Archive March 17, 2025

Vladimir Putin, the president of the United States, and Donald Trump, the president of Russia, will discuss ending the conflict in Ukraine on Tuesday, with the latter having a prominent role in the discussions.

The US president addressed reporters on Air Force One on Sunday during a flight back to the Washington, DC, area from Florida, to see if we can end that war. “We may be able to, perhaps not, but I believe we have a very good chance.

On Tuesday, I’ll meet with President Putin. Over the weekend, a lot of work has been accomplished.

Putin and Trump will speak via phone, according to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, who confirmed the announcement on Monday.

During a news briefing, he said, “Yes, this is indeed the case.” For Tuesday, we’re preparing for a conversation like this.

As both sides continued to conduct heavy aerial strikes over the weekend as Russia moved closer to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in Kursk, west of Russia, Trump is trying to win Putin’s approval of a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine approved last week.

When asked what concessions were being discussed during the ceasefire negotiations, Trump responded, “We’ll be talking about land. Power plants will be the subject of our discussion. We’re already discussing that, including the division of some assets.

Trump’s mention of the largest nuclear plant in Europe, the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, was most likely made in the absence of any specifics. Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of attacks that could have caused an accident at the plant.

According to Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, who is based in Moscow, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is likely to be one of the main topics of discussion.

The largest nuclear facility in Europe, which was under Russian control at the start of the conflict in March 2022, is “. It has since been shut down, but it continues to be run by Russian forces and Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy organization, she said.

The proposed temporary ceasefire is also present. Russia asserts that any security guarantees for its side must be included in any such agreement, which means it opposes Ukraine’s attempt to resurrect, regroup, and restart the conflict, “she continued.

The Kremlin claimed on Friday that US envoy Steve Witkoff, who was in Moscow, had contacted Putin to let him know about his ceasefire plan, and that he had been expressing “prudent optimism” that a resolution could be reached to end the three-year conflict.

In separate appearances on US Sunday TV shows, Witkoff, Marco Rubio, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, stressed that a ceasefire and other issues must be resolved before there is a definitive resolution.

After Kyiv accepted the US’s request for a 30-day interim ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on Friday that he believed there was a good chance of the Russian conflict to come to an end.

However, Zelenskyy has consistently stated that Russia must renounce the territory it has seized in order for its country’s sovereignty to remain unwavering. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it now controls parts of four of its eastern and southern regions.

Putin claimed that his actions in Ukraine are meant to safeguard Russia’s security from NATO’s expansion, which he sees as an aggressive and hostile West. Russia is engaged in an unprovoked aggression and land grab, according to Ukraine and its Western partners.

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine abandon its NATO ambitions, that Russia maintains full control over all of Ukraine’s seized territory, and that the size of the Ukrainian army be restricted. Additionally, it wants the lifting of Western sanctions and Ukraine’s first presidential election, which Kyiv claimed is premature given the country’s current state of martial law.

Kaja Kallas, the head of the European Union’s foreign policy, claimed on Monday that Moscow’s demands for a ceasefire demonstrated this.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated on Saturday that Western allies, besides the US, were making more preparations to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, with “vigorous plans” set to be released “next week.”

Both France and Britain have indicated that they will send a peacekeeping force to monitor any ceasefire in Ukraine.

Mark Carney, the new Canadian prime minister, also pledged to support Ukraine’s sovereignty during a meeting with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron, on Monday in Paris.

Local authorities reported on Monday that as Moscow launched a barrage of nearly 200 drones against Ukraine, Ukrainian forces overnight launched a drone attack on southern Russia, igniting a fire at an oil refinery.

Before the attack, which sparked a large blaze, the Astrakhan governor Igor Babushkin claimed that employees of the “fuel and energy” complex had been evacuated.

“During the attack, one person was hurt. According to Babuschkin, the victim has now been hospitalized.

Ukraine is currently voicing criticism against Russia for repressing the US to endorse the US-proposed ceasefire without conditions.

Moscow also attacked Ukraine with a barrage of 174 drones, including the Shahed drone, which was designed by Iran, according to the air force.

Since eligibility for adults was restricted in 2023, children like Samantha are currently the only people who are eligible for Colombia’s temporary protection permit (PPT).

In order to encourage Venezuelans to apply for legal immigration status, Colombia established the PPT program in 2021.

The permits are valid until 2031 and give Venezuelans access to Colombia’s educational system, employment, and other services, which were praised as a breakthrough in addressing the migration and refugee crisis.

The PPT’s benefits have been studied by Andrés Moya, a professor at the Universidad de Los Andes School of Economics.

He discovered that Venezuelans with regular immigration status had higher monthly incomes, improved health, and higher consumer spending. In contrast to migrants and refugees without legal documents, they cost the Colombian government less to support them.

Moya noted that children are a particularly good example of this.

He said, “If we invest in these kids, they’ll be better positioned to contribute to society, to work, to start their own businesses, and to increase consumption.”

If not, families will “either continue to migrate and worsen the situation, or they’re going to become a burden on the system,” according to Moya.

The “Visibles” project, which processes the special permits, has sputtered since USAID stopped providing foreign aid.

On February 28, some Visibles locations reopened with a skeleton staff. Employees have been forced to reapply for jobs using their own funds by the Colombian government.

Prior to the aid freeze, there were 171 employees working nationwide, according to a Colombian immigration agency spokesman. The government now wants to maintain 92.

Llano Medina claimed that only a programme coordinator was on the Medelln staff when the sites shut down throughout the nation last month to handle high-level complaints.

She attributed that coordinator’s informal connection to her as saving the life of an eight-month-old child. The coordinator set up an emergency PPT to give the Venezuelan infant hospital care when the infant had a high fever in late February.

She worried that if someone had a document, another child might not need the same assistance in a crisis.

Llano Medina estimated that she registered at least 1,500 children for their PPTs between 2021 and the funding freeze. She provided the three notebooks and two tablets to Al Jazeera, where she keeps their photos and notes for each child’s paperwork.

She now struggles to compile bus fare for her volunteer shift at the hospital.

“I make a heart-felt commitment,” I said. I like to contribute because, to be honest, not many people do it for free, she said.

Llano Medina cited Samantha as one of the fortunate. Within days, the five-year-old felt well enough to start school after eventually kicking off her fever.

However, Loaiza, her mother, worries about what might happen next if they experience a medical emergency. Once her local migration office can rehire staff, she intends to restart the PPT registration process for both Samantha and Clarion.

Despite a court order forbidding their expulsion, the Trump administration has stoked outrage by deporting alleged “Venezuelan gang members” to El Salvador. Citizens’ organizations are now requesting that the White House provide details regarding the timing of the events.

Any progress being obstructed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands for a vote to fire his internal security chief as the Gaza ceasefire talks are taking place in Cairo. Nour Odeh, a journalist for Al Jazeera, explains how Netanyahu’s actions have sparked controversy in Israel as he is accused of trying to hide his own shortcomings.