Category: 2. World

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday said the bloc was leaving the door open to action against Israel over the war in Gaza if the humanitarian situation does not improve.

Kallas has put forward 10 potential options after Israel was found to have breached a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights grounds.

The measures range from suspending the entire accord or curbing trade ties to sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.

Despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over how to tackle Israel and there was no critical mass for taking any of the moves at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act if Israel does not live up to its pledges,” Kallas told journalists.

“The aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to really improve the situation in Gaza.”

That comes after Kallas on Thursday announced a deal with Israel to open more entry points and allow in more food.

Gaza’s two million residents face dire humanitarian conditions as Israel has severely limited aid during its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“We see some positive signs when it comes to opening border crossings, we see some positive signs of them reconstructing the electricity lines, providing water, also more trucks of humanitarian aid coming in,” Kallas said Monday.

But she said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic”.

“Of course, we need to see more in order to see real improvement for the people on the ground,” she said.

Read More: At least 11 Gazans killed in Israeli strikes

Irish minister Thomas Byrne, whose country has been one of the toughest in the EU on Israel, said Kallas had committed to updating member states every two weeks on the progress of humanitarian access to Gaza.

“So far, we haven’t really seen the implementation of it, maybe some very small actions, but there’s still slaughter going on,” he said.

“So we need to see action and we need to use our leverage.”

While the EU appears unable to take further moves against Israel, just getting to this stage has been a considerable step.

The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza following the collapse of a ceasefire in March.

Also Read: At least 28 killed in Gaza as Israel bombs over 100 sites today

Until then, deep divisions between countries backing Israel and those more favourable to the Palestinians had hamstrung any move.

But the splits within the bloc mean that it has struggled to have a major impact on the war in Gaza and Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar had predicted confidently that the bloc wouldn’t take any further action on Monday.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which led to 1,219 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of 251 people taken hostage by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry says that at least 58,386 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory campaign. The UN considers those figures reliable.

Israel and Hamas have been in indirect talks for two weeks over a new ceasefire deal, but talks appear to be deadlocked.

LONDON: On Beirut’s congested roads, where traffic crawls and crumbling infrastructure testifies to decades of neglect, a new rhythm is quietly taking shape.

Sleek, navy-blue buses — equipped with GPS, air conditioning and modern fare systems — now trundle through the city’s chaos, offering a welcome glimpse of efficiency. Whether they can truly deliver long-term impact, however, remains uncertain.

For decades, Lebanon’s public transportation system has been an informal patchwork dominated by private minibuses and shared taxis. Now, the government is attempting to reassert control through a partnership with a private company aimed at modernizing the daily commute.

The new fleet operates on 11 routes, primarily across Greater Beirut, but also extending to parts of northern, southern and eastern Lebanon. A private logistics firm, Ahdab Commuting and Trading Co., manages day-to-day operations under a public-private partnership model.

While the initiative shows promise, commuters are aware of its limitations.

“Overall, you’ll mostly notice the impact of public transit inside the major cities, but even there, the system still heavily relies on taxis,” Mohammed Ali Diab, a Beirut-based journalist, told Arab News.

“Most taxis operate on a shared-ride basis unless a passenger specifically requests a private ride.”

Passengers typically say “service” to request a shared taxi, paying a flat fare — usually around 200,000 Lebanese pounds, or $2 — while the driver continues picking up others along the same route.

“In Beirut, there are also vans, but their routes are limited and fixed,” Diab added. “They don’t operate citywide.”

These vans and buses, he noted, are primarily used by working-class commuters and students, largely due to their affordability.

Beyond Beirut, shared taxis and buses connect major cities such as Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon. But in rural and mountainous regions, Diab said, residents still depend on private cars.

That dependence is becoming increasingly unviable. The World Bank’s Beirut office recently warned that Lebanon’s “reliance on private vehicles is increasingly unsustainable,” particularly amid rising poverty rates and vehicle-operation costs.

Lebanon is reeling from one of the world’s worst economic crises since 1850, according to the World Bank. Since 2019, currency collapse and high inflation have wiped out savings, shrunk incomes and pushed millions of people into poverty.

A 2024 World Bank report revealed that poverty has more than tripled over the past decade, now affecting 44 percent of the population. A separate study by Walid Marrouch, an economics professor at the Lebanese American University, found that at least 60 percent of citizens live below the poverty line.

Against this economic backdrop, the government’s partnership with ACTC represents a promising policy shift.

In 2023, the company won a competitive bid launched by the Ministry of Public Works to operate the bus system under specific contractual conditions. As part of the deal, ACTC contributes 10 percent of its revenues to the ministry.

Despite the financial risks, ACTC leaders believe in the project’s potential. “We took a risk during a difficult time and invested in a project that’s close to our hearts — one we believe adds real value to the country,” Aoni Ahdab, the ACTC CEO, told Lebanese media. “We’re hopeful it will succeed.”

The service officially launched in July 2024, despite regional instability and periodic hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah that temporarily disrupted routes. Israel’s escalation of attacks from September through late November did not halt the project.

The 2024 conflict caused heavy damage to Lebanon’s transport infrastructure. The World Bank estimates $1 billion is needed for infrastructure sectors, including transport, within an $11 billion national recovery plan.

Much of the new fleet’s foundation was laid earlier. In 2022, France donated 50 buses to Lebanon, with more expected. Meanwhile, the Railway and Public Transport Authority refurbished 45 vehicles locally, raising the operational fleet to 95 — a modest but tangible effort to ease the transportation burden.

Although the ACTC contract did not mandate fleet upgrades, the company voluntarily refurbished and standardized the buses, repainting them in navy blue for easy identification and installing safety and tracking technologies.

To test viability, a pilot phase launched in April. Buses operated from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to assess travel times, stop durations and operational needs. The goal was to ensure departures every 25 minutes.

Pricing was designed to be accessible. Fares vary by distance: 70,000 Lebanese pounds within Beirut, 100,000 to Baabda, and 150,000 to Tripoli, according to local passengers.

Riders can purchase single-use tickets or opt for rechargeable cards. For now, those without cards can still pay drivers directly and receive a scannable paper ticket.

As Beirut confronts long-standing infrastructure challenges, this initiative is viewed as cautious progress. Yet its success will depend on earning public trust and expanding service sustainably.

Initial data is encouraging. Ziad Nasr, head of Lebanon’s public transport authority, told AFP last month that daily ridership has risen to around 4,500 passengers, up from just a few hundred at launch.

Authorities hope to expand service further, including routes to Beirut’s airport, but additional buses and international support will be needed.

However, the rollout has not been smooth. Resistance from private transport operators, who view the initiative as a threat to their livelihoods, has been fierce.

According to local media, several buses were vandalized and drivers, especially on the Adlieh–Hadath University Campus route, faced threats and harassment toward the end of 2024. The Ministry of Public Works and security forces intervened to keep services running.

These tensions are symptomatic of deeper, long-standing issues. Lebanon’s public transport sector has suffered for decades from weak oversight, overlapping private interests, chronic underfunding, and lack of strategic planning — all of which have repeatedly hindered reform efforts.

The roots of dysfunction stretch back to the civil war of 1975–1990, which devastated infrastructure and governance. In the years that followed, a car-dependent culture took hold. Even before the 2019 economic collapse, Lebanon was already struggling with failing power grids, unsafe roads and limited water access.

Beyond reducing congestion and improving mobility, public transportation could also play a key role in environmental reform — an often overlooked priority in Lebanon. A World Bank climate and development report noted that the transport sector is the country’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, second only to the energy sector.

Indeed, in cities like Beirut, poor air quality is a growing concern. Frequent traffic jams and widespread use of diesel-powered generators — especially during routine blackouts — have worsened pollution and related health risks.

On the upside, there are signs of innovation. In Zahle, east of Beirut, four hybrid buses are already operating, Nabil Mneimne of the UN Development Program told AFP in June.

More progress is expected this year. Lebanon’s first fully electric buses, powered by a solar charging system, are set to launch between Beirut and the northern city of Jbeil.

A longer-term roadmap for reform has also been laid out. A 2022 World Bank report on improving public transport in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq outlined key recommendations. These included unifying bus operators, creating a fund to buy back public licenses, implementing intelligent transport systems, and developing a national road safety strategy.

The report also urged the government to adopt “quick-win” solutions to improve the user experience — such as reliable schedules, journey-planning apps, real-time tracking, and updated data to enable effective planning.

Together, these steps could help Lebanon transform its transportation landscape — if the political will and public support can be sustained.

 

LONDON: On Beirut’s congested roads, where traffic crawls and crumbling infrastructure testifies to decades of neglect, a new rhythm is quietly taking shape.

Sleek, navy-blue buses — equipped with GPS, air conditioning and modern fare systems — now trundle through the city’s chaos, offering a welcome glimpse of efficiency. Whether they can truly deliver long-term impact, however, remains uncertain.

For decades, Lebanon’s public transportation system has been an informal patchwork dominated by private minibuses and shared taxis. Now, the government is attempting to reassert control through a partnership with a private company aimed at modernizing the daily commute.

The new fleet operates on 11 routes, primarily across Greater Beirut, but also extending to parts of northern, southern and eastern Lebanon. A private logistics firm, Ahdab Commuting and Trading Co., manages day-to-day operations under a public-private partnership model.

While the initiative shows promise, commuters are aware of its limitations.

“Overall, you’ll mostly notice the impact of public transit inside the major cities, but even there, the system still heavily relies on taxis,” Mohammed Ali Diab, a Beirut-based journalist, told Arab News.

“Most taxis operate on a shared-ride basis unless a passenger specifically requests a private ride.”

Passengers typically say “service” to request a shared taxi, paying a flat fare — usually around 200,000 Lebanese pounds, or $2 — while the driver continues picking up others along the same route.

“In Beirut, there are also vans, but their routes are limited and fixed,” Diab added. “They don’t operate citywide.”

These vans and buses, he noted, are primarily used by working-class commuters and students, largely due to their affordability.

Beyond Beirut, shared taxis and buses connect major cities such as Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon. But in rural and mountainous regions, Diab said, residents still depend on private cars.

That dependence is becoming increasingly unviable. The World Bank’s Beirut office recently warned that Lebanon’s “reliance on private vehicles is increasingly unsustainable,” particularly amid rising poverty rates and vehicle-operation costs.

Lebanon is reeling from one of the world’s worst economic crises since 1850, according to the World Bank. Since 2019, currency collapse and high inflation have wiped out savings, shrunk incomes and pushed millions of people into poverty.

A 2024 World Bank report revealed that poverty has more than tripled over the past decade, now affecting 44 percent of the population. A separate study by Walid Marrouch, an economics professor at the Lebanese American University, found that at least 60 percent of citizens live below the poverty line.

Against this economic backdrop, the government’s partnership with ACTC represents a promising policy shift.

In 2023, the company won a competitive bid launched by the Ministry of Public Works to operate the bus system under specific contractual conditions. As part of the deal, ACTC contributes 10 percent of its revenues to the ministry.

Despite the financial risks, ACTC leaders believe in the project’s potential. “We took a risk during a difficult time and invested in a project that’s close to our hearts — one we believe adds real value to the country,” Aoni Ahdab, the ACTC CEO, told Lebanese media. “We’re hopeful it will succeed.”

The service officially launched in July 2024, despite regional instability and periodic hostilities between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah that temporarily disrupted routes. Israel’s escalation of attacks from September through late November did not halt the project.

The 2024 conflict caused heavy damage to Lebanon’s transport infrastructure. The World Bank estimates $1 billion is needed for infrastructure sectors, including transport, within an $11 billion national recovery plan.

Much of the new fleet’s foundation was laid earlier. In 2022, France donated 50 buses to Lebanon, with more expected. Meanwhile, the Railway and Public Transport Authority refurbished 45 vehicles locally, raising the operational fleet to 95 — a modest but tangible effort to ease the transportation burden.

Although the ACTC contract did not mandate fleet upgrades, the company voluntarily refurbished and standardized the buses, repainting them in navy blue for easy identification and installing safety and tracking technologies.

To test viability, a pilot phase launched in April. Buses operated from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to assess travel times, stop durations and operational needs. The goal was to ensure departures every 25 minutes.

Pricing was designed to be accessible. Fares vary by distance: 70,000 Lebanese pounds within Beirut, 100,000 to Baabda, and 150,000 to Tripoli, according to local passengers.

Riders can purchase single-use tickets or opt for rechargeable cards. For now, those without cards can still pay drivers directly and receive a scannable paper ticket.

As Beirut confronts long-standing infrastructure challenges, this initiative is viewed as cautious progress. Yet its success will depend on earning public trust and expanding service sustainably.

Initial data is encouraging. Ziad Nasr, head of Lebanon’s public transport authority, told AFP last month that daily ridership has risen to around 4,500 passengers, up from just a few hundred at launch.

Authorities hope to expand service further, including routes to Beirut’s airport, but additional buses and international support will be needed.

However, the rollout has not been smooth. Resistance from private transport operators, who view the initiative as a threat to their livelihoods, has been fierce.

According to local media, several buses were vandalized and drivers, especially on the Adlieh–Hadath University Campus route, faced threats and harassment toward the end of 2024. The Ministry of Public Works and security forces intervened to keep services running.

These tensions are symptomatic of deeper, long-standing issues. Lebanon’s public transport sector has suffered for decades from weak oversight, overlapping private interests, chronic underfunding, and lack of strategic planning — all of which have repeatedly hindered reform efforts.

The roots of dysfunction stretch back to the civil war of 1975–1990, which devastated infrastructure and governance. In the years that followed, a car-dependent culture took hold. Even before the 2019 economic collapse, Lebanon was already struggling with failing power grids, unsafe roads and limited water access.

Beyond reducing congestion and improving mobility, public transportation could also play a key role in environmental reform — an often overlooked priority in Lebanon. A World Bank climate and development report noted that the transport sector is the country’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, second only to the energy sector.

Indeed, in cities like Beirut, poor air quality is a growing concern. Frequent traffic jams and widespread use of diesel-powered generators — especially during routine blackouts — have worsened pollution and related health risks.

On the upside, there are signs of innovation. In Zahle, east of Beirut, four hybrid buses are already operating, Nabil Mneimne of the UN Development Program told AFP in June.

More progress is expected this year. Lebanon’s first fully electric buses, powered by a solar charging system, are set to launch between Beirut and the northern city of Jbeil.

A longer-term roadmap for reform has also been laid out. A 2022 World Bank report on improving public transport in Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq outlined key recommendations. These included unifying bus operators, creating a fund to buy back public licenses, implementing intelligent transport systems, and developing a national road safety strategy.

The report also urged the government to adopt “quick-win” solutions to improve the user experience — such as reliable schedules, journey-planning apps, real-time tracking, and updated data to enable effective planning.

Together, these steps could help Lebanon transform its transportation landscape — if the political will and public support can be sustained.

 

The EU will start the process of reinstating UN sanctions on Iran from 29 August if Tehran has made no progress by then on containing its nuclear programme, the bloc has announced.

Speaking at a meeting of his EU counterparts, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said: “France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargos on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago. Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”

Europeans have been largely elbowed aside from the Iranian nuclear issue by Donald Trump, who ordered the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites last month, and this intervention can be seen as an attempt to reassert Europe’s influence.

The end of August deadline starts a process that could lead to an armoury of sanctions being reimposed by 15 October, giving European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal – the UK, France and Germany – a continuing lever in negotiations with Iran. The European powers want to see the return of the UN nuclear inspectorate to Iran, in part to prevent Iran trying to reconfigure its nuclear programme after the damage inflicted by the US strikes in June.

The way in which the 2015 nuclear deal was negotiated does not allow the other signatories, China or Russia, to veto the sanctions snapback, but the European states can defer the imposition of snapback beyond October to allow time for further consultation.

The US, after leaving the nuclear deal in 2018, also cannot veto the UK or French move. The sanctions snapback would be triggered under chapter seven of the UN charter, making the reinstatement of six UN resolutions mandatory, including one that requires Iran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment and reprocessing, including at the research and development level.

Another reimposed resolution would require all UN member states to prevent the transfer of any items, materials or technologies that could serve these activities or Iran’s missile programme.

Iranian sanctions experts claim the reinstated resolutions would not automatically halt all Iranian oil exports, cut off Iran’s access to international financial systems, or cut off general trade communications. But all countries and international financial institutions would have to refrain from providing financial assistance, new commitments or preferential loans to the Iranian government, except for humanitarian and development purposes.

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said recently that the activation of snapback “will mean the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear issue and may be the darkest point in the history of Iran’s relations with the three European countries, a point that may never be repaired.” He said: “It would mark the end of Europe’s role as a mediator between Iran and the US.”

He told diplomats at the weekend “One of the big mistakes of the Europeans is that they think that the ‘snapback’ tool in their hands gives them the power to act on the Iranian nuclear issue, while this is a completely wrong perception. If these countries move towards snapback, they will make the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue even more complicated and difficult.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has urged the United States to share the financial burden of supplying weapons to Ukraine. Her remarks came after President Donald Trump announced a new plan under which European allies would purchase billions of dollars’ worth of American arms—including Patriot missile systems—to send to Kyiv.

Speaking after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kallas welcomed the gesture but criticized the US approach of shifting the cost to Europe, stating that “if you promise weapons but expect others to pay, it’s not really your support.”

Trump’s plan also gave Russia 50 days to end the war or face tough new economic sanctions. Meanwhile, several European countries including Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands have already expressed interest in joining the arms-purchase scheme.

While Trump has repeatedly claimed the US has done more than its share for Ukraine, NATO statistics show that European nations now provide the majority of weaponry being sent to Ukraine.

Kallas’s comments highlight growing European frustration over financial expectations, as the war in Ukraine continues into its third year.

Israeli strikes overnight and into Tuesday killed more than 90 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, including dozens of women and children, health officials said, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s timeline to land a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel keeps drifting.

One strike in the northern al-Shati refugee camp killed a 68-year-old Hamas member of the Palestinian legislature, as well as a man and a woman and their six children who were sheltering in the same building, according to officials from Al-Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

One of the deadliest strikes hit a house in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa district on Monday evening and killed 19 members of the family living inside, according to Al-Shifa Hospital. The dead included eight women and six children. A strike on a tent housing displaced people in the same district killed a man and a woman and their two children.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said in a daily report Tuesday afternoon that the bodies of 93 people killed by Israeli strikes had been taken to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, along with 278 wounded. It did not specify the total number of women and children among the dead.

The Hamas politician killed in a strike early Tuesday, Mohammed Faraj al-Ghoul, was a member of the bloc of representatives from the group that won seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in the last election held among Palestinians, in 2006.

Hamas won a majority in the vote, but relations with the main Fatah faction that had long led the Palestinian Authority unravelled and ended with Hamas taking over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The legislative council has not formally convened since.

The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

The latest attacks came after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.

At least 875 killed near aid points, convoys, UN says

The UN rights office said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, a U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and convoys run by other relief groups.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of GHF aid hubs, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May after Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade, previously told Reuters that such incidents have not occurred on its sites and accused the UN of misinformation, which it denies.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

“The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations,” Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva.

The United Nations has called the GHF aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.

The Israeli army previously told Reuters in a statement that it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israel Defence Forces by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

Israel has killed more than 58,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 139,000 others in its retaliation campaign since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Slightly more than half the dead are women and children, according to the ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its tally.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its attack 20 months ago, in which militants stormed into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies. They abducted 251 others, and the militants are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.

Israel’s air and ground campaign has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven some 90 per cent of the population from their homes. Aid groups say they have struggled to bring in food and other assistance because of Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order, and experts have warned of famine.

Attacks against Palestinians in West Bank intensify: UN

There has been an increase in killings of and attacks against Palestinians by settlers and security forces in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.

“Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the past weeks,” Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.

About 30,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in the north of the occupied West Bank since the Israeli military launched its “Iron Wall” operation — contributing to the ongoing consolidation of annexation of the West Bank, in violation of international law, the OHCHR said.

In June, the UN recorded the highest monthly count of Palestinians injured in more than two decades in the West Bank.

Since January, there have been 757 settler attacks on Palestinians or their properties, which is a 13 per cent increase on the same period last year, OHCHR said.

At least 964 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023, by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Fifty-three Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and in Israel in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes, the office added.

President Vladimir Putin intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace, unfazed by Donald Trump’s threats of tougher sanctions, and his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance, three sources close to the Kremlin said.

Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the country’s east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops, believes Russia’s economy and its military are strong enough to weather any additional Western measures, the sources said.

Trump on Monday expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire and announced a wave of weapons supplies to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. He also threatened further sanctions on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.

The three Russian sources, familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, said Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believes Russia — which has survived the toughest sanctions imposed by the West — can endure further economic hardship, including threatened US tariffs targeting buyers of Russian oil.

“Putin thinks no one has seriously engaged with him on the details of peace in Ukraine — including the Americans — so he will continue until he gets what he wants,” one of the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

Despite several telephone calls between Trump and Putin, and visits to Russia by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, the Russian leader believes there have not been detailed discussions of the basis for a peace plan, the source said.

“Putin values the relationship with Trump and had good discussions with Witkoff, but the interests of Russia come above all else,” the person added.

Asked for a comment on the Reuters reporting, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly blamed former president Joe Biden for allowing the war to erupt during his administration.

“Unlike Biden, President Trump is focused on stopping the killing, and Putin will be faced with biting sanctions and tariffs if he does not agree to a ceasefire,” she said.

Putin’s conditions for peace include a legally binding pledge that Nato will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality and limits on its armed forces, protection for Russian speakers who live there, and acceptance of Russia’s territorial gains, the sources said.

He is also willing to discuss a security guarantee for Ukraine involving major powers, though it is far from clear how this would work, the sources said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will never recognise Russia’s sovereignty over its conquered regions and that Kyiv retains the sovereign right to decide whether it wants to join Nato. His office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

A second source familiar with Kremlin thinking said that Putin considered Moscow’s goals far more important than any potential economic losses from Western pressure, and he was not concerned by US threats to impose tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil.

Two of the sources said that Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield and its economy, geared towards war, is exceeding the production of the US-led Nato alliance in key munitions, such as artillery shells.

Russia, which already controls nearly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, has advanced some 1,415 square kilometres in the past three months, according to data from the DeepStateMap, an open-source intelligence map of the conflict.

“Appetite comes with eating,” the first source said, meaning that Putin could seek more territory unless the war was stopped. The two other sources independently confirmed the same.

Russia currently controls Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, plus all of the eastern region of Luhansk, more than 70 per cent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Putin’s public position is that those first five regions — Crimea and the four regions of eastern Ukraine — are now part of Russia and Kyiv must withdraw before there can be peace.

Putin could fight on until Ukraine’s defences collapse and widen his territorial ambitions to include more of Ukraine, the sources said.

“Russia will act based on Ukraine’s weakness,” the third source said, adding that Moscow might halt its offensive after conquering the four eastern regions of Ukraine if it encounters stiff resistance. “But if it falls, there will be an even greater conquest of Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Kharkiv.”

Zelenskiy has said Russia’s summer offensive is not going as successfully as Moscow had hoped. His top brass, who acknowledge that Russian forces outnumber Ukraine’s, say Kyiv’s troops are holding the line and forcing Russia to pay a heavy price for its gains.

Trump and Putin

The US says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Neither Russia nor Ukraine give full figures for their losses, and Moscow dismisses Western estimates as propaganda.

Trump, since returning to the White House in January after promising a swift end to the war, has sought to repair ties with Russia, speaking at least six times by telephone with Putin. On Monday, he said the Russian leader was not “an assassin, but he’s a tough guy”.

In an abrupt break from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, Trump’s administration has cast the war as a deadly proxy conflict between Russia and the US, withdrawn support for Ukraine joining Nato and floated the idea of recognising Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging Nato and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence, including Ukraine and Georgia.

Putin has yet to accept a proposal from Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, which was quickly endorsed by Kyiv. Recent days have seen Russia use hundreds of drones to attack Ukrainian cities.

However, Trump told the BBC in an interview published today that he was not done with Putin and that a Ukraine deal remained on the cards.

The first source rejected Trump’s assertion last week that Putin had thrown “bullshit” around, saying there had been a failure to transform positive talks with Witkoff into a substantive discussion on the basis for peace.

A White House official said on Monday that Trump was considering 100pc tariffs on Russian goods as well as secondary sanctions on other countries that buy its exports as a means to drive Moscow to the negotiating table. China and India are the biggest buyers of crude.

Despite existing sanctions and the cost of fighting Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two, Russia’s $2 trillion economy has performed far better than many in Russia or the West expected. The economic ministry forecasts a slowdown to 2.5pc annual growth in 2025 from 4.3pc last year.

The second person said that Trump had little leverage over Putin and suggested that even if Washington imposed tariffs on the purchasers of Russian crude, then Moscow would still find a way to sell it to world markets.

“Putin understands that Trump is an unpredictable person who may do unpleasant things, but he is manoeuvring to avoid irritating him too much,” the source said.

Looking ahead, one of the sources said there was likely to be an escalation of the crisis in the coming months, and unscored the dangers of tensions between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. And, he predicted, the war would continue.

London
Reuters
 — 

Britain set up a secret scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to the UK after a soldier accidentally disclosed the personal details of more than 33,000 people, putting them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban, court documents showed on Tuesday.

A judge at London’s High Court said in a May 2024 judgment first made public on Tuesday that about 20,000 people may have to be offered relocation to Britain, a move that would likely cost “several billion pounds.”

Britain’s current defense minister John Healey said that around 4,500 affected people “are in Britain or in transit … at a cost of around 400 million pounds.”

The government is also facing lawsuits from those affected by the breach, further adding to the ultimate cost of the incident.

A Ministry of Defence-commissioned review of the data breach, a summary of which was also published on Tuesday, said more than 16,000 people affected by it had been relocated to the UK as of May this year.

The British government was forced to act after the breach revealed the names of Afghans who had helped British forces in Afghanistan before they withdrew from the country in chaotic circumstances in 2021.

The details emerged on Tuesday after a legal ruling known as a superinjunction was lifted. The injunction had been granted in 2023 after the MoD argued that a public disclosure of the breach could put people at risk of extra-judicial killing or serious violence by the Taliban.

The dataset contained personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to be relocated to Britain and their families.

It was released in error in early 2022, before the MoD spotted the breach in August 2023, when part of the dataset was published on Facebook.

The former Conservative government obtained the injunction the following month.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left government, which was elected last July, launched a review into the injunction, the breach and the relocation scheme, which found that although Afghanistan remains dangerous, there was little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution.