A U.S. appeals court on Friday refused to allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and two of his co-defendants to plead guilty under agreements that would have spared them the death penalty.

The ruling by a 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upended an attempt to bring an end to a military prosecution of the three detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that has been beset by two decades of legal gridlock.

Those plea agreements had been offered last year and accepted by the official who oversees the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court, only to be revoked in August by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after Republican lawmakers attacked the agreements.

A military judge, though, ruled that Austin lacked authority to revoke the plea deals in a decision that was upheld in December by U.S. Court of Military Commission Review. The judge then scheduled prompt plea hearings.

The D.C. Circuit at the behest of former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to pause those proceedings while it heard the government’s legal challenge, which Republican President Donald Trump’s administration continued.

U.S. Circuit Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao, writing for the majority, in Friday’s ruling said Austin “indisputably had legal authority to withdraw from the agreements.”

“Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the ‘families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out,” the judges wrote. “The secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment.”

Millett was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, while Rao is a Trump appointee. U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee, dissented from what he called a “stunning” ruling, saying his colleagues should have deferred to the decisions of military courts interpreting military rules.

A lawyer for Mohammed and one of his co-defendants, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the Pentagon.

Matthew Engle, an attorney for the third defendant, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash, said he was considering a potential further appeal, including to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mohammed is the most well-known inmate at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, which was set up in 2002 by then-U.S. President George W. Bush to house foreign militant suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Mohammed is accused of masterminding the plot to fly hijacked commercial passenger aircraft into the World Trade Center in New York City and into the Pentagon. The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would supply weapons to Ukraine via NATO and that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday.

In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress towards ending the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” Trump told NBC News, declining to elaborate, Reuters reported.

Trump also told NBC News about what he called a new deal between the U.S., NATO allies and Ukraine over weapons shipment from the United States.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons,” Trump said.

“We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,” he added.

For the first time since returning to office, Trump will send weapons to Kyiv under a presidential power frequently used by his predecessor, two sources familiar with the decision said on Thursday.

Trump’s team will identify arms from U.S. stockpiles to send to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to draw from weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency, the sources said, with one saying they could be worth around $300 million.

Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. would send more weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances.

The package could include defensive Patriot missiles and offensive medium-range rockets, but a decision on the exact equipment has not been made, the sources said. One of the people said this would happen at a meeting on Thursday.

The Trump administration has so far only sent weapons authorized by former President Joe Biden, who was a staunch supporter of Kyiv. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump had pledged to swiftly end the war but months into his presidency, little progress has been made. The Republican president has sometimes criticized U.S. spending on Ukraine’s defence, spoken favorably of Russia and publicly clashed with Ukraine’s leader. However, sometimes he has also voiced support for Kyiv and expressed disappointment in the leadership of Russia.

$12 BILLION PLEDGED FOR UKRAINE

Russia unleashed heavy airstrikes on Ukraine on Thursday before a conference in Rome at which Kyiv won billions of dollars in aid pledges, and U.S.-Russian talks at which Washington voiced frustration with Moscow over the war.

Two people were killed, 26 were wounded, according to figures from the national emergency services, and there was damage in nearly every part of Kyiv from missile and drone attacks on the capital and other parts of Ukraine.

Addressing the Rome conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction after more than three years of war, Zelenskiy urged allies to “more actively” use Russian assets for rebuilding and called for weapons, joint defence production and investment.

Participants pledged over 10 billion euros ($12 billion) to help rebuild Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, announced 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in support.

At talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while in Malaysia, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had reinforced the message that Moscow should show more flexibility.

“We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude,” Rubio said, adding that the Trump administration had been engaging with the U.S. Senate on what new sanctions on Russia might look like.

“It was a frank conversation. It was an important one,” Rubio said after the 50-minute talks in Kuala Lumpur. Moscow’s foreign ministry said they had shared “a substantive and frank exchange of views”.

‘NIGHTLY TERROR’

Zelenskiy said Thursday’s assault by Russia had involved around 400 drones and 18 missiles, primarily targeting the capital.

Explosions and anti-aircraft fire rattled the city. Windows were blown out, facades ravaged and cars burned to shells. In the city centre, an apartment in an eight-storey building was engulfed in flames.

“This is terror because it happens every night when people are asleep,” said Karyna Volf, a 25-year-old Kyiv resident who rushed out of her apartment moments before it was showered with shards of glass.

Air defences stopped all but a few dozen of the drones, authorities said, a day after Russia launched a record 728 drones at Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday in his first visit to Asia since taking office, and will try to reassure them the region is a priority for Washington, even as President Donald Trump targets it in his global tariff offensive, Reuters reported.

Washington’s top diplomat will meet foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered in Kuala Lumpur, and also hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who is in the Malaysian capital, according to the U.S. State Department.

Rubio’s trip is part of an effort to renew U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific and look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration’s attention, with Rubio balancing dual responsibilities as secretary of state and national security adviser.

However, Trump’s global tariff strategy is likely to cast a shadow over the trip, after the president announced steep tariffs to take effect on August 1 on six ASEAN members, including Malaysia, as well as on close Northeast Asian allies Japan and South Korea.

Rubio will nevertheless seek to firm up U.S. relationships with partners and allies, who have been unnerved by the tariffs, and is likely to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington’s main strategic rival, experts said.

“This is significant, and it’s an effort to try to counter that Chinese diplomatic and economic offensive,” said Victor Cha, president of the geopolitics and foreign policy department at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Rubio will also meet with Lavrov later on Thursday, according to the U.S. State Department schedule. It would be the second in-person meeting between Rubio and Lavrov, and comes at a time when Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on, read the report.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is also expected to join talks from Thursday, but it was unclear if Rubio would meet with him.

A senior U.S. State Department official told reporters on Monday that among Rubio’s priorities on the trip was reaffirming Washington’s commitment to the region, not just for its sake but because it promotes American prosperity and security.

“It’s kind of late, because we’re seven months into the administration,” Cha said of Rubio’s trip. “Usually, these happen much sooner. But then again, it is extraordinary circumstances. But I guess better late than never.”

Security cooperation is a top priority, including the strategic South China Sea, and combating transnational crime, narcotics, scam centers, and trafficking in persons, said the State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

As well as their unease about Trump’s tariff policies, many in the Indo-Pacific have doubts about the willingness of his “America First” administration to fully engage diplomatically and economically with the region.

Trump said this week he would impose a 25% tariff on Japan and South Korea and also took aim at ASEAN nations, announcing a 25% levy on Malaysia, 32% on Indonesia, 36% on Cambodia and Thailand, and 40% on Laos and Myanmar.

Trump has also upset another key Indo-Pacific ally, Australia, which said on Wednesday it was “urgently seeking more detail” on his threat to raise tariffs to 200% on pharmaceutical imports.

According to a draft joint communique seen by Reuters, ASEAN foreign ministers will express “concern over rising global trade tensions and growing uncertainties in the international economic landscape, particularly the unilateral actions relating to tariffs.”

The draft, dated Monday, before the latest U.S. tariff rates were announced, did not mention the United States and used language similar to an ASEAN leaders’ statement in May. Both said tariffs were “counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation.”

The State Department official said Rubio would be prepared to discuss trade and reiterate that the need to rebalance U.S. trade relationships is significant.

The export-reliant ASEAN is collectively the world’s fifth-biggest economy, with some members beneficiaries of supply chain realignments from China. Only Vietnam has secured a deal with Trump, which lowers the levy to 20% from 46% initially.