Connect with us

Published

on

Donald Trump has promised peace talks and teased the prospect of ending the war in Ukraine but, in the background, there are potential complications.

Here’s what Sky News’ experts think about what America’s new military policy and these planned negotiations could mean for Russia, the US, and Ukraine – along with its aspirations to join its European allies in NATO.

A short-term win that risks rewarding Putin
by Mark Stone, US correspondent

In the Oval Office, President Trump refused to say that Ukraine is an equal member of the negotiation with Russia to end the war. That refusal marks the end of a remarkable day.

I think what we have seen over the day, from an American perspective, is the confirmation of a profound shift in American influence, power and footprint in Europe. A ground-shifting moment.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump and Putin to ‘end Ukraine war’

The post-WWII principle of American leadership, of America as the leading protector of Western principles and Western territory, seems to have been deeply eroded, maybe abandoned.

For the first time, America has said that its priorities prevent it from being focused on Europe.

More on Donald Trump

The call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is the first by a US president since Biden spoke to Putin in December 2021 – before the invasion.

Ukraine latest: Trump and Putin plan to meet

President Trump was effusive in how he framed the call which was an hour and a half long – it was positive and we’re told he sees Russia as a ‘great competitor and at times an adversary’.

We don’t know what President Trump said to President Putin, what he committed to him, what he didn’t. The US defence secretary certainly seems to have conceded some key bargaining chips to Russia – land, no NATO membership or protection for Ukraine.

Trump’s mission has been to stop the fighting. He might do that – a big short-term win for him to trumpet to the American people.

The concern in Europe is that it’s a short-term win; that it will reward Putin; that America’s retreat will weaken Europe and maybe leave Putin to fight another day.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT
Image:
Trump, who met Ukraine’s president in September, appears ready to concede to some of Russia’s demands. Pic: Reuters

Putin’s red lines on NATO expansion haven’t shifted
by Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent

We knew there’d be contact between the two leaders at some point but this is still a hugely significant moment.

It fires the starting gun on the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and it may prove a watershed moment for other matters too – NATO unity, Ukrainian sovereignty and Russia-US cooperation.

Ukraine seems to be the issue on which everything else hinges when it comes to Washington and Moscow resuming ties – unlock that and Trump seems to believe a relationship can blossom: “We each talked about the strengths of our respective nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together”.

But at what cost? It’s a question Kyiv will be asking itself with trepidation.

Read more from Sky News:
British woman fatally shot in Texas
Europe needs to get serious about defence
Glee actress’ final words revealed

Donald Trump clearly wants to be remembered as the president who ended the war and healed the world, and it seems he’s even willing to travel to Moscow in order to make that happen.

For Bill Clinton and George W Bush it was a regular port of call, visiting five times and seven times respectively. Barack Obama came twice, but after his trip in 2013 for a G20 summit, the visits suddenly stopped. The reason – Russia annexed Crimea.

FILE - In this July 21, 2000 file photo, President Bill Clinton shares a light moment with Russian President Vladimir Putin before a Group of Eight meeting in Nago, Okinawa, Japan. In a series of interviews with American film director Oliver Stone being shown on U.S. television on Monday, June 12, 2017, Putin said that he inquired about Russia joining NATO when Clinton visited Moscow in 2000. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
Image:
In 2000, America – under Bill Clinton – had a better relationship with Putin. Pic: AP

So given everything that’s happened since then, it would be quite the coup for the Kremlin if Donald Trump did visit.

Russia’s so-called special military operation wasn’t supposed to end in negotiations, but the leader of the free world flying into Moscow on a peace mission? You can see how Russia could spin that as a victory over the collective West.

But that’s not to say that a peace deal will be easy.

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈

There’s one line in the Kremlin’s read-out of the call that makes you wonder. It reads: “President Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict”.

When Vladimir Putin talks about root causes, he means NATO expansion.

That’s what he claims is the reason for the war in Ukraine. And stating this in the call with Trump suggests his red lines haven’t shifted – no NATO membership for Ukraine, and that Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the four Ukrainian territories Russia currently occupies.

Continue Reading

US

Recording captures audio of Titanic submersible implosion

Published

on

By

Recording captures audio of Titanic submersible implosion

A recording has captured the implosion of the Titan submersible which went missing on its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic.

A passive acoustic recorder located around 900 miles from the implosion site picked up the sound, US Coast Guard officials said in a statement.

The short recording includes a loud noise that sounds like a muffled clap, before going silent for a few seconds.

The coastguard said the audio clip “records the suspected acoustic signature of the Titan submersible implosion” on 18 June 2023.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Titan sub hull wreckage video released

The implosion killed all five people on board – Titan operator Stockton Rush, who founded Oceangate, the company that owned the submersible; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert and the sub’s pilot Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The sub vanished on its way to visit the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, setting off a five-day search that ended when authorities said the vessel had been destroyed with no survivors.

The wreckage was eventually found on the ocean floor around 300m from the Titanic, according to officials.

After the disaster concerns were raised because of the Titan’s unconventional design and Rush’s refusal to submit to independent safety checks.

OceanGate suspended operations in July 2023.

Read more:
What happened to the Titan?
The stories of those on the Titan submersible

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Titan ‘malfunctioned’ days before fatal dive

A coastguard panel investigating the disaster heard two weeks of testimony last September, which saw a former OceanGate scientific director say the Titan malfunctioned during a dive just a few days before it imploded.

The coastguard is expected to release more information about the implosion in the future.

A spokesperson said the investigation is still ongoing and a final report will be released after it is completed.

Continue Reading

US

Glee actress Naya Rivera’s final words before drowning revealed

Published

on

By

Glee actress Naya Rivera's final words before drowning revealed

Naya Rivera’s ex-boyfriend Ryan Dorsey has – for the first time – shared details from the day she died.

Speaking to People, the 41-year-old actor said that “the last thing she said was his [her son’s] name, and then she went under, and he didn’t see her anymore”.

The Glee actress, 33, died after drowning in a California lake in July 2020 – when she was swimming with her young son Josey.

Josey, who was four at the time, told police his mother had boosted him on to the deck – after their boat had drifted away.

Local police said they believe that after saving her son, Rivera did not have enough energy to save herself.

Dorsey says his son, now nine, told him he was worried about getting into the water – and that Rivera had said, “don’t be silly!”.

The boat that Naya Rivera was using when she went missing is seen on Lake Piru in California. Pic: Reuters /Mario Anzuoni
Image:
The boat that Naya Rivera was using when she went missing. Pic: Reuters /Mario Anzuoni


“Something he’s said over and over is that he was trying to find a life raft, and there was a rope, but there was a big spider on the rope, and he was too scared to throw it,” Dorsey told People.

“I keep reassuring him, buddy, that rope wasn’t going to be long enough.”

Dorsey added: “It just rocks my world that he had to witness her last moments.”

Naya Rivera is best-known for starring in Glee. Pic: Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP
Image:
Naya Rivera is best-known for starring in Glee. Pic: Frank Micelotta/Invision/AP


The actor says he found out that Rivera was first missing after receiving a call from her stepfather – while he was in a supermarket buying food for a friend’s barbeque.

“I collapsed into a pallet of drinks,” Dorsey said. “I feared the worst.”

Ryan Dorsey and Naya Rivera. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Image:
Ryan Dorsey and Naya Rivera. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Dorsey said he immediately got into his car and drove 145 miles to Lake Piru, where Rivera and their son had been swimming.

“I drove 100-and-­something the whole way with my four-way hazards on, chain-smoking cigarettes – and I don’t even smoke, really – and just crying,” he says. “I just wanted to get to Josey.

“If we’d have lost both Naya and Josey, I don’t know how I would continue on with my life.”

He added: “When it happened, I just found myself shaking my head, like, I can’t believe she’s gone. It’s still so surreal every day.”

Read more on Sky News:
A$AP Rocky not giving evidence at gun trial
RuPaul star had ‘unnatural’ death

Dorsey says the holiday period is particularly tough for his nine-year-old son.

He said: “We made this book of memories for Josey that sits by his bed, and during the holidays he was crying looking at it.

“You can only give him a hug and tell him, ‘I know, life is not fair. Bad things happen and there’s no reason for it, and you just have to do your best to be a good person.'”

In 2022, a lawsuit filed by Rivera’s family against Ventura County, California, over her drowning was privately settled.

Naya Rivera on the red carpet. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Naya Rivera on the red carpet. Pic: Reuters

The lawsuit for wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress was filed on behalf of her son.

The family also sued the United Water Conservation District and Parks and Recreation Management, accusing them of failing to warn visitors of the danger of boating and swimming in the lake, and saying Rivera’s death was “utterly preventable”.

They said the rented pontoon boat was not equipped with flotation or lifesaving devices, a ladder, rope, anchor, or any equipment designed to keep swimmers from being separated from their boat.

However, Ventura County officials said the death wasn’t their fault, and said the actress had declined to wear a life jacket. They said the rental agent had put the life jacket in the boat nevertheless.

Continue Reading

US

Elon Musk’s X to pay Trump $10m compensation

Published

on

By

Elon Musk's X to pay Trump m compensation

Elon Musk’s X has agreed to pay Donald Trump about $10m (£8m) after suspending his accounts following the 2021 US Capitol riot by his supporters, according to reports.

The payment follows a $25m (£20m) deal the US president’s lawyers struck with Meta Platforms – the owner of Facebook and Instagram – last month.

Mr Trump sued the social media platforms, along with Google’s owner Alphabet Inc, as well as their chief executives, in San Francisco over what he claimed was unlawful silencing of conservative opinions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Twitter had cited the risk of Mr Trump inciting further violence related to his effort to remain in the White House following his loss to former President Joe Biden in the 2020 election as the reason for suspending his account.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Is Elon Musk short on credibility?

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈

Mr Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X, has become a fierce supporter of Mr Trump, giving $250m (£202m) to his 2024 election campaign.

The tech billionaire has been chosen by the president to head the new US Department of Government Efficiency – shortened to DOGE – whose purpose is to radically shrink federal bureaucracy.

Mr Trump’s legal team considered dropping the case given the platform’s change of ownership and how close the two men have become, before agreeing to the settlement, the Journal reported – quoting people familiar with the matter.

Lawyers are expected to pursue a similar agreement with Alphabet, which banned Mr Trump from YouTube after the Capitol riot.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Musk defends DOGE reforms

Read more from Sky News:
Europe must get serious about defence

Glee star’s final words
Surprise growth for UK economy

Neither the X, nor its CEO at the time of Mr Trump’s suspension, Jack Dorsey, as well as Alphabet and the White House have responded to requests for comment.

Mr Trump has pardoned about 1,500 supporters charged over the violence on 6 January 2021, which saw people storm the Capitol building in Washington to try to stop Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory being signed off.

Sky News has contacted X for comment.

Continue Reading

Trending