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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed at least one American prisoner in what US President Donald Trump described Tuesday as a goodwill gesture on ending the war.Zelensky has in the past refused to cede any territory after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.But in an interview with The Guardian published Tuesday, he said Kyiv was ready for serious talks ahead of a Friday meeting at the Munich Security Conference with US Vice President JD Vance — a vocal critic of US military support to Ukraine.  “We will swap one territory for another,” Zelensky said, adding that he was ready to trade land in Russia’s Kursk region — which Ukraine seized in a surprise offensive last year.He acknowledged that Ukraine would not be able to enjoy security guarantees just with European partners.”Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” he said.Trump took office vowing to end the war in Ukraine, possibly by leveraging billions of dollars in US assistance sent under former president Joe Biden, to force Kyiv into territorial concessions.In the first known visit by a member of the Trump administration to Russia since he returned to the White House last month, envoy Steve Witkoff secured the release of Marc Fogel, an American jailed since 2021 on drug charges.”We were treated very nicely by Russia,” Trump told reporters of Fogel’s release.”Actually, I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.” Trump greeted Fogel at the White House Tuesday night after he landed back in the United States, recounting a meeting with Fogel’s 95-year-old mother at a campaign rally where he promised her to “get him out.”The White House described his release as part of an “exchange,” with Trump saying Tuesday night that a second detainee would be released Wednesday without offering further details.There was no immediate comment from Russia, where state-run news agencies quoted the White House announcement.Russia’s Supreme Court in December refused to consider an appeal Fogel made against his 14-year sentence.Witkoff, a property developer and friend of Trump, is officially the Middle East envoy and earlier played a key role in pushing forward a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire.Trump also announced a visit to Ukraine by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — another official in his cabinet on a mission unrelated to his primary job.- ‘Russian someday’ -Earlier in the week, Trump had floated the possibility that Ukraine “may be Russian someday,” words quickly welcomed by Moscow.”The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to Moscow’s 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian regions after referendums widely criticized internationally as fraudulent.Ukrainians reacted with scorn to Trump’s remarks.”It is some kind of senile insanity,” Kyiv resident Daniil told AFP.A Ukrainian soldier on a street in central Kyiv, who only gave the name Mykola, said of Trump: “He can think anything and say anything, but Ukraine will never be Russia.”Trump in the past has voiced admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and notoriously backed his denial of the US intelligence community’s finding of Russian interference in the Republican’s 2016 election victory.But he has also called on Russia to compromise in recent weeks, saying that Putin needs to cut heavy losses.Both armies are trying to secure an advantage on the battlefield ahead of possible talks.Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday its troops had captured the small village of Yasenove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.And a Russian missile strike on Kyiv killed at least one person Wednesday, the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, regional prosecutors said Russian bombing killed a 40-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman.- Latest prisoner release -Biden shut off most contact with Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But intelligence chiefs and others still met quietly in third countries and negotiated swaps that freed the most prominent Americans jailed by Russia — basketball player Britney Griner, journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan.Fogel, 63, was teaching at the Anglo-American School in Moscow when he was arrested in August 2021 over 21 grams of cannabis and cannabis oil allegedly found with him at the Moscow airport.Fogel had been living in Russia since 2012. He was reported to have been teaching English to Russians at his penal colony.burs-sct-jgc/dhc

With its flattering rhetoric, leniency in responding to US trade threats and alignment with Washington this week at a summit on artificial intelligence, the United Kingdom has signalled a willingness to take President Donald Trump’s side over Europe.”The UK has no closer ally than America,” Britain’s newly appointed ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, said on Tuesday, in a video overflowing with superlatives posted on Elon Musk’s X platform.The Labour party grandee, formerly a European commissioner, had told the BBC on Monday that Britain has “to respect and understand what drives (Trump), what his mandate is to do, and how his allies need to adjust sometimes”.David Lammy, Britain’s top diplomat, also lavished praise on Trump last month, saying he displayed “incredible grace and generosity” and was “very funny, very friendly, very warm” during their meeting last September.The comments were somewhat more complimentary than previous remarks by Lammy in which he called Trump a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”.The conciliatory tone is “likely to be calculated at keeping the UK out of Trump’s crosshairs when it comes to tariffs and any other forms of aggressive US foreign policy,” said Michael Plouffe, an associate professor at UCL university in London.Jonathan Portes, an economist at King’s College London, said “the UK, as usual, is trying to have its cake and eat it”. “This is perfectly rational and sensible,” he added. “It is hoping to avoid the worst excesses of Trump at the same time as it pursues its rapprochement with the EU.”- ‘Makes sense’ -The European Union remains by far Britain’s largest trading partner, but London has dreamt of a trade agreement with Washington, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently called for, since leaving the bloc.Faced with the frenetic start to Trump’s presidency and his unpredictable diplomatic manoeuvrings, Starmer has in recent days made strategic choices to distance himself from the Europeans.There is no question of Britain joining the EU’s countermeasures promised on Tuesday in response to Trump’s newly announced 25-percent customs duties on steel and aluminium, which the United States will impose from March 12.Britain instead says that it is “engaging” with the United States on the details of the tariffs.”What British industry needs and deserves is not a knee-jerk reaction but a cool and clear-headed sense of the UK’s national interest based on a full assessment of all the implications of the US’s actions,” said British trade minister Douglas Alexander.London also sided against the EU on the crucial issue of artificial intelligence, teaming up with the United States in refusing to sign the final declaration of the AI summit in Paris on Tuesday.”We felt the declaration didn’t provide enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to it,” said a British government spokesperson.This “cautious approach to the US” over AI is aligned with Starmer’s promise to make the Britain a world leader in the sector, said Plouffe.It also “makes sense” that Starmer would avoid “antagonism with the state that is home to three of the leading AI providers”, he added.”This may win some favour with Trump” at a time when the digital giants, who have become the Republican’s close allies, are locked in regulatory disputes with the EU.”I think he’s done a very good job thus far,” Trump said of Starmer in late January. “I like him a lot.”But can the British strategy work in the long term?”That depends on just how confrontational Trump is with the EU and whether he wants to try to lever the UK away from the EU,” Portes said.”Since nobody — including him — knows what he’s going to do, I certainly don’t,” he added.

When President Donald Trump froze nearly all US foreign aid, Cambodia was forced to suspend workers removing dangerous mines from the country  — until China stepped in with the necessary funding.In the Cook Islands, traditionally bound to New Zealand and friendly with the United States, the prime minister has announced plans to head to Beijing to sign a cooperation deal.Successive US administrations have vowed to wage a global competition with China, described as the only potential rival for global leadership.But as seen in Cambodia and the Cook Islands, two small but strategic countries, the United States has effectively ceded one of its main levers of influence.The dramatic shift by Trump — following the advice of billionaire advisor Elon Musk — has put nearly the entire workforce on leave at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), marking the end of a key decades-old effort by the United States to exercise “soft power” — the ability of a country to persuade others through its attractiveness.Trump has unapologetically turned instead to hard power, wielding tariffs against friends and foes and threatening military force to get his way, even against NATO ally Denmark over Greenland.When John F. Kennedy created USAID, he pointed to the success of the Marshall Plan in rebuilding Europe and hoped that alleviating poverty would reduce the allure of the Soviet Union, the main adversary of the United States at the time.Michael Schiffer, who served as USAID’s assistant administrator for Asia under former president Joe Biden, warned that China could become the dominant player in the developing world in areas from public health to policing.”We’ll be sitting on the sidelines and then in a couple of years we’ll have a conversation about how we’re shocked that the PRC has positioned itself as the partner of choice in Latin America, Africa and Asia,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.”At that point, the game will be over.”- Will China step up? -The United States has long been the top donor in the world, giving $64 billion in 2023.A number of other Western countries, especially in Scandinavia, have been more generous compared with the sizes of their economies. But Schiffer doubted they could replace the United States either in dollar terms or in the longstanding US role of mobilizing international aid to priorities around the world.China’s aid is more opaque. According to AidData, a research group at the College of William and Mary, China has provided $1.34 trillion over two decades — but unlike Western nations, it has mostly provided loans rather than grants.Samantha Custer, director of policy analysis at AidData, doubted there would be any “huge, dramatic increase in aid dollars from China,” noting Beijing’s focus on lending and the economic headwinds facing the Asian power.Still, she said, the United States will struggle to counter perceptions it is no longer reliable.”China can win the day by not even doing anything,” she said.”You can’t partner with somebody who’s not there.”Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said China is more interested in construction and benefiting its domestic industries, like building a hospital rather than training its doctors.And with the freeze in USAID, China may have even less reason to step up aid.”If they become the only game in town, it doesn’t generate strong incentives for China to compete and significantly increase development assistance,” he said.One major gap will be conflict-related funding, said Rebecca Wolfe, an expert in development and political violence at the University of Chicago.She pointed to Syria, where the Islamic State extremist group gained grounds in areas that lacked governance.”Yes, the Chinese can come in and do the infrastructure. But what about the governance part?”She said Western countries may not step up until they feel real effects, such as a new migrant crisis.- Different soft power? -Trump’s aid freeze is officially only a 90-day review, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that he issued waivers for emergency assistance. But aid groups say effects are already being felt by the sweeping pause, from schools shutting down in Uganda to flood relief shelters under threat in South Sudan.Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, a scholar of soft power, said Trump has a highly transactional worldview and is more attuned to hard power.But Ohnesorge, managing director of the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn, said Trump also represented a new, post-liberal sort of soft power in a polarized world.He noted that other leaders have styled themselves after Trump and gladly followed his lead. For instance, Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, swiftly joined Trump in leaving the World Health Organization.”Perhaps it may henceforth be better to even speak of US soft powers — in the plural — as there are starkly different visions of America and the world prevalent in the US today,” Ohnesorge said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try on a US visit to pick up where he left off four years ago in wooing Donald Trump, as he offered quick tariff concessions in hopes of avoiding the second-term president’s wrath.For nearly three decades, US presidents from both parties have prioritized building ties with India, seeing a natural partner against a rising China. But Trump has also raged against India over trade, in the past calling the world’s fifth-largest economy the “biggest tariff abuser.”Trump himself has unapologetically weaponized tariffs against friends and foes since returning to office last month. Ahead of Modi’s visit, the Indian government slashed duties on high-end motorcycles — a boost to Harley-Davidson, the iconic American company whose struggles in motorbike-loving India have captured Trump’s attention.India has “done its groundwork and has already taken positive steps to set a good tone” with Trump, said Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council director on South Asia during Trump’s first term.Modi “has prepared for this, and he is seeking to preempt Trump’s anger,” said Curtis, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.Modi has also obliged Trump on one of his top priorities — deporting undocumented immigrants.While public attention has focused on Latin American migrants, India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the United States after Mexico and El Salvador.In an account that drew wide attention in India, some 100 migrants were flown back from the United States in shackles the whole journey. Angered activists in New Delhi burned an effigy of Trump.The main opposition Congress party called the treatment of Indian citizens an “insult” and accused Modi of weakness toward Trump.But Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government — which itself has vowed no tolerance for undocumented migrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh — has promised cooperation.- ‘Recreate their bonhomie’ -Modi arrives Wednesday in Washington after an artificial intelligence summit in Paris and will see Trump on Thursday, making him the fourth world leader to visit him at the White House since his return, following the prime ministers of Israel and Japan and king of Jordan.Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term. The two share much in common, with both campaigning on promises to promote the interests of their countries’ majority communities over minorities and both shifting long-held democratic norms by doggedly pursuing critics.In February 2020, Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium, later renamed for the prime minister himself, in his home state of Gujarat.It remains the last presidential trip made overseas by Trump, with the Covid-19 pandemic grounding him soon afterward.”Prime Minister Modi and his advisors hope that he and President Trump are able to recreate their bonhomie of the past and use that to ensure India avoids any negative trade-related actions or sanctions,” said Aparna Pande, a fellow at the Hudson Institute.India, she said, “remains one of the few countries that retains bipartisan support across the aisle in the US.”President Joe Biden kept building relations with Modi including by elevating the Quad — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, perceived by China as an attempt to box it in — by holding annual summits.India is scheduled to hold a Quad summit this year, which would mean another visit to India by Trump.The Biden administration, however, occasionally offered gentle critiques on Modi’s record on the rights of Muslims and other minorities, an issue unlikely to resonate with Trump.The Biden team issued stronger criticism, albeit privately, after US prosecutors said that India attempted to assassinate a Sikh separatist with US citizenship in New York.Curtis said that she believed that India has “learned a lesson” from Biden’s warning on the plot and that the issue was effectively closed.”I think that the Trump administration is hoping to move on from this issue,” she said.

Elon Musk made his debut public appearance with Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday to announce fresh powers to overhaul the US government — even if the tech tycoon’s son tried to steal the show.Dressed in a black “Make America Great Again” cap, black t-shirt and overcoat, the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon spoke to reporters in the Oval Office while the US president sat behind the historic Resolute Desk.Tasked by Trump to lead federal cost-cutting efforts through his “DOGE” agency — the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — Musk warned that the United States would go “bankrupt” without cuts.The world’s richest man rejected criticisms of a lack of transparency and possible conflicts of interest. He admitted he would make “mistakes” but said he would be tackling what he called the power of an “unelected” bureaucracy.Trump signed an order that was set to give DOGE extra powers to order the heads of government departments to prepare for more of the cuts that have shaken the United States.Critics have blasted the Musk-led cuts as unconstitutional concentration of power in the presidency.But for a few seconds at least, Musk had something else to worry about.- ‘Gravitas can be difficult’ -“Gravitas can be difficult sometimes,” said Musk as his young son X — full name X Æ A-Xii — began to chatter and squirm during his remarks. At other times the boy, dressed in a tan overcoat, knelt down and leaned against Trump’s desk as Musk’s comments drew near the half-hour mark. As Musk talked about consumer debt at one point, the boy picked his nose.It was a typically unorthodox appearance by Musk, whose iconoclastic style was a large part of the attraction for Trump as he sought a front-man for his sweeping overhaul of the US government.Musk, who was the biggest donor to Trump’s election campaign to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars, has brought in a team of young engineers to drive a ruthless efficiency program.The plans have effectively shuttered some federal agencies and sent staff home — and have sparked legal battles across the country and sparked accusations of an illegal power grab.Asked by a reporter about his “detractors,” Musk first joked “I have detractors? I don’t believe it” — before claiming that thanks to Trump’s election win “you couldnt ask for a stronger mandate from the public.” “The people voted for major government reform and that’s what people are going to get,” said Musk. – ‘Unelected’ -Musk has also drawn accusations of hypocrisy given that he regularly rails against “unelected” bureaucrats — while he himself is an unelected official wielding huge power, yet answering media questions for just the first time since Trump returned to office.The tech baron has also faced questions about potential conflicts of interest given that SpaceX has billions of dollars in contracts with the same government that he is auditing. Musk rejected the criticisms, saying he was being “transparent” and adding: “It’s not like I think I can get away with something, I’ll be scrutinized non-stop.”As he spoke about transparency, the Associated Press said that its White House reporter was barred from the Musk event over the top US news agency’s refusal to follow Trump’s order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.After Musk, it was Trump’s turn to speak, as he hailed Musk’s work so far and embarked on a lengthy rant against US judges who are blocking some of their plans.That left the elephant in the room. Or rather — how can one room as cramped as the Oval Office accommodate two powerful egos who are used to getting their own way?Time Magazine’s latest issue caused a stir with a cover featuring Musk behind the same Resolute Desk.Musk however moved to show that he knew who is the boss. “I check frequently with the president to make sure that this is what the president wants to happen. So, we talk almost every day,” he said.

The Associated Press said Tuesday that its White House reporter was barred from an event with President Donald Trump over the top US news agency’s refusal to follow his order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.”We were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office,” AP Executive Editor Julie Pace said.”This afternoon AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing,” Pace said in a statement.In another executive order after taking office last month, Trump declared that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be called the “Gulf of America.”In the past the body of water, which also borders Mexico, has always been known by both governments as the Gulf of Mexico. Trump called it an “indelible part of America” critical to US oil production and fishing and “a favorite destination for American tourism and recreation activities.”Pace, in her statement, said “it is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism.””Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment,” she said.In a style note last month, AP said Trump’s executive order “only carries authority within the United States.””Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change,” the AP said, adding that “the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years.””The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” the news agency said.”As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” it added.The White House Correspondents’ Association, which advocates for the media covering the US presidency, branded the barring of AP “unacceptable” and called on the Trump administration to “immediately change course.””The White House cannot dictate how news organizations report the news, nor should it penalize working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors’ decisions,” WHCA head Eugene Daniels said in a statement.Along with the Gulf of America, Trump also signed an executive order changing the name of the highest mountain in North America, Denali in Alaska, to Mount McKinley.In that case, the AP said it would refer to Mount McKinley since it “lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country.”The AP is the biggest US news agency and for years its Stylebook — a compendium of the organization’s rules for correct usage of grammar and language — has been a go-to reference for newsrooms and corporate offices.

US President Donald Trump accused the judges blocking his executive orders of committing a “serious violation” Tuesday as his administration veered towards a constitutional clash with the courts over his plans to radically downsize the government.With the Republican Party controlling Congress and completely loyal to Trump, the billionaire president has largely ignored the legislature as he carries out his unprecedented policies.But he has faced growing pushback from the courts since taking office three weeks ago, with around a dozen court orders issued against the administration from some 40 lawsuits.As the courts and Trump appeared increasingly to be on a collision course, the president pledged to stand by their rulings — but claimed that judges were preventing him from cleaning up the government.”We want to weed out the corruption. And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say we don’t want you to do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.”So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that’s very serious. I think it’s a very serious violation.”Although the US Consitution designates the federal judiciary as an independent branch of government with as much authority as the White House, it is inherently politicized, as judges are selected by presidents for lifetime appointments. The judges who have ruled against Trump were appointed by six different Democratic and Republican presidents, however, including the current White House occupant himself.Trump fell afoul of the judiciary over an attempt to freeze $3 trillion in federal grants and loans, a deferred resignation program for government workers and a plan to transfer transgender women inmates to men’s prisons.He has also clashed with judges over his abolition of birthright citizenship, sending Venezuelan migrants to Guantanamo Bay, funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, firing a government ethics watchdog and placing workers from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on leave.Injunctions have been placed on each of these actions and there was further bad news for Trump on Tuesday as a federal judge ordered him to restore a glut of public health web pages removed last month.Asked by reporters at the White House if he would honor the will of the courts, Trump told reporters: “I always abide by the courts, and then I’ll have to appeal it.”But concerns are mounting that Trump could ultimately defy the rulings, prompting a full-blown constitutional crisis.- ‘That’s tyranny’ -The Republican’s harshest critics say that horse has already bolted after a federal judge upbraided the White House on Monday for failing to comply with his order to end the federal funding freeze.Vice President JD Vance has fueled speculation over a coming clash, claiming in a social media post Sunday that judges lack authority to “control the executive’s legitimate power.”In fact, the US Constitution gives federal judges the right to rule on cases involving the president as part of their oversight role of the other branches of government.Vance’s comments — which came after a judge blocked tech billionaire Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) from accessing Americans’ personal data — earned him a rebuke from legal scholars and political opponents. “If you believe any of the multiple federal courts that have ruled against you so far are exceeding their statutory or Constitutional authority, your recourse is to appeal,” Liz Cheney, a former Republican lawmaker and vocal Trump critic, replied.”You don’t get to rage-quit the Republic just because you are losing. That’s tyranny.” The DOGE injunction also came under attack from Musk, who has called for an annual mass firing of federal judges and claims that democracy is “being destroyed by judicial coup.”But critics characterize the deluge of criticism from the world’s richest man, the US president and the vice president as a coordinated assault on the rule of law.”This is not just a musing from a dude with some various ideas,” tech commentator and veteran Musk watcher Kara Swisher said of the SpaceX and Tesla CEO.”The next step is to hollow out the judiciary and also not follow their rulings, which have been against Musk’s efforts. This is a very obvious coup, for those not paying attention.”

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead federal cost-cutting efforts, said Tuesday that the United States would go “bankrupt” without budget cuts.Musk leads the efforts under the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and was speaking at the White House with Trump, who has in recent weeks issued a flurry of orders aimed at slashing federal spending.In particular, Musk pointed to the country’s budget deficit, which topped $1.8 trillion in the last fiscal year, and took aim at high interest payments on the public debt.”It’s not optional” for Washington to reduce federal expenses, he told reporters. “It’s essential.”The remarks, however, came as the Trump administration finds itself on a collision course with the US courts, as federal judges questioned the legality of White House cost-cutting measures.Trump’s sweeping plans, which have effectively shuttered some federal agencies and sent staff home, have sparked legal battles across the country.Multiple lawsuits seek to halt what opponents characterize as an illegal power grab.Meanwhile, Musk’s team has moved through federal agencies, freezing aid programs and pushing workforce reductions.Asked to respond to criticism, Musk said that Americans voted for “major government reform,” an issue that Trump spoke about at rallies.And Musk, who also heads SpaceX and Tesla, said he is seeking to be as transparent as possible when asked about potential conflicts of interest.Musk’s role faces criticism in part because his companies have had huge US government contracts.The DOGE reform team has triggered alarm among critics as well by gaining access through the US Treasury to sensitive data.