US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that negotiators are headed to Russia “right now” for talks on a possible ceasefire with Ukraine, after Kyiv agreed to a 30-day truce.Trump did not give further details, but the White House later said that his special envoy Steve Witkoff was going to Moscow later this week.”People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Ireland’s prime minister.”And if we do, I think that would be 80 percent of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished.”Ukraine gave the nod on Tuesday to a US-backed plan for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia — although President Volodymyr Zelensky says he still does not trust Russia.The Kremlin said earlier Wednesday that it was still waiting for Washington to inform it about the details of the proposal.Trump would not say when he would next speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but added that “I hope he’s going to have a ceasefire.” “It’s up to Russia now,” said Trump.”I’ve gotten some positive messages, but a positive message means nothing. This is a very serious situation, it could start World War Three.”Trump meanwhile said he could slap Moscow with “devastating” sanctions if it did not sign up to a ceasefire, but added that “I hope that’s not going to be necessary.””I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace,” Trump added.Trump’s reluctance to pressure Russia stands in stark contrast to his recent approach toward Ukraine. The US president abruptly halted military aid to Kyiv on February 28 after an explosive argument with Zelensky in the Oval Office in front of television cameras.Washington resumed assistance on Tuesday after Kyiv agreed to the ceasefire plan in Jeddah, along with a deal giving the US preferential access to Ukraine’s natural resources.The crucial next step is for Washington to secure Russia’s agreement.Vice President JD Vance added that there were “conversations that are happening on the phone and in person” between US and Russian officials in the next two days.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said envoy Witkoff — a former property developer who has played a key role in talks to end both the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts — was “travelling to Moscow later this week.”US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had also spoken to his Russian counterpart on Wednesday, she said.”We urge the Russians to sign on to this plan,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.”We are at the 10th yard line and the president expects the Russians to help us run this into the end zone,” she added, referring to the final stages of scoring in American football.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that envoys were headed to Moscow and expressed optimism for a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war but officials said the United States wants Russia to agree an unconditional halt to the conflict.The Kremlin said it was awaiting details of a proposal agreed by Ukrainian and US officials this week, and gave no indication of its readiness to stop fighting that has left tens of thousands dead in the past three years.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had shown it was ready to embrace a deal, adding that the United States had indicated it would issue a “strong” response if President Vladimir Putin refuses an accord.”People are going to Russia right now as we speak. And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin.The White House said that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, a mediator in the Gaza and Ukraine wars, would be in Moscow this week.Trump did not say whether he would speak with Putin, but added that there had been “positive messages” from Moscow. “I hope he’s going to have a ceasefire.”- ‘Horrible bloodbath’ -He said that if fighting could be suspended, “I think that would be 80 percent of the way to getting this horrible bloodbath finished.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wanted Moscow’s agreement with no strings attached. “That’s what we want to know — if they’re prepared to do it unconditionally,” Rubio said on a plane heading to a G7 meeting in Canada.”If the response is, ‘yes’, then we know we’ve made real progress, and there’s a real chance of peace. If their response is ‘no’, it would be highly unfortunate, and it’ll make their intentions clear,” he added.Rubio was to give an update on the initiative at the G7 meeting in Charlevoix, Canada.While the Kremlin made no immediate comment on the US-Ukraine proposal — which was agreed at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday — the Russian foreign ministry said earlier this month that a temporary ceasefire would be unacceptable.Trump said he could order “devastating” sanctions against Russia if it refused but added: “I hope that’s not going to be necessary.”- ‘None of us trust the Russians’ -“I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace,” Trump said.The development was the latest dramatic swing in diplomacy swirling around the conflict. It came less than two weeks after Trump kicked Zelensky out of the White House complaining about the Ukrainian leader’s attitude to US assistance.Trump halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv but that resumed after Ukraine agreed to the truce proposal on Tuesday.Trump said earlier he was ready to welcome Zelensky back to the White House and may speak to Putin this week.In Kyiv, Zelensky said the United States would pile pressure on Moscow if it did not accept the idea.”I understand that we can count on strong steps. I don’t know the details yet but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters.”Everything depends on whether Russia wants a ceasefire and silence, or it wants to continue killing people,” the Ukrainian leader added.He said there was no faith among Ukrainians that a ceasefire would happen. “I have emphasized this many times, none of us trust the Russians.”Ukraine is increasingly suffering on the battlefield, losing ground in the east and south of the country, where officials said eight people were killed on Wednesday.Russia has also reclaimed territory in its western Kursk region, pushing back Ukrainian troops who staged a shock offensive last August.Putin on Wednesday visited troops involved in the Kursk counteroffensive and received a report on their progress, TV images showed.Ukraine this week unleashed its largest ever drone attack on Russia, killing three people near Moscow. Russia has also stepped up its aerial attacks on Ukraine.Even if Putin agrees a ceasefire, much remains uncertain in negotiations. Ukraine has pressed for security guarantees, but Trump has ruled out NATO membership.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he earlier assumed Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz would “inform” Moscow “on the negotiations that took place and the understandings reached.”Earlier, Russian news agencies reported that the heads of the CIA and Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency had held their first phone call in several years.burs-jc/tw/bgs/sms

US President Donald Trump’s administration is set to eliminate environmental justice offices that address pollution in low-income and minority communities across the United States, including Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”The move, which will impact the agency’s 10 regional offices and headquarters, was first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Lee Zeldin on Wednesday.”The problem is that in the name of environmental justice, a fortune has been sent to left-wing activist groups,” Zeldin told reporters. “President Trump wants us to help usher in a golden age in America that is for all Americans, regardless of race, gender, background,” he added.Environmental groups reacted with anger.”President Trump and his allies have no regard for the well-being of people living in America and care only about protecting the profits of polluters,” said Chitra Kumar, of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “This abhorrent move will leave those living, working, studying, and playing near polluting industries, smog-forming traffic, and contaminated waterways and soil, with little support from the very agency they rely on to enforce protective law.”Former president Joe Biden made environmental justice a central pillar of his green agenda. His Justice40 initiative — since rolled back by Trump — aimed to direct 40 percent of federal investments in climate, clean energy, and affordable housing to historically marginalized communities.The Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature climate law, allocated $3 billion to the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, which was established under Republican former president George H.W. Bush in 1992.Zeldin’s EPA on Monday announced it was cutting 400 grants totaling $1.7 billion related to environmental justice initiatives. Last week, Trump’s Justice Department also announced it was dropping a lawsuit on behalf of the EPA against Denka Performance Elastomer concerning its neoprene manufacturing facility in LaPlace, Louisiana. The plant is located in a stretch of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley,” which accounts for around a quarter of US petrochemical production and has among the highest cancer rates in the country.Zeldin’s EPA plans to cut 65 percent of its budget. “The total amount of spending that was made in 2024 totaled over $60 billion,” he said, referring to the amount appropriated to the agency by the The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. “We don’t need that much money. We don’t want that much money. We can operate with less than 35 percent of that amount.”The former Republican congressman said there were a “few hundred” probationary employees that had already departed, and the remaining staff were being asked to justify their positions.”I want to know what every employee would define as their job description, what they believe their job to be, who they believe is their supervisor, what they believe their supervisor’s job is,” he said, adding these answers would help determine the next rounds of staffing cuts.