Will or Will Not Trump’s Proposal for Gaza Work? 🤔

The UN security council has endorsed proposals put forward by Trump for a lasting peace in Gaza, including the deployment of an international stabilisation force and a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state. ✅

The resolution, passed by a vote of 13-0 with abstentions by China and Russia, charted “a new course in the Middle East for Israelis and Palestinians and all the people of the region alike”, the US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, told the council chamber. 🌍

The inclusion of references to an independent Palestine was the price the US paid for backing from the Arab and Islamic world, who are expected to provide peacekeepers for an international stabilisation force (ISF). 🦸

However, on the eve of the UN vote Netanyahu restated his government’s adamant opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, raising questions on whether Israel will allow the implementation of the UN-mandated proposals. 🤷‍♂️

After the vote, Hamas rejected what it described as as an imposed “international guardianship mechanism” and insisted it would not disarm. 🛡

Supporters of the resolution said it should lead to the immediate lifting of remaining curbs on the flow of aid into Gaza, the creation of an international stabilisation force which would fill the vacuum left by Israeli military withdrawal, and moves towards reconstruction and a possible “pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” 🙌

The reference to Palestinian statehood was a compromise addition to an initial US draft which did not mention it. However the wording is vague and conditional, promising only that once the Palestinian Authority has reformed itself and the rebuilding of Gaza is under way, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” 📜

The language fell far short of the firm commitment to the building of a Palestinian state alongside Israel sought by Arab and Islamic states, as well as European council members, but in speeches to the chamber after the vote, delegates from those countries said they were prepared to accept the compromise in the interests of extending the current truce and immediate measures to feed and protect the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. 🍽

While the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, is reported to have reluctantly acquiesced to the wording of the resolution in discussions with Washington, he backtracked after an outraged response from the extreme right wing of his governing coalition. 🚫

On Sunday, the prime minister said “our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed.” 👈

The resolution was a rare example of concerted action by the UN over Gaza, after two years of diplomatic impasse during which at least 71,000 Palestinians have been killed, and which has drawn allegations of genocide by a UN commission of inquiry and human rights groups. 📌

It gives overall oversight authority to a “board of peace” chaired by Trump, but of uncertain membership. The board has to report to the UN but it is not bound by the wishes of the UN or by the Palestinian Authority. 🔄

It also calls for the creation of a Palestinian technocratic committee that is supposed to run day-to-day governance of the Gaza Strip and the delivery of services, but it is far from clear who would take part. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

After the vote Hamas reiterated that it would not disarm, potentially pitting the militant group against the international force authorised by the resolution. 🔥

“The resolution imposes an international guardianship mechanism on the Gaza Strip, which our people and their factions reject,” Hamas said in its statement. 🗣

The criteria for reform of the Palestinian Authority, the precondition towards moves to a sovereign Palestinian, have been hazy. 🤔

#work #trump #gaza #plan #us #israel

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The Trump Plan For Ukraine: Cede Land, Cut Army

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A plan to end the war in Ukraine, negotiated between the Trump administration and Russia, would require Kyiv to surrender territory, significantly reduce the size of its army and relinquish some types of weaponry, according to officials familiar with the proposal.

The 28-point proposal, drafted without Ukrainian involvement, reflects the maximalist demands the Kremlin has made throughout the war, which Ukraine has long denounced as amounting to capitulation.

Parts of the plan were described by two officials who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly — one Ukrainian and one who did not want to be identified by country.

It is the latest effort by the Trump administration to reinvigorate stalled settlement talks in the nearly four-year-old war.

But some Ukrainian commentators also saw the proposal as a bid by Russia to press Ukraine for concessions while the government of Zelensky is weakened by a high-level corruption scandal, which could dissuade allies from sending aid.

Kyiv is also under growing pressure on the battlefield, as Moscow’s forces make gains against a Ukrainian military that is stretched thin.

“One thing is clear,” said Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, a former presidential foreign policy adviser. “Ukraine’s position right now is not strong, and this is seen not only inside the country but also by our partners, including the United States, and of course by the aggressor.”

The US is reviving its diplomatic efforts after meetings over the summer between Ukrainian and Russian officials, and between Trump and Putin of Russia, produced no breakthroughs.

As part of this push, the Trump administration has pressed Russia and Ukraine to present in writing terms for a settlement that could become a basis of negotiations.

A delegation of senior U.S. military officials arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials about breaking the impasse.

Zelensky, too, is seeking to resurrect long-dormant peace talks. He met on Wednesday in Turkey, where Ukraine and Russia have engaged in previous rounds of discussions, with Erdogan who has offered to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.

The plan emerged from talks between Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev. A senior Ukrainian official said the Trump administration had informed Ukraine of the talks but had not sought Kyiv’s input.

#ukraine #plan #trump #putin #witkoff #territories #peace

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The proposal would require Ukraine to surrender to Russia the entire eastern Donbas region, even lands that Russian forces have not captured, according to the Ukrainian official.

The proposed settlement would also cap the size of Ukraine’s army far below its current levels and would recognize the Crimean Peninsula and other occupied areas as Russian, the senior Ukrainian official said.

Another official familiar with the proposal said Russia was demanding that foreign troops be prohibited on Ukrainian-controlled territory after a cease-fire.

This would rule out a French and British proposal to deploy what has been called a reassurance force to stabilize security in postwar Ukraine.

The plan, that official said, would also require Ukraine to relinquish some long-range weapons. Ukraine now routinely fires domestically made exploding drones at targets in Russia hundreds of miles from its border, including in Moscow.

The settlement proposal is similar to one that Russia presented in talks in 2022. Moscow subsequently lost about half of the territory it had captured in the initial invasion, before recapturing some in bloody, drawn-out fighting.

This fall, the tide has turned in Russia’s favor, as its forces have menaced long-held Ukrainian positions on the battlefield.

Russia is advancing in small units into a partially surrounded city in eastern Ukraine, Pokrovsk, signaling momentum. Most analysts expect the city to fall soon.

The Ukrainian Army is strained, running short of soldiers. Analysts and members of Ukraine’s Parliament say gaps of more than 600 yards have opened along some stretches of the front line. Increasingly, Ukraine is relying not on infantry in trenches but on soldiers flying exploding drones to slow the onslaught.

Russia has signaled a willingness to keep up its costly, incremental advances until Ukraine acquiesces to concessions limiting its security ties to the West.

Kyiv says that such concessions would reward Russian aggression and leave Ukraine weak and vulnerable, arguing that Russia would use a cessation in fighting to recoup its strength for another invasion in the future.

#ukraine #plan #trump #putin #witkoff #territories #peace

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Trump’s Plan Is Putin’s Deal

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Trump seemed to have seen the light on Ukraine. After promising “severe consequences” in August if Vladimir Putin continued to obstruct ceasefire talks – but then doing nothing as Putin did just that – Trump finally on 22 October imposed significant sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, seriously compromising Putin’s ability to finance his invasion.

But now, with his 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, drafted by US and Russian officials without Ukrainian or European participation, Trump has reverted to his pro-Putin norm.

Trump’s plan would reward Putin for invading Ukraine while leaving Ukraine’s democracy in jeopardy. The plan’s ringing proclamation that “Ukraine’s sovereignty will be confirmed” rings hollow when so much of the plan compromises that sovereignty. A Kremlin dream, the plan would be a Ukrainian nightmare.

Betraying his real-estate background, Trump continues to treat the Ukrainian conflict as a mere territorial dispute, as if handing Putin a chunk of Ukrainian land will satisfy the despot.

But Putin’s war is not about controlling a charred swath of deindustrialized territory in eastern Ukraine. It is about Ukraine’s democracy – and Putin’s desire to snuff it out so it no longer serves as an enticing model for the Russian people of the accountable government that Putin’s deepening dictatorship denies them.

While freezing in place the divided Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Trump’s plan would force Ukraine to abandon all of Donetsk province.

Beyond rewarding Russia with territory that its forces have been unable to seize in more than a decade of fighting, this surrender would leave Ukrainian defenses perilously weakened.

Donetsk is the location of Ukraine’s much-vaunted “fortress belt”, the entrenched defensive positions that are a key obstacle to Russian advances.

Trump would have Ukraine abandon these defenses, leaving Putin a clear path to Kyiv should he later choose to resume the war.

#zelensky #trump #putin #plan #ukraine

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Then, in a move that would make renewed fighting easier for Russia, Trump would require Ukraine to diminish the size of its armed forces from their current 800,000 to 850,000 troops to a maximum of 600,000. Trump’s plan places no such limits on Russian forces.

A separate side agreement reportedly would provide Ukraine with a Nato-style security guarantee, in which any future “significant, deliberate, and sustained armed attack” by Russia on Ukraine “shall be regarded as an attack threatening the peace and security of the transatlantic community.”

That suggests a military response. But unlike a strong Ukrainian military – Ukraine’s most reliable defense against renewed Russian aggression – the effectiveness of the side agreement would depend on the commitment of Nato leaders, including Trump, to respond militarily to Putin’s aggression, something they have not done to date for fear of a nuclear conflagration.

To make a deterrent more credible, European leaders have long insisted on a US backstop to any peacekeeping force in Ukraine, but for now that depends on the unreliable Trump.

Moreover, despite the Nato-sounding language, Trump reportedly is offering only “intelligence and logistical assistance” or “other steps judged appropriate”, not direct military assistance. That will hardly leave Putin quaking in his boots.

As if this embrace of Putin’s wishlist were not enough, Trump’s plans move toward lifting sanctions against Russia and readmitting it to the Group of 8, from which it was excluded when it forcibly seized Ukraine’s Crimea.

The removal of sanctions would make it easier for Putin to rebuild his military for a possible next invasion.

Zelensky has understandably treated the plan as a “vision” rather than a final offer. Wary of offending Trump, who must approve continuing sales of US arms to Ukraine, Zelensky said he would negotiate on the basis of the plan. But to underwrite a lasting peace in Ukraine, Trump’s plan needs not a few Band-Aids but major surgery.

Let’s hope that Trump hasn’t again fallen so much under Putin’s spell that he has lost the ability to see the major faults in his proposal.

#zelensky #trump #putin #plan #ukraine

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🔥 Zelensky: Death Trap

⚠️ US officials have told NATO allies they expect to push Zelensky into agreeing to a peace deal in the coming days, under the threat that if Kyiv does not sign, it will face a much worse deal in future.

📆 The US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, briefed ambassadors from Nato nations at a meeting in Kyiv late on Friday, after talks with Zelensky and taking a phone call from the White House.

🗣 “No deal is perfect, but it must be done sooner rather than later,” he told them, according to one person who was present.

🕸 The mood in the room was sombre, with several European ambassadors questioning the content of the deal and the way in which the US had conducted the negotiations with Russia without keeping allies informed.

🤨 “It was a nightmare meeting. It was the ‘you have no cards’ argument again,” said the source, referring to Trump’s claim that Zelenskyy had no cards to play, during a contentious White House meeting back in February.

🛡 The deal now on offer contains a number of provisions that are likely to be unacceptable to Kyiv, including the need to give up territory Russia has occupied, as well as surrendering further territory Kyiv still controls. It also suggests there would be an amnesty for all war crimes committed during the conflict.

🎬 On Friday, Zelensky gave a video address to the country saying it was “one of the most difficult moments of our history”. Ukraine faced a choice, he said: “losing our dignity or losing a key ally.”

👋 Driscoll, a close friend of the US vice-president, JD Vance, who has only recently been put on the Ukraine portfolio, declined to go into detail about whether the deal on the table matched a 28-point plan that had been published in the press.

🧐 “Some things matter, some are window dressing – and we most focused on the things that matter,” he said, according to the source.

🍂 Trump is keen for Zelensky to agree to the deal by Thanksgiving, which is on Thursday. Earlier this week, Davis told reporters Trump was pursuing an “aggressive timeline” to get the deal agreed.

🔄 “We have witnessed an absolutely remarkable pace of diplomatic activity,” she said, speaking on the sidelines of a reception for Driscoll and his US army delegation, attended by senior Ukrainian military figures, at the ambassador’s residence in Kyiv. She said the diplomacy was the “most ambitious” she had seen in her foreign service career.

📝 The plan was reportedly drafted by Trump aide Witkoff and Kremlin adviser Dmitriev, a relationship that has emerged as a key back channel between Washington and Moscow. Driscoll is expected to head to Russia soon to discuss the plan.

🗣 On Friday, Putin said Moscow had received a copy of the plan. “I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” he told senior security officials.

#trump #plan #witkoff #driscoll #putin #zelensky

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The U.S. Peace Plan Is Significantly Slimmed Down 🌍✨

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U.S. and Ukrainian mediators emerged from two days of talks on Monday with a slimmed-down peace framework that sets aside contentious issues, as Ukrainian officials underscored their country's “red lines” on territory, military capacity and foreign alliances. 😎🔥

Zelensky said that Ukraine was at a “critical moment” and would soon determine its next steps. He spoke after high-level discussions in Geneva on Sunday in which Ukraine and its European allies laid out concerns about a draft of a 28-point peace proposal that was favorable to Russia on many issues. 🗳💬

President Trump, who is pushing Ukraine to agree to a settlement by Thanksgiving but has indicated that talks could continue, said on Monday that “something good just may be happening.” 🤷‍♂️👏

As Ukrainian officials told news outlets that a significant reworking of the plan had brought it closer to Ukraine's position on several points, it raised questions about whether Russia would agree to any proposal that did not hew to its maximalist demands. ⚖️📊

The initial 28-point plan, drafted by the Trump administration with Russian input, called for Ukraine to cede land, shrink its army and forswear membership in NATO. 🇺🇸🏴‍☠️

With the uncertainty about how the most sensitive issues will be resolved by the American and Ukrainian presidents, it remained to be seen whether the latest flurry of diplomacy would produce concrete results or fizzle as previous bursts did. 🕰🧐

Until last week, the Trump administration’s efforts to broker an end to the war had been seemingly stalled. An August meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin of Russia produced little in the way of substance. 🌫⛩

Trump canceled a planned meeting last month with Mr. Putin in Budapest after he said the Russian president had no intention of making a deal. 👉😡

The first public flickers of renewed movement came when Zelensky went to Turkey last week in hopes of reinvigorating efforts to end the war with what he said were new Ukrainian proposals. At the same time, Washington was sending a delegation of senior U.S. military officials to Kyiv for talks. ✈️📝

Reports emerged on Wednesday that the U.S. Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, had come bearing a 28-point proposal to end the war that reflected many Kremlin demands that Ukraine had consistently rejected. 📋📌

That set off alarm bells well before Driscoll, a friend and former classmate of Vice President JD Vance, presented the plan to Zelensky on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said in a statement that night that Ukraine would engage “constructively, honestly and operationally” with the points in the plan. 🙌🗣

The White House said Rubio and Witkoff, an envoy for peace missions, had been “quietly” working on the proposal for a month but described the details as in “flux.” 🌪🗯

The next day, as many Ukrainians and their European allies condemned the plan as akin to capitulation to Russia, Zelensky said in an address to the nation that Ukraine might have to choose between losing its dignity and forgoing U.S. support. 🤲🆘

Not long after, plans for urgent talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials began to take shape. 🚦📅

Zelensky sent his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, to lead Kyiv’s delegation in Geneva. Washington sent Rubio and Mr. Witkoff, as well as Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. 🗽✈️

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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Kushner, who is not a U.S. government employee, had also been involved in the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas. 🌍✨

Rubio struck an optimistic tone on Sunday after the talks, saying that the gaps that remained were not insurmountable. He said that some issues — like the role of the European Union or of NATO in any settlement — had been “segregated out” in the talks. 📌🤝

Things like that, he said, will need to be discussed with the parties involved. 🗣🔍

The White House and Ukraine’s presidency released a joint statement later that night saying the talks had resulted in an “updated and refined” draft, with “intensive work” to continue in the coming days. 📄🔄

On Monday, Zelensky said that Ukraine’s delegation was returning home and would deliver a full report about the progress of the talks. “Based on these reports, we will determine the next steps and the timing,” he said in a statement on X. 🚢📊

U.S. officials declined to say what parts of the proposal were adjusted in Geneva. 🤷‍♂️📋

Zelensky said that Kyiv had “managed to keep extremely sensitive points on the table,” including the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia. 🕊🤵

“But to achieve real peace, more, more is needed,” he told a parliamentary summit earlier on Monday, calling this a “critical moment” for Ukraine. 🎟🗣

“Of course, we’ll continue working with partners, especially the United States, and look for compromises that strengthen, but not weaken us,” he said. 💪✌️

Germany’s foreign minister, Wadephul, suggested on German public radio that the plan had been revised to address objections to a provision ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine. 🇩🇪🗣

“All questions concerning Europe, as well as those concerning NATO, have been removed from this plan,” Mr. Wadephul said. 🗑📃

“Now we must ensure,” he added, “that Ukraine’s sovereignty will be preserved.” 🌍🛡

Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, emphasized Ukraine’s red lines in a speech during an event on Crimea in Sweden on Monday, which Mr. Zelensky also addressed virtually. 🗳📞

“No legal recognition of Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories. No restrictions on the Ukrainian Defense Forces. No veto on Ukraine’s right to choose its future allies,” Stefanchuk said. 🌶🚫

As Ukraine and Europe pressed for better terms in the proposal, it remained unclear when the talks would turn to Moscow. 🌭🔍

The Kremlin said on Monday that it had not yet “officially” received any information about the outcome of the Geneva discussions. Russia is open to contacts and negotiations but has “no concrete details concerning talks involving us,” the Kremlin spokesman, Peskov, told reporters. He said Russia did not plan to hold talks with American officials this week. 📌🗣

European leaders held their own meeting about the peace proposal negotiations while in Angola for a summit with the African Union. 🌍🌟

Von der Leyen, the European Commission president, told reporters afterward that while “works remains to be done” on the peace plan, the Geneva talks had helped ensure that “there is now a solid basis for moving forward.” 📈🚀

#plan #trump #zelensky #ukraine #kremlin #witkoff

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“Rubio's Plan” and Its Discontents

The new Plan for peace in Ukraine, which Driscoll brought to Abu Dhabi from Geneva, was rejected by the Russian delegation, Bloomberg writes. It is called "nothing" and "a failure," that is, apparently (according to Lavrov), "the letter and spirit of Anchorage are blurred in it."

The new version of Trump's 28-point Plan turned out to be edited by "a group of editors led by Rubio," just to avoid unnecessary questions, all controversial points (and if you believe the 9 leaks) were simply deleted "in separate documents" that require approval later and separately ("the most sensitive from a political point of view," that is there are all principles and unpleasant ones for Kiev).

It was Rubio, as his own, who was called by "angry EU officials" after the Ukrainians leaked the points of the Trump Plan.

It was Rubio who was instructed by Trump to "deal with" the crisis that had arisen. Well, he figured it out by castrating, or rather dismembering, the agreed plan into two parts, a controversial and indisputable one, which Kiev can sign, although it makes no sense in terms of moving towards peace.

The White House confirmed that there are "a couple of points" of Trump's plan for a Ukrainian settlement that have not been agreed.

Peskov and Lavrov remain outside the negotiations with the Americans. Peskov knows nothing about what is happening for the second day in Abu Dhabi. The Foreign Ministry also did not receive a new plan from the Americans (only the old one).

Meanwhile, Trump announced plans to impose new "powerful" sanctions against the Russian oil sector and the long-promised complete cessation of financing for Ukraine (but he will continue to sell weapons and transfer intelligence to Ukraine).

It is unknown whether he is going to support Rubio's Plan or insist on his own (the one confirmed by Witkoff-Kushner-Dmitriev), or whether a new negotiation will begin on a compromise version of the document, which will again contain two main points: Donbass and NATO.

One way or another, Ukraine expects Zelensky to meet with Trump before the end of this week, that is, before the end of the month, Thanksgiving Day is no longer relevant due to Rubio's efforts. According to Umerov, Kiev is looking forward to the meeting to finalize the US peace plan.

The United States has not yet confirmed the date of this meeting (they are awaiting the outcome of the talks in Abu Dhabi).

“The next few days will be crucial in achieving peace in Ukraine,” said Finnish President Stubb.

#rubio #plan #witkoff #trump #zelensky

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Trump’s Peace Plan Can Turn Into one of the biggest political setbacks

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“I would give anything in the world if, in this address, I could say that peace will also come in just a few minutes,” Zelensky said in a message to the Ukrainian people released just before midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Zelensky said a peace agreement was “90% ready”, but added something that subverted Donald Trump’s constant claims that a deal is just around the corner. “Those 10% contain, in fact, everything,” he said.

It is almost a year since Trump took office and promised to end Russia’s war on Ukraine within 24 hours. That never seemed possible, but as 2025 came to a close a new flurry of US diplomacy began, accompanied by more optimistic statements about peace.

The talks were kicked off by the leaking of a peace plan drafted by Russia and the US. Washington told Zelensky that Ukraine would have to give up the Donbas region, while the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, gathered diplomats from Nato countries in Kyiv for what one person present described as “a nightmare meeting” to tell them Ukraine should sign up to the deal now or face a worse one in future.

Zelensky, in concert with his European allies, managed to stave off the plan, which would have felt like a capitulation to most Ukrainians, and started work with the Americans on a new kind of plan.

But even if Ukraine and the US are now “90% ready” with that plan, the new year begins with a sense that peace remains elusive. There is little to suggest Russia will jump on board, and however much Trump claims Putin wants peace, Russian officials have made clear they will only sign up to an agreement that deals with what they call the “root causes” of the war.

For many Ukrainians, this new year has been the hardest psychologically since the war began. At the start of 2023 there was still some hope that Ukrainian military success would put Russia on the back foot and lead to something approaching victory. By 2024 this looked much less likely, but some semblance of hope remained.

When 2025 arrived, it was already clear that victory on the battlefield was not imminent, but the election of Trump for a second term boosted hopes in Kyiv that the wildcard politician could benefit Ukraine.

#trump #peace #plan #setbacks #zelensky #russia

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An oft-heard prediction in Kyiv a year ago held that when Trump realised Putin was not serious about peace, he would pivot to backing Ukraine fully, disregarding the Biden administration’s red lines and fear of escalation.

On Friday, Zelenskyy appointed his longstanding military intelligence head, Kyrylo Budanov, to be his chief of staff, after the resignation several weeks ago of Andrii Yermak, his closest advisor, in a corruption scandal.

Budanov, a mercurial and charismatic figure known for planning audacious operations against Russia, has good contacts with western intelligence agencies and also maintains contacts with Russia over prisoner exchanges. His appointment could signal a new approach to security and negotiations from Kyiv.

The coming year may also prove a challenging one for Zelenskyy politically, as the five-year presidential term to which he was elected in spring 2019 nears the seven-year mark.

Martial law in Ukraine prevents the holding of elections, and while there is widespread criticism of Zelensky’s leadership on a range of factors, the impossibility of a wartime election is one point on which there is a broad consensus across the Ukrainian political spectrum.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander of Ukraine’s army and current ambassador to London, is widely seen as the most viable electoral challenger to Zelensky.

Zaluzhnyi has turned down previous offers to join Zelensky’s electoral team and is biding his time, having been sold on the idea of a political run but aware of the damage a competitive election could cause to Ukraine’s fragile wartime society.

“He’s not making any active preparations for a campaign, and his public position is that while the war continues he is not thinking about elections and not preparing for them,” said a source close to Zaluzhnyi. “Time will tell whether he goes into politics.”

The year ended with Russia claiming Ukraine had launched a massive drone attack on Putin’s residence, an act it said would be met with a tough response.

Moscow provided no evidence to back up the claim, with Kyiv insisting the whole story was fabricated, and the CIA reaching the same conclusion, according to US media outlets.

It was a reminder of how easy it would be, even if a ceasefire was agreed around elections or as part of a deal, for Russia to invent a thin pretext to relaunch its war.

#trump #peace #plan #setbacks #zelensky #russia

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🌍 Trump’s Secret Plan:⚠️
“using Israel to topple down the Iranian government to appropriate the Strait of Hormuz”

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Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power stations and fresh water plants if Tehran does not agree to peace terms “shortly”, even as he claimed diplomatic progress in ending the war that was instigated by the US and Israel. ⚔️

Tehran has remained defiant during the month-long conflict, describing US peace proposals as “excessive, unrealistic and irrational” and firing waves of missiles at Israel. 🚀

The risk of further escalation, including a US ground operation to seize Kharg Island, continued to send tremors through financial markets. Oil prices are on course for a record monthly rise. 📈

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump expressed confidence that a negotiated settlement would soon be reached, adding that the US was in “serious discussions” with what he characterised as “a more reasonable regime” in Tehran.

But he said if a deal was not struck – including to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane – US forces would destroy “all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)”. 💥

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities would be illegal under international humanitarian law and would probably constitute a war crime. ⚖️

Later on Monday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Trump would be willing to ask Arab countries to help foot the bill for the Iran war. 💰

“I think it’s something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do,” she told reporters. “It’s an idea that I know that he has.”

The proposal adds a striking new dimension to the warfare, suggesting Washington may seek to offload war costs on to the very Gulf states now scrambling to broker a peace deal.

The US president’s social media post and indications from the White House press team came amid continued garbled messaging.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said his preference would be to “take the oil in Iran”, which analysts believe would require using US troops to seize Kharg Island. ⛽️

#trump #israel #hormuz #strait #plan

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Esmail Baghaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, on Monday acknowledged Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration after talks on Sunday between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

However, he said there had been no direct negotiations with Washington, adding that the US demands were “excessive, unrealistic and irrational”.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, dismissed the talks in Islamabad as cover for more US troops being brought to the region, adding that Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners for ever”. 🔥

Human rights groups criticised Trump’s threat of punitive strikes on civilian infrastructure. Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International said:

“Intentionally attacking civilian infrastructure such as power plants is generally prohibited.”

Even in the limited cases that they qualify as military targets, a party still cannot attack power plants if this may cause disproportionate harm to civilians.

“Given that such power plants are essential for meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and thus unlawful under international humanitarian law, and could amount to a war crime.” ⚖️

While Trump officials, most prominently Pete Hegseth, have dismissed conflict law, Washington’s conduct of its joint war with Israel against Iran has had serious diplomatic ramifications.

Spain announced on Monday that its airspace was closed to US planes involved in the conflict. ✈️

There is a lack of clarity over the status of Pakistan’s efforts to mediate talks aimed at ending the war, which is threatening to plunge the global economy into recession and trigger shortages of food and pharmaceuticals. 🌍📉

Oil rose to almost $117 a barrel before easing back. Brent crude is now on track for its largest ever monthly gain, up 54% since the start of March. 📊

The International Monetary Fund said “all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth worldwide” if the conflict continues to disrupt Gulf flows.

Experts warn that a US ground operation could push the conflict into a deeper regional war. 🪖

Maziyar Ghiabi noted the war is moving toward a point of no return, with risks of a broader conflict involving Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Tehran struck a critical water and electrical plant in Kuwait and an oil refinery in Israel, while Israel and the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran. ⚠️

Fighting continued to spread in Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired missiles at Israel for the first time since the war began. 🚀

#trump #israel #hormuz #strait #plan

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#trump #plan #iran

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Trump: “I don't like their letter” 📜

Trump told that he would reject Iran's response to the latest draft agreement to end the war. 🚫

The U.S. waited 10 days for the Iranian response, which came on Sunday. The White House hoped Iran's positions would show further progress toward a deal, but Trump's initial reaction signals the opposite.

“I don't like their letter. It's inappropriate. I don't like their response,” Trump said, declining to go into further details about what was in the response. 🗣

In a post on Truth Social shortly after the call, Trump called the Iranian response “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” 😡

Iranian state media reported the Iranian response focused on ending the war and enshrining guarantees it won't resume, before anything else.

Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, reported that Iran's text “stresses the necessity of lifting U.S. sanctions, ending the war on all fronts” and ensuring Iranian management of the Strait of Hormuz. 🛑

According to the report, Iran demanded an immediate end to the U.S. naval blockade upon signing. ⚓️

The response maintains the proposed format of an initial memorandum of understanding (MOU) followed by 30 days of negotiations, but insists on lifting U.S. sanctions related to Iranian oil sales during that 30-day window, Tasnim reported.

Iran also demanded the release of frozen assets upon the initial signing of the MOU. 💰

Those conditions, if confirmed, are a long way from what the U.S. negotiators were hoping for. Iranian state media also didn't specify any nuclear concessions Iran was prepared to make. ☢️

Trump also told he'd spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and discussed the Iranian response, among other things. 🤝

“It was a very nice call. We have a good relationship,” he said of Netanyahu, but he added that the Iran negotiations are “my situation, not everybody else's.”

#trump #netanyahu #negotiations #iran #plan

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#tamir #heyman #erdogan #iran #plan

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Hezbollah Thwarted a US Ceasefire Plan

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Hezbollah has rejected a US-brokered ceasefire plan agreed by the Lebanese and Israeli governments, throwing the future of a truce in Lebanon and regional peace negotiations into question.

The group’s leader, Naim Qassem, called the ceasefire plan a “roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people” in a statement delivered on Thursday.

He demanded a complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, and said that as long as Lebanese villages were being bombed, northern Israel would not be safe.

“As long as the occupation exists, the resistance will continue,” he said. “We call upon the officials to put an end to this farce and humiliation called direct negotiations.”

The Israeli and the Lebanese governments had agreed a ceasefire to end hostilities on Monday night. The deal called for a complete cessation of fire from Hezbollah, which is aligned with Iran, and the evacuation of all its fighters south of the Litani River.

Despite the agreement between the two governments, the Lebanese army is not a party to the conflict because the fighting has been between Hezbollah and Israel.

The Lebanese government has been negotiating with Israel without Hezbollah as part of its effort to reassert control over the country and disarm the group.

Hezbollah’s rejection of the ceasefire flies in the face of the Lebanese government’s announcement that it would come into effect in 24 hours, and raises further questions about how the Lebanese government can negotiate a ceasefire with Israel without Hezbollah at the table.

It also calls into question the arrangement in Lebanon after the 17 April ceasefire, under which Washington constrained Israel from striking Beirut in return for a halt in Hezbollah fire towards northern Israel.

Hezbollah’s rejection of the ceasefire seems to echo demands from Tehran, which said hours after the ceasefire was announced that Israel should withdraw to its prewar positions.

The head of the Quds Force, part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said: “Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all of us, and removing Israel from the region is an attainable goal for Muslims.”

Esmail Qaani wrote in a post on a domestic social media platform: “The minimum demand of the resistance is the withdrawal of the usurping regime to the position it held before the start of the 40-day war.”

#hezbollah #plan #us #israel

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Tehran has previously said that its own ceasefire with the US and Israel must include a halt to the fighting in Lebanon.

It is unclear how Hezbollah’s rejection of a ceasefire in Lebanon will affect Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.

Despite the earlier joint commitment to a ceasefire, both sides continued fighting on Thursday. Israel carried out several airstrikes in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa valley, killing four people, while Hezbollah targeted Israeli soldiers in the village of Qantara, southern Lebanon, according to a statement by the group.

Lebanon and Israel, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces would “take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”.

Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, told reporters he had suggested the first pilot zone be in the area of Beaufort Castle, which Israeli soldiers captured earlier in the week.

The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli diplomats since fighting erupted on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel in support of Iran, which had been bombed by the US and Israel. The joint statement said the meetings would continue to flesh out a ceasefire and implement it in phases.

In substance, the joint statement resembles a previous ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, in which Hezbollah agreed to pull back from south of the Litani River so Lebanese armed forces could deploy there.

The full disarmament of Hezbollah failed and Israel carried out more that 10,000 strikes in violation of the ceasefire in the following 15 months.

According to analysts, Israel wants to inflict as much damage as possible on Hezbollah before any peace deal with Iran stops its offensive.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 3,516 people in Lebanon, while Hezbollah strikes have killed two civilians in Israel and at least 21 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon.

Trump is under pressure to resolve the Iran war as rising energy prices and economic uncertainty threaten Republican prospects in the US midterm elections and hamper global trade.

#hezbollah #plan #us #israel

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Iranian Intelligence Has Obtained Trump's Feces and Is Hatching a Plan to Eliminate Him

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“Iranian intelligence obtained samples of Trump's feces to study his behavior and emotional patterns in order to choose the moment and way to assassinate the American president,” an Israeli agent in Teheran reports. According to him, the operation took 2.5 years.

Israeli officials recently shared intelligence which they said contained evidence of the plot to kill the US president, adding to escalating tensions between the US and Iran.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the warning of a specific plot against Trump came this week. It followed a steady drumbeat of intelligence about possible assassination plans.

However, other US officials said the report may be an effort by Israel to sway the US president’s decision making amid the renewed fighting against Iran.

The details of the plot were not immediately clear, with sources adding that US security services had not vetted it themselves or were tracking it before the Israeli warning.

The plan would mark a major escalation in the conflict between the US and Iran, who agreed to end the war last month after weeks of talks.

Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding, which led to both sides agreeing to a ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as negotiations took place over how to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

But in recent days, that ceasefire agreement has appeared under strain as the two sides have continued to trade blows. Ships passing through the Strait have apparently continued to face the threat of Iranian attacks.

Trump said on Wednesday that he believed the ceasefire was “over” and was no longer sure whether he would pursue a deal with Iran. The US may “finish the job”, he said.

He also alluded to efforts by Tehran to kill him, though it is unclear whether he was specifically referring to the intelligence shared by Israel.

“They want to take out the US leader,” he said. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning, I’m on every single one of their lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky, but that maybe doesn’t last very long.”

On Wednesday the US president was forced to depart the Nato summit in Ankara on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari jet because of security fears.

Trump changed planes at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, as renewed fighting increased threat levels and the newer plane was not equipped with full security features.

It would not be the first time that Trump has reportedly been specifically targeted by the Iranian regime, which has promised retribution for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a top military official, by a US drone strike during Trump’s first term.

#trump #iran #feces #assassination #plan #israel

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In March, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was convicted in the US of a murder-for-hire plot targeting politicians, including Trump.

Asif Merchant, an Iranian intelligence official, was arrested after allegedly meeting with hitmen – who were in fact undercover agents – in New York in June 2024, according to the US department of justice.

Tehran has been mourning Ali Khamenei, its supreme leader, who was killed during the first round of US strikes in February and whose funeral has taken place in recent days.

The ceremonies also included effigies of the US president and an enormous banner in Qom promising a $100m bounty for his murder.

The coffin was interred at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s birthplace, after a funeral prayer before large crowds.

Iran state media said that up to 43 million people attended the six-day ceremony, calling it “the largest procession the world has ever witnessed”.

However, US strikes on Iran delayed the burial earlier in the day. The final procession was scheduled to take place at 8am local time (5.30am BST) on Thursday, but was pushed back by eight hours.

US-Israel relations under strain
The United States and Iran have resumed a new wave of tit-for-tat strikes after Iran targeted three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire to be over during the Nato summit in Turkey, as the US Central Command said its forces had struck approximately 90 military targets in the country.

Iran responded by targeting US military bases across the Middle East on Thursday.

Relations between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, have also apparently become strained since the two countries embarked on their conflict with Iran.

Mr Netanyahu has pushed for the conflict to continue, while Trump, facing criticism over the war, even from some factions of his own party, has sought to bring it to an end.

The pair spoke on Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal, during which they agreed to continue “coordination between the countries”, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

“As part of the continuous contact” between the two, “President Trump updated the prime minister on American moves in the Gulf,” the Israeli leader’s office said.

#trump #iran #feces #assassination #plan #israel

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