Connect with us

News

US-Ukraine talks resume in Saudi Arabia after Trump envoy praises Putin

Published

on

US-Ukraine talks resume in Saudi Arabia after Trump envoy praises Putin

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free

American and Ukrainian negotiators were set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for a second round of negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s trust in Washington was again tested by the Trump administration.

Steve Witkoff, the US president’s special envoy for Russia, on Friday echoed longtime Kremlin talking points and falsehoods about Ukraine and said he “liked” Russian President Vladimir Putin and deemed him “super smart” after meeting him in Moscow this month.

“I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy,” Witkoff said on a podcast with right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson aired on Friday night. Witkoff falsely described Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine as wanting to join Russia and dismissed European postwar security efforts as “a posture and a pose”.

Advertisement

Witkoff said Washington’s goal in peace talks was to secure a “30-day ceasefire, during which time we discuss a permanent ceasefire”. But Kyiv has already accused Moscow of violating its pledge to pause attacks on energy infrastructure.

The Kremlin did not immediately comment on the Witkoff interview, but pro-government voices have welcomed it.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian propaganda broadcaster RT, wrote on Telegram that “the key message from Trump’s Ukraine policy” was recognising Russia’s territorial claims.

Sunday’s discussions with Ukrainian officials, followed by US-Russia talks on Monday, are being described as “technical” rather than high-level, according to a Washington official.

Ukrainian officials said they will focus on the modalities of a possible ceasefire — including how it might be monitored and enforced — as well as related energy and maritime issues.

Advertisement

Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov will lead his country’s delegation, which includes Pavlo Palisa, a presidential military adviser, foreign policy adviser Ihor Zhovkva, and several military officers, according to the presidential office.

The US delegation will be led by Andrew Peek, from the National Security Council, and Michael Anton, head of policy planning at the State Department, the US official said.

Sunday’s talks follow a meeting in Jeddah on March 11, after which Ukraine said it was ready to accept a US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire. 

In response, Washington said it would resume deliveries of weapons and ammunition to Kyiv and end its suspension of intelligence-sharing that had been severed after Trump’s dust up with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House last month — a step Ukrainian officials viewed as vital to sustaining operations beyond the front line.

The US proposal was announced in a joint statement following several hours of discussions. But that plan was not backed by Putin, who told Trump in a phone call on Tuesday that he was only prepared to refrain from striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days.

Advertisement

Ukrainian officials say that Russia has not lived up to the promise, as its aerial attacks have continued daily since the leaders’ call. The attacks — which Zelenskyy said on Sunday morning included 1,100 drones, 1,580 guided aerial bombs and 15 various missiles — have targeted civilian infrastructure in cities across Ukraine.

Swarms of Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian capital on Saturday night, killing at least three people and sparking fires in several apartment blocks.

Odesa on Friday was also targeted by one of the largest Russian drone attacks of the war, with regional officials saying the strikes had led to emergency power cuts.

Czech President Petr Pavel, who had been visiting Odesa and boarded a train to Kyiv just 20 minutes before the drone attack, said the strikes underscored the challenge of negotiating with Russia. 

“One has to be truly cynical when declaring the will to have peace negotiations or negotiations on a ceasefire, and at the same time to launch a massive attack on civilian infrastructure,” he told reporters. “It is extremely difficult to deal with such a party.”

Advertisement

Russia’s foreign ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt peace negotiations by striking an oil depot in the Krasnodar region and a gas metering station in Sudzha, a town in Russia’s Kursk region recently retaken by Russian forces. Kyiv blamed Moscow for the Sudzha attack.

“These actions show a complete unwillingness to reach any agreement and no desire for peace,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

Moscow also portrays the Monday talks with the US as a low-level technical meeting to discuss safe passage for ships in the Black Sea.

Its delegation will be comprised of Grigory Karasin, a career diplomat and chair of the international affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the head of the FSB spy agency.

© Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
Advertisement

News

Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Published

on

Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.

The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.

Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.

The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.

The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.

Advertisement

Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.

The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.

“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”

The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.

Advertisement

Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.

“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”

Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.

Continue Reading

News

The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded

Published

on

The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
Allegations pile up, but Child Protective Services declines to investigate and the school district continues to promote Ronnie Stoner. We include an update at the end of the episode. “The Girls” is a 4-part series from the Louisville Public Media’s investigative podcast, Dig.
Continue Reading

News

Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

Published

on

Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder

A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.

In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.

Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.

Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.

Advertisement

A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.

Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.

According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.

A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.

Advertisement

When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.

He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending