Ukraine’s top commander asks Trump to help take the war to Russia
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Japan’s Ishiba denies reports he will resign, says he will focus on trade deal with the US
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been under growing pressure to step down. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner lost their majority in the 248-member upper house. The loss means Ishiba’s ruling coalition now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament. Ishiba welcomed the trade agreement Wednesday, which places a 15% tax on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%. But Ishiba declined to comment on his possible move and only told reporters that he has to closely examine the trade deal first, he said.
The loss means Ishiba’s ruling coalition, which also lost a majority in the more powerful lower house in October, now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to achieve any policy goals and worsening Japan’s political instability.
Advertisement
Ishiba had announced his intention Monday to stay on to tackle pressing challenges , including tariff talks with the U.S., without creating a political vacuum, sparking calls from inside and outside his own party for a quick resignation to respond to the election results.
With the tariff deal with the U.S. paving the way for his possible departure, Japanese media said he is expected to soon announce plans to step down in August.
The Yomiuri newspaper, in an extra edition Wednesday, said Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, paving the way for a party leadership vote to choose his successor.
Ishiba denied the report and said he wants to focus on the U.S. trade deal, which covers more than 4,000 goods affecting many Japanese producers and industries.
Advertisement
Ishiba, who met party heavyweights and former prime ministers Taro Aso, Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday at party headquarters, told reporters afterwards that they did not discuss his resignation or a new party leadership contest. They only discussed the election results, shared the sense of crisis and confirmed the need to avoid party discord, he said.
Ishiba welcomed the trade agreement Wednesday, which places a 15% tax on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%, saying it was a product of tough negotiations to protect the national interest and that it would help benefit both sides as they work together to create more jobs and investment.
But Ishiba declined to comment on his possible move and only told reporters that he has to closely examine the trade deal first.
Advertisement
In Sunday’s election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the ruling government’s focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to emerging conservative and rightwing populist parties, like the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito .
Ukraine’s top commander asks Trump to help take the war to Russia
I’s can be had a “I can be” I can’t be had to be “to be a” to be v’i-to be ’I” can be a ‘I�ivi-i-and-v”i can be ‘i-n’d been to be a “I� and I have to be the “i-I-can be and the I-and ” has to be to have been a ’I-v been to be able to be one to be more than the n” and to be an “�i-m” rather and I could be the nanva-to have become a � vician to have been “Zi-va-vician-to-viji-or-I can become the v rather to become a n vari-vari-vI-I i-can’Si-an-I have been to have become the ‘
The bloody campaign against cities has spurred frustrations in the White House over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to stop the war, and prompted President Donald Trump to approve a new plan to bolster Kyiv’s military arsenal by allowing European countries to buy U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine.
Advertisement
A fresh supply of air defense weapons including U.S.-made Patriots, drone interceptors and light aviation to shoot down drones could help thwart the Russian attacks, Syrsky said. More mid- and longer-range missiles, including U.S.-made ATACMS and German Taurus systems, would — if issued without restrictions on their use — allow Kyiv to slow Russian weapon production by targeting the infrastructure making its missiles and drones.
“They are targeting virtually everything — airfields, populated areas, infrastructure facilities,” Syrsky said of Russia. “So, of course, we need supplies of ballistic missiles in order to be able to give the enemy a fitting rebuff.”
“The availability of any missile weapons is in itself a deterrent,” he added. “I hope that thanks to President Trump’s position, this process will be much easier and … we won’t have any of the difficulties we had before.”
Advertisement
Syrsky declined to comment on whether Ukraine has any of the powerful ATACMS left in stock, although it’s widely understood that the country’s supplies have run out. When asked if a new delivery of the American missiles would save Ukrainian lives, he replied: “Of course.”
In a July 4 phone call, Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if Ukraine was able to strike Moscow or St. Petersburg. He has since said Ukraine should not do so. Still, the discussion raised questions about whether Trump would be willing to lift the Biden-era restrictions on certain U.S. weapons that Kyiv has long decried.
Syrsky spoke to The Post on Saturday, five days after Trump announced his plan to arm Ukraine, which will see European countries send supplies from their own stocks and then purchase new systems for themselves from Washington.
Advertisement
The proposal marked a major policy shift by Trump, whose administration has flip-flopped on its support for Kyiv and briefly suspended military aid and intelligence sharing earlier this year. Amid growing frustrations over Russia’s nonstop bombing of Ukraine and failure to make progress on U.S. demands for productive peace talks, Trump also threatened to intensely sanction Moscow if no deal to end the fighting is reached in 50 days.
In addition to the air defense and missile insufficiencies, Ukraine’s ground troops, who remain vastly outnumbered on the front line, are also running low on 155mm artillery shells, Syrsky said, and need an additional supply of armored vehicles. “We have highly motivated and courageous soldiers who can advance,” he said, “but they need modern, reliable means of protection.”
Although Germany is in talks with Washington to finance and supply Patriot batteries for Ukraine, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said earlier this month that Berlin would not supply Ukraine with the longer-range Taurus missiles Kyiv has requested.
Advertisement
This push to arm Ukraine and ward off Russia’s constant aerial assaults is only the latest challenge in a turbulent tenure for Syrsky, a four-star general who has led Ukraine’s armed forces since February 2024 and turns 60 this week. Syrsky replaced Gen. Valery Zaluzhny last year after he was dismissed amid disagreements with Zelensky over a failed 2023 counteroffensive and troop mobilization.
Syrsky, who previously served as Ukraine’s ground forces commander, was best known at the time for having planned the risky but wildly successful 2022 counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region that exploited Russian vulnerabilities and liberated hundreds of square miles of territory in a matter of days. But he later faced criticism among foot soldiers for what many saw as a misguided decision to keep troops holding the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut in 2023 even as they were severely outnumbered by the advancing Russians.
Syrsky was promoted to commander in chief as Russian forces appeared set to achieve significant advances in the country’s east. By May of last year, they had reinvaded Kharkiv, but they faced fierce resistance and were ultimately contained to a small part of the border area.
A delayed U.S. decision to allow some cross-border strikes with ATACMS for the first time helped turn the tide in Kharkiv. “We all made a lot of efforts, including public speaking, to explain and prove the need to use these types of long-range weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Syrsky said. The Biden administration had long refused to allow such strikes, fearing they would cross a red line for Putin and spur a dangerous response.
Despite the change in policy, last summer “was really very difficult for us,” Syrsky said. Russia planned further intensive offensive operations, including attacks on the Sumy region. It had ramped up drone production and offered new financial incentives to recruit ground troops, worsening Ukraine’s front-line woes.
Advertisement
“We were heavily criticized because we were defending and retreating,” Syrsky said. “I had to do something, let’s say, extraordinary.”
With the help of a small group of commanders, he concocted a plan to divert Russian troops by invading Russia’s western Kursk region and putting them on the defensive inside their own country for the first time. It was a dangerous gamble, but Ukrainian forces ultimately seized some 500 square miles of Russian territory, stunning Moscow and the West.
The operation sent morale skyrocketing among Ukrainian troops and civilians desperate for news of advances along the front. But critics claimed the plan also left parts of the front line vulnerable to Russian attacks and ultimately contributed to more territorial losses.
Nearly a year later, an intense Russian counteroffensive has pushed Ukraine out of almost all parts of Kursk that it once controlled and is pressing heavily on the eastern Donetsk region. Russian forces are also for the first time trying to break into the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Advertisement
The Kursk operation will surely remain a defining turning point in Syrsky’s legacy. The commander said that he stands firmly by it and that it was an essential plan that thwarted Russia’s aims to seize more territory and relieved pressure on some parts of the beleaguered eastern front.
In the past year, roughly a third of Russia’s guided aerial bombs were used inside the Kursk region rather than in Ukraine. Russian fiber-optic drones, which pose a major threat to Ukrainians because they cannot be jammed, first appeared on the battlefield in Kursk, Syrsky said, rather than in eastern Ukraine. So did North Korean troops, who may now number some 20,000 in the region, although they have still not deployed on combat missions to Ukraine, he said.
The Kursk occupation ultimately killed or wounded at least 80,000 Russian troops, Syrsky said. He declined to disclose Ukrainian casualties there but said they were significantly fewer than Russia’s.
Advertisement
The eastern city of Pokrovsk, which appeared poised to fall in August 2024, remains in Ukrainian control nearly a year later, although barely. Its defense has been possible, Syrsky said, largely thanks to the resolve of Ukrainian troops and to creating barriers such as minefields that have led to 30 percent losses among Russian vehicles along that stretch of the front.
Euphoria from the Kursk operation has long since faded on the front line amid nonstop Russian assaults. Ukraine is struggling to compete with Russia’s much larger military and the enormous financial incentives it doles out to recruits.
Getting more troops into the field remains a major challenge, Syrsky said, and he acknowledged that “everything related to mobilization is very sensitive information.” Russia is intensely targeting these mobilization efforts, both through propaganda and by bombing recruitment centers.
Advertisement
While the mandatory draft is only for men ages 25 to 60, Ukraine has begun experimenting with a program to mobilize 18-to-24-year-olds for one-year contracts in exchange for large bonuses and travel permissions. It has hardly gathered speed. Syrsky said a recent survey assessing the initiative found that for more than half of respondents, “the motivation is more money.”
“If it is increased, there will be more applicants,” he said, noting that Russia has the resources to pay its contract soldiers significantly more.
When Syrsky turns 60 this week, he will reach Ukraine’s military retirement age — but he laughed off any suggestion that he would step down. He can still do 100 push-ups without a break, he said, and that’s despite his aides’ reports that he rarely — if ever — sleeps. What motivates him, he said, is “understanding my personal role in the process of protecting our population, our citizens. And I understand that I have to do more and better.”
Even after years in higher command, he said, he remains most comfortable alongside foot soldiers on the front line. His aides expect that’s where he will spend his 60th birthday. He said it’s too early to tell.
Trump says Zelensky should NOT target Moscow after ‘asking Ukraine leader if he can make Putin feel the pain of war’
Donald Trump has urged Volodymyr Zelensky not to target Moscow with US-manufactured missiles. Comes days after he reportedly asked Kyiv if Russia’s capital was in reach. A bombshell report claimed that Trump asked the Ukrainian leader if he can “make them [Russia] feel the pain” when the pair held a phone call at the start of the month. But Trump has now pushed back on the reports of him enquiring about Ukraine’s next targets. He told reporters that he has actually warned Zelenski to not even think about attacking Moscow if he ever wants the conflict to end. It comes as Trump pledged to send “top of the line weapons” used by the US over to Nato so they can deploy them in Kyiv. These are believed to include cruise missiles which could be able to reach Moscow and all the major Russian cities depending on what is sent. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Trump’s words were taken out of context as the President “was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing”
DON’S U-TURN Trump says Zelensky should NOT target Moscow after ‘asking Ukraine leader if he can make Putin feel the pain of war’
DONALD Trump has urged Volodymyr Zelensky not to target Moscow with US-manufactured missiles – just days after he reportedly asked Kyiv if Russia’s capital was in reach.
A bombshell report claimed that Trump asked the Ukrainian leader if he can “make them [Russia] feel the pain” when the pair held a phone call at the start of the month.
Advertisement
8 Donald Trump has urged Volodymyr Zelensky not to target Moscow with US long-range missiles Credit: Alamy
8 A bombshell report a few days ago claimed that Trump asked the Ukrainian leader if he can ‘make them [Russia] feel the pain’ Credit: Getty
8 Trump responded to the report by saying: ‘I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week’ – pictured: Russia’s attack on Lviv last week Credit: Reuters
The US President asked: “Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? Can you hit St Petersburg too?”, according to the Financial Times, citing two sources.
Zelensky responded: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”
It comes as Trump pledged to send “top of the line weapons” used by the US over to Nato so they can deploy them in Kyiv.
These are believed to include cruise missiles which could be able to reach Moscow and all the major Russian cities depending on what is sent.
Advertisement
But Trump has now pushed back on the reports of him enquiring about Ukraine’s next targets.
He told reporters that he has actually warned Zelensky to not even think about attacking Moscow if he ever wants the conflict to end.
Trump did not directly mention the FT report but the White House did earlier today.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt argued Trump’s words were taken out of context as the President “was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing”.
Advertisement
She continued, in a statement to the BBC: “He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”
Trump was also asked if he has now turned against Putin entirely and sided with Ukraine.
Putin defies Trump’s ultimatum and BOMBARDS Ukraine – as Kremlin mouthpiece warns Russia will ‘turn Kyiv into Hiroshima’
In recent days, the President has blasted Putin for his recent daily bombardments and urged Vlad to negotiate with Ukraine or face serious repercussions.
As he left the White House today however, he simply said: “I’m on nobody’s side.
Advertisement
“I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week.”
The clearest sign yet that Trump is done playing diplomatic games with Putin came on Monday,
He issued a blistering crackdown on Moscow as he made a pledge to hit Russia with 100 percent tariffs if Putin doesn’t agree to a peace deal within 50 days.
Trump made the comments as he also agreed to supply weapons to help Kyiv in the war in the hopes of driving Putin to the negotiating table.
Advertisement
He vowed to send weapons compromising of “everything” in his arsenal in order to get Putin back into line after weeks of the tyrant incessantly bombing Ukraine.
One of the proposed weapons which could be included in the package deal is America’s joint air-to-surface standoff cruise missiles (JASSM).
8 Trump with his press secretary Karoline Leavitt who argued Trump’s words were taken out of context Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
8 Firefighters working on a fire at a site of a strike following a mass Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv Credit: AFP
Advertisement
8 It comes as Trump pledged to send “top of the line weapons” used by the US over to Nato so they can deploy them in Kyiv Credit: Reuters
Surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries are also said to be among the equipment being manufactured.
A furious Trump added he is “very unhappy” with Russia.
The President has spent the first seven months of his White House return urging both sides to come to the negotiating table.
Advertisement
But a snarling Putin has always declined and instead ramped up his ground and aerial offensives across Ukraine.
And the Kremlin’s reaction to Trump’s latest posture was again icy.
They mocked the deadline with sources saying they may now demand even more Ukrainian territory instead of laying down arms.
Russia will instead keep terrorising Ukrainian civilians during the seven-week period instead of surrendering in any form, they added.
Advertisement
Within hours of Trump’s tariff threat, Russia launched a fresh blitz across Ukraine, striking sites in Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.
Drones targeted a university in Sumy, wounding a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old student, while a missile hit a medical facility in Shostka.
In response, Ukraine launched its own drone blitz across southwest Russia, injuring civilians and damaging homes and industrial sites in Voronezh and Lipetsk.
Advertisement
What have experts said of Trump’s sending long-range weapons to Ukraine? by Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter DONALD Trump sending long-range weapons to Ukraine could be a game-changer for the war by helping halt Vladimir Putin’s nightly blitzes, experts said. Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a decorated British Army commander, said the shipment of these long-range missiles would have profound “psychological and physical effects” on Ukraine. Mr de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun: “These weapons can strike Moscow – over 400 miles from the border. That allows the Ukrainians to strike drone factory production and ammunition sites, and others. “So this will have both psychological as well as physical effects. “People in Moscow will realise that they potentially could be targeted. “And when you also add to it the American bombings on Iranian sites that were supposed to be impregnable, it shows that American missile and drone technology rather superior to the Russian air defence system.” The former army chief said these weapons will put real pressure on Russia, adding: “The metric has now changed and Trump’s decision could make a huge difference.” Ex-military intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram told The Sun how these long-range weapons could help strike Russian missile and drone launchpads – the ones that are used to launch nightly attacks on Ukraine. He said: “The Ukrainians are already attacking to hit Russian military logistics, defence industry bases. “And with these sophisticated weapons, they will have increased capability of doing so. “It will impact the ability of the Russians to prosecute these increasingly large drone and rocket attacks on a nightly basis. “And then that’s the best way for the Ukrainians to stop it.”
8 Russian attacks have continued to prove deadly in recent weeks with Donald Trump finally saying he has had enough – pictured Shostka Credit: Getty
Ukraine war latest: Kremlin not expecting ‘miracles’ in new peace talks; protests in Kyiv after Zelenskyy signs law
Analysis: World ‘doesn’t believe Trump’s 50-day deadline for Putin’ Michael Clarke: ‘The rest of the world doesn’t believe he’ll do it’ Clarke added Russia could launch large-scale attacks before the deadline runs out. He said the two countries most likely to be hurt by tariffs and sanctions on Russia will be China and India.
Our military analyst Michael Clarke has given his thoughts on Donald Trump’s 50-day deadline – which he doesn’t believe is a serious warning.
“The fact is, the rest of the world doesn’t believe he’ll do it,” Clarke said during his regular live Q&A.
He said the two countries most likely to be hurt by tariffs and sanctions on Russia will be China and India, because those are the two who take the most Russian oil.
“Trump will not upset India and China to that extent and those sanctions will almost certainly raise the price of gasoline at the pumps and add to inflation in the US,” he said.
“So the calculation is – he won’t do it.”
Clarke added Russia could launch large-scale attacks before the deadline runs out.
We could see “a real uptick of offensives all around the front” – in which Russia’s forces “throw absolutely everything” at Ukraine between now and 2 September.
For context: Last week, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Russia to end its war with Ukraine.
He said the US would provide more weapons to Ukraine (albeit via sales to NATO), as well as threatening Russia with more sanctions if it does not make peace by this deadline.
Watch below: Trump’s ultimatum to Putin
Ukraine war latest: Kremlin not expecting ‘miracles’ in new peace talks; protests in Kyiv after Zelenskyy signs law
Analysis: World ‘doesn’t believe Trump’s 50-day deadline for Putin’ Michael Clarke: ‘The rest of the world doesn’t believe he’ll do it’ Clarke added Russia could launch large-scale attacks before the deadline runs out. He said the two countries most likely to be hurt by tariffs and sanctions on Russia will be China and India.
Our military analyst Michael Clarke has given his thoughts on Donald Trump’s 50-day deadline – which he doesn’t believe is a serious warning.
“The fact is, the rest of the world doesn’t believe he’ll do it,” Clarke said during his regular live Q&A.
He said the two countries most likely to be hurt by tariffs and sanctions on Russia will be China and India, because those are the two who take the most Russian oil.
“Trump will not upset India and China to that extent and those sanctions will almost certainly raise the price of gasoline at the pumps and add to inflation in the US,” he said.
“So the calculation is – he won’t do it.”
Clarke added Russia could launch large-scale attacks before the deadline runs out.
We could see “a real uptick of offensives all around the front” – in which Russia’s forces “throw absolutely everything” at Ukraine between now and 2 September.
For context: Last week, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Russia to end its war with Ukraine.
He said the US would provide more weapons to Ukraine (albeit via sales to NATO), as well as threatening Russia with more sanctions if it does not make peace by this deadline.
Watch below: Trump’s ultimatum to Putin