed over to the Congressional committee had the names and faces of women and minors redacted.
The drawing and its publication is the hard piece of evidence that makes it even harder for the president to cry “hoax”.
And yet, he surely will. To admit the picture was drawn by his own hand would be to admit a lie that would bind him tighter still to the scandal that stalks him.
A first sight of the drawing is one development in this story, but it’s not the only one. Lawyers for the Epstein estate wrote in their covering letter to the committee that they are unaware of the existence of a “list of clients involved in sex, sex acts, or sex trafficking facilitated by Mr Jeffrey Epstein”.
It is their word, for public consumption.
They’ll be aware, as they are in the White House, that on this story, the public would rather make up its own mind.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024