US Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that Donald Trump was “growing incredibly impatient” with Moscow as Washington’s stance on Russia hardens after diplomatic efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine stalled.Trump performed a stunning about-turn at the UN on Tuesday, suggesting that Ukraine could not only retake all of the territory it lost to Russia militarily, but take even more. Trump “doesn’t feel like they’re putting enough on the table to end the war…If the Russians refuse to negotiate in good faith, I think it’s going to be very, very bad for their country,” Vance said in North Carolina.In a meeting earlier Wednesday in New York, top US diplomat Marco Rubio apparently clashed with his Russian counterpart, calling for the “killing to stop” and demanding Moscow “take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov fired back and “stressed the unacceptability of the schemes promoted by Kyiv and some European capitals aimed at prolonging the conflict,” according to a readout of their conversation supplied by the Russian side.Ukrainian President Voldodymyr Zelensky praised Trump following the US president’s unexpected turn against Russia, but cautioned that NATO alone could not underwrite his country’s security.”Because international institutions are too weak, this madness continues. Even being part of the long-standing military alliance doesn’t automatically mean you are safe,” Zelensky told the UN General Assembly.Zelensky said he had a “good meeting” with Trump, who has ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv and berated the Ukrainian leader at a February encounter at the White House before warming to him.”Of course we are doing everything to make sure Europe truly helps and of course, we count on the United States,” Zelensky said.Trump’s suggestion Tuesday that Kyiv could win, with support from the European Union and NATO, marked an extraordinary shift after months of saying Ukraine would not get back swaths of territory taken by Russia.Trump said Ukraine could regain all its land and suggested, without elaborating, that Kyiv could “maybe even go further than that!”The US leader’s comments marked his latest in a series of policy switches on Ukraine, and come just weeks after hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.- Zelensky warning -Zelensky warned Wednesday that Europe could not afford to lose strategically located Moldova to Russian influence and let it follow Belarus and Georgia into Moscow’s orbit.”Russia’s trying to do to Moldova what Iran once did to Lebanon and the global response again, (is) not enough. We have already lost Georgia in Europe…and for many, many years, Belarus has also been moving toward dependence on Russia. Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova too,” he said at the UN General Assembly.Moldova, a former Soviet republic, goes to the polls on Sunday with pro-EU President Maia Sandu facing a barrage of deep-fake videos and other disinformation linked to Russia.Zelensky also sounded the alarm over the development of autonomous drones and unmanned aerial vehicles capable of shooting down other drones and targeting critical infrastructure.”We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history, because this time it includes artificial intelligence,” he said, adding that the only real security guarantees are “friends and weapons.””If the world can’t respond even to all threats, and if there is no strong platform for international security, will there be any peace left on earth?”The wartime leader, who has a packed itinerary of meetings with world leaders while in New York for the UN’s signature diplomatic week, stressed that Ukraine had been forced to ramp up its military production.”Ukraine doesn’t have the big fat missiles dictators love to show off in parades, but we do have drones that can fly up to 2,000, 3,000 kilometers,” he said.”We had no choice but to build them to protect our right to life.”

French President Emmanuel Macron and a US envoy said Wednesday that Iran still had a last chance to avoid deep UN sanctions if it addresses concerns on its nuclear program.France, Britain and Germany have set the clock through the UN Security Council to reimpose sweeping sanctions at the end of Saturday on Iran, which they say has not cooperated on the long-running nuclear row.Macron met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and urged him to reverse a series of steps taken by Tehran following an Israeli and US attack in June.Iran must allow full access to UN nuclear inspectors, immediately resume nuclear negotiations and offer transparency on highly enriched uranium whose whereabouts have been the subject of speculation, Macron said.”An agreement remains possible. Only a few hours are left. It’s up to Iran to respond to the legitimate conditions we have raised,” Macron wrote on X after meeting Pezeshkian.Steve Witkoff, Trump’s real-estate friend and roving envoy who had been negotiating with Iran until Israel attacked, said without further elaboration that he was still in touch with Iran.Witkoff said that Iran was in a “tough position” ahead of the return of the so-called snapback sanctions.”I think that we have no desire to hurt them. We have a desire, however, to either realize a permanent solution and negotiate around snapbacks,” Witkoff told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly.”If we can’t, then snapbacks will be what they are. They’re the right medicine,” Witkoff said.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Tuesday with his European counterparts, leading to no clear progress other than an agreement to keep talking.- Iran denies bomb pursuit -Ahead of meeting Macron, Pezeshkian insisted before the annual UN gathering that Iran was not at fault.”I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb,” he said.”The one disturbing peace and stability in the region is Israel, but Iran is the one that gets punished,” he said.Iran has long contended that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, pointing to an edict by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and US intelligence has not concluded that the country has decided to build a nuclear weapon.But Israel, the United States and European countries have long been skeptical due to the country’s advanced nuclear work, believing it could quickly pursue a bomb if it so decided.The snapback sanctions would restore wide-ranging UN economic measures that had been suspended under a 2015 nuclear deal that was negotiated by former US president Barack Obama.Trump withdrew from the deal in his first term and imposed major unilateral US sanctions.Pezeshkian accused the Europeans of bad faith, saying that Iran’s lack of cooperation was in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).”They falsely presented themselves as parties of good standing to the agreement, and they disparaged Iran’s sincere efforts as insufficient,” Pezeshkian said.”All of this was in pursuit of nothing less than the destruction of the very JCPOA which they themselves had once held as a foremost achievement.”Standing at the General Assembly rostrum, Pezeshkian showed pictures of people killed in the 12-day Israeli military campaign against Iran in June, which Tehran says killed more than 1,000 people.The United States joined in the campaign on June 22, striking several of Iran’s nuclear facilities.”Aerial assaults of the Zionist regime and the United States of America against Iran’s cities, homes and infrastructure at the very time we were treading the path of diplomatic negotiations constituted a grave betrayal of diplomacy,” he said.

The top US diplomat Marco Rubio issued a blunt call to his Russian counterpart to halt the “killing” in Ukraine Wednesday, as Washington’s stance on Moscow hardens.Rubio “reiterated President (Donald) Trump’s call for the killing to stop and the need for Moscow to take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.Lavrov fired back and “stressed the unacceptability of the schemes promoted by Kyiv and some European capitals aimed at prolonging the conflict,” according to a readout of their conversation supplied by the Russian side.Rubio’s comments came after President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Trump following the US president’s unexpected turn against Russia Tuesday, in which he suggested that Kyiv could not only win the war and re-take its territory — but could even expand it.  But the Ukrainian leader cast doubt Wednesday on NATO’s ability to guarantee Kyiv’s security.”Because international institutions are too weak, this madness continues. Even being part of the long-standing military alliance doesn’t automatically mean you are safe,” Zelensky told the UN General Assembly.Zelensky said he had a “good meeting” with Trump, who has ruled out NATO membership for Kyiv and berated the Ukrainian leader at a February encounter at the White House before warming to him.”Of course we are doing everything to make sure Europe truly helps and of course, we count on the United States,” Zelensky said.Trump’s suggestion Tuesday that Kyiv could win, with support from the European Union and NATO, marked an extraordinary shift after months of saying Ukraine would not get back swaths of territory taken by Russia.Trump said Ukraine could regain all its land and suggested, without elaborating, that Kyiv could “maybe even go further than that!”- ‘Big fat missiles’ -The US leader’s comments marked his latest in a series of policy switches on Ukraine, including a sudden pivot to peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin early this year that stunned allies.Zelensky warned Wednesday that Europe could not afford to lose strategically located Moldova to Russian influence and let it follow Belarus and Georgia into Moscow’s orbit.”Russia’s trying to do to Moldova what Iran once did to Lebanon and the global response again, (is) not enough. We have already lost Georgia in Europe… and for many, many years, Belarus has also been moving toward dependence on Russia. Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova too,” he said at the UN General Assembly.Moldova, a former Soviet republic, goes to the polls on Sunday with pro-EU President Maia Sandu facing a barrage of deepfake videos and other disinformation linked to Russia.Zelensky also sounded the alarm over the development of autonomous drones and unmanned aerial vehicles capable of shooting down other drones and targeting critical infrastructure.”We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history, because this time it includes artificial intelligence,” he said, adding that the only real security guarantees are “friends and weapons.””If the world can’t respond even to all threats, and if there is no strong platform for international security, will there be any peace left on earth?”The wartime leader, who has a packed itinerary of meetings with world leaders while in New York for the UN’s signature diplomatic week, stressed that Ukraine had been forced to ramp up its military production.”Ukraine doesn’t have the big fat missiles dictators love to show off in parades, but we do have drones that can fly up to 2,000, 3,000 kilometers.”We had no choice but to build them to protect our right to life.”