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Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts

Update Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts
US President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (R) look on before Trump signed a proclamation expanding fishing rights in the Pacific islands. (AFP)
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Updated 18 April 2025

Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts

Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts
  • US President Donald Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a truce
  • There has been no major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Russia

KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russia fired a fresh volley of missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, wounding dozens of people, Kyiv said Friday, as the United States warned it could end efforts to broker a ceasefire if it did not see progress soon.

US President Donald Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Russia on the three-year war.

After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term.”

“Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters at Le Bourget airport before leaving the French capital.

Russia fired at least six missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine overnight, killing two people in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy and wounding 70 others, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack, which came just days before Easter.

“This is how Russia started Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” he said on Telegram.

An AFP photographer in the city of Kharkiv witnessed the aftermath of one strike, which left rubble and debris scattered across a street.

An elderly resident could be seen bandaged, her face smeared with blood, while residents assessed the damage.

Since taking office Trump has embarked on a quest to warm ties with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the US and its European allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.

Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from policy under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US is pushing Ukraine into a deal that would give Washington sweeping access to its mineral resources.

Ukraine’s prime minister will visit Washington next week for talks with top US officials aimed at clinching the minerals and resources deal by April 26, according to a US-Ukraine signed “memorandum of intent” published Friday.

Trump wants the deal – designed to give the United States royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals – as compensation for aid given to Ukraine under Biden.

France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process.”

The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

European officials had expressed dismay at being shut out from the peace process, while Ukraine has expressed concern that Witkoff – one of Trump’s closest allies – is biased toward Russia.

Zelensky accused Witkoff on Thursday of having adopted the “strategy of the Russian side,” after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Moscow hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.

“He is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives,” Zelensky told journalists.

Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that a peace settlement depended on “so-called five territories” – the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea, that Russia claims to have annexed.

The Kremlin wants its claims over the regions to be recognized as part of any peace deal, a proposal that Ukraine has balked at. Moscow does not fully control any of them except for Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

Zelensky also said Thursday he had “information” China was supplying weapons to Russia, amid an escalating row between Kyiv and Beijing over China’s support for Moscow.

China, which has portrayed itself as a neutral party in the three-year war, has hit back at Kyiv’s criticism and called on all parties in the conflict to refrain from “irresponsible remarks.”


US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel as Iran conflict intensifies

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel as Iran conflict intensifies
Updated 15 sec ago

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel as Iran conflict intensifies

US starts evacuating some diplomats from its embassy in Israel as Iran conflict intensifies
  • Those warnings have increased as the conflict has intensified, with the embassy in Jerusalem authorizing the departure of nonessential staff and families over the weekend

WASHINGTON: The State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomats and their families from the US embassy in Israel as hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify and President Donald Trump warns of the possibility of getting directly involved in the conflict.
A government plane evacuated a number of diplomats and family members who had asked to leave the country Wednesday, two US officials said. That came shortly before US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced on X that the embassy was making plans for evacuation flights and ships for private American citizens.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic movements.
“Given the ongoing situation and as part of the embassy’s authorized departure status, mission personnel have begun departing Israel through a variety of means,” the State Department said.
“Authorized departure” means that nonessential staff and the families of all personnel are eligible to leave at government expense.
There was no indication of how many diplomats and family members departed on the flight or how many may have left by land routes to Jordan or Egypt.
The evacuations, comments from the White House and shifting of American military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East have heightened the possibility of deepening US involvement in a conflict that threatens to spill into a wider regional war.
Trump has issued increasingly pointed warnings about the US joining Israel in striking at Iran’s nuclear program, saying Wednesday that he doesn’t want to carry out a US strike on the Islamic Republic but suggesting he is ready to act if it’s necessary.
The State Department also has steadily ramped up its warnings to American citizens in Israel and throughout the region, including in Iraq.
Last week, ahead of Israel’s first strikes on Iran, the department and the Pentagon put out notices announcing that the US embassy in Baghdad had ordered all nonessential personnel to leave and that the Defense Department had “authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the Middle East.
Those warnings have increased as the conflict has intensified, with the embassy in Jerusalem authorizing the departure of nonessential staff and families over the weekend and ordering remaining personnel to shelter in place until further notice.
The embassy has been closed since Monday and will remain shut through Friday.


Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel

Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel
Updated 34 min 39 sec ago

Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel

Iran says committed to diplomacy but acts in ‘self-defense’ against Israel

TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country has remained committed to “diplomacy” but will continue to act in “self-defense” following Israel’s surprise attack nearly a week ago.
“Iran solely acts in self-defense. Even in the face of the most outrageous aggression against our people, Iran has so far only retaliated against the Israeli regime and not those who are aiding and abetting it,” said Araghchi in a post on X.
“With the exception of the illegitimate, genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, we remain committed to diplomacy,” he added.


Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia

Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia
Updated 32 min 15 sec ago

Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia

Putin says NATO rearmament not a ‘threat’ to Russia

SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a deal to end the fighting between Israel and Iran was possible, and that Israel’s strikes on Iran had led to a “consolidation” of Iranian society around its leadership.
“We see that today in Iran there is a consolidation of society around the country’s political leadership,” Putin told foreign journalists, including AFP, at a televised event.
“This is a delicate issue, and of course we need to be very careful here, but in my opinion, a solution can be found,” he added.
Putin said such an agreement could guarantee both Israel’s security and Iran’s desire for a civilian nuclear program.
Israel said its surprise air campaign was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran denies.
“I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement,” he said.
Putin said there were more than 200 Russian employees at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran which was built by Russia’s Rosatom.
“We agreed with the leadership of Israel that their security would be ensured,” he said.
He said Russia could “continue” to work with Iran on its civilian nuclear program and “ensure their interests in this sphere.”
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to rebuff Putin’s earlier offer to mediate in the conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own conflict in Ukraine first.
“I spoke to him yesterday and... he actually offered to help mediate, I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump told reporters as he unveiled a giant new flag pole at the White House.
Russia has deepened military ties with Iran since Moscow launched its campaign in Ukraine in 2022.
Moscow and Tehran in January inked a far-ranging strategic partnership agreement, and Kyiv and its allies have long accused Iran of supplying Russia with drones and short-range missiles.
The assault on Ukraine and the war in Gaza have strained Moscow’s traditionally good relations with Israel, home to a large Russian-born community.


Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce

Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce
Updated 43 min 11 sec ago

Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce

Trump rebuffs Putin offer to mediate Iran-Israel truce
  • “He actually offered to help mediate. I said, ‘Do me a favor, mediate your own’,” Trump said

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday to rebuff Vladimir Putin’s offer to mediate in the Israel-Iran conflict, saying the Russian president should end his own war in Ukraine first.

“I spoke to him yesterday and... he actually offered to help mediate, I said ‘do me a favor, mediate your own,’” Trump told reporters as he unveiled a giant new flag pole at the White House.

“Let’s mediate Russia first, okay? I said, Vladimir, let’s mediate Russia first, you can worry about this later.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov disputed the timing that Trump gave for the call.

“He (Trump) was speaking figuratively. Life is so eventful right now that looking back a few days is like looking back to yesterday,” Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS.

Trump and the Kremlin both previously said on Saturday that the two leaders had spoken that day, with the US president saying Putin had called to wish him a happy 79th birthday.

Later on Wednesday, Trump said a change in Iran’s government “could happen,” and also indicated that negotiations could be on the horizon, without giving details.

“They want to meet, they want to come to the White House — I may do that,” Trump told reporters.

Trump meanwhile insisted that the stalled peace talks to end the Ukraine war were “going to work out” despite Moscow stepping up attacks.

The US president had vowed to end the war within 24 hours of taking office and made a major pivot toward Putin, but talks have so far made little progress.

Trump described the Ukraine war, sparked by Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor in 2022, as “so stupid.”


Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions

Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions
Updated 18 June 2025

Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions

Leaked call between Thai PM and Cambodia ‘strongman’ stokes tensions
  • Thai PM says leak shows ‘trust problem’ with Cambodian ex-premier

BANGKOK, Phnom Penh: Relations between Thailand and Cambodia suffered a major blow on Wednesday after a leak of a telephone conversation between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and influential former Cambodian Premier Hun Sen that could further escalate tensions. 

Ties between the two neighbors are at their worst in more than a decade after a row over border territory that has sparked fears of a military confrontation following a sharp rise in nationalist rhetoric and the mobilization of troops on both sides of their frontier.

The leaked June 15 phone call, which has been confirmed as authentic by both Hun Sen and Paetongtarn, shows the Thai premier telling Hun Sen, whom she called uncle, that she is under domestic pressure and urging him not to listen to “the opposite side” which includes a prominent Thai military commander at the border.

“He just want to look cool and saying things that are not useful to the nation, but in truth what we want is peace,” she told Hun Sen through a translator in the leaked audio clip, referring to the general.

Paetongtarn later told reporters her conversation with Hun Sen was part of a negotiation tactic and she has no problem with the Thai army.

“I won’t be talking privately with him (Hun Sen) anymore because there is a trust problem,” she said.

Hun Sen said the leak came from one of the 80 politicians he shared the audio recording with. Self-styled strongman Hun Sen was Cambodia’s premier for nearly four decades and has maintained a high public profile since handing over power in 2023 to his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet. 

The two governments had until recently enjoyed warm ties, helped by the close relationship between Hun Sen and Thailand’s former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn’s influential father. Both former leaders are still active in politics.

Fierce rhetoric

The leak could put that relationship in jeopardy and will add to speculation in Thailand that Paetongtarn and the powerful Thai military are at odds on how to respond to the border crisis with Cambodia.

Cambodia’s rhetoric has become more fierce in the past week, with Hun Sen blaming Thai “extremists” and the Thai army for stoking tensions, saying Paetongtarn’s government was “unable to control its military the way our country can.”

The billionaire Shinawatra family has a troubled history with the army, with two of its governments ousted by generals in coups in 2006 and 2014.

Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang, commander of Thailand’s Second Army Area overseeing the eastern border, on Wednesday told local media that Paetongtarn had called him to explain the leak.

“I don’t have any issue, I understand,” Boonsin said. The weeks-long standoff followed a brief border skirmish on May 28 that left a Cambodian soldier dead. Both countries have called for calm while vowing to defend their sovereignty over contested stretches of a 820-km (510-mile) land border, parts of which are undemarcated. Attempts to settle the issue have failed, with Cambodia on Sunday delivering on its vow to seek resolution at the International Court of Justice, the jurisdiction of which Thailand says it does not recognize.

On Wednesday, Cambodia’s defense ministry said Thailand had again violated its sovereignty with drone flights, trench digging and troop deployments, which Bangkok rejected.

Thousands of Cambodians joined a state-organized march in the capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday to support the government, shouting slogans, waving national flags and holding portraits of Hun Manet and Hun Sen.

“Cambodia’s land! We won’t take others’ land, we keep our land!” some chanted.