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Europe
France
(16 February 2025) A group of European leaders - including the UK's Keir Starmer, Nato secretary-general Rutte, Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz and the European Commission's der Leyen - will meet in Paris. French President Macron will hold an informal meeting in the afternoon on Ukraine and European security. Ahead of the summit, writing in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sir Keir said the UK was prepared to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by ’putting our own troops on the ground if necessary’. (Source: BBC News – United Kingdom)
European Union
February 16, 2025 Trump's special enwoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg says EU might not have place in Russia peace talks. "What we don't want to do is get into a large group discussion," he said in Munich. French President Macron convened some European leaders to an emergency meeting in Paris. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)
Ukraine
16/02/2025 Rejected deal with US over rare minerals - document 'too focused on US interests'. (Source: Euronews - Headquarters Lyon, France)
Sunday, 16 February 2025 The Trump administration has indicated it is interested in accessing critical minerals to reduce dependence on China. (Source: Independent - United Kingdom)
United Kingdom
(16 February 2025) Responsibility comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm's way. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
North America
United States
(16 February 2025) The White House's Middle East envoy Witkoff confirmed he was travelling to Saudi Arabia today evening for the first face-to-face talks between the US and Russia towards ending the conflict. Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer and friend of Trump, was in Moscow this week. US President Trump revealed today that Witkoff had met with Putin already, earlier in the week, "for a very extended period, like about three hours". Witkoff said US officials were speaking separately with Ukrainian officials and that Ukraine was "part of the talks". He indicated that previous negotiations had failed due to the involvement of too many parties. Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, today that he expected Zelensky to be involved in the talks, though he did not say how. He also said he would allow European nations ’to buy US weapons for Ukraine’. When he believed any peace negotiations could bear fruit and end the fighting? Trump said only that "we're working to get it done" and laid the blame for the war on the previous administration's Ukraine policies. The US special envoy to Ukraine Kellogg had said Kyiv would be involved in this week's talks in Saudi Arabia, but no delegation would be present. Rubio downplayed the Saudi Arabia talks, saying one meeting would not solve the war and that a formal negotiating process - that would mediate between Ukraine, Russia and third parties - had not yet been set up. (Source: BBC News – United Kingdom)
16.02.2025 Zelenskyy's rejection of US access to half of Ukraine's mineral resources "short-sighted," White House National Security Council spokesman Hughes said. The deal would allow American taxpayers to recover funds sent to Kyiv while also benefiting Ukraine’s economy. President Trump did not rule out that he would want to "return" all the money spent by the American government in this country, specifically, an equivalent in the form of Ukrainian rare earth metals worth $500 billion. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Feb 16, 2025 US federal agencies started mass layoffs - this week, over 9,500 employees have been laid off. (Source: NewsBytes - India)
Sunday 16 February 2025 The agency overseeing the US nuclear stockpile let some staff go - 325 essential nuclear security workers - but now they want them back. (Source: Sky News – United Kingdom)
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