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Georgian Airways Announces Controversial Plan For Transit Flights For Russians Via Tbilisi
Georgian Airways plans to launch transit flights for Russians via Tbilisi to several destinations in Europe, a move likely to raise the ire of Washington and Brussels, which have banned Russian airlines from entering their airspace as they look to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The airline's founder, Tamaz Gaiashvili, told Russian media outlet RTVI television on May 25 that flights from Moscow to five European destinations -- Milan, Paris, Vienna, Larnaca, and Thessaloniki -- via Tbilisi will start in mid-June.
Flights between the Georgian capital and Russia resumed earlier this month after Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a ban on air travel between the two countries implemented four years ago after a wave of anti-Kremlin protests in the Caucasus nation. Russians have looked to skirt the sanctions by flying through cities such as Istanbul, Dubai, Yerevan, and Belgrade to destinations they can no longer reach directly from home.
Putin also signed a decree also allowing Georgian nationals to enter Russia without visas starting from May 15, unless they are coming to work in Russia for more than 90 days.
The two countries have had no formal diplomatic ties since Russia routed Tbilisi's forces in a brief war in 2008 that ended with Tbilisi losing control over its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgia's government has not joined international sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the country also has voted in favor of all international resolutions condemning Russia’s aggression. It has also provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid and taken in thousands of war refugees.
At the same time, the Black Sea country of 3.7 million has been a top destination for Russians fleeing the partial mobilization that Putin announced in September 2022 and the worsening general crackdown in Russia.
The allowance of flights from Russia has sparked protests in Tbilisi, led by President Salome Zurabishvili, who has criticized the government for its warming relations with Moscow.
Georgian Airways, based in Tbilisi, earlier this week said it had banned Zurabishvili from using its services because of her calls for a boycott of the airline.
The EU has said it "regrets" the resumption of flights to Georgia, which "raises concerns in terms of Georgia's EU path."
Gaiashvili admitted there are still issues to be ironed out over the transit of passengers through the airport given it has no proper facilities to monitor and process such an operation.
He said that the number of passengers coming from Russia to Tbilisi remains small and that flights are only about 40 percent capacity.
"Our expectations were different," Gaiashvili said.
With reporting by RTVI
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- By RFE/RL
Iran Accuses Israel's Netanyahu Of Trying To Derail Nuclear Talks
Iran's top diplomat has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy toward Iran after the premier renewed his call for the full dismantlement of Tehran's nuclear program.
Iranian and US negotiators concluded a third round of indirect talks over Iran's nuclear program on April 26, with a fourth round scheduled for May 3, likely in a European country.
Speaking in Jerusalem a day after the talks, Netanyahu said any deal with Iran must aim for the complete dismantling of the nuclear program and also address Tehran's missile capabilities.
"The real deal that works is the deal which removes Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said, adding that a good agreement should also "bring in the prevention of ballistic missiles."
Writing on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said it was "striking…how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran."
The Iranian diplomat maintained that his country was "strong and confident enough" to "thwart any attempt by malicious external actors to sabotage its foreign policy or dictate its course."
"We can only hope our US counterparts are equally steadfast," he added.
Netanyahu's comment came after a deadly explosion hit Iran’s Shahid Rajaei port, killing at least 46 people and injuring more than 1,000.
Some speculate that the explosion was linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make ballistic missile fuel, though Iran denies any sort of fuel was being stored in the container terminal.
Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the sharp orange color of the initial fire was consistent with burning sodium perchlorate, a component used in rocket fuel. Open-source data suggests Iran took shipments of the chemical at the port earlier this year.
According to various reports, the Donald Trump administration previously held Netanyahu back from launching strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities. However, the US president has said he himself would be "leading the pack" toward war with Iran if he cannot clinch a deal.
Ali Shamkhani, a senior aide to Iran's supreme leader and former national security adviser, warned on April 28 that Israel would face "unimaginable consequences" if it attacked Iran's nuclear sites.
"The question is: Are these threats the result of Israel acting on its own, or are they coordinated with Trump to push forward negotiations with Iran?" he wrote on X.
Iran Port Explosion Death Toll Rises To 46 As Fire Continues To Burn
Iranian officials have raised the death toll to 46 in a massive explosion purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Authorities have yet to offer a clear explanation for what caused the April 26 blast at the Shahid Rajaei port, although independent experts said it appeared to be due to the improper storage of sodium perchlorate, a component used in rocket fuel.
On April 28, state media reported that a fire triggered by the blast, which also left more than 1,000 injured, was still burning but under control.
The speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said in a statement on April 28 that a massive investigation involving "supervisory, security, and judicial agencies and representatives of four parliamentary commissions" is being conducted to uncover any negligence or criminal intent in incident and that the findings will be made public.
The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's busiest, processing up to 80 percent of the country's shipping traffic.
While a specific cause has yet to be determined, Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran's crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the port.
"The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers," he told Iran's ILNA news agency on April 27.
"Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger," Zafari said.
According to the private security firm Ambrey, the port had received a shipment of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, which was going to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stocks after being depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas -- which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union -- in the Gaza Strip.
Tehran has not acknowledged taking the shipment, but ship-tracking data obtained by the Associated Press shows vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity of the port in March.
US-Iran Talks In Oman
The April 26 blast happened as Iran and the United States met in Oman for the third round of talks over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3. although the location has not been confirmed.
While no Iranian officials have suggested the explosion was due to an attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who lead Tehran's delegation in Oman, said last week before the incident that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response."
Deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years -- such as gas explosions and oil refinery fires -- with many blamed on negligence.
Tehran, however, has also blamed some incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting the country's nuclear program. Last year, Israel also bombed Iran's air defenses.
Iran accused Israel as being behind a February 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, as well as a major cyberattack on the Shahid Rajaei port in May 2020, causing transport chaos for days after crashing the facility's computer system.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 27 repeated his calls for "all of" Iran's nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled.
"We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told a news conference.
The Shahid Rajaei port mainly handles large volumes of container traffic and also has oil tanks and other petrochemical facilities.
The port is some 1,050 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf where 20 percent of all oil traded globally passes through.
Russia Charges Man With Car Bombing That Killed Top General
Russian prosecutors have charged a man in connection with a Moscow suburb car bombing that killed a Russian general, alleging he had been paid by Ukrainian intelligence services.
The Investigative Committee on April 27 said Ignat Kuzin faced terrorism charges for the killing of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik. He was the second general to have been killed in a bomb attack in the Moscow region in the past six months.
The committee released a courtroom video showing a man, wearing a black hospital mask and a black-hooded sweatshirt appearing in a glass cage as a judge ordered him held pending further investigation.
Ukraine has said nothing about the April 24 bombing that killed Moskalik, who served on the General Staff's planning directorate and was reportedly involved in planning Russia's all-out invasion in 2022.
The Federal Security Service announced Kuzin's arrest on April 25, alleging he was a resident of Ukraine and that Ukrainian security services had provided him with an explosive device that he then planted in a car in the Moscow suburb of Balashikha.
The service claimed the bomb was detonated remotely from Ukraine as Moskalik passed by.
The incident followed a similar killing in December.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov died when a bomb planted in an electric scooter on a sidewalk detonated as he exited his Moscow apartment building. Kirillov headed Russia's military unit that oversaw defenses against nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks.
Russian officials also alleged Ukraine was behind that bombing.
- By RFE/RL
Putin Calls For 3-Day Cease-Fire With Ukraine Over WWII Victory Day
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a three-day cease-fire in the Ukraine war to coincide with the annual celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Ukraine's foreign minister suggested the call, announced by the Kremlin on April 28, was disingenuous, and proposed a cease-fire beginning immediately.
It's the second time in the month that the Kremlin has called for halt to fighting. A proposal for the Easter holiday earlier this month was largely ignored as Russia and Ukraine continued to batter one another, including a recent series of massive air attacks by Moscow across Ukraine.
Highlighting the strikes, which have killed several civilians, including children, family and friends gathered on April 28 at a funeral for 17-year-old Danylo Khudia, who died in a Russian strike on Kyiv four days earlier. The funeral was also a remembrance for Khudia's parents, who were among at least 12 people killed in the attack.
The cease-fire would coincide with Victory Day, one of Russia's -- and Ukraine's -- most-revered annual observances. May 9 marks the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
As he has every year of his presidency, Putin will preside over a Red Square military parade that celebrates the Soviet role in defeating Germany. In recent years, he has used the occasion to whitewash Soviet and Russian history, while also bashing the West.
Responding to the Kremlin proposal, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called for a cease-fire to begin immediately.
"Why wait until May 8? If the fire can be ceased now and since any date for 30 days-- so it is real, not just for a parade," he said in a post to X. " Ukraine is ready to support a lasting, durable, and full cease-fire. And this is what we are constantly proposing, for at least 30 days."
The celebration occurs as the Russian invasion of Ukraine -- now the largest land war in Europe since World War II -- continues unabated in its fourth year. Russia's casualties, killed or wounded, now total more than all the casualties it suffered in all the conflicts it has fought since 1945.
Efforts to reach a bilateral cease-fire, or even a broader peace deal, kicked into higher gear as US President Donald Trump took office in January, vowing to end fighting within 24 hours.
His predecessor, Joe Biden, refused to engage in substantive talks with Moscow so long as the invasion continued.
Though Trump has opened direct talks with Moscow, Russian officials have sought to broaden the negotiations to include not just the Ukraine conflict, but wider bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow.
Russia and Ukraine agreed on a limited cease-fire in March, but the two sides have continued to attack one another. On the battlefield, Russian forces have pressed their advantage -- in men and in weaponry -- to grind down Ukraine's troops.
Over the weekend on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican, Trump had his face-to-face meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy since February, when Oval Office talks imploded in acrimony.
Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy had gone well, but he added that he thought Zelenskyy is ready to give up Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula to Russia as a concession -- something the Ukrainian leader has long stated he would never do.
Trump later called on Putin to "stop shooting" and agree to a peace deal.
"Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal," Trump told reporters.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt echoed that assertion on April 28.
Trump "wants to see a permanent cease-fire. I understand Vladimir Putin, this morning, offered a temporary cease-fire," she said. "The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent cease-fire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed."
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said his conversation with Trump represented a "very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results."
Experts say Putin has been dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of one of his main goals: fully capturing the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.
They add that ceding territory to Russia would be politically and constitutionally impossible for Zelenskyy. Ukrainian citizens and lawmakers appear strongly opposed to the idea.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the Russian invasion was "closer."
Russia and Ukraine "are closer in general than they have been anytime in the last three years, but it's still not there," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News broadcast on April 27.
But Trump's critique of Putin also came shortly after he made his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to cede territory.
He said in a Time magazine interview published on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia."
Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement.
European officials and US Democrats have pushed back against some US proposals.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on April 27 said Kyiv should not agree to US proposals that would include giving up land to Russia.
Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said it would be a mistake for the United States to consider the possibility of recognizing the occupied Crimea as Russian territory as part of a peace agreement.
"Crimea is Ukraine," Kallas said, adding the EU will never recognize the peninsula as part of Russia.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
As India-Pakistan Tensions Soar, Dozens Of Afghan Insurgents Killed Crossing Border
Pakistani security forces said they killed dozens of militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan, even as its troops separately continued to exchange gunfire with the India military near Kashmir amid skyrocketing tensions in the region.
Islamabad did not directly blame India for the incursion of militants from Afghanistan, but it said the fighters had been sent to carry out terrorist attacks by their "foreign masters."
Some Pakistani officials suggested, without providing evidence, that nuclear-rival India encouraged the insurgents' actions to divert the attention of Pakistan's military from the brewing crisis in Kashmir.
"Such actions by [the insurgents], at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly implies on whose cues [the fighters are] operating," the Pakistani Army said in a statement.
The military said it killed 71insurgents entering from Afghanistan on April 27 and claimed that intelligence reports indicated the militants were "Khwarij" -- a phrase the government uses for Tehrik-e Taliban, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban.
"On the nights of April 25-26 and 26-27, movement of a large group of Khwarij, who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was detected by the security forces in general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district," the military said.
"Own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate…; A large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was also recovered."
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the incident represented the largest number of "terrorists" killed in a single day.
"We had information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible" to undertake attacks.
Reuters quoted local police officials on April 28 as saying security forces had detained around 500 people for questioning after a search of some 1,000 houses and forests in a hunt for militants in Indian Kashmir.
What's Behind The New India-Pakistan Escalation?
Tensions have soared in the region between Pakistan and its bitter rival and neighbor India, both nuclear-armed nations.
The latest flareup occurred on April 22 when an attack killed mostly Indian nationals in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, but the Pakistani government denies it was behind the attack that killed 26 civilians.
New Delhi and Islamabad have since carried out tit-for-tat punishments following the incident, including downgrading diplomatic and trade ties, closing the main border crossing, and revoking visas for each other's nationals.
On April 27, Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire near Kashmir's Line of Control for a third night in a row.
The Pakistani government has said it would consider it "an act of war" if India followed through on a threat to block the flow of crucial rivers as punishment for the deadly incident.
The United States on April 27 said it was in touch with India and Pakistan and urged them to seek a "responsible solution" to the crisis.
"This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters.
In comments to foreign media, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar claimed that India blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistan's security forces from their focus on the tensions on its western borders.
He added that Pakistan had "undeniable evidence" of India's support for the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan. India has denied the charges.
Balochistan has been the site of an insurgency, with separatists seeking independence from Pakistan.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Iran Port Explosion That Killed Dozens Blamed On Unregistered Rocket Fuel
A massive explosion purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant has killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000 others in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Authorities in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the April 26 blast at the Shahid Rajaei port, although independent experts said it appeared to be due to the improper storage of sodium perchlorate, a component used in rocket fuel.
On April 27, state media reported that the blast was now under control.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian visited with those some of the injured and told local officials that “we have to find out why it happened,” according to the government website.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said 190 of those injured remained hospitalized as of April 27.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered security and judicial officials to investigate "any negligence or deliberateness" in the incident.
The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's busiest, processing up to 80 percent of the country's shipping traffic.
Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran's crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the port.
"The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers," he told Iran's ILNA news agency.
"Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger," Zafari said.
According to the private security firm Ambrey, the port had received a shipment of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, which was going to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stocks after being depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas -- which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union -- in the Gaza Strip.
Tehran has not acknowledged taking the shipment, but ship-tracking data obtained by the Associated Press shows vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity of the port in March.
Iran Launches Investigation After Port Explosion
Iran's Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation into the port explosion.
The April 26 blast happened as Iran and the United States met in Oman for the third round of talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, also in Oman.
While no Iranian officials have suggested the explosion was due to an attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is leading Tehran's delegation in Oman, said earlier this week that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response."
Deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years -- such as gas explosions and oil refinery fires -- with many blamed on negligence.
Tehran, however, has also blamed some incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting the country's nuclear program. Last year, Israel also bombed Iran's air defenses.
Iran accused Israel as being behind a February 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, as well as a major cyberattack on the Shahid Rajaei port in May 2020, causing transport chaos for days after crashing the facility's computer system.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 27 repeated his calls for "all of" Iran's nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled.
"We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told a news conference.
The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's largest and it mainly handles large volumes of container traffic and also has oil tanks and other petrochemical facilities.
The port is some 1,050 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf where 20 percent of all oil traded globally passes through.
Local officials said that all schools, universities, and offices in Bandar Abbas will be closed on April 27.
With reporting from Reuters and the AP.
Iran, US Officials Meet In Oman For Third Round Of Nuclear Talks
Iran and the United States met in Oman on April 26 for the third round of talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, with the location yet to be announced.
The talks ran for several hours in Muscat, Omani mediators said of the indirect sessions between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East.
"The negotiations were conducted very seriously and professionally," Araqchi said without providing full details. "We are cautiously optimistic."
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of US-Iran talks in Muscat and Rome, offered a positive note at the end of the negotiations.
Iran and the United States “identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments,” Busaidi posted on X after the conclusion of talks in Oman.
“Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3.”
The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the United States has imposed on the country.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached.
Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
- By RFE/RL
Rubio Says Ukraine Peace Deal 'Closer' As Kyiv Calls For More Pressure On Russia
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "closer" as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for greater international pressure on the Kremlin following the latest wave of attacks along the front line.
"They [Russia and Ukraine] are closer in general than they have been anytime in the last three years, but it's still not there," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News on April 27.
"We have made real progress, but those last couple of steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon," he said, adding this would be a "very critical week" in the negotiation process.
US President Donald Trump has made ending the 38-month war a top priority since taking office nearly 100 days ago, calling last month for an immediate and full cease-fire.
While Zelenskyy has agreed to Trump's proposal, his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, has continued to negotiate details of a cease-fire with Washington.
Experts say Putin is dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of the goal of fully capturing the four regions of eastern Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed in 2022: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.
Russian troops launched almost 70 attacks along the 1,000-kilometer-long front on April 27, Zelenskyy said in a post on X as he called on the West to take tougher measures against the Kremlin.
"The situation on the front line and the real activity of the Russian Army prove that the current global pressure on Russia is insufficient to bring this war to an end. Soon, it will be 50 days since Russia began ignoring [Trump's] proposal for a full and unconditional cease-fire -- a proposal Ukraine accepted back on March 11. More tangible pressure on Russia is needed to create more opportunities for real diplomacy," he said.
The Ukrainian leader also said his forces were continuing to fight in the Russian region of Kursk, contradicting Moscow's claims earlier in the day that it had driven Ukrainian troops from its territory.
Trump And Zelenskyy Meet At The Vatican
The day before, Trump met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican in Rome, where both were attending funeral services for Pope Francis, who died Easter Monday at the age of 88.
The April 26 meeting, which lasted about 15 minutes, was their first since Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the Oval Office in February following a public spat over peace talks that shocked allies.
Steven Cheung, the White House's communications director, said Trump and Zelenskyy "had a very productive discussion."
Zelenskyy called it a "very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results," he added.
John Bolton, Trump's former national-security adviser during his first term and a staunch critic of the president, told CNN the meeting was "a significant step back toward sensible conversation between the two leaders."
Trump and Zelenskyy also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the funeral.
Macron's office described the exchanges between leaders as "positive" and said he later met separately with Zelenskyy.
Starmer's office said he and Zelenskyy had "discussed positive progress made in recent days to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine."
Trump's Rare Critique Of Putin
Following the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump made a rare critique of Putin, denouncing Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine, which have killed dozens of civilians over the past two weeks.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions'?," he wrote in the post later on April 26.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow only targets "military goals or civilian sites used by the [Ukrainian] military," insinuating that Ukraine is placing forces, weapons, or command and control nodes around apartment and commercial buildings.
But Trump's critique of Putin also came shortly after he made his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to secure a peace deal. He said in a Time magazine interview published on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia."
Bolton said in the CNN interview that a permanent peace deal is "a long way away" because the terms that Trump is backing essentially "amounts to surrender for Ukraine."
Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement.
Rubio reiterated in the NBC interview that Russia would have to make concessions too, but the Trump administration has not outlined any to date.
“The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want, and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didn’t,” Rubio said. “That’s how you end wars, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve here so more people won’t die.”
Rubio appeared to play down the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia to force Moscow to agree to a peace deal.
"The minute you start doing that kind of stuff, you’re walking away from it -- you’ve now doomed yourself to another two years of war, and we don’t want to see it happen...No one else is talking to both sides but us.”
Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv will not recognize Russian sovereignty of its territory, but the Ukrainian leader is in a tough position.
His country is heavily dependent on US military aid, especially air defense, rocket launches, and ammunition. Current US military aid approved in 2024 may run out this summer and it is unclear whether the Trump administration will approve additional weapons delivers should the war still be in progress.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the amount of aid the United States has given to Ukraine and has demanded Washington be reimbursed for its support. The US Government Accountability Office has estimated US aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion at more than $170 billion.
Trump wants Ukraine to give the United States access to its critical minerals and natural resources as a form of compensation. Washington and Kyiv have been in talks for months about the parameters of a deal but have yet to reach an agreement.
Trump on April 25 criticized Zelenskyy for the delay, saying the deal was "at least three weeks late." Rubio did not say whether he expects the United States and Ukraine to sign the deal during this "very critical" week.
Speaking to Fox News on April 27, White House national-security adviser Mike Waltz suggested the sides could be close to finalizing a minerals deal.
"The Ukraine deal is going to get done,” he said.
"The negotiators were working hard over the weekend. That is first and foremost...on the president's mind. It's going to get done. The president is determined to make it so," he added.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Moscow, Pyongyang Confirm North Korean Troops Fighting Against Ukraine
Russia has confirmed for the first time that it deployed North Korean soldiers in the battle to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region following Kyiv's shock incursion into the border area last year.
In a statement on April 26, the Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged the "significant contribution" of North Korean soldiers to Moscow's war efforts.
Hours later, Pyongyang also confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia on the orders of leader Kim Jong Un.
Following the acknowledgments, the US State Department said it was concerned by North Korea's direct involvement in Russia's war.
"We continue to be concerned by [North Korea's] direct involvement in the war. [North Korea's] military deployment to Russia and any support provided by the Russian Federation to [North Korea] in return must end," a State Department spokesperson said in an e-mail to Reuters.
Russia's Foreign Ministry, citing the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Russia and North Korea from December 4, 2024, said that "a new page has been written in the glorious annals of the military brotherhood of the Russian and Korean peoples."
"The fighters of the Korean People's Army...fought shoulder to shoulder, in the same trench, and shed blood with our soldiers and officers in the Kursk region and made a significant contribution to the liberation of Russian land from enemy occupiers."
General Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s general staff, told President Vladimir Putin in a video conference that North Korean soldiers had made a significant contribution to the "liberation" of the region from Ukrainian soldiers.
The comments confirmed what Ukrainian and Western officials have long said: that Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
US officials said more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers participated in the fight and had suffered massive losses.
Gerasimov said the Korean mission was in line with the partnership agreement between the two countries.
"The soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army who fought shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers in repelling the Ukrainian invasion showed high professionalism, bravery, courage, and heroism in battle," Gerasimov told Putin.
Russia has claimed to have pushed Ukrainian forces out of most of Kursk, although Kyiv has said its forces are holding on in the Russian region.
In late March, North Korean leader Kim paraded new military drones amid reports that he has sent an additional 3,000 troops to help Russia in its war on Ukraine.
Pyongyang released images on March 27 showing Kim inspecting tests of reconnaissance and attack drones at an undisclosed location. There has been international concern that Russia is providing North Korea with drone technology in return for substantial military aid.
The same day Kim inspected the new drones, South Korea’s publicly owned Yonhap news agency cited the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul as saying that "it appears that some 3,000 or more [North Korean troop] have been additionally dispatched [to Russia] in January and February."
The reported new troop deployment follows an earlier 11,000-strong contingent Pyongyang sent that has seen action in Russia's Kursk region.
In its statement early on April 28, North Korea said it would "faithfully implement" its agreement with Russia, according to state-run KCNA news agency. It added that North Korean troops had made an "important contribution to the liberation" of territory occupied by Ukrainian forces.
"We can say that Russia is already becoming dependent on North Korea in many ways, not only in terms of shells, but also in terms of other weapons...as well as in terms of soldiers," Ukrainian analyst Oleh Saakyan told RFE/RL’s Current Time.
There has been a substantial warming in relations between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
As well as sending troops, North Korea has also sent short-range missiles, self-propelled howitzers and rocket launchers, according to the South Korean military.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
- By RFE/RL
Trump Demands Free Passage For US Vessels Through Panama, Suez Canals
President Donald Trump on April 26 said US commercial and military vessels should be able to travel without charge through the Panama and Suez Canals, two of the world’s most important waterway shortcuts.
"American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America. I’ve asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!"
The remarks are the latest by the US leader regarding greater access -- or ownership -- of key global assets.
Earlier, he spoke of making Canada the 51st US state, annexing Greenland, controlling the Gaza Strip, and gaining ownership of Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals.
The Panama Canal was built by the United States from 1904-14, costing the lives of thousands of local workers. The waterway greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The canal and surrounding Canal Zone remained under US control until they were handed back to Panama in 1999 following a treaty signed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Trump recently won a major concession from Panama as he demanded more US influence over the canal -- including allowing the US military to station troops around the waterway, alongside Panamanian forces, to help protect its sovereignty.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to "take back" the canal, which he claims is being controlled by China. Prior to taking office in January, Trump told reporters he would not rule out using economic or military pressure to regain control.
While he has often spoken of his interest in the Panama Canal, his latest remarks on the Suez Cana appear to be a new focus for the US president.
Egypt controls the canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. it accounted for some 10 percent of global maritime trade before Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels began attacking shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The canal has been operational since 1869, built under French control.
With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Trump, Zelenskyy Talk Peace Deal On Sidelines Of Pope Francis Funeral
US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, as the two leaders look to make progress on high-stakes peace talks for the war in Ukraine.
Steven Cheung, the White House's communications director, said on April 26 that Trump and Zelenskyy "met privately today and had a very productive discussion."
This was the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy since their explosive Oval Office shouting match in late February, which led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis. Their talk on the sidelines of the funeral comes amid Trump's calls for a high-level summit between Russia and Ukraine "to finish it off" and get a peace deal.
"Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out," Zelenskyy wrote on X in a post shared after the funeral. "Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results."
Zelenskyy added that he thanked Trump for the "good meeting" at the Vatican, and his press secretary, Serhiy Nykyforov, said the two presidents talked for around 15 minutes. Nykyforov had said earlier that Trump and Zelenskyy would meet again the same day, but later said no second meeting took place due to a tight schedule for both leaders.
Trump had earlier claimed that a deal to end the war is "very close" in a social media post and he had previously warned both sides that Washington was prepared to walk away from US-led efforts to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow if an agreement was not reached soon.
The two presidents also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the funeral. Zelenskyy's office said that the meeting between the four leaders "was positive."
Trump presented a "final offer" to Ukraine and Russia last week to end the war. The US proposal was described to RFE/RL by a European diplomat familiar with the details and a former US diplomat familiar with the proposal also confirmed its contents.
It includes US recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and unofficial recognition of Russian control of nearly all areas occupied since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.
That proposal has had led to differences between not only Washington and Kyiv, but also European governments who hold additional concerns on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.
Whether those details were discussed at the Vatican is unclear, but Trump criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin in a post on Truth Social after he left the pope's funeral, saying that recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets may require him to implement bank or secondary sanctions against Russia to achieve a lasting truce.
"There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along," Trump wrote.
On April 26, three people were killed and seven wounded in Russian shelling of the Donetsk region, local authorities said.
Eight bombs were air-dropped by Russian forces on the town of Kostyantynivka, said Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, via Telegram.
"Russians don't need peace -- they just want to destroy us all," Filashkin added.
Trump and Zelenskyy's talks on the sidelines of the funeral came after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin at the Kremlin on April 25.
As the funeral proceedings were under way, Putin said in a speech that Russia had regained control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year.
"The Kyiv regime's adventure has completely failed," Putin said.
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Ukrainian troops are still operating in Kursk and called Putin's statement untrue.
RFE/RL was not able to independently verify the battlefield claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 26 that Putin told Witkoff during their meeting that the Kremlin is ready to talk with Ukraine without preconditions.
A High-Profile Funeral For Pope Francis
Trump and Zelenskyy were among more than 50 heads of state gathered for Pope Francis's funeral as Roman Catholics paid tribute to a pontiff who was a humble leader and a champion of the poor, migrants, and other marginalized people.
More than a dozen royals, including Britain's Prince William, and more than 150 country representatives were also present along with some 224 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests.
China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send a representative due to presence of an high-ranking officials from Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.
The Vatican is one of only a handful of nations to have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Israel, which was angered by Francis's criticism of its conduct in Gaza, sent its ambassador to the Vatican.
The pope died on April 21 -- Easter Monday -- at age 88 following a stroke. The Vatican said around 250,000 people filed past his body laid out in a wooden coffin in St. Peter's Basilica over the three days leading up to the funeral.
The pope’s body was dressed in red robes, a bishop’s pointed miter, and his well-worn black shoes, including scuff marks on the toe. After the service at the Vatican, his body was brought to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighborhood, which lies outside the Vatican, in a procession that was greeted by crowds of supporters.
During his papacy Francis, who was selected to lead the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church in 2013, sought to create a more open-minded Church. He often advocated for the poor and marginalized, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and address climate change.
"He was a simple and much-loved pastor in his archdiocese, who traveled far and wide, also by subway and bus," read a one-page account of his papacy placed inside his coffin before it was sealed. "He lived in an apartment and he prepared dinner alone, so he could feel like an ordinary person."
The secretive conclave is unlikely to begin before May 6 to allow cardinals time to hold regular meetings, sum each other up, and assess the state of the church, including its financial problems and ideological divisions.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Indian, Pakistani Troops Exchange Fire In Kashmir Amid Mounting Tensions
Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire across the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir, officials said on April 25 as tensions between the two neighbors continued to increase following the killing of 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a government official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said troops exchanged gunfire overnight along the Line of Control separating the two countries. There were no reports of casualties and no “firing on the civilian population," Gilani was quoted by AFP as saying.
Indian military officers quoted by the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said that Pakistani troops had opened fire on an Indian military post.
The officials, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said Indian troops returned fire. They also said there were no reports of casualties in the incident.
India has called the killing of 26 people by gunmen at a Himalayan tourist attraction in Pahalgam a terrorist attack and accused Pakistan of supporting terrorists. Twenty-five of those killed were Indian nationals.
A little-known militant group called The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the on April 22 attack.
Indian police say the gunmen in the attack are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization. They offered a 2 million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man's arrest.
Hundreds of security forces have been deployed to Pahlavi Valley and tight security measures have been put in place.
A day after the attack, New Delhi suspended a 6-decade-old water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistanis.
Pakistan has denied any involvement and responded with countermeasures of its own on April 24, suspending visas for some Indian nationals and expelling certain Indian diplomats and defense officials from the country.
The Pakistani Senate on April 25 unanimously passed a resolution "against linking the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan."
US President Donald Trump on April 25 commented about the situation for the first time publicly.
"There have been tensions on that border for 1,500 years so, you know, it's the same as it has been. But they'll get it figured out, one way or another." Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full while governing separate portions of it.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for a "credible investigation" into the attack and said "India must resist the temptation to exploit such tragic incidents to its advantage."
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif was quoted on April 25 as saying Pakistan is “ready to cooperate” with “any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors.”
Asif told The New York Times in an interview that India had used the aftermath of the attack as a pretext to suspend the water treaty and for domestic political purposes. India is taking steps to punish Pakistan "without any proof, without any investigation," he added.
"We do not want this war to flare up, because flaring up of this war can cause disaster for this region," Asif told the newspaper.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
- By RFE/RL
Trump Calls For High-Level Talks After Envoy Meets With Putin At Kremlin
US President Donald Trump on April 25 called for Ukraine and Russia to meet for high-level talks to complete a deal to end the conflict between the two countries after White House envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Trump said it had been a "good day" of talks after Witkoff met with Putin for about three hours. A top Kremlin aide said the talks had been "productive" had and brought US-Russian positions on Ukraine and other issues closer.
"They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to 'finish it off,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis's funeral. "Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!"
Witkoff's meeting with Putin, the fourth since January, came as Trump's administration makes a major push for a resolution to the 38-month Russian war on Ukraine, with a peace proposal that would also mark a major shift in US policy: recognition of Russia's claim to Ukraine’s Crimea.
Trump said in an interview published earlier on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia" and demanded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy immediately sign a long-delayed agreement giving the United States access to Ukraine's mineral resources.
It was not confirmed whether Crimea was discussed at the meeting -- or any of the other proposals that Washington has put forward -- though it had been widely expected to be a main topic of discussion.
Moscow occupied, then claimed to have annexed, Crimea in 2014. Aside from a small handful of countries, the annexation has not been recognized anywhere in the world. US policy since that time -- including during the first Trump administration -- rejected the Russian claim to Crimea.
Yuri Ushakov, who is Putin's lead foreign policy adviser, described the meeting between Putin and Witkoff as "constructive" and "useful."
"This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues," he told reporters.
"As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine," Ushakov said.
With Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine well into its fourth year, Washington is trying to break the logjam of negotiations and halt what has become Europe's largest land war since World War II. Combined, more than 1 million men have been either killed or wounded in the conflict.
After top-level talks in Paris last week, the US proposals began circulating among diplomats.
The US proposal was described to RFE/RL by a European diplomat familiar with the details. A former US diplomat also confirmed the substance of the proposal.
On Crimea, the US plan calls for the "de jure" -- essentially legal -- recognition of the Russian claim to the peninsula.
In addition to being a major shift for the United States, it would be a major victory for Putin, whose popularity surged among Russians after 2014 when he ordered the stealth invasion of Crimea and later its annexation.
US recognition would also be a major blow to Zelenskyy and most Ukrainians, who view the Russian claim as part of a larger campaign to undo Ukraine's sovereignty and independence.
Zelenskyy has made clear in private and public remarks that he would reject the Crimea recognition.
"There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people," Zelenskyy said on April 23.
In a post to social media on the same day, Trump, who has had a complicated relationship with Zelenskyy and a much warmer one with Putin, suggested there was flexibility for the Ukrainian government if the US proposal moves forward.
He also asserted that Ukrainians should have put up a fight when Russia sent troops into Crimea in 2014 to seize it.
In an interview with Time magazine published on April 25, Trump said, "Crimea will stay in Russia."
"Zelenskyy understands that," he was quoted as saying, "and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time."
Trump also referred to Russia's naval presence on the Black Sea peninsula. Sevastopol, which was site to a famous World War II battle, was the home port for the Soviet Black Sea fleet and later was used jointly by both the Russian and Ukrainian fleets.
After Russia seized Crimea, it took complete control of Sevastopol. In recent years, however, Ukrainian forces have threatened and attacked Russian vessels there, forcing them to relocate elsewhere in the Black Sea.
"They've had their submarines there for long before any period that we're talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea," Trump as quoted as saying.
Other elements of the US proposal include blocking Ukraine's aspiration to join the NATO alliance and "de facto" recognition of the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies, including parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
It also calls for returning Russian-occupied parts of the Kharkiv region to Ukrainian control; guaranteeing unfettered Ukrainian access to the Dnieper River; and the return of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant to Ukraine control on the condition that the United States would then operate it and provide power to both Ukraine as well as Russian-occupied regions.
Ruling out NATO membership is also problematic for Ukraine, where that is a policy goal written into its constitution.
According to the European diplomat, one element of the US proposal that has not been widely circulated is the United States stepping back from insistence that Zelenskyy hold new presidential elections as soon as possible.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 by landslide.
But the Kremlin has asserted that his mandate is now illegitimate because martial law declared after the February 2022 election has precluded holding a new Ukrainian vote.
Amid a public clash earlier this year, Trump appeared to accept the Russian arguments, calling Zelenskyy a "dictator" and demanding he call a new vote.
Trump has since softened his rhetoric on the election question. Still, the Ukrainian government has taken quiet steps to prepare for the possibility of a vote later this year.
"Putin is being offered almost everything he wanted to take, while Ukraine is being offered practically nothing; there are no concessions," Oleksandr Khara, a Ukrainian military analyst, told Current Time.
"The fact that Russia is incapable of taking all of Ukraine or changing the government in Ukraine is absolutely obvious, and this is not going to change anytime soon," he said.
"The Russian advance in the east is coming at a high cost, and that doesn't mean there's any real prospect of a military victory over Ukraine. But there is a very different reality in Trump's mind."
With reporting by Reuters and AP
Russian General Killed In Car Bombing Near Moscow
A senior Russian military officer was killed when a car exploded on the street of a Moscow suburb as he was walking past, Russia's Investigative Committee said, the second high-ranking military official killed near their residence in the past four months.
The Investigative Committee said a criminal case has been opened into the murder of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, who died on April 25 while on Nesterov Street as he neared a car which was detonated by remote control.
Systema, RFE/RL's Russian Investigative Unit, confirmed the site of the blast as 2 Nesterov Street. It added that according to leaked personal data, Moskalik resided at that address.
"According to preliminary information, the explosion killed Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," the Investigative Committee said.
"According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with shrapnel," it added.
Surveillance footage appeared to capture the moment of the explosion, and early reports from Baza Telegram channel suggest the device detonated as Moskalik approached or entered the vehicle.
Moskalik was a high-profile figure in Russia’s military command.
He played key roles in the Normandy Format negotiations on Ukraine in 2015 and 2019 and was part of the Russian delegation during 2018 talks with then Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. His potential involvement in the ongoing war in Ukraine has not been publicly confirmed.
This marks the second high-level assassination of a Russian general in recent months. In December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter in Moscow -- an attack claimed by Ukrainian intelligence.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on Moskalik's death.
- By Mike Eckel
Witkoff And Putin Hold Talks As Trump Says Crimea 'Will Stay With Russia'
Talks between President Vladimir Putin and the White House envoy Steve Witkoff were "productive" and brought US-Russian positions on Ukraine and other issues closer, a top Kremlin aide said, as U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview that “Crimea will stay with Russia."
There was no immediate comment from Witkoff or other US officials on the outcome of the April 25 talks in Moscow, which Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said lasted for more than three hours.
The Moscow meeting came as Trump's administration makes a major push for a resolution to the 38-month Russian war on Ukraine, with a peace proposal that would also mark a major shift in US policy: recognition of Russia's claim to Ukraine’s Crimea.
Ushakov, who is Putin's lead foreign policy adviser, described the meeting as "constructive" and "useful."
"This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues," he told reporters.
"As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine," Ushakov said.
It's the fourth time that Witkoff has met with Putin since January.
It was not confirmed that Crimea was discussed at the meeting -- or any of the other proposals that Washington has put forward -- though it was widely expected to be a main topic of discussion.
With Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine well into its fourth year, Washington is trying to break the logjam of negotiations and halt what has become Europe's largest land war since World War II. Combined, more than 1 million men have been either killed or wounded in the conflict.
After top-level talks in Paris last week, the US proposals began circulating among diplomats.
Recognizing Crimea as Russia would be a significant shift in US policy.
Moscow occupied then claimed to have annexed the Ukrainian region in 2014. Aside from a small handful of countries, the annexation has been not been recognized anywhere in the world. US policy since that time -- including during the first Trump administration -- rejected the Russian claim.
The US proposal was described to RFE/RL by a European diplomat familiar with the details. A former US diplomat also confirmed the substance of the proposal.
On Crimea, the US plan calls for the "de jure" -- essentially legal -- recognition of the Russian claim to the peninsula.
In addition to being a major shift for the United States, it would be a major victory for Putin, whose popularity surged among Russians after 2014 when he ordered the stealth invasion of Crimea and later its annexation.
US recognition would also be a major blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and most Ukrainians, for whom the Russian claim is part of a larger campaign to undo Ukraine's sovereignty and independence.
Zelenskyy has made clear in private and public remarks that he would reject the Crimea recognition.
"There is nothing to talk about. It is our land, the land of the Ukrainian people," Zelenskyy said on April 23.
In a post to social media on the same day, Trump, who has had a complicated relationship with Zelenskyy and a much warmer one with Putin, suggested there was flexibility for the Ukrainian government if the US proposal moves forward.
He also asserted that Ukrainians should have put up a fight when Russia sent troops into Crimea in 2014 to seize it.
In an interview with Time magazine published on April 25, Trump asserted that "Crimea will stay in Russia."
"Zelenskyy understands that," he was quoted as saying, "and everybody understands that it's been with them for a long time."
Trump made similar comments to reporters as he departed the White House April 25, to travel to Italy to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.
"I think Russia and Ukraine, I think [the peace talks] are coming along; we hope. It's very fragile," he said, adding he wouldn't rule out meeting Zelenskyy while the two are in Rome for the pontiff's funeral.
Trump also referred to Russia's naval presence on the Black Sea peninsula. Sevastopol, which was site to a famous World War II battle, was the home port for the Soviet Black Sea fleet, and later was used jointly by both the Russian and Ukrainian fleets.
After Russia seized Crimea, it took complete control of Sevastopol. In recent years, however, Ukrainian forces have threatened and attacked Russian vessels there, forcing them to relocate elsewhere in the Black Sea.
"They've had their submarines there for long before any period that we're talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea," Trump as quoted as saying.
Other elements of the US proposal include blocking Ukraine's aspiration to join the NATO alliance and "de facto" recognition of the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies, including parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
It also calls for returning Russian-occupied parts of the Kharkiv region to Ukrainian control; guaranteeing unfettered Ukrainian access to the Dnieper River; and the return of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant to Ukraine control on the condition that the United States would then operate it and provide power to both Ukraine as well as Russian-occupied regions.
Ruling out NATO membership is also problematic for Ukraine, where that is a policy goal written into its constitution.
According to the European diplomat, one element of the US proposal that has not been widely circulated is the United States stepping back from insistence that Zelenskyy hold new presidential elections as soon as possible.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019 by landslide.
But the Kremlin has asserted that his mandate is now illegitimate because martial law declared after the February 2022 election has precluded holding a new Ukrainian vote.
Amid a public clash earlier this year, Trump appeared to accept the Russian arguments, calling Zelenskyy a "dictator" and demanding he call a new vote.
Trump has since softened his rhetoric on the election question. Still, the Ukrainian government has taken quiet steps to prepare for the possibility of a vote later this year.
"Putin is being offered almost everything he wanted to take, while Ukraine is being offered practically nothing; there are no concessions," Oleksandr Khara, a Ukrainian military analyst, told Current Time.
"The fact that Russia is incapable of taking all of Ukraine or changing the government in Ukraine is absolutely obvious, and this is not going to change anytime soon," he said.
"The Russian advance in the east is coming at a high cost, and that doesn't mean there's any real prospect of a military victory over Ukraine. But there is a very different reality in Trump's mind."
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