Russia ‘very closely’ monitoring Trump’s sanctions threats, Kremlin says
(Soltan Frédéric/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russia is “very closely monitoring all the rhetoric” from Washington, a Kremlin spokesperson said, after President Donald Trump threatened to impose new sanctions unless Russia ends its war against Ukraine.
“We don’t see any new elements here,” Dimitry Peskov, the spokesperson, said on Thursday.
He added, “You know that in his first iteration of the presidency, Trump was the president of America who most often resorted to sanctions methods. He likes these methods. At least he liked them during his first presidency.”
The comments came the morning after Trump’s social media message to Russian President Donald Trump, calling on him to make a deal to “settle” Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL.’ NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!” Trump wrote in a new social media post.
Peskov on Thursday said financial actions against Russian assets held in the West would not go unanswered.
“We are very closely monitoring all the rhetoric, all the statements, we carefully record all the nuances,” he said.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
Bucket-wheel excavators mine rare earth materials on Feb. 25, 2025 in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine/Libkos/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Ukraine is “preparing for negotiations” with the U.S. regarding security guarantees and “crucial” aid, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, with the Ukrainian leader expected to travel to Washington, D.C. on Friday to meet with President Donald Trump and sign a minerals deal.
Kyiv is maneuvering to win a U.S. security agreement as part of the proposed minerals deal, a “preliminary framework” of which Ukraine has been working on, Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.
But Trump said he would not offer any security guarantees to Ukraine “beyond very much,” as part of any agreement. “We’re going to have Europe do that,” he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
In a video statement posted to the presidential website on Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy said his team is “working to ensure that Ukrainian positions are protected under any circumstances.”
“And this is one of the key conditions for the diplomacy we need — for the right diplomacy that will guarantee peace for Ukraine,” he added.
The president said there “was a lot of international work” on Wednesday. “Our teams are working with the United States, we are preparing for negotiations as early as this Friday. The agreement with America. Support for our state and people.”
“Guarantees of peace and security — this is the key to ensuring that Russia will no longer destroy the lives of other nations,” Zelenskyy said. “I will meet with President Trump. For me and for all of us in the world, it is crucial that America’s assistance is not stopped. Strength is essential on the path to peace.”
Trump said Wednesday that he expects to sign the minerals deal with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, adding that his administration is “happy” with the deal. Trump has framed the agreement as a means to recoup American wartime aid to Ukraine.
The countries agreed to a deal relating to critical minerals and other resources, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday.
Details of the deal appear to suggest Kyiv has succeeded in significantly improving the terms, perhaps staring down some of the Trump administration’s more onerous demands.
The $500 billion demanded by Trump no longer features in the deal, and the fund that Ukraine will pay into is also no longer going to be 100% U.S.-owned, according to the full text of the agreement obtained by ABC News.
Ukraine agreed to contribute 50% of all revenue from its natural resources to a fund jointly owned by Ukraine and the U.S., according to the deal.
The natural resource assets include those directly or indirectly owned by the Ukrainian government and are defined as “deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, oil, natural gas and other extractable materials, and other infrastructure relevant to natural resource assets (such as liquified natural gas terminals and port infrastructure).”
Zelenskyy, though, warned that any deal will not be viable without U.S. security backing.
“Without future security guarantees, we will not have a real ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said. “And if we don’t have it, nothing will work. Nothing will work.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Hannah Demissie, Rachel Scott and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department said Friday it was officially shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development, in what could deal a final blow to the beleaguered foreign aid agency.
In a memo distributed to USAID employees and obtained by ABC News, Jeremy Lewin, the agency’s new deputy director and a former Department of Government Efficiency official, wrote that the State Department “intends to assume responsibility for many of USAID’s functions and its ongoing programming.”
The State Department “will seek to retire USAID’s independent operation” immediately and “assess” whether to rehire some unknown number of officials to “assume the responsible administration of USAID’s remaining life-saving and strategic aid programming,” the memo said.
“This transfer will significantly enhance efficiency, accountability, uniformity, and strategic impact in delivering foreign assistance programs — allowing our nation and President to speak with one voice in foreign affairs,” according to the memo.
“It will also obviate the need for USAID to continue operating as an independent establishment,” the memo said.
As part of the move, the memo said, “all non-statutory positions at USAID will be eliminated.”
Trump administration officials, including Elon Musk’s DOGE group, have leading a widespread effort to dismantle the agency by laying off thousands of employees, revoking funding for more than 80% of its programs, and shedding its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
The decision to completely dissolve a federal agency is expected to prompt legal scrutiny, according to experts who said such a move would typically require congressional approval.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the administration was officially moving to sunset USAID and that foreign aid would now officially be administered by the State Department.
“Thanks to President Trump, this misguided and fiscally irresponsible era is now over,” Rubio said in his statement. “We are reorienting our foreign assistance programs to align directly with what is best for the United States and our citizens.”
“We are continuing essential lifesaving programs and making strategic investments that strengthen our partners and our own country,” Rubio said in his statement.
Critics of the Trump administration say its efforts to nullify the agency will cripple American influence overseas and carry devastating effects for some of the most vulnerable populations in the world, which relied on U.S. funding for health care, food, and other basic needs.
The State Department also said that its leadership, along with USAID leadership in place, had notified Congress of their intent to reorganize some USAID functions within the State Department by July 1 of this year.
The overall push to eliminate USAID and the reduction of the agency’s staff is being challenged in multiple court cases.
