US defense officials have blocked Ukraine from using US-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia since late spring as part of a Trump administration effort to get Vladimir Putin to engage in peace talks , according to a report on Saturday.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pentagon has blocked Ukraine from using US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or Atacms.
Two US officials told the outlet that on at least one occasion, Ukraine had sought to use Atacms against a target but was denied under a “review mechanism” developed by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy, that governs how US long-range weapons or those provided by European allies that rely on American intelligence and components can be used.
The review process also applies to Britain’s Storm Shadow cruise missile because it depends on US targeting data, according to two US officials and a British official, the Journal said.
The review system reportedly gives US defense secretary Pete Hegseth approval over the use of the Atacms, which have a range of nearly 190 miles (305km). Ukraine was previously given authority by the Biden administration to use the missile system against targets inside Russia in November after North Korean troops entered the war.
Before the inauguration in January, Trump told Time magazine that the decision to allow Ukraine to use US weapons systems to attack targets inside Russia had been a mistake.
“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,” he said.
It is unclear whether the US defense department’s review process amounts to a formal policy change. But it comes alongside increasing control of munitions to Ukraine as US stocks are themselves depleted.
In a statement to the Journal, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “has been very clear that the war in Ukraine needs to end. There has been no change in military posture in Russia-Ukraine at this time.”
But last week, amid efforts to broker talks between the Russian president and Voldomyr Zelenskyy, Trump said that Ukraine couldn’t defeat Russia unless it could “play offense” in the war.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country,” Trump wrote on Thursday. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning.”
Last month, the US agreed to supply Ukraine with new weapons systems but only if European nations paid for them. While Trump has said that the US is “not looking” to provide longer-range weapons that could reach Moscow, US officials told the Journal that the administration has approved the sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition air-launched missiles, or Erams, which have a range of 280 miles (400km).
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/23/pentagon-ukraine-russia-missiles
Donald Trump displayed a breathtaking lack of understanding about the Cold War during his recent summit with Vladimir Putin — and left his own advisors “basically helpless” as he waved away their attempts to interject.
That’s according to the president’s biographer, who spoke to the Daily Beast on Wednesday.
On the podcast “Inside Trump’s Head,” Michael Wolff said that Trump’s version of Cold War history was so mangled that “it would appear that the U.S. and USSR are on the same side.”
Friday’s chaotic meeting in Alaska began with Trump launching into what Wolff described as “a combination of flattery” mixed with “things that he’s just pulled out of somewhere…observations, it’s both inconsequential and incoherent.”
When Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff attempted to redirect the conversation with an actual agenda, Trump simply “talked over them,” leaving the meeting rudderless after 20 minutes with “nothing clear about what anyone is doing there except that Putin is totally impassive.”
Putin eventually delivered what Wolff characterized as a “history lesson,” explaining “why [Russia] should conquer Ukraine.” Not to be outdone, Trump launched into his own historical dissertation on the Cold War that bore little resemblance to reality, Wolff said.
He said that Trump’s version of the long-running international crisis with the Soviets “didn’t seem much like a war at all.”
Trump aides’ attempts to stop him proved futile. “They sit there occasionally trying to interject, but you can’t really interject because Trump just talks all the time,” Wolff said.
He added that this worked “to Putin’s advantage” since Trump showed no interest in crucial details about territory or trade-offs.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed Wolff with the comment he usually gives the Beast, calling Wolff “a lying sack of s–t” with “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Following a historic gathering at the White House, where President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with seven European leaders in an unprecedented show of solidarity, Trump suffered a significant setback.
CNN broke into regular broadcasting with urgent news, revealing that the US President is under enormous pressure as major hurdles emerge in his bid to bring the Ukraine war to an end. Reporter Kimberly Dozier observed, “The fact that he feels he’s got to check in with Putin right away and… we get news that Putin is saying, ‘By the way, no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine. That is unacceptable,’ still feels like Trump needs Putin’s approval.”
This development followed reports that Trump had stepped out of discussions with European leaders to place a call to the Russian president. This came just days after a lip reader revealed the chilling 3-word promise (“I’ll help you.”) that Trump whispered into Putin’s ear at their Alaska summit.
The demonstration of backing for Zelenskyy included French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reports the Express.
After the phone conversation, the Kremlin dismissed speculation about a potential meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, even as Trump continued pushing for the two leaders to hold a summit aimed at resolving the Ukraine conflict. The US leader confessed that the conflict was “a tough one” to resolve, stating, “We’re going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks. It’s possible that he doesn’t want to make a deal.”
On Monday, Putin expressed to Trump that he was “open” to direct talks with Ukraine. However, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov diluted this already vague commitment the following day, suggesting that a meeting would need to be prepared “gradually… starting with the expert level and thereafter going through all the required steps.”
Meanwhile, Dmitry Polyanskiy, a Russian deputy representative to the UN, told the BBC that “Nobody [had] rejected” the chance for direct talks, but it shouldn’t just be a “but it shouldn’t be a meeting for the sake of a meeting.”
Kimberly, speaking on CNN, added, “It’s got to be very disturbing to Zelensky sitting there, but of course Zelensky was a good actor he’s playing it cool, he’s not biting on any of the questions he got.
“Hopefully, what’s going to happen is they’re going to go into this meeting with European officials and the Europeans are saying ‘We need to put these troops on the ground inside Ukraine and it’s not Vladimir Putin’s business.”
On Wednesday, representatives from 30 different countries will gather at the Pentagon for meetings aimed at finalizing what each nation is willing to commit to Ukraine’s national security.
This includes Tony Radakin, the chief of the defense staff and leader of the British armed forces. He is anticipated to inform his American counterparts that the UK is ready to deploy troops to defend Ukraine’s skies and seas, but not to the frontline with Russia.
On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a virtual call to brief over 30 other world leaders on the discussions that took place at the White House on Monday.
Following this, Downing Street announced: “The prime minister outlined that coalition of the willing planning teams would meet with their US counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans to deliver robust security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended.”
It comes after an expert warned Trump is displaying “classic signs” of a horror disease that “will get worse..”
https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/tv/cnn-breaking-news-donald-trump-1341186
Donald Trump has lashed out at MSNBC after the network suggested the 79-year-old president is taking steps to hide his cankles from public view.
In a typical all-caps rant on Truth Social, Trump attacked the liberal network as “fake news” while referencing its upcoming name change to MS NOW, or My Source News Opinion World, as part of a rebrand during its split from NBCUniversal.
“MSNBC IS DOING SO POORLY IN THE RATINGS THAT THEY ARE LOOKING TO CHANGE THEIR NAME IN ORDER TO GET AWAY FROM THE STENCH OF THEIR FAKE NEWS PRODUCT,” Trump stormed.
“SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH THEIR WEAK AND INEFFECTIVE OWNER, ‘CONCAST,’ HEADED BY DOPEY BRIAN ROBERTS, HOPELESSLY AND AIMLESSLY FLAILING IN THE WIND IN AN ATTEMPT TO DISASSOCIATE ITSELF FROM THE GARBAGE THAT THEY CREATED! MSNBC IS A FAILURE BY ANY NAME!!!”
Trump, no stranger to attacking media outlets he doesn’t like, went after MSNBC after one of its star anchors, Lawrence O’Donnell, mocked him for shielding his swollen ankles, a symptom of the medical condition chronic venous insufficiency.
During a monologue on The Last Word, O’Donnell noted that Trump took the almost unheard-of step of sitting behind the Resolute Desk during a meeting with European leaders in the Oval Office on Monday, rather than the usual spot in front of the fireplace.
O’Donnell said Trump made the move to ensure that “no one was going to compare his ankles to a French president’s ankles or a German chancellor’s or a British prime minister’s.”
Trump wasn’t so lucky when he met Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, with the two were seated in chairs out in the open.
O’Donnell said Trump made the move to ensure that “no one was going to compare his ankles to a French president’s ankles or a German chancellor’s or a British prime minister’s.”
Trump wasn’t so lucky when he met Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, with the two were seated in chairs out in the open.
O’Donnell also suggested Trump’s love of fast food may have accelerated the health problems of the president, who has also frequently been spotted with makeup patches covering a bruise on the back of his hand.
“That’s one of the ways a lifetime of McDonald’s junk food catches up with you,” O’Donnell said. “One of the places those Big Macs are going to show up is in the ankles hanging over the edge of your shoes.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-loses-the-plot-after-msnbc-mocks-cankle-cover-up
President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Monday in a follow up to last week’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While the back-to-back, high-stakes meetings between the warring leaders and their regional partners are aimed at finally bringing in an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine, Trump can’t seem to stop undermining the delicate negotiations by publicly parroting Kremlin talking points.
In a Tuesday morning interview with Fox News, Trump falsely claimed that Putin and Russia had “gotten” Crimea “from Obama,” describing Russia’s annexation of the territory as a “real estate deal.” Crimea, a peninsula in the north of the Black Sea, was invaded and occupied by Russia in 2014.
“The war started over NATO and Crimea and they wanted Crimea back,” Trump said. “That was given — not a shot fired —- by President Obama in perhaps the worst real estate deal I’ve ever seen.”
“Crimea is the apple of Ukraine, it is so beautiful. And Obama gave it away. … He demanded they let it go, Russia took it like candy from a baby. It was really Obama’s, that was pure and simple Obama’s fault, what a terrible thing,” Trump added.
In the same interview, Trump declared that it was “insulting” that Ukraine — which has now been invaded by Russia twice in little more than a decade — had sought to join NATO. “They asked for it and shouldn’t have asked for it. It was insulting,” Trump said. “They could have asked for other things — the other thing they wanted to get Crimea back.”
Trump later insinuated that it was actually Ukraine that had instigated the current war against Russia, telling Fox and Friends that “you don’t take on a nation that is 10 times your size and military experts.” It was, of course, Russia that invaded Ukraine in February 2022, kicking off the war that has now raged for over three years.
Trump rolled out the literal red carpet to receive Putin in Alaska on Friday, even granting the Russian authoritarian a ride in the presidential limousine — an unprecedented honor rarely granted to foreign dignitaries, much less internationally wanted war criminals.
Judging by Trump’s statements following the summit, Putin spent much of their private discussions stroking the president’s ego. On Friday, Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Putin had reassured him that it was actually widespread mail-in voter fraud that had cost him the 2020 election.
“Vladimir Putin said something — one of the most interesting things — he said, ‘your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Trump recounted. “He said … ‘it’s impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections.” Days later, Trump announced that he would seek to eliminate mail-in voting at a national level, despite lacking the constitutional authority to make any such change to state voting laws.
According to a Monday report from Axios, Trump was so eager to talk to Putin again that he interrupted his meeting with European leaders to speak to the Russian president. According to subsequent reporting from The New York Times, the call lasted around 40 minutes.
Trump apparently left his European counterparts to talk among themselves for the better part of an hour, telling Fox News that it “would be disrespectful to president Putin,” to make the call in their presence.
“It was 1:00 in the morning in Russia,” Trump said. “But he picked it up very happily.”
Fox News, known for its support of Donald Trump and happily accepting calls from the president during broadcasts, had to make a swift about-face during an episode of Fox and Friends after he repeatedly brought up Aisnley Earhardt’s off-screen relationship with Sean Hannity.
The president dialed into the Tuesday, August 19 episode of the show to discuss his ongoing strategy to try and bring an end to the Russo-Ukrainian war, after his summit with Vladimir Putin failed to deliver an immediate ceasefire, although he hailed the “great progress” that was made.
However, despite Earhardt being open about her unique relationship arrangement with fellow Fox News host Hannity, she and her co-hosts were left scrambling as Trump made her relationship a major focus of his call-in to the show. It comes after a lip exposed the 3-word promise that Trump whispered into Putin’s ear before their Alaska summit.
Covering a range of topics, from the war to his takeover of the Washington, D. C. police force last week, the president veered off on one of his infamous tangents, shifting the topic to focus solely on Earhardt and Hannity’s romance, reports the Irish Star.
And despite the hosts’ numerous attempts to steer him back on track, he continued to discuss it.
“A guy named Sean Hannity, he might take a very lovely young lady that he knows very, very well, to dinner in Washington, and they don’t have to–and she’s sitting right next to you by the way-I don’t want to get her in trouble, so I better explain exactly, we don’t want any secrets here, but that’s the greatest relationship,” he said as Lawrence Jones tried to interrupt.
Nevertheless, Trump persisted with his line of thinking despite Jones’ efforts to divert him from discussing Earhardt.
“Hey, this could be the most important thing I’ve said, but those two are great. Ainsley and Sean, great people, and when they go out to dinner, I don’t want to see them get mugged,” he continued.
“Now they can go out, they can hold hands, and then they can both walk down the street. They’re both superstars.”
He then strangely pondered about their respective salaries at the network before Jones managed to steer the conversation back to the conflict in Ukraine.
Yet, it proved to be only a brief reprieve. As the phone call concluded, the President once more referenced their romance, clearly making Earhardt feel uneasy.
“And Aisnley, I hope I didn’t get you in trouble with Sean,” he said, which earned her a reply in which she thanked him for the support.
“I’ll say it, you know, I like this, it’s a great couple, we love ’em,” he said again, as Earhardt let out an awkward chuckle, before the call was officially cut off. The incident was swiftly picked up on social media, with numerous users commenting and drawing comparisons to various awkward everyday situations.
“Like an embarrassing great grandparent at dinner-only it’s 8 am,” one user posted on X (formerly Twitter), while another remarked “The lesson…DON’T INVITE YOUR CRAZY UNCLE TO LUNCH,” and a third commented “it’s like when your dog won’t stop trying to hump your company and you have to put them on the back porch.”
Additional observers suggested the digression indicated he was either experiencing mental decline or focusing too heavily on trivial matters rather than his presidential duties-with some joking that he was attempting to divert attention from the failed Putin meeting.
“Dementia Don let it slip. Trump is clearly going through cognitive decline,” one individual stated.
“Why is he always paying attention to things that don’t matter…” one questioned, while another remarked “like all alpha macho men, Trump just loves him some celebrity gossip.
“His summit with Putin and meeting with Zelenskyy went so poorly he retreated to his safe space over at Faux Spews, then proceeded to show how nuts he is and even they couldn’t cover for it,” another user quipped.
Nevertheless, some noted that the President hadn’t actually revealed any confidential information, since the romance has been public knowledge, with the couple announcing their engagement in December.
“They’re engaged? I’m not sure he ‘outed’ them. Lol,” one social media user commented, while another chimed in with “I thought everybody knew,” and a third added “it’s gross and everything but didn’t everyone already know those two were fooling around? They haven’t exactly been keeping it a secret.”
It comes after Earhardt posted a candid photo as she shared an ultra-rare personal update.
https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/tv/180857/fox-news-donald-trump-cut-off
President Donald Trump says the war on woke is not dead yet.
POTUS posted a bizarre screed on Tuesday about museums in Washington, claiming the Smithsonian Institution is “OUT OF CONTROL” and is fixated on the shortcomings of yesteryear, like documenting the horrors of slavery.
“The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE,’” he wrote on Truth Social. “Everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been—Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”
Trump, 79, has vowed to rid museums of the “woke” he claims infests them. In doing so, he has pushed the more vital issues of today—like brokering a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, or releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, a pair of campaign promises—to the back burner.
“I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities, where tremendous progress has been made,” Trump said. “This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”
It is unclear if Trump intends to bully museums into displaying current matters—like how the U.S. is supposedly the “hottest” country in the world—instead of exhibiting, preserving, and interpreting objects of historical or scientific significance.
Trump did not elaborate on how he intends for museums to display “the future.”
The president’s complaints did not go unnoticed by lawmakers. California congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus Whip Sydney Kamlager-Dove retweeted Trump’s message with her own, which stated: “Slavery WAS bad, Donald. It’s absurd that this even needs to be said.”
“We don’t whitewash history,” she continued, “we learn from it.” Before adding: “You keep trying to rewrite the past—@TheBlackCaucus won’t let you get away with it.”
Slavery WAS bad, Donald. It’s absurd that this even needs to be said.
We don’t whitewash history; we learn from it.
You keep trying to rewrite the past— @TheBlackCaucus won’t let you get away with it. https://t.co/CoVc7LqY5b— Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (@RepKamlagerDove) August 19, 2025The president’s threat to unleash lawyers on American museums is akin to how he went after U.S. universities, like Harvard, which refused to bend to his demands and axe programs he deems problematic, like diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Harvard, as a result of its defiance, has been cut off from federal funding. Trump will likely try to do the same to D.C.’s popular Smithsonian museums if changes are not made—though it is unclear what, exactly, the president is upset about.
Trump announced last week that the Smithsonian Institution, which is funded by the federal government, was being put under review to make sure its exhibitions are in line with MAGA’s view of American history.
The White House’s pressure on the Smithsonian is already being felt. It ordered the institution to erase references to Trump’s first-term impeachments in the exhibit “A Glorious Burden” last month.
The National Museum of American History briefly removed Trump from its impeachment exhibit, but told USA Today it did so to improve its appearance, not because the administration ordered it to. The paper reports that references to the impeachments have since been returned to the exhibit.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-tells-smithsonian-to-stop-saying-how-bad-slavery-was
After his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska on August 15 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House Oval Office three days later, U.S. President Donald Trump talked foreign policy when he called into Fox News’ morning show, “Fox & Friends,” early Tuesday morning, August 19. And he appeared to forget the name of an ocean.
Trump told the hosts, “You know we have an ocean that’s separating us, right? A thing called…. an ocean. A big, beautiful ocean. And, uh, they don’t, they’re right there. So it’s a different kind of a thing for them.”
Trump, the Daily Beast’s Jack Silvers notes, “appeared to be referring to the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water on Earth.”
Silvers explains, “The coast of Alaska, where Trump and Putin met last Friday, is separated by 55 miles of ocean from the eastern coast of Russia…. Famously, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said that ‘you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska’ in 2008, providing fodder for a viral ‘SNL’ spoof starring Tina Fey.”
Trump’s comments are generating some discussion on X, formerly Twitter.
The Daily Beast tweeted, “Trump appeared to have another senior moment as he rambled to Fox News about ‘a thing called… an ocean’ while discussing his meeting with Zelensky.”
Journalist Aaron Ruper said of the Daily Beast’s reporting, “This headline is incorrect. Trump was clearly referring to the Atlantic Ocean, not the Pacific.”
X user Terp Sitone posted, “Clearly a masterclass in geography.”
Another X user, Annie van Leur, wrote, “TRUMP CAN’T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE OCEAN.”
Van Leur, in a separate tweet, commented, “If not for the Republicans in Congress, he’d be in an assisted living community somewhere. Donald Trump is a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ president.”
Donald Trump made an eyebrow-raising remark about the potential to halt US elections as he sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss efforts to negotiate peace with Russia.
Monday’s historic meeting marked Zelensky’s first time back in the White House since Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid into him live on TV during a spectacular Oval Office blowout in February. This time around, things remained relatively calm as the pair appeared far more civil with each other.
But Trump still escalated the tension in the room with a controversial statement. It comes as Trump appears to relish idea of a violent clash in DC as the city takes steps to de-escalate.
At one point during their press conference, the US president suddenly interrupted Zelensky as the Ukrainian leader was responding to a question about his commitment to holding elections after the war with Russia is over.
“So you’re saying during the war you can’t have elections,” Trump said. The president hinted that before the 2028 presidential election, he could call off elections as he joked: “So, let me just say, three and a half years from now so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections. Oh, that’s good.”
Zelensky laughed before shaking his head as he responded: “You like this idea, no no no no.” Trump’s remarks, which have since gone viral on X, quickly saw him accused of spouting “dictator talk”.
Trump has previously called Zelensky a “dictator” and criticised him for halting elections during wartime in Ukraine. Critics raised the alarm, claiming there was a more sinister side to the joke.
One wrote: “You can practically see the dim little lightbulb flicker on above his head. ‘Wait a second… if my country is in a war… I don’t have to leave the White House… EVER?! THAT’S GOOD!’ It’s the giddy, amoral excitement of a child who has just discovered a brand new and fantastic way to cheat at the game. Except the game is the Constitution of the United States.”
A second warned: “His remark to Zelensky wasn’t just a slip of the tongue it’s a window into his authoritarian fantasies. If Trump thinks he can dodge elections by dragging us into some endless conflict, he’s not just dreaming; he’s planning. The question isn’t just ‘who’ we’re going to have a long war with it’s ‘how long’ before we wake up to the fact that this man will stop at nothing to cling to power.”
Trump’s comments to Zelensky aren’t the first time that he has hinted at plans to remain in the White House beyond his second term, something which is currently unconstitutional. In a phone interview with NBC news back in March, Trump said he’s “not joking” about running for a third term and insinuated that “there are methods” of bypassing the Constitution.
When asked to elaborate on those methods the following month, the president told TIME Magazine: “I’d rather not discuss that now, but as you know, there are some loopholes that have been discussed that are well known.”
“But I don’t believe in loopholes,” Trump added. “I don’t believe in using loopholes.” However, earlier this month the president appeared to back-peddle on talk about running for a third term.
Asked whether he would make another bid for president in 2028, Trump told CNBC: “No. Probably not. I’d like to run. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had. You know why? Because people love the tariffs.”
Despite this, Trump on Monday showed off his collection of MAGA hats to Zelensky, including one emblazoned with the phrase “4 More Years”.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-elections-zelensky-usa-1337245
