Trump responds to Zelenskyy letter in marathon Congress speech

Published

5 months ago

March 5, 2025

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Donald Trump has said he “appreciates” President Zelenskyy’s renewed pledge to work with him on a peace deal – and that Russia has sent “strong signals” it’s also ready for a truce.

The US president made the comments during a marathon address to Congress in which he talked up his actions so far and set out priorities for the future.

“We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in 4 years, 8 years – and we are just getting started,” the president said.

But it in a highly divided Congress, Democrats registered their dissent with stone faces, placards calling out “lies” and one member’s ejection.

Mr Trump said he’d received an “important letter” from the Ukrainian leader saying he would work under his leadership to reach a peace deal.

Trump latest – ‘We’re just getting started’

Quotes he read matched a post by Mr Zelenskyy earlier on Tuesday in which he expressed regret for last week’s row and said he was ready to sign a minerals pact.

“The letter reads Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Mr Trump said.

“I appreciate that he sent this letter. Just got it a little while ago,” he added.

The president told a packed House chamber that Moscow had also indicated that they were ready for peace.

He said: “Simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

Longest speech

However, the majority of Mr Trump’s speech in the Capitol in Washington DC focussed on domestic issues.

At one hour and 39 minute, it was the longest annual address a president has delivered to Congress, breaking Bill Clinton’s record of one hour and 28 minutes.

Mr Trump lauded his nascent second stint in the White House and said he’d taken “unrelenting action” that had already achieved more than some administrations manage in years.

The president began his speech by proclaiming “America is back!” – prompting enthusiastic chants of “USA”.

Mr Trump said “the American Dream is surging – bigger and better than ever before”.

However, his remarks were met with jeers from Democrats and the House speaker called on the serjeant-at-arms to eject representative Al Green for refusing to stay quiet. Mr Green had stood up and shouted at Mr Trump, gesturing toward the president with his cane.

Other Democrats waved paddles with statements including “false” and “Musk steals”. Some wore blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine.

With vice president JD Vance sat behind him, Mr Trump reeled off a list of his actions since he started his second term in January.

Among others, he mentioned rolling back the Paris climate accords, removing the “tyranny” of diversity policies, leaving the World Health Organization and the naming of the ‘Gulf of America’.

“Our country will be woke no longer,” he declared.

There was also a special mention for Elon Musk’s government efficiency department, DOGE, which has controversially cut thousands of jobs already.

President Trump claimed the billionaire’s efforts were saving the country billions by cutting waste and fraud.

Mr Musk was there in person, unusually in a suit, and stood to acknowledge the applause from the mass of Republicans in the chamber.

“Thank you very much, we appreciate it,” Mr Trump told him.

The president also reaffirmed his commitment to tariffs after measures targeting Canada, China and Mexico took effect yesterday.

He said the US had been “ripped off for decades by every country on earth” and that tariffs were also about “protecting the soul of our country”.

The president has claimed previously they are in response to the three countries not doing enough to halt the flow of powerful drugs such as fentanyl.

In response, China’s US embassy tweeted ominously: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

The president also said he would “make America affordable again” and that President Biden hadn’t done enough to control inflation.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control – and we are working hard to get it back down. A major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of energy,” he added.

Illegal immigration also took up a chunk of his record-breaking speech.

The president repeated his well-worn pledge to clamp down on people entering through the southern border and reverse what he called “insane open-border policies”.

To another burst of applause, he said he had designated some South America gangs as “terrorist” organisations.

Greenland and the Panama Canal also got a mention.

The president said America intended to reclaim the famous shipping passage – which it relinquished control over in 1999 – and repeated his ambition to own the vast Danish territory.

Addressing Greenlanders, he said: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”

“We need Greenland for national security and even international security,” he said. “And we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it… and I think we’re going to get it, one way or the other.”

First lady Melania Trump watched the speech from on high in the gallery, with guests also including the family of the firefighter killed during the assassination attempt last summer, and a man recently freed from a Russian jail.

There was also a heart-warming moment where a child recovering from brain cancer was summoned to stand up.

Wearing a police uniform, 13-year-old DJ Daniel was lifted into the air in disbelief by his dad as President Trump told him: “I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. Thank you, DJ.”

US

Trump says he hopes to get ‘prime territory’ back for Ukraine as he prepares for Putin summit

Published

17 hours ago

August 12, 2025

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Trump says he hopes to get 'prime territory' back for Ukraine as he prepares for Putin summit

Donald Trump has said he would try to return territory to Ukraine as he prepares to meet Vladimir Putin and lay the groundwork for a deal to bring an end to the war.

“Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” the US president said at a White House news conference ahead of Friday’s summit in Alaska.

Mr Trump also said: “There’ll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine.”

He said he’s going to see what Mr Putin “has in mind” to end the three-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion.

And he said if it’s a “fair deal,” he will share it with European and NATO leaders, as well as Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who have been liaising closely with Washington ahead of the meeting.

Asked if Mr Zelenskyy was invited to the summit with Mr Putin in Alaska, Mr Trump said the Ukrainian leader “wasn’t a part of it”.

“I would say he could go, but he’s gone to a lot of meetings. You know, he’s been there for three and a half years – nothing happened,” Mr Trump added.

The US president said Mr Putin wants to get the war “over with” and “get involved” in possible talks but acknowledged Moscow’s attacks haven’t stopped.

“I’ve said that a few times and I’ve been disappointed because I’d have a great call with him and then missiles would be lobbed into Kyiv or some other place,” he said.

Mr Trump said he will tell Mr Putin “you’ve got to end this war, you’ve got to end it,” but that “it’s not up to me” to make a deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelenskyy says Russia ‘wants to buy time’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia “wants to buy time, not end the war”.

“It is obvious that the Russians simply want to buy time, not end the war,” he wrote in a post on X, after a phone call with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“The situation on the battlefield and Russia’s wicked strikes on civilian infrastructure and ordinary people prove this clearly.”

Mr Zelenskyy said the two “agreed that no decisions concerning Ukraine’s future and the security of our people can be made without Ukraine’s participation”, just as “there can be no decisions without clear security guarantees”.

Sanctions against Russia must remain in force and be “constantly strengthened,” he added.

European leaders meet ahead of call with Trump

Meanwhile, European officials have been holding meetings ahead of a phone call with Mr Trump on Wednesday.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has been speaking to foreign ministers virtually, saying on X that work “on more sanctions against Russia, more military support for Ukraine and more support for Ukraine’s budgetary needs and accession process to join the EU” is under way.

Over the weekend, European leaders released a joint statement, welcoming Mr Trump’s “work to stop the killing in Ukraine”.

“We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed,” read the statement.

It was signed by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“We underline our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” they said.

Attacks continue

Despite Donald Trump’s efforts to convince Vladimir Putin to commit to a ceasefire and negotiations, Russian attacks on Ukraine have only intensified in the past few months.

Ukraine’s president has said that, in the past week, Russia launched more than 1,000 air bombs, nearly 1,400 drones and multiple missile strikes on Ukraine.

On 9 July, Russia carried out its largest aerial attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, launching more than 740 drones and missiles, breaking its records from previous weeks.

Furthermore, Mr Zelenskyy has said Russia is preparing for new offensives.

US

Trump gaffe reveals how central Putin is to his narrative – with Zelenskyy left out in the cold

Published

19 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Trump gaffe reveals how central Putin is to his narrative - with Zelenskyy left out in the cold

And then there were two.

It will be a Trump-Putin bilateral summit in Alaska.

Ukraine latest: Trump details talks with Putin

The US president has ruled out a trilateral meeting including Volodymyr Zelenskyy and is framing the talks as low stakes.

He described it as a “feel out” meeting “to see what the parameters” are, and stressed “it’s not up to me to make a deal.”

A strategic preemption perhaps, setting expectations low, and preparing the public for failure.

But he remains wedded to the notion that “land swapping” will shape any deal to end the war in Ukraine.

“Good stuff” and “bad stuff” for both sides, he said, positioning himself as the pragmatic mediator between the two.

He expressed irritation with Mr Zelenskyy’s assertion that he doesn’t have the constitutional power to concede land, though did say he hopes to get “prime territory” back for Ukraine.

The dealmaker-in-chief

Mr Trump promised to brief the Ukrainian president and European leaders immediately after his meeting with Mr Putin.

And he voiced confidence in his ability to quickly assess the potential for a deal, boasting his business acumen.

“At the end of the meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” he said.

Asked how he would know, he replied: “That’s what I do, make deals.”

Members of his cabinet nodded in approval.

Read more:
Why Trump will have a lot of ice to break

A law-and-order crackdown in the US capital seems timed to bolster his diplomatic stance.

He branded crime in Washington “a national emergency”, took federal control of police and deployed the National Guard.

It may seem strange that Mr Trump is talking about “taking back” Washington, ahead of a rare summit with Mr Putin.

But he’s positioning himself as bold and uncompromising before he faces a man deemed bold and uncompromising.

A telling gaffe

And he conflated the two, saying: “This is a tragic emergency, and I’m going to see Putin, I’m going to Russia on Friday.”

He isn’t going to Russia. He’s going to Alaska. But that gaffe revealed how central Mr Putin is to his narrative, even domestically.

Mr Putin wants to lock in the gains Russia has made since invading Ukraine, while Mr Trump presses for a ceasefire.

But it’s hard to envisage any ice-breaking peace deal emerging from Friday’s summit in Alaska.

How could there be when Mr Zelenskyy is out in the cold?

For now, this is a Trump-Putin power play.

US

Donald Trump will deploy National Guard troops to Washington DC to ‘re-establish law and order’

Published

23 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Donald Trump will deploy National Guard troops to Washington DC to 're-establish law and order'

Donald Trump has announced he is going to deploy National Guard troops to Washington DC to make the US capital’s streets safer.

At a White House news conference on Monday, the president said the city’s police would come under federal control as he said the murder rate in DC was “higher than” in some of the “worst places on earth”.

He said he was sending in the troops to “re-establish law, order, and public safety”.

Mr Trump said he was announcing a “historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.

“This is liberation day in DC and we are going to take our capital back.”

The president continued: “So today we are declaring a public safety emergency in the district of Columbia.”

He added it is not just about safety but also the “beautification” of the city.

“Washington DC should be one of the safest, cleanest and most beautiful cities anywhere in the world and we’re going to make it that.”

Last week, the Republican president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option “to extend as needed”.

On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the US Marshals Service assigned more than 120 officers and agents to assist in Washington.

National Guard troops usually belong to individual states and personnel in many cases are trained to help with emergencies that those states have to deal with, such as natural disasters.

Since they are the reserve force of the US military, National Guard troops are usually part-time, meaning that they have other jobs as well.

Minority leader of the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, responded to Mr Trump’s announcement on Monday with a post on X which read: “Violent crime in Washington, DC is at a thirty-year low.

“Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order.

“Get lost.”

In a social media post on Sunday, Mr Trump emphasised the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go.

“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Mr Trump wrote.

“We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”