Trump officials pitch Zelenskyy on U.S. owning 50% of Ukraine's rare earth minerals
The Trump administration has suggested to Ukraine that the United States be granted 50% ownership of the country’s rare earth minerals, and signaled an openness to deploying American troops there to guard them if there’s a deal with Russia to end the war, according to four U.S. officials. Rather than pay for the minerals, the ownership agreement would be a way for Ukraine to reimburse the U.S. for the billions of dollars in weapons and support its provided to Kyiv since the war began in February 2022, two of the officials said.
Zelenskyy: 'Very difficult' for Ukraine to survive without U.S. military support
The Ukrainian president told NBC News' "Meet the Press" that he doesn't "want to think about" not having American support.
Israel-Hamas ceasefire live updates: 3 hostages set free in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians
Israeli American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Alexander Troufanov and Iair Horn were exchanged for 369 of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
White South Africans gather in support of Trump and his claims that they are victims of racism
Some white South Africans showed support for President Donald Trump on Saturday and gathered at the US Embassy in Pretoria to claim they are victims of racism by their own government. Hundreds of protesters held placards that read “Thank God for President Trump” and displayed other messages criticizing what they see as racist laws instituted by the South African government that discriminate against the white minority.
Vance berates European leaders as tensions with close allies burst into the open
Vice President JD Vance publicly berated European leaders on a host of issues from free speech to security and mass migration, as simmering tensions between the United States and its close allies boiled over at an international conference in Munich on Friday. The vice president used the podium at the high-level security gathering that had been focusing on the invasion of Ukraine and the threat Russia poses to Europe and the rest of the world to raise social issues animating many on the American right.
Ukraine's Zelenskyy has a very bad week thanks to Trump and Putin. Here's why.
Roman Baklazhov knows the pain, both physical and emotional, of watching as the Russian war machine seizes a home. The Ukrainian furniture maker says he was detained for 54 days with little explanation when Russian troops overran his city, Kherson, in the summer of 2022. Baklazhov, 43, says he was tortured with electricity, while next door to his squalid cell Russian troops laughed and drank as they listened to his screams.
Hamas official says the militant group will release three hostages on Saturday
Hamas will free three hostages — Sagui Dekel-Chen, Sasha Alexander Troufanov and Iair Horn — on Saturday, a spokesperson for the militant group said Friday. Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing Al Qassam Brigades, told NBC News on Friday that Hamas will release the three hostages according to the terms of the ceasefire deal it brokered with Israel on Jan. 19.
Ukraine launches major strikes on Russian cities
Moscow said Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russia in an attack that it said would not go unanswered. After Ukraine first launched ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles into Russia last year, Moscow responded on Nov. 21 by launching a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine.
Putin goes from pariah to negotiating partner as Trump announces plans to meet
For a decade, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the West’s pariah after first annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and then launching a full-scale invasion of the country. Now, President Donald Trump has given Putin a big boost— and possibly re-entry onto the global stage — by offering him much of what he’s been asking for in Ukraine.
With war still raging in Ukraine, Russian Olympic hopes look bleak
With a little less than one year until the Winter Olympics unfold in Italy, Russia's hope to do battle on snow and ice on the world's biggest sports stage appear to melt by the day. Unless peace quickly comes to Ukraine and the International Olympic Committee and Moscow suddenly repair their long-fraught relationship, Russian athletes could be largely frozen out of their second consecutive Olympics.