#Djokovic crashes out of Indian Wells opener

#Europe does not know how to resolve Ukraine crisis, #Trump says
The #US president said that he had always had a good relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin

#Iran won’t negotiate with US until it stops imposing its interests — Khamenei
The comments were in response to a letter from #US President Donald Trump, where he proposed talks on Iran’s nuclear program

#Musk says Ukraine’s front line would collapse in case of disconnection from Starlink.

Celebrity entrepreneur also stated that he is "sickened by years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose."

SpaceX owner Elon Musk has said that the Starlink satellite system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army, adding that Kiev’s entire front line would collapse in case of the country’s disconnection from the system.

"My Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off," he wrote on the X social network.


Celebrity entrepreneur also stated that he is "sickened by years of slaughter in a stalemate that Ukraine will inevitably lose."

"Anyone who really cares, really thinks and really understands wants the meat grinder to stop," Musk noted.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a speech in Ottawa on Tuesday after a trade war was triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

After a 30-day reprieve expired, Canada and Mexico now face 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on all imports into the United States, with a 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy. Canada and Mexico hit back at the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs.

Trump also doubled the tariff on China’s products to 20 per cent, which sparked retaliatory measures from Beijing, The Associated Press reported.
Here is the text of Trudeau’s speech:

Today the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they’re talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying murderous dictator. Make that make sense. Canadians are reasonable and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight, not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake.

At the moment the U.S. tariffs came into effect in the early hours of this morning and so did the Canadian response. Canada will be implementing 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion worth of American goods, starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion of American products in 21 days time.

Today we will also be challenging these illegal actions by filing dispute resolution claims at the World Trade Organization and through the USMCA. But in the meantime our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. tariffs are withdrawn and not a moment sooner.

Should these tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures, measures which will demonstrate there are no winners in a trade war. Just like I did a month ago, I want to speak first directly to the American people. We don’t want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally and we don’t want to see you hurt either. But your government has chosen to do this to you.

As of this morning markets are down and inflation is set to rise dramatically all across your country. Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada or because of consumers in Canada or both. They have chosen to raise costs for American consumers on everyday essential items like groceries and gas, on major purchases like cars and homes and everything in between.

They have chosen to harm American national security, impeding access to the abundant critical minerals, energy, building materials and fertilizers that we have and that the United States needs to grow and prosper. They have chosen to launch a trade war that will first and foremost harm American families. They have chosen to sabotage their own agenda that was supposed to usher in a new golden age for the United States.

They have chosen to undermine the incredible work we’ve done together to tackle the scourge that is fentanyl, a drug that must be wiped from the face of the earth. On that point, let me be crystal clear. There is absolutely no justification or need whatsoever for these tariffs today. The legal pretext your government is using to bring in these tariffs is that Canada is apparently unwilling to help in the fight against illegal fentanyl.

That is totally false. Let’s look at the facts. Our border is already safe and secure. Far less than one per cent of fentanyl flows and less than one per cent of illegal crossings into the United States comes from Canada. But we acted because we know we can always do better. We responded to concerns, including from the president, by implementing an ambitious $1.3 billion border plan, a border plan that includes generational investments in new AI and imaging tools to stop the flow of fentanyl in its tracks.

Stronger coordination and information sharing with American agencies along with the deployment of drones, helicopters and additional personnel to keep our border secure. A month ago as part of an agreement with the United States that paused the tariffs we made further commitments. We appointed Kevin Brosseau as our fentanyl czar, a man who dedicated his multi-decade career in law enforcement to combating organized crime networks and drug trafficking.

We designated seven drug cartels, sick evil groups who cynically profit off the pain and suffering of people on both sides of the border, as the terrorist organizations that they are. Just yesterday we launched a new joint operations partnership supported by a $200 million investment between Canada’s security and law enforcement agencies, a partnership that will enhance the coordination of information and intelligence in order to thwart criminal gangs involved in the illegal fentanyl trade.

Critically, our actions are working. As the U.S. customs and border protection just acknowledged, there was a 97 per cent drop in fentanyl seizures from January compared to December to a near zero low of less than half an ounce seized in January, even with all the further enforcements and actions we’ve taken at the border. In sum, we stepped up. We engaged closely and constructively with the president and his administration. We did everything we promised. We stuck to our word. We did it because we believe in working together to protect our citizens.

Now I want to speak directly to one specific American. Donald, in the over eight years you and I have worked together, we’ve done big things. We signed a historic deal that has created record jobs and growth in both of our countries. We’ve done big things together on the world stage as Canada and the U.S have done together for decades, for generations.

Now we should be working together to ensure even greater prosperity for North Americans in a very uncertain and challenging world. It’s not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal but Donald, they point out that even though you’re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do. We two friends fighting is exactly what our opponents around the world want to see.

Now to my fellow Canadians. I won’t sugar coat it. This is going to be tough, even though we’re all going to pull together because that’s what we do. We will use every tool at our disposal so Canadian workers and businesses can weather this storm from expanding EI benefits and making them more flexible to providing direct supports to businesses. We will be there as needed to help.

But Canada, make no mistake. No matter how long this lasts, no matter what the cost, the federal government and other orders of government will be there for you. We will defend Canadian jobs. We will take measures to prevent predatory behaviour that threatens Canadian companies because of the impacts of this trade war leaving them open to takeovers. We will relentlessly fight to protect our economy. We will stand up for Canadians every single second of every single day because this country is worth fighting for.

We’ve been through tough spots before but every time we faced long odds and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, we’ve not only survived. We’ve emerged stronger than ever. Because when it comes to defending our great nation, there is no price we all aren’t willing to pay. Today is no different. Merci beaucoup mes amis.

Trump’s halt on military aid will hurt Ukraine’s defences. But it may not be fatal.

LONDON (AP) — The U.S. has been Ukraine’s biggest military backer since Russia’s full-scale invasion began three years ago. The suspension of that aid by the Trump administration doesn’t mean Ukraine’s defenses will quickly collapse.

But it’s a major blow that threatens to remove some of the most formidable weapons in Ukraine’s battlefield arsenal, and ratchets up pressure on Kyiv to accept a peace agreement.

Here’s a look at the decision and its implications.
How much of Ukraine’s aid comes from the U.S.?

The United States has given the Ukrainians more than $180 billion in assistance since Russia launched an all-out war on Feb. 24, 2022, including more than $66.5 billion in military aid.

Washington provides about 20% of Ukraine’s military supplies, and that includes the most lethal and important equipment, including longer-range missiles and Patriot air defense systems that can shoot down the most powerful Russian projectiles.

American military assistance also goes far beyond weapons and ammunition.

Ukrainian troops rely on satellite communications systems supplied by Elon Musk’s Starlink to communicate on the front line, and on American intelligence to track Russian troop movements and select targets for Ukrainian strikes. If the U.S. stops sharing data from satellites and other assets, it would badly affect Ukraine’s capability to strike back at Russia, and Ukraine’s other allies lack the resources to fill the gap.

“A lot will depend on what’s covered by the American suspension,” said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of defense think tank RUSI. “Will they suspend all technical assistance to Ukraine? That would have a more dramatic, more rapid impact than simply stopping the pipeline of arms.”
Why has Trump cut it off?

The White House said the U.S. is “pausing and reviewing” its Ukraine aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The order will remain in effect until U.S. President Donald Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia.

The decision follows an explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, in which Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he hasn’t expressed sufficient gratitude for American support.
What has been paused?

It’s murky at best.

Trump’s order pausing aid includes military assistance and weapons that had already been approved and were en route to Ukraine, according to a defense official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations, said it’s not clear what weapons that includes or how much aid was stopped even as it was heading to Kyiv.

Since the war began, the U.S. had used two major ways to provide security assistance to Kyiv: presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, which takes weapons and supplies from Pentagon stockpiles and sends them quickly to the front, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which uses longer-term contracts to send weapons.

The official said some weapons approved by the Biden administration in recent months that were being provided through the PDA were affected by Trump’s pause. But no details are available.

As an example, a $500 million aid package was the last one approved in January, before President Joe Biden left office. It included missiles for air defense, ammunition bridging systems and other equipment. Officials did not know how much of that aid had already arrived in Ukraine and how much, if any of it, has been paused.

It’s also unclear whether Trump’s order has any impact on any of the contracts that were authorized or finalized under USAI during the Biden administration.
How will it change the battlefield?

The U.S. move won’t have an immediate impact on the battlefield, where Kyiv’s forces are struggling to stem a relentless Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have slowed Russian advances along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, where Russia is slowly gaining ground at a huge human and material cost.

The pause in aid will weaken air defenses and will hurt Ukraine’s ability to hit Russian targets far behind the front lines.

Alexander Kots, a Russian war blogger, said that for Ukraine, “the U.S. aid suspension is unpleasant but not deadly.”

He said that while Ukraine’s European allies can fill some of the gaps and provide artillery systems, they don’t have alternatives to the U.S.-made air defense systems and longer-range HIMARS missile systems that can strike ground targets up to 300 kilometers (200 miles) away.

Ukraine is already running low on missiles for the American-supplied Patriot systems, which are crucial to defending cities from Russian air attacks, according to Patrick Bury, a warfare expert at the U.K.‘s University of Bath.

“The problem is, a lot of what the U.S. provides is the stuff that Europe cannot, and other countries cannot, provide in the short term — high-end stuff," he said.

Ukraine has stockpiles of artillery shells and other munitions, and has ramped up domestic production of drones, which are now among the most important weapons in the war. It’s estimated that just over half of the military hardware used by Ukraine is domestically produced.

Chalmers, the RUSI expert, said the Ukrainians have built up their defense production and “are innovating at an incredible rate because of the pressure they’re under.”

“I think they will survive for quite some time,” he said. “But it’s a material blow, and it’s also a challenge to Europe.”
Can Ukraine’s other allies step up?

A summit in London on Sunday was aimed at getting European leaders to step up and put Ukraine in the best possible position before potential peace talks.

The U.K. announced that it would use 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) in export financing to supply 5,000 air defense missiles. The European Union has proposed an 800 billion-euro ($841 billion) plan to bolster the defenses of EU nations and provide Ukraine with military muscle.

But Samir Puri, director of the Center for Global Governance and Security at international affairs think tank Chatham House, said that European and American aid are intertwined.

“This was always a joint effort,” he said. “The U.S. gives a lot, the Europeans give a lot. You take away the Americans from that joint effort and … there’s just a huge component missing to the structure.”

#Russia against stationing European peacekeepers in #Ukraine — envoy. Ulyanov also emphasized that "European officials are putting the cart before the horse," when they discuss sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.


Russia is categorically against deploying European peacekeepers to Ukraine, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, said.

"The idea of hypothetically stationing European peacekeepers in Ukraine is, to put it mildly, highly questionable at least for two reasons. First of all, the European Union is biased while the peacekeepers must be unbiased. Secondly, Russia categorically opposes this," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Ulyanov also emphasized that "European officials are putting the cart before the horse," when they discuss sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.

White House confirms suspending military aid to #Kiev. According to Reuters, "the official said the US is pausing and reviewing aid to ensure it is contributing to a solution".


A White House official has confirmed the suspension of military aid to Ukraine, Reuters reported.

According to the news agency, "the official said the US is pausing and reviewing aid to ensure it is contributing to a solution."

Bloomberg and Fox News reported that the pause will last until US President Donald Trump determines that the Kiev regime demonstrates a "good-faith commitment to peace."

"The President has been clear that he is focused on peace," the official said. "We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well," he explained.

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