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Russia is failing in Ukraine, top U.S. official says

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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Thursday that Russia was not achieving its goals in its invasion of Ukraine and that Western sanctions were partly the reason for that.

"What we are aiming for here is a strategic failure for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. And I believe that is already happening, that no matter what happens ... Ukraine is going to survive," Sherman told a Friends of Europe think-tank event in Brussels.

Sherman, who spoke after talks with the European Union's foreign service secretary general Stefano Sannino, did not offer any specific evidence for her comments.

But she cited the economic sanctions and export controls that have been imposed by the United States, the European Union, Britain, Japan, and other allies since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has said its "special military operation" is essential to ensure Russian security and rejects Western accusations of atrocities and the indiscriminate shelling of cities.

"Putin is facing a strategic failure because of the sanctions that have been put on because of the long term impact this will have," Sherman said.

The Western sanctions have already pushed Russia into its deepest economic crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Sherman said there would be a "long tail" to sanctions and export controls on Russia. She also hoped China would take note of Western unity.

"We have hundreds of U.S. companies, literally, who have left Russia, and they're not returning. So, the tail here is very long. There will be strategic failure. Putin has become a pariah in the world," she said.

Sherman also said if European Union decided to impose oil and gas sanctions on Russia, the United States would aim to avoid anyprice increases that would help Russia's finances.

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Putin praises Trump, says Russia is ready for dialogue

Putin said remarks Trump had made during the election campaign about Ukraine and restoring relations with Russia deserved attention.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on winning the U.S. election, praised him for showing courage when a gunman tried to assassinate him, and said Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.

In his first public remarks since Trump's win, Putin said Trump had acted like a real man during an assassination attempt on him while he was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July, Reuters reported.

"He behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a real man," Putin said at the Valdai discussion club in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. "I take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election."

Putin said remarks Trump had made during the election campaign about Ukraine and restoring relations with Russia deserved attention.

"What was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion this deserves attention at least," said Putin.

Trump said during campaigning that he could bring peace in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected, but has given few details on how he would seek to end the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two.

The 72-year-old Kremlin chief gave just one note of caution: "I do not know what is going to happen now. I have no clue."

When pressed by a questioner what he would do if Trump called to suggest a meeting, Putin said he was ready to resume contacts if a Trump administration wanted that, and was ready for discussions with Trump.

Russia and Trump have repeatedly dismissed as nonsense some claims in Western media that Trump was a sort of Russian agent of influence. Russian officials say that during his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump was tough on Russia.

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigated allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but said in a 2019 report that he found no evidence of conspiracy.

Moscow has also repeatedly denied U.S. assertions that Russia meddled in the 2024 and other presidential elections and had spread disinformation in an attempt to sow chaos.

WAR?

The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its final - most dangerous - phase after Moscow's forces advance at their fastest pace since the early weeks of the conflict and the West ponders how the war will end.

Putin on June 14 set out his terms for an end to the war: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of four regions claimed by Russia.

Russia controls Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, about 80% of the Donbas - a coal-and-steel zone comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - and more than 70% of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Speaking for several hours on Thursday, Putin railed against the "adventurism" of Western leaders whom he accused of pushing the world to a "dangerous line" by seeking to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia in Ukraine.

"It is useless to put pressure on us. But we are always ready to negotiate with full consideration of mutual legitimate interests," Putin said, just seconds after scolding the West for promising Ukraine and Georgia eventual NATO membership in 2008.

He said that the West had never accepted Russia as an equal partner since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, treating it as a defeated power and enlarging the U.S.-led NATO military alliance eastwards towards Russia.

Russia, Putin said, was ready to restore relations with the United States but the ball was in Washington's court. Putin also said that China was Russia's "ally".

Asked about Kamala Harris' warning that Putin would eat Trump for lunch, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said with a chuckle: "Putin does not eat people."

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Donald Trump wins US presidency

In earlier election remarks at Florida’s Palm Beach Convention Center, Trump vowed not to rest “until we have delivered the strong and prosperous America.”

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Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago and sparked a violent insurrection at the US Capitol.

Trump’s win in Wisconsin put him over the 270 threshold needed to clinch the presidency, Associated Press reported.

In earlier election remarks at Florida’s Palm Beach Convention Center, Trump vowed not to rest “until we have delivered the strong and prosperous America.”

Ahead of the presidential race call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he had no information on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to congratulate Donald Trump but emphasized that Moscow views the US as an “unfriendly” country.

Peskov reaffirmed the Kremlin’s claim that the US support for Ukraine amounted to its involvement in the conflict, telling reporters: “Let’s not forget that we are talking about the unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state.”

Asked if Putin’s failure to congratulate Trump could hurt ties, Peskov responded that the Russia-US relations already are at the “lowest point in history,” adding that it will be up to the new US leadership to change the situation.

He noted Putin’s statements about Moscow’s readiness for a “constructive dialogue based on justice, equality and readiness to take mutual concerns into account.”

Peskov noted Trump’s campaign statements about his intention to end wars, saying that “those were important statements, but now after the victory, while getting ready to enter the Oval Office or entering the Oval Office, statements could sometimes change.”

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Israel, Ukraine respond to Donald Trump’s ‘victory’

In an early message of congratulations, Netanyahu said Wednesday that former president Trump was set for “history’s greatest comeback”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightist government celebrated on Wednesday after Republican Donald Trump claimed victory in the US presidential election.

By mid-day Kabul time, Trump was leading with 267 electoral votes to Kamala Harris’ 224. 

In order to secure the presidency, 270 electoral votes are needed. 

While the US and people around the world wait for the results to be called officially, Israeli media has stated that a Trump win will be a relief for Netanyahu's coalition, which has clashed with President Joe Biden's Democratic administration over the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

In an early message of congratulations, Netanyahu said Wednesday that former president Trump was set for "history's greatest comeback".

"Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America," he said in a statement.

"This is a huge victory."

Far-right ministers in the government also welcomed the results.

"Yesssss, God bless Trump," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who heads one of two hardline, pro-settler parties in Netanyahu's coalition, said on X.

Ukraine conflict 

Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky has also issued an early message of congratulations to Trump on his "impressive election victory".

"Congratulations to Donald Trump on his impressive election victory! I recall our great meeting with President Trump back in September, when we discussed in detail the Ukraine-US strategic partnership," Zelensky wrote on his social media page X. 

He said Kiev was counting on continued "strong bipartisan support".

Zelensky added that he would like to personally congratulate Trump on his victory and discuss ways of strengthening cooperation.

Zelensky said he expected that Trump's approach would bring the conflict over Ukraine closer to an end and hoped to "put it into action together."

According to forecasts by Fox News TV and The Hill newspaper, Trump has won the November 5 election.

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