Quotes
Reports of 4,000 North Korean casualties in the past three months have not hampered Pyongyang's determination to fight. North Korean troops pulled back from the front lines in January, but they are now back after additional training. Combat units are becoming smaller to minimize exposure to Ukrainian drones. North Korean missiles used in the war are also becoming more accurate. North Korea is learning, and it is learning fast."
Khang Vu, visiting scholar in the Political Science Department at Boston College, wrote in an article for the Lowy Institute think tank Wednesday
I think people are going to be surprised at how many people, not only soldiers, have been killed in Ukraine."
He further
We can do it the easy way, or the hard way — and the easy way is always better,
Trump warned in a message addressed directly to Putin on his social media site Truth Social
We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, essentially martial law in Ukraine, where the leader in Ukraine, I mean, I hate to say it, but he’s down to 4 percent approval rating.”
Their quandary has only been worsened by Trump’s remarks on Tuesday, when he saidTrump and Putin want Zelenskyy out — their alignment is worrisome,
a former Ukrainian minister told POLITICO, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freelyFor the Ukrainians, there’s too much uncertainty now,
an American adviser to Kyiv told POLITICO on condition of anonymityIt's a very, very negative trend, but I have no influence over it,
said Havrylov, the former village head in Novopavlivka
It's painful to look at this, and painful to realise the front is now nearby,
said school director Yurii Bilyk, gesturing to the rubble at his badly damaged school buildingWe understand the need for security guarantees... Part of my mission is to sit and listen and say: what are your concerns?"
Kellogg said
Unfortunately, President Trump, who we have great respect for as leader of the American people ... lives in this disinformation space,
Zelensky told reporters in Kiev, accusing Moscow of misleading Trump
I'm very disappointed, I hear that they're upset about not having a seat,
Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday
He is the first, and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who has publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian situation was the previous administration's pushy line of dragging Ukraine into NATO,
Lavrov told lawmakers in Russia's State Duma.jpg)
A very, very important step has been taken towards creating the conditions for a peaceful resolution,
Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as sayingAt least 160,000 Odesa residents are now without heat and electricity,
he said in a statement on social mediaThis whole negotiation from the start seems very tilted in Russia’s favord it’s even a question whether it should be termed a negotiation or in some sense, a series of American capitulations,
said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Eurasia and Russia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and a former British ambassador to Belarus
A half-baked negotiator could have settled this years ago without the loss of much land, very little land, without the loss of any lives,
Trump said, echoing his frequent claim that he could have prevented the Russian invasion
No one is being sidelined here,
said US Secretary of State Marco RubioWe explained that the deployment of troops from the countries that are NATO members, even if they are deployed under the EU or national flags, will not change anything and will certainly be unacceptable for us."
Lavrov said
I think I have the power to end this war. And I think it's going very well,
Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago after the meeting between U.S. and Russian officialsI think they have to make peace. Their people are being killed, and I think they have to make peace. I said that was not a good war to go into, and I think they have to make peace. That's what I think."
Trump told reporters last week, when asked if Ukraine should be an equal member of the peace negotiations