The majority of Americans in a poll do not think Donald Trump can broker a peace deal to end the Ukraine war.
According to the data, 78 per cent doubt that the US and its allies will be able to negotiate an end to the more than three years of fighting.
Meanwhile, 67 per cent of US citizens are either “very” or “somewhat” pessimistic that any peace agreement can be reached between Moscow and Kyiv.
I would not bet against him.
The most vital fact that US President Donald J. Trump needs to take on board is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no earthly chance of winning his war in Ukraine — unless, that is, Trump gifts the Russian despot a victory.
China will be among a collection of hostile states, which also includes Iran and North Korea, that will be taking a close interest in the outcome of the diplomatic initiative Trump began with Putin following their face-to-face meeting in Alaska earlier this month, to end the Ukraine conflict.
Canada’s exclusion from last week’s White House meeting of NATO members and the Ukrainian president was likely behind the prime minister’s surprise visit to Kyiv this week.
That’s according to defence policy expert and Macdonald-Laurier Institute senior fellow Joe Varner, who said Canada’s diminishing profile in global affairs is likely why Prime Minister Mark Carney chose to visit Ukraine on Monday.
Canadian support for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in its war with Russia could take many forms, said Defence Minister David McGuinty, listing equipment and intelligence sharing as options under consideration.
The minister spoke with reporters in Warsaw on Monday just hours after returning from Kyiv with Prime Minister Mark Carney, where the Prime Minister said he “would not exclude the presence of troops” as a form of Canadian support for a postwar Ukraine.
Mr. McGuinty described their meetings Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials to mark the country’s Independence Day as both productive and emotional.
Ottawa is watching closely as U.S. President Donald Trump attempts to play peacemaker in the war in Ukraine.
Canada has volunteered to play a role in helping maintain peace in Ukraine, if a ceasefire deal can be reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the fighting that Moscow started in 2014.
The way the war ends could reverberate for decades.
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has for months been blocking Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, U.S. officials said, limiting Kyiv from employing a powerful weapon in its fight against Moscow’s invasion.
A high-level Defense Department approval procedure, which hasn’t been announced, has prevented Ukraine from firing any U.S.-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, against targets in Russia since late spring, the officials said. On at least one occasion, Ukraine sought to use ATACMS against a target on Russian territory but was rejected, two officials said.
The U.S. veto of long-range strikes has restricted Ukraine’s military operations as the White House has sought to woo the Kremlin into beginning peace talks.
… The prime minister is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the two leaders discussed details of Canada’s additional $2 billion commitment of military aid as well as opportunities for joint production of defence equipment.
In his speech, Carney said more than $1 billion will be used to finance ammunition, as well as advance drone and armoured vehicle production from Canadian suppliers.
No wonder Carney stopped by …
WATCH THIS CLIP. Trump thanks every leader at the table — by name. Every. Single. One.
The only leader who didn’t get a seat or even a PHONE CALL?
MARK CARNEY
Canada sent nearly $20B to Ukraine. We got ZERO INVITE. ZERO INFLUENCE.
Canada is completely irrelevant onstage pic.twitter.com/zI3gERFmAj
— Marc Nixon (@MarcNixon24) August 18, 2025
Joint statement on Ukraine’s Independence Dayhttps://t.co/VklImAgScV
— GC Newsroom (@NewsroomGC) August 24, 2025
Is there financial corruption in the Ukraine under Zelensky?
Financial corruption in Ukraine under President Volodymyr Zelensky remains a significant issue, as it has been for decades, rooted in the country’s post-Soviet transition and oligarchic influence. Evidence from various sources indicates persistent challenges despite Zelensky’s pledges to combat graft.
Update: Carney not ruling out Canadian troops on ground in Ukraine
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada may play a role in security guarantees for Ukraine in the event that an agreement is reached to end its war against Russia.
Speaking at a news conference related to trade Friday, Mr. Carney says that Canada is a core member of an alliance of about 30 countries called the “coalition of the willing” that is supporting Ukraine.
He said Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan, and other Canadian officials are participating in discussions with allies about what form those guarantees may take.
Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of “doing everything it can” to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war.
US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, but he said on Friday “that’s like oil and vinegar… they don’t get along too well”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine’s leader “when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all”, accusing Zelensky of saying “no to everything”.
President Trump has accused Joe Biden of making it nearly “impossible” for Ukraine to defeat Russia because he restricted Kyiv from launching cross-border strikes.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president accused Biden of not allowing Ukraine to “FIGHT BACK”. Speaking after Russia struck a US electronics company in western Ukraine, Trump promised “interesting times ahead”.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense,” Trump wrote.
Though you wouldn’t know from the smiles around the table at the White House this week, a trap has been set by Vladimir Putin designed to split the United States from its European allies. In Washington on Monday, Europe’s leaders, plus Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky, agreed with Donald Trump that the killing in Ukraine should and can be ended as soon as possible. They lavished praise on Trump for reaching out to the Kremlin, despite having themselves treated Putin as a pariah for the past three years. And they even enthusiastically applauded the notion of security guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5 “all-for-one and one-for-all” mutual defense clause as a way to safeguard Ukraine’s borders in the future.
Volodymyr Zelensky and his European counterparts believe that any eventual peace agreement must be protected by the deployment of ground forces to Ukraine, providing “security guarantees”. The intention is that these forces would serve as a tripwire-style deterrence against a future Russian invasion five, 10 or 15 years down the line. After reconstituting Russia’s military and economy thanks to post-war sanctions relief, Vladimir Putin or his successor might then decide to attack Ukraine. But the Russian military would have to deal with Western military forces as well as those of Kyiv.
Russia has launched 574 drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine in one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks, Ukrainian officials say.
One person was killed in a drone and missile strike on the western city of Lviv, while 15 others were reported wounded in an attack on the south-western Transcarpathia region.
The attacks came as US President Donald Trump spearheads diplomatic moves to halt the war. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the strikes highlighted why efforts to bring it to an end were “so critical”.
The main target of Russia’s overnight attack was one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine — an electronics plant or @Flexintl in Mukacheve on the Hungarian border. Hundreds of workers managed to flee to shelters just before two Russian missiles struck, according to… pic.twitter.com/4uykSa4aor
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 21, 2025
h/t Mauser
German prosecutors say a Ukrainian man has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, several months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The man, identified only as Serhii K, was arrested in the province of Rimini and was part of a group who planted explosives under the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany, federal prosecutors say.
The blasts severed a key source of natural gas for Europe when leaders were facing an energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war.
“The only way to reach a deal on anything, whether it’s in business or in politics or in geopolitics, the only way to reach a deal is for each side to get something and each side to give something,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press on August 17.
Rubio, talking about the war in Ukraine, completely missed the fundamental issue: Should the United States be trying to reach a deal in the first place?
