Free Republic

President Trump has denied telling President Volodymyr Zelensky he should surrender Ukraine’s entire Donbas region to Russia to end the war — but said Kyiv should give up the land already taken by Russia. Trump insisted that the two leaders “never discussed” giving up the entire region during their closed-door meeting last week, after reports claimed his White House meeting with Zelensky on Friday had descended into an explosive “shouting match.” “We never discussed that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday when pressed on whether pushed for Ukraine to accept President Vladimir Putin’s terms for a cease-fire. “We think that what...

Moscow appears to have rejected President Trump’s latest call to freeze the current state of the front lines in Ukraine, reiterating that “Russia’s stance doesn’t change.” Addressing Trump’s proposal over the weekend that the war in Ukraine end immediately and that each side keep the land they currently hold, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov scoffed at the prospect of allowing Kyiv to keep parts of the Donbas region. “This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US. The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change,”...

<p>California legislators returned to work Monday to face what is likely to be the worst budget crisis in state history.</p> <p>Dire warnings of unprecedented fiscal pain tempered the fanfare and back-patting that traditionally accompany the beginning of a two-year legislative session.</p>