Blindsided Europeans warned Thursday that a “dirty deal” between US President Donald Trump and Moscow on ending the Ukraine war was doomed to fail — insisting they and Kyiv must have a seat at the negotiating table.Meeting NATO partners the day after Trump revealed he had agreed to start peace talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth denied it meant a betrayal of Kyiv’s three-year war effort.But Trump’s move stunned European allies — several of whom openly called his strategy into question.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any “dictated peace” and his defence minister called it “regrettable” that Washington was already making “concessions” to the Kremlin. In a blunt address to reporters at NATO talks in Brussels, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas insisted that no deal “behind our backs” could work, as she accused Washington of “appeasement” towards Russia.”We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” she said. “Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” she said. “It will just simply not work.”- ‘No betrayal’ -After a 90-minute phone call with Putin, his first since returning to power, Trump said he expected to meet the Russian leader in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks — sparking fears Kyiv would be frozen out.That came after his administration poured cold water on Ukraine’s goals of reclaiming all its territory and pushing to join NATO’s protective umbrella.”There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace,” Hegseth said at NATO. “That will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to,” added the US Defense Secretary. Trump, who has been pushing for a quick end to the war, denied that Ukraine was being excluded from direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.The Kremlin said both leaders had agreed the “time has come to work together,” insisting it wanted to organise a face-to-face meeting promptly and that broader European security should be on the agenda.  After speaking to Putin, the US president called Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and shared details of his talks with the Kremlin leader.Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told Kyiv’s NATO backers “we’re continuing, we’re strong, we’re capable, we’re able, we will deliver”.Zelensky is set to meet US Vice President JD Vance at a security conference in Munich on Friday to kick off negotiations.It will be the latest in a flurry of high-level meetings after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held talks in Kyiv on Wednesday on granting Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth deposits in return for security support. – ‘Overwhelming share’ -Trump’s outreach to Putin had been broadly expected, but the quick pace of his peace push has left heads spinning after three years of staunch Western support for Kyiv. Kyiv’s European backers are terrified that Trump could force Ukraine into a bad peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened Putin — while fronting the lion’s share of costs for post-war security.Hegseth Wednesday laid out a string of US expectations to halt the conflict, saying it was not realistic for Ukraine to regain all its land or become a NATO member.He also said Europe must now start providing the “overwhelming share” of aid to Ukraine and that the United States would not deploy troops as a security guarantee under any deal. In a statement on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of key European powers including Germany, France, Poland and Britain said “Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.”Throughout Russia’s war on Ukraine since 2022 it has been a mantra for Western powers that there should be no decisions taken on Ukraine’s future without Kyiv.NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday said it was crucial that Kyiv was “closely involved” in any talks about what happens in Ukraine. Britain’s defence minister John Healey echoed that message.”There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine, and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks,” he said.Rutte insisted that any potential peace deal had to be “enduring”, pointing to similar comments made earlier by Hegseth. Russia’s ally China meanwhile said it was “happy” to see the United States and Russia “strengthen communication”. 

Once shunned and now eagerly courted by the West, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stood by Donald Trump’s side at a huge rally and also been lauded by the US president as a “total killer”.Modi’s political ascent was marred by allegations of his culpability in India’s worst religious riots this century, and his tenure has dovetailed with rising hostility towards Muslims and other minorities.Supporters revere Modi’s tough-guy persona, burnished by his image as a steward of India’s Hindu majority faith and myth-making that played up his modest roots.”They dislike me because of my humble origins,” he said in rallies ahead of 2019 elections, lambasting his opponents.”Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become prime minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact.”Modi was born in 1950 in the western state of Gujarat, the third of six children whose father sold tea at a railway station.He was an average student but his gift for rousing oratory was first seen as a keen member of a school debate club and his participation in theatrical performances.The seeds of his political destiny were sown at the age of eight when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a hardline nationalist group.Modi dedicated himself to its cause of promoting Hindu supremacy in constitutionally secular India, even walking out of his arranged marriage soon after his wedding at the age of 18. Remaining with his wife — whom he never officially divorced — would have hampered his advancement through the ranks of the RSS, which expected senior cadres to stay celibate.- Deadly riots -The RSS groomed Modi for a career in its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which grew into a major force through the 1990s. He was appointed chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 but the state was rocked by sectarian riots the following year, sparked by a fire that killed dozens of Hindu pilgrims.At least 1,000 people were killed in the ensuing violence, most of the victims Muslims.Modi was accused of both helping stir up the unrest and failing to order a police intervention.He later told a BBC reporter that his main weakness in responding to the riots was not knowing “how to handle the media”.A probe by India’s top court eventually said there was no evidence to prosecute Modi, but the international fallout saw him banned from entering the United States and Britain for years.However, it was a testament to India’s changing political tides that his popularity only grew at home.He built a reputation as a leader ready to assert the interests of Hindus, who he contended had been held back by the secularist forces that ruled India almost continuously since independence from Britain. – ‘Friend of mine’ -Critics have sounded the alarm over a spate of prosecutions directed at Modi’s political rivals and the taming of a once-vibrant press.India’s Muslim community of more than 200 million people is also increasingly anxious about its future.Modi’s rise to the premiership was followed by a spate of lynchings targeting Muslims for the slaughter of cows, a sacred animal in the Hindu tradition.But Western democracies have sidestepped rights concerns in the hopes of cultivating a regional ally that can help check China’s assertiveness.He has taken credit for India’s rising diplomatic and economic clout, claiming that the country has become a “vishwaguru” — a teacher to the world — under his watch.He is now looking to rekindle his cosy friendship with Trump when he meets the US president at the White House on Thursday.Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term and the two share much in common.Both campaigned on promises to promote the interests of their countries’ majority communities over minorities and both pursue critics doggedly.The pair heaped praise on each other in a joint appearance at a stadium in Houston in 2019, touting a close, personal alliance in front of tens of thousands of Indian-Americans.Some 50,000 people attended the event — dubbed “Howdy, Modi!” — and it was billed as the largest gathering by a foreign leader in the United States other than the pope.The following year Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in his home state of Gujarat.Modi also took Trump and wife Melania on a guided visit of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram.”He’s great. He’s a friend of mine,” Trump told a podcast hosted by stand-up comedian Andrew Schultz last year.”On the outside he looks like he’s your father. He’s the nicest. Total killer.”