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President Trump said Tuesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent him at Russia-Ukraine peace talks expected to take place Thursday in Istanbul — after suggesting he might go himself to try to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II. -snip- “Talks are being held in Turkey later this week — probably on Thursday, and they could produce some pretty good results. Our people are going to be going there, Marco is going to be going there, others are going to be going, and we’ll see if we can get it done,” Trump said.

Vladimir Putin will not show up for peace talks because his 25-year stranglehold on Russia ends if he yields, experts say. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to an offer of direct talks aimed at achieving peace, but Moscow said it would refuse to honour a ceasefire before and during any meeting. The showdown was tentatively set for Istanbul with US President Donald Trump saying he would show up, but the meeting has yet to be confirmed. The apparent foot-dragging by the Kremlin was seen as a deliberate ploy to continue a bloody war with its neighbour that has rumbled...

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the "way forward for a ceasefire" in Ukraine with European counterparts, including the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and the EU's foreign policy chief, the State Department said on Monday. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and his German and Polish counterparts were also on the call, according to the readout.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan have been carrying out intense diplomacy in the past few days following increased hopes for the resumption of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Türkiye. Erdoğan will receive NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on May 13 in Ankara before the latter chairs the informal NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Antalya on May 14 and 15. Erdoğan and Rutte are expected to discuss the agenda of the NATO meeting and the efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Erdoğa spoke with Zelensky on late May 12 and emphasized the significance...

US President Donald Trump has described the upcoming May 15 meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul as "very important," APA reports. Speaking to journalists, Trump expressed hope for a positive outcome from the talks between Moscow and Kyiv representatives. "The Thursday meeting with Russia and Ukraine is very important. I’ve been very insistent on making this meeting happen. I believe something good could come out of it," he said.

Trump ‘thinking about’ joining Ukraine peace talks in Turkey Donald Trump said he could join Russia and Ukraine for talks on ending the war in Turkey on Thursday. The US president said on Monday that he was “thinking” of flying to Istanbul for negotiations after visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. “I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday. I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen, but we’ve...

European leaders stepped up pressure on Russia to accept an unconditional cease-fire in Ukraine, threatening to immediately impose a new round of punishing sanctions if the Kremlin did not change its stance by the end of Monday. “The clock is ticking — we still have 12 hours until the end of this day,” the German government spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, told a news conference. On Monday, the Kremlin spokesman brushed off the threat. “The language of ultimatums is unacceptable — you cannot talk to Russia like this,” the spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told Russian news agencies.

BREAKING: AMERICAN GAZA PORT SINKING GAZA: Netzerim Beach: Reports are coming in that the American pier in Gaza is sinking.

Tuesday, March 26th 2024 was a long and contentious day at the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors (‘BOS’) meeting. This board meeting followed the March 5th, Siskiyou County Health Department advisory warning that people should not enter the Klamath River or drink the water. “SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — Residents should not be in or drink water from the Klamath River due to high levels of arsenic, lead and aluminum, the Siskiyou County Environmental Health said today.” Activists favoring dam removal seem to be hypnotically willing to look past any and all unintended adverse impacts that have unfolded and are further...

The U.S. State Department said the Kremlin is preparing to hold "sham" referenda to annex Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, warning that Moscow will employ propaganda and disinformation campaigns, falsify voter turnout and exaggerate the percentage of Ukrainians who want to join Russia to conduct its illegal land grab. The United States has previously warned that Moscow was moving forward to hold elections to disguise its annexation of Ukrainian regions, but State Department Principal Deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters for first time Tuesday that the effort was being overseen by Sergey Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of Russia's presidential administration....

A major bridge in occupied Kherson has been hit by Ukraine's armed forces. The Antonivskyy (RU: Antonovskiy) spans the Dnipro river and is the shortest route for the occupiers to reach the city from Crimea.

A Russian military convoy that was outside of Ivankiv, Ukraine, on Sunday has since made it to the outskirts of Kyiv, satellite images show.On Sunday, the convoy was roughly 40 miles northwest of the Ukrainian capital, according to images provided by Maxar Technologies.Maxar said that roughly 17 miles of roadway is chocked full of the convoy, which consists of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles. The private US company said the convoy was located on the T-1011 highway at Antonov air base around 11:11 a.m local time.Antonov is roughly 17 miles from the center of the Ukrainian...

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia ordered its forces to target the long-range missiles and artillery weapons that Western countries have recently supplied to Ukraine, a sign of how Kyiv’s additional firepower has begun to reshape the conflict. On Monday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a group of Russian troops to make Ukraine’s long-range weaponry a priority target to prevent shelling in parts of eastern Ukraine held by Russian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. A recent shipment of advanced Western weapons has reinforced Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion. Whether those weapons will enable Kyiv to turn the tide remains unclear,...

Kotsnews forwarded from Komsomolskaya Pravda: KP.RU The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Greece was carrying NATO weapons for sale to Hezbollah Recall that the Ukrainian An-12 of the Meridian airline crashed on the evening of July 16 after a fire that broke out in the engine. According to the official, there were approximately 12 tons of “probably dangerous” cargo on board. But no signs of remnants of chemical weapons or nuclear materials could be found. The An-12 was not carrying weapons of mass destruction, but not training mines, as official authorities said, but a completely different cargo. According to information...

Several U.S. media reports have estimated somewhere between 10,000 to 40,000 American citizens are still in Afghanistan as of Tuesday. ..... Snip..... “Most are scrambling to escape. Some are dual nationals or children of Americans who may not have the proper passport or visas, but the State Department has not told them how to fix their paperwork.” The Daily Mail reported 40,000 Americans are stranded in Afghanistan, while a White House official reported only 700 Americans will be evacuated Tuesday. Monday saw 150 Americans evacuated, a Newsy reporter tweeted: