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Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky to meet as tensions rise

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Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky to meet as tensions rise

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, as tensions rise between the two men over how the future defense of Ukraine against Russian invasion will be conducted if Trump wins the U.S. election.

Trump has long argued that Vladimir Putin would not have dared invade Ukraine if he had been president at the time of the invasion in February 2022. He referred to Zelensky as a “salesman” for securing U.S. financial and military assistance for Ukraine, worth over $175 billion according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

In addition, Trump praised Russia’s historic military victories this week and called for the U.S. “to get out” and end its involvement with Ukraine-Russia conflict. Speaking Wednesday in North Carolina, Trump referred to Ukraine as “demolished” and its people as “dead.”

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump Tower in New York, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. According to Trump, it was Zelensky’s office who approached him for the visit which is set for…


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“Any deal—the worst deal—would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump said. “If they made a bad deal it would’ve been much better. They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2,000 years.”

According to Trump, it was Zelensky’s office who approached him for the visit which is set for 9.45 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday at Trump Tower in New York. Trump said in a news conference Thursday “I look forward to seeing him tomorrow. I believe I will be able to make a deal between President Putin and President Zelensky, quite quickly.”

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The timing is significant for the U.S. election.

Clear political battle lines have already been drawn between Democrat rival Harris and Republican Trump over the future of U.S. support for Ukraine and the nation’s role as the main contributor to NATO. The U.S. is due to contribute up to $755 billion in 2024 according to the international defense pact’s own estimates.

Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in the vice president’s ceremonial office inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. In keeping…


Jacquelyn Martin/AP

In keeping with President Biden’s stated foreign policy goals, Harris reinforced her continued support for NATO and Ukraine when she accepted her nomination for candidacy in August. Trump, however has remained highly critical, even threatening to withdraw intelligence cooperation and military assistance to NATO members who in his view don’t pay their fair share.

Friday’s meeting almost wasn’t scheduled to go ahead despite Zelensky’s office stating it had been planned during the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the U.N. General Assembly, during which he is making an endgame pitch to his international allies.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Zelensky suggested Trump oversimplifies the conflict and does not understand Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader further explained his position that Trump’s running mate JD Vance was “too radical” by advocating for Ukraine to “make a sacrifice” by “giving up its territories.”

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Harris on Thursday stood alongside Zelensky and said Trump’s push for Ukraine to quickly cut a deal to end the war were “not proposals for peace,” but “proposals for surrender.” Trump on Thursday said he was not advocating for a surrender.

While Trump and Vance have long been skeptics of U.S. backing for Ukraine, other Republican allies of the former president have backed Kyiv’s defense against Moscow’s invasion and argue supporting Ukraine is still in America’s interest.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press

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Video: Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

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Video: Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

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Another Night of Violent Protests Outside a Newark ICE Detention Center

Protesters and the police clashed again outside of an ICE detention center in New Jersey on Saturday night.

“Shut down Delaney Hall.” “Shut down Delaney Hall.” “Mikie Sherrill, do better. Mikie Sherrill, do better.”

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Protesters and the police clashed again outside of an ICE detention center in New Jersey on Saturday night.

By Cynthia Silva

May 31, 2026

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Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

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Family visitation partly restored at New Jersey ICE facility after week of protests

Family visitation at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center is being restored to at least part of the facility, New Jersey’s governor and US homeland security officials confirmed on Sunday morning, after a week during which heated demonstrations at the site were met with aggressive policing tactics.

Meanwhile, families of detained immigrants grappled with conflicting information about exactly whom among them would get visitation after the announcement from governor Mikie Sherrill and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And local officials by Sunday had also indefinitely imposed an overnight curfew beginning at 9pm for a blocked-off area including Delaney Hall.

Delaney Hall visitation had been canceled after detained immigrants began carrying out an ongoing hunger and labor strike inside the detention center – which prompted protests outside the facility in support of those striking.

New Jersey state police check names of family members on list for visitation detained at Delaney Hall detention center, in Newark, on Sunday. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

Facility staff confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday that what are known as units 1 and 3 were given visitation beginning at about noon and 2pm local time, respectively.

Unit 1 is a women’s section of the facility. Unit 2 is where the majority of the hunger-striking detainees are based, and it was unclear on Sunday whether it would have access to family visitation.

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Sherrill’s office and the private prison company GEO Group, which runs the facility, did not respond to a request for comment. The road leading to Delaney Hall is now fully blocked by police, except for families attempting to visit detained loved ones, state officials announced on Sunday afternoon.

The governor’s announcement and subsequent confusion by families followed a night of violent clashes outside the facility between local officials and protesters. In the aftermath of that, Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, responded by activating a curfew for the area surrounding Delaney Hall.

Anti-ICE protesters gather on Sunday as members of the New Jersey state police close Doremus Avenue near the Delaney Hall detention center. Photograph: Kyle Mazza/Shutterstock

The curfew would be in place nightly from 9pm to 6am “until further notice”, said Baraka’s office, which threatened arrest or legal action if people did not disperse during that time.

On Sunday morning, Sherrill and other top New Jersey state officials said that three people were arrested on Saturday night as a result of clashes with police. State officials said those arrest happened after a group of protesters attacked police and a barrier.

The Delaney Hall protests and clashes have become the latest flashpoint in the growing opposition to the aggressive anti-immigrant tactics Donald Trump’s administration has implemented nationwide throughout his second presidency.

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Protesters clash with New Jersey state police outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center late Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains immigrants in its network of facilities across the US while the cases of those detained play out in courts.

ICE detention centers have been repeatedly criticized for harsh conditions.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat of nearby New York, conducted an oversight visit of Delaney Hall on Sunday, and said the conditions of confinement “shock the conscience”.

On 22 May, a group of immigrants detained inside Delaney Hall detention announced a hunger and labor strike inside the facility, demanding improved conditions, medical care, a meeting with Sherrill and for their immigration cases to proceed. Between 300 and 400 detainees have since participated in the strike.

Protests began shortly thereafter, with lawmakers attempting to visit the facility. The facility gained further national attention after ICE officers pepper-sprayed US senator Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, outside the facility during a skirmish there on Monday.

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ICE officers have used pepper spray as well as stun guns throughout the demonstrations. They have also shoved and arrested protesters.

A rightwing counterprotester holds a flag as they face off against anti-ICE protesters in front of Delaney Hall detention facility, in New Jersey, on Saturday. Photograph: Farhad Parsa/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

On Friday, Sherrill and other top New Jersey officials announced that state police would replace ICE officers outside Delaney Hall. The state police set up road blocks around half a mile on either side of the detention center.

That night clashes erupted after state police officers began moving in on protesters. State police officials on horseback moved through the crowd. Other state police officers in riot gear shot teargas canisters at protesters, aggressively shoving demonstrators and arresting six.

Advocates present at Delaney Hall on Saturday repeatedly criticized Sherrill, a Democrat, for her response to the protests.

“The escalation that happened [on Friday] was ten times worse than what ICE was doing to everyone prior nights,” Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigrant Coalition, said in an interview on Saturday outside of the facility. “If anything, the escalators were the state police.”

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A statement from Sherill on Saturday announcing the restoration of family visitation at Delaney Hall claimed DHS had “met our demand”. But DHS refuted the governor’s statement.

“To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”

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See the Reflecting Pool’s Problems That Trump’s Renovations May Not Fix

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See the Reflecting Pool’s Problems That Trump’s Renovations May Not Fix

Methodology

The illustrations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s plumbing system were drawn from National Park Service documents produced as part of its renovations and reviewed by people with knowledge of the project. The layout of the expansion joints was derived from photographic evidence and a 2013 report released as part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

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