Headline
EU Diplomat Slams Trump’s ‘Dictator’ Jab At Zelensky, Points Finger At Putin
Published
6 months agoon
By
Editor
The EU’s top diplomat said Thursday she had initially thought US President Donald Trump had confused Volodymyr Zelensky with Vladimir Putin when he called the Ukrainian leader a “dictator”.
“First when I heard this, I was like, oh, he must be mixing the two, because clearly Putin is the dictator,” Kaja Kallas told reporters in Johannesburg.
In a post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, Trump wrote that Zelensky was a “dictator without elections”.
Zelensky’s five-year term expired last year but Ukrainian law does not require elections during war-time.
READ ALSO: Trump Attacks Zelensky, Says US Wasted $350bn On Russian War
“Zelensky is an elected leader in fair and free elections,” Kallas said in a briefing after attending a meeting of G20 foreign ministers.
“The constitutions of many countries allow for elections to be suspended during wartime in order to focus on the conflict, she said.
Russia, which attacked Ukraine in 2022, could choose to hold free elections but “they are afraid of democracy expanding because in democracy, the leaders are held accountable,” the EU foreign policy chief said.
“It’s literally from the dictator’s handbook.”
Trump has rattled Ukraine and its European backers by opening direct talks with Moscow on ending the war but excluding Kyiv and European countries.
READ ALSO: Zelensky To Meet Vance As Trump-Putin Talks Spark Alarm
Kallas said the focus should remain on supporting Ukraine and putting political and economic pressure on Russia.
The stronger Ukraine is on “the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table,” she said, adding, “Russia doesn’t really want peace.”
It was also premature to talk about sending troops to protect Ukraine after any ceasefire deal with Russia, Kallas said.
Rather, Ukraine needed concrete security guarantees that Russia would not attack again, she said, adding that history had shown that ceasefires had only been opportunities for Russia “to regroup and rearm.”
AFP
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Headline
42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense
Published
8 hours agoon
August 24, 2025By
Editor
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.
Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.
READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.
“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.
“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.
READ ALSO:Russia Claims More Ukraine Land As Hopes For Summit Fade
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
AFP

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.
Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.
Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.
READ ALSO:Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.
Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.
Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.
READ ALSO:US Ambassador To Paris Slams Macron Over Rising Antisemitism
The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.
“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.
AFP
Headline
Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians
Published
9 hours agoon
August 24, 2025By
Editor
Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.
Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.
They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.
“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.
READ ALSO:Russia Returns Bodies Of 1,000 Ukrainian Soldiers
“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.
Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.
Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.
Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.
READ ALSO:Top Russian General Seriously Wounded In Ukraine – Officials
Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.
Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.
“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.
AFP
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