Putin seen wearing military gear after Trump threatened to ‘hurt’ Russia

Donald Trump has warned Vladimir Putin over ‘very bad’ consequences if Russia doesn’t get on board the 30-day ceasefire proposal.

The ceasefire plans have geared up a notch after the US President warned that he could hurt Russia’s economy if it didn’t sign the deal following the Saudi Arabia talks yesterday.

Trump said last night: ‘I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.’

Putin, dressed in a military uniform, appeared on Kremlin TV during a visit to the Kursk region just moments after Trump issued his warning.

Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said he is willing to accept a proposal for a ceasefire – but only if the US convinces Russia to accept it as well.

He warned partners about Vladimir Putin’s willingness to ‘genuinely end the war’ and to avoid his ‘deceit.’

Zelensky spoke after the talks held in Saudi Arabia yesterday evening, directing his words to Ukraine’s partners like the US and European countries, who have rallied behind Ukraine since Zelensky and Donald Trump’s trainwreck meeting in the White House.

Zelensky said: ‘The key factor is our partners’ ability to ensure Russia’s readiness not to deceive but to genuinely end the war.

‘Because right now, Russian strikes have not stopped.’

Just hours after the plans for a ceasefire were announced, Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih – Zelensky’s hometown – where a 47-year-old woman was killed and five others injured.

Odesa and Dnipro were also hit by rockets, damaging homes and injuring at least one person.

The US President Trump said after the talks that he has received ‘some positive messages’ from the Kremlin and that ‘we have people going to Russia right now,’ according to The Times.

But, Trump said that ‘a positive message means nothing,’ adding that ‘this is a very serious situation’ after meeting with Ireland’s Taoiseach in the Oval Office.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said ‘the ball’ is in Russia’s court now.

Meanwhile, the UK Defence Secretary John Healey sent a direct message to the Russian president: ‘I say to president Putin, over to you, you want to talk, prove it.’

What has Putin said about the ceasefire plan?

Russia is yet to accept the ceasefire proposal. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said it is important not to ‘get ahead’ of the question of responding to the proposal, Reuters reports.

Putin made a visit to the Kursk region at the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine war. Dressed in a military outfit, he told the troops that his goal is to ‘completely liberate’ the occupied region.

Kursk, which borders the Ukrainian Sumy region, was taken by Ukrainian troops in a surprise move on August 6 last year – the first time since the Second World War Russian territory has been occupied.

Defiant Putin, appearing on Russian TV, swore to treat Ukrainian soldiers captured in Kursk as ‘terrorists’ instead of prisoners of war.

He also signalled that he wants a demilitarised zone on the Ukrainian border.

Russian Interfax news agency said that foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin held a call with John Ratcliffe, the director of the CIA.

Putin has visited the frontline of the war less than a handful of times since the start of the Russian aggression in February 2022, and his previous visits have been kept tightly under the wraps.

In May last year, Putin appeared at the Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square, dressed in a more formal suit and tie.

Poland asks for US nuclear warheads

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused alarm in Nato member Poland, which shares a long border with Ukraine.

Now, Poland’s president has urged the US to base some of its nuclear weapons in the country, according to the Financial Times.

This would act as a deterrent against any future Russian aggression, the Polish leader Andrzej Duda said.

He told the outlet: ‘The borders of Nato moved east in 1999, so 26 years later there should also be a shift of the Nato infrastructure east. For me this is obvious.

‘I think it’s not only that the time has come, but that it would be safer if those weapons were already here.’

Pressure from Britain to secure ‘lasting’ peace

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that failure to secure a peace deal in Ukraine would allow Putin to maintain a ‘choke hold’ on Europe’s future.

Speaking in Hull, the prime minister said: ‘I profoundly believe that if we don’t secure a just peace and a lasting peace, then that insecurity, which we have already felt, will continue.

‘And that means, here, higher prices, higher bills, the cost-of-living crisis going on for even longer – if you like, a choke hold on our future, which will be much, much harder for us to tackle.

‘We know some basics: Putin’s appetite for conflict and for chaos is already there, and it will only grow.

‘And Russia is already menacing our skies, our waters, our streets and our national security.’

Sir Keir Starmer has said ‘strength abroad’ demands ‘security back at home’.

He stressed that more now than ever, national security is economic security and strength abroad, adding: ‘We definitely need that more than ever at the moment, but that demands security back at home.

‘Because, look, you’re not strong if your energy security is exploited by Putin.

‘You’re not strong if one in eight young people are not in education or work, and you’re not strong if you lose control of your public finances and you can’t build your industries.

‘So that is the test of our times, the goal of my plan for change – national security, for national renewal. Now, look, we are making a start.’

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