As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research, thousands of scientists in the U.S. lost their jobs or grants — and governments and universities around the world spotted an opportunity.
The Canada Leads program, launched in April, hopes to foster the next generation of innovators by bringing early-career biomedical researchers north of the border.
Aix-Marseille University in France started the Safe Place for Science program in March, pledging to welcome U.S.-based scientists who “may feel threatened or hindered in their research.”
Australia’s Global Talent Attraction Program, announced in April, promises competitive salaries and relocation packages.
“In response to what is happening in the U.S.,” said Anna-Maria Arabia, head of the Australian Academy of Science, “we see an unparalleled opportunity to attract some of the smartest minds here.”
Since World War II, the U.S. has invested huge amounts of money in scientific research conducted at independent universities and federal agencies. That funding helped the U.S. to become the world’s leading scientific power — and has led to the invention of cellphones and the internet as well as new ways to treat cancer, heart disease and strokes, noted Holden Thorp, editor in chief of the journal Science.
But today that system is being shaken.
Since President Trump took office in January, his administration has pointed to what it calls waste and inefficiency in federal science spending and made major cuts to staff levels and grant funding at the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA and other agencies, while slashing research dollars that flow to some private universities.
The White House budget proposal for next year aims to cut the NIH budget by roughly 40% and the National Science Foundation budget by 55%.
“The Trump administration is spending its first few months reviewing the previous administration’s projects, identifying waste, and realigning our research spending to match the American people’s priorities and continue our innovative dominance,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Already, several universities have announced hiring freezes, laid off staff or stopped admitting new graduate students. On Thursday, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, though a judge put that on hold.
Research institutions abroad are watching with concern for collaborations that depend on colleagues in the U.S. — but they also see opportunities to poach talent.
“There are threats to science … south of the border,” said Brad Wouters of University Health Network, Canada’s leading hospital and medical research center, which launched the Canada Leads recruitment drive. “There’s a whole pool of talent, a whole cohort that is being affected by this moment.”
Academic freedom
Universities worldwide are always trying to recruit from one another, just as tech companies and businesses in other fields do. What’s unusual about the current moment is that many global recruiters are targeting researchers by promising something that seems newly threatened: academic freedom.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this month that the European Union intends “to enshrine freedom of scientific research into law.” She spoke at the launch of the bloc’s Choose Europe for Science initiative, which was in the works before the Trump administration cuts but has sought to capitalize on the moment.
Eric Berton, president of Aix-Marseille University, expressed a similar sentiment after launching the institution’s Safe Place for Science program.
“Our American research colleagues are not particularly interested by money,” he said of applicants. “What they want above all is to be able to continue their research and that their academic freedom be preserved.”
Imminent ‘brain drain’?
It’s too early to say how many scientists will choose to leave the U.S. It will take months for universities to review applications and dole out funding, and longer for researchers to uproot their lives.
Plus, the American lead in funding research and development is enormous — and even significant cuts may leave crucial programs standing. The U.S. has been the world’s leading funder of research and development — including government, university and private investment — for decades. In 2023, the country funded 29% of the world’s R&D, according to the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.
But some institutions abroad are reporting significant early interest from researchers in the U.S. Nearly half of the applications to Safe Place for Science — 139 out of 300 total — came from U.S.-based scientists, including AI researchers and astrophysicists.
U.S.-based applicants in this year’s recruitment round for France’s Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology roughly doubled over last year.
At the Max Planck Society in Germany, the Lise Meitner Excellence Program — aimed at young female researchers — drew triple the number of applications from U.S.-based scientists this year as last year.
Recruiters who work with companies and nonprofits say they see a similar trend.
Natalie Derry, a U.K.-based managing partner of the Global Emerging Sciences Practice at recruiter WittKieffer, said her team has seen a 25% to 35% increase in applicants from the U.S. cold-calling about open positions. When they reach out to scientists currently based in the U.S., “we are getting a much higher hit rate of people showing interest.”
Still, there are practical hurdles to overcome for would-be continent-hoppers, she said. That can include language hurdles, arranging child care or elder care, and significant differences in national pension or retirement programs.
Brandon Coventry never thought he would consider a scientific career outside the United States. But federal funding cuts and questions over whether new grants will materialize have left him unsure. While reluctant to leave his family and friends, he’s applied to faculty positions in Canada and France.
“I’ve never wanted to necessarily leave the United States, but this is a serious contender for me,” said Coventry, who is a postdoctoral fellow studying neural implants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
But it’s not easy to pick up and move a scientific career — let alone a life.
Marianna Zhang was studying how children develop race and gender stereotypes as a postdoctoral fellow at New York University when her National Science Foundation grant was canceled. She said it felt like “America as a country was no longer interested in studying questions like mine.”
Still, she wasn’t sure of her next move. “It’s no easy solution, just fleeing and escaping to another country,” she said.
The recruitment programs range in ambition, from those trying to attract a dozen researchers to a single university to the continent-wide Choose Europe for Science initiative.
But it’s unclear whether the total amount of funding and new positions offered could match what’s being shed in the United States.
A global vacuum
Even as universities and institutes think about recruiting talent from the U.S., there’s more apprehension than glee at the funding cuts.
“Science is a global endeavor,” said Patrick Cramer, head of the Max Planck Society, noting that datasets and discoveries are often shared among international collaborators.
One aim of recruitment drives is “to help prevent the loss of talent to the global scientific community,” he said.
Researchers worldwide will suffer if collaborations are shut down and databases taken offline, scientists say.
“The U.S. was always an example, in both science and education,” said Patrick Schultz, president of France’s Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology. So the cuts and policies were “very frightening also for us because it was an example for the whole world.”
Larson, Ramakrishnan and Keaten write for the Associated Press.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, has been awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The dissident has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran for his filmmaking, which served as inspiration for his award-winning work.
A British fishing vessel has been impounded by the French authorities, accused of illegally fishing in their waters.
It was seized in the English Channel and is being held at the port of Boulogne, unable to leave while the French authorities consider bringing a prosecution.
The vessel was stopped at sea by the French Navy on Thursday night, with its crew alleged to have been fishing in French waters without a licence.
The Foreign Office said it was offering support to a British national in France and was in touch with local authorities.
“As the vessel remains subject to an ongoing investigation by French fisheries authorities, we are unable to comment further at this time,” a government spokesperson added.
According to the French Coastguard, the navy patrol vessel Pluvier was conducting inspections in their waters overnight on 23 May, finding the British vessel to have been allegedly operating without a licence.
The fishing vessel was diverted to Boulogne “for the purpose of initiating prosecution”.
The Conservatives accused the French authorities of “shameful double standards” over the arrest.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said they had failed to stop thousands of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, accusing France of “taking no action whatsoever at sea and often ushering the illegal immigrants into UK waters”.
“Yet when a UK fishing vessel is in French waters all of a sudden they are magically able to act. If the French can now intercept boats then they should start stopping the boats with illegal immigrants – as international law obliges them to do.”
A key part of the deal involves giving European fishing boats a further 12 years of access to British waters in exchange for easing some trade frictions.
Critics from the Conservatives and Reform UK described the deal as a “surrender” to the EU, while the Liberal Democrats said the government had taken some “positive first steps” to rebuilding ties with Europe.
The film is inspired by dissident director Jafar Panahi’s own experience in jail.
An Iranian thriller film that explores corruption and state violence in the country has won the the Palme d’Or, the coveted top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
It Was Just an Accident, directed by dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was crowned at the world-famous festival on Saturday, hours after a power outage briefly threw the event off course.
The festival’s crowd burst into a roaring standing ovation for Panahi, who has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran due to his provocative cinema, often produced in secret. He had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.
“Art mobilises the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was the future of his country.
“Let us join forces,” Panahi said. “No one should tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do.”
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner, shakes hands with director Hasan Hadi, Camera d’Or award winner for the film, The President’s Cake, on stage during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24 [Benoit Tessier/Reuters]
Partly inspired by Panahi’s own experience in jail, It Was Just An Accident follows a man named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri), who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer, and then decide what to do with him.
Critics have praised the film as a clever, symbolic exploration of justice that blends dark humour with its intense themes.
Iraqi film “The President’s Cake” wins Best First Film
The festival’s Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, his lauded follow-up to The Worst Person in the World.
Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Brazilian political thriller, The Secret Agent, won two big awards: best director for Fihlo and best actor for Wagner Moura.
The jury prize was split between two films: Oliver Laxe’s desert road trip, Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama, Sound of Falling.”
Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister, Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.
Cannes also honoured Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake with a best first film award, marking the first time an Iraqi film has won an award at the festival.
Director Hasan Hadi, Camera d’Or award winner for the film, The President’s Cake, and Alice Rohrwacher, president of the Camera d’Or Jury, pose after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24 [Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]
The Cannes closing ceremony took place after a major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday, knocking out traffic lights and forcing businesses to close along the main shopping street in the Alpes-Maritimes holiday region. Police suspect arson as the cause.
Geopolitical tensions were also a constant backdrop at the festival, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and US President Donald Trump’s proposal of tariffs on foreign-made films fuelling discussion.
More than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter denouncing the genocide in Gaza, according to the organisers.
Major power outage hits the prominent film festival on its closing day and impacts 160,000 homes in the area.
French police were investigating a possible arson attack as being the main cause for a power outage which hit the Alpes-Maritimes region in southern France, including Cannes which is hosting its world-famous annual film festival.
“We are looking into the likelihood of a fire being started deliberately,” a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie said on Saturday, adding that no arrests had been made at this stage.
The local authority for the Alpes-Maritimes region had said earlier on Saturday that the western part of the area, which includes Cannes, was suffering from a major electricity outage and that grid operator RTE France was working on restoring power.
The outage, which affected 160,000 homes, according to RTE and regional officials, started shortly after 10am local time (08:00 GMT) on Saturday.
Police sources said the outage was caused by an overnight fire, probably an arson attack, at a high-voltage substation in the village of Tanneron.
Traffic lights were knocked out and businesses closed on the main shopping street of the Alpes-Maritimes holiday destination.
A policeman directs traffic following a power outage in southern France, May 24, 2025 [Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA]
Separate power outages swept across the Iberian Peninsula and parts of southern France on Monday, disrupting critical infrastructure and airport operations. Officials denied foul play.
While Spain and Portugal suffered blackouts last month, the French Basque Country saw brief power outages with interruptions lasting only a few minutes, according to the French electricity transmission network.
The latest outage came just hours before the 78th Cannes Film Festival is due to close on Saturday evening with an award ceremony at the Palais des Festivals.
Despite the power cut, festival organisers said switching to an alternative electricity power supply enabled them to “maintain the events and screenings planned for today in normal conditions, including the closing ceremony”.
After a politically charged two weeks, a jury led by French actor Juliette Binoche is expected to announce the winners among 22 films competing for the Palme d’Or for best film.
This year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and United States President Donald Trump were the biggest talking points at the festival. More than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter denouncing the genocide in Gaza, according to the organisers.
Trial featured emotional testimony from Kardashian, who said the robbery was traumatising but forgave ringleader.
A Paris court has found eight men guilty of involvement in a 2016 armed robbery of the US celebrity Kim Kardashian, who described the incident as “the most terrifying experience of my life”.
Seven of the convicted received prison sentences of between three and eight years, some of which were suspended, and another received a fine.
The court did not order any additional time behind bars for the accused, with Chief Judge David De Pas saying that the defendants’ ages – six are in their 60s and 70s – and their health issues weighed on the court’s decision to impose sentences that he said “aren’t very severe”.
“The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my family,” Kardashian, who was not present for the verdict, said in a statement on Friday.
“While I’ll never forget what happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability and pray for healing for all. I remain committed to advocating for justice and promoting a fair legal system.”
De Pas told the convicted men that they had “caused fear” during the October 2, 2016, robbery of millions of dollars worth of jewels from the Kardashians in their hotel room during the Paris Fashion Week. During the theft, Kardashian was tied up and said she feared for her life.
Aomar Ait Khedache, the 69-year-old ringleader of the gang dubbed by the French press as the “grandpa robbers”, used a cane to walk into the courthouse.
Khedache was given a sentence of eight years in prison, five of which were suspended. Three others were given seven years with five suspended. Three more received prison sentences ranging from three to five years, mostly or completely suspended, and an eighth person was found guilty on a weapons charge and fined. Due to time served in jail, none of the accused will return to detention.
Defendant Aomar Ait Khedache, one of the men accused in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian, leaves during a break at the Palace of Justice on Monday, April 28, 2025, in Paris, France [Aurelien Morissard/AP Photo]
Two of the 10 defendants were acquitted.
The trial was heard by a three-judge panel and six jurors, before whom Kardashian testified last week.
During an emotional testimony, Kardashian recounted the harrowing experience of the robbery and the fear she felt being at the mercy of a group of armed men. During the theft, she was thrown onto a bed, tied up and had a gun pressed to her.
“I absolutely did think I was going to die,” she said. “I have babies. I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”
Kardashian is known for her interest in law and obtained her law degree in the United States earlier this week. She has also been an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform.
In this artist sketch, Kim Kardashian testifies regarding a robbery of millions of dollars in jewels from her Paris hotel room in 2016, in Paris on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 [Valentin Pasquier/AP Photo]
Earlier in the trial, a letter written by Khedache expressing remorse for his actions was read to Kardashian, who said that she appreciated the letter and forgave him, even if nothing could change the “trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed”.
Kedache again asked for “a thousand pardons” via a written note on Friday, with the other defendants also using their final remarks before the court to say that they were sorry for their actions.
The UK has suspended trade talks, while France and Canada have threatened action if Israel continues to starve and bomb Palestinians in Gaza. So, is the tide turning on foreign support for Israel, or is this all just PR? Soraya Lennie takes a look.
The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada have “strongly opposed” the expansion of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, threatening to “take concrete actions” if Israel does not cease its onslaught and lift restrictions on aid supply to the Palestinian enclave.
In a statement released on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said they also oppose settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank. Settler violence has surged in the occupied West Bank as the world’s focus has remained on Gaza. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli raids.
The statement comes weeks after the Netherlands urged the European Union (EU) to review a trade agreement with Israel as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified its bombardment of Gaza amid an aid blockade in place since March 2.
Western countries backed Israel’s right to self-defence when Netanyahu’s government launched a devastating offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. That offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians and turned vast swathes of Gaza into rubble.
On Tuesday, the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israel has the right to defend itself, but its current actions go beyond proportionate self-defence.
So what steps might Western countries take against Israel, and has Israel’s latest Gaza onslaught forced them to change their position? Here is what you need to know:
What did the UK, France and Canada say?
The countries’ three leaders criticised Israel’s renewed Gaza offensive, while describing the “human suffering” of Palestinians in the coastal enclave as “intolerable”.
They also said that Israel’s announcement of letting some aid in was “wholly inadequate”.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the leaders’ statement said.
“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.
“We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.”
The three Western leaders said that while they supported Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s attack on October 7, “this escalation is wholly disproportionate”.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” they said.
On Tuesday, the UK announced it would suspend trade talks with Israel over the Gaza war. It also imposed sanctions on settlers and organisations backing violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza and the government’s support for illegal settlements is “damaging our relationship with your government”, said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Amid intense international pressure, Israeli authorities on Monday cleared nine aid trucks to enter Gaza, where harsh restrictions on food and aid have sparked accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
However, the United Nations’ relief chief Tom Fletcher called the entry of the trucks a “drop in the ocean”, adding that “significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza”.
Fletcher on Tuesday warned that 14,000 Palestinian babies were at risk of dying in the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them – a figure he called “utterly chilling”. Some half a million people in Gaza, or one in five Palestinians, are facing starvation due to the Israeli blockade.
Starving Palestinians have resorted to eating animal feed and flour mixed with sand, highlighting acute suffering among the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
The UN humanitarian office’s spokesman Jens Laerke said on Tuesday that about 100 more trucks have been approved by Israel to enter Gaza.
Shifting their focus to the occupied West Bank, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada said they opposed all attempts to expand Israeli settlements, as they are “illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians”.
“We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” they said.
Yara Hawari, co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, says the statement by the UK, Canada, and France is “reflective of states wanting to backtrack and try and cover up their complicity”, highlighting that the situation in Gaza is the “worst that it has ever been” and that “the genocide is reaching new levels of cruelty and inhumaneness”.
“They can point to the statement and say, you know, well, we did … stand up against it,” Hawari told Al Jazeera, adding that none have stopped arms sales to Israel.
Hawari specifically referenced the UK’s role, saying it was “particularly complicit in this”. “There are reports coming out every day on how many weapons have been transferred from the UK to Israel over the course of the last 19 months,” she said.
Displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Younis, Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the area, on Monday, May 19, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
What else have Western nations said?
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Tuesday that her country will push for EU sanctions against Israeli ministers because of insufficient steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
“Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further. We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers,” Stenergard said in a statement.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot demanded that Israel’s “blind violence” and blockade of humanitarian assistance must come to an end.
On Monday, 24 countries, overwhelmingly European ones, issued a joint statement saying Israel’s decision to allow a “limited restart” of aid operations in Gaza must be followed by a complete resumption of unfettered humanitarian assistance.
It was signed by the foreign ministers of countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kallas, has decided to order a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a free trade deal between the two regions.
Kallas told Al Jazeera that the Netherlands earlier this month had sought review of the Association Agreement, particularly Article 2 – which states that both parties must respect human rights.
The move has been backed by other member states, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Sweden.
Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says the recent criticism emanating from Western capitals was in part due to public pressure.
“I think there’s a sense that in liberal democracies, they can’t ultimately be indifferent to public concern about the situation … I think another factor is a perception among many countries that [US President Donald] Trump himself is getting impatient with the Netanyahu government,” he told Al Jazeera.
Patman explained that with many countries in the Global South having experienced colonialism before, they were quicker than the West to condemn Israel’s actions.
“They have a history of having to struggle for their own political self-determination, and given that experience, they can empathise with the Palestinians who’ve been denied the right,” he said.
Palestinian mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli army airstrike at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on May 20, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
How has Israel responded?
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday criticised Carney, Macron and Starmer following their joint statement.
“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on 7 October while inviting more such atrocities,” he posted on X.
By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 19, 2025
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the three leaders, saying his country “will not bow its head before this moral hypocrisy, antisemitism, and one-sidedness”.
In a post on X, Smotrich accused the three countries of “morally aligning themselves with a terrorist organisation”.
In particular, Smotrich took issue with the three countries saying they are “committed to recognising a Palestinian state”.
“They have gone so far as to seek to reward terrorism by granting it a state,” he said.
Netanyahu’s government and his far-right coalition partners have been vocal against the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state despite broad international support for the so-called two-state solution.
What is ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariot’?
This major ground offensive, launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, came after days of intense bombardment that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Since Sunday, more than 200 people have been killed in a relentless wave of strikes.
Major hospitals, including the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, have been rendered nonoperational after attacks by Israeli forces. Medical professionals said it could lead to the deaths of thousands of sick and wounded people.
With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said the offensive was launched to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip. Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticised by segments of Israeli society, including captives’ families, for failing to prioritise their return. He has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
Relatives of journalist Mohammed Amin Abu Dhaka, who was killed in Israeli attack on the town of Abasan al-Kebira, mourn after the body is taken from Nasser Hospital for funeral in Khan Yunis on May 20 [Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Agency]
How will the Western actions impact Israel, and what’s next?
Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said that the threats from the UK, France and Canada against Israel set a precedent for other Western governments to emulate.
“While it will not have a direct impact on Israel’s behaviour on the ground, it widens the boundaries of discourse internationally and makes it easier for other governments to openly stand against Israeli atrocities,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Key to a change of behaviour in Israel, however, remains the United States,” he said. The US supplies the bulk of arms to Israel as well as providing diplomatic cover at the United Nations.
“Yet, there is a tangible erosion of consensus at play internationally as to the perception of Israel, which taints Israel increasingly as a rogue actor,” Krieg said.
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Al Jazeera that the “number one” thing the three countries could do was impose an arms embargo on Israel. “The UK has taken some measures to suspend some arms exports. It’s not enough. It has got to be full and comprehensive,” he said.
Zomlot also said that the states should act to ensure that “war criminals” were “held accountable”. “They must absolutely support our efforts at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” he said.
Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant face ICC arrest warrant for war crimes, but some European nations have said that they won’t arrest them.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, questioned how the threatened sanctions would be targeted.
“Targeting whom? You need to impose sanctions on the state. It’s not about the prime minister. This is the entire government enterprise,” she told Al Jazeera.
Krieg from King’s College London says the reputational damage will affect Israel far beyond the current war in Gaza.
“It will be difficult to build consensus in the future around the narrative that Israel is an ‘ally’ because it is ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’,” he told Al Jazeera.
A small town in western France has set a new world record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs, organisers say, with more than 3,000 participants counted over the weekend.
Landerneau, a town of 16,000 in Brittany’s far west, had twice previously attempted to claim the record from Lauchringen, a German town that brought together 2,762 Smurfs in 2019.
But on Saturday, the French enthusiasts finally broke through, assembling 3,076 people clad in blue outfits, faces painted, donning white hats and singing “smurfy songs”.
The Smurfs – created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958 and known as “Schtroumpfs” in French – are tiny, human-like beings who live in the forest.
The beloved characters have since become a global franchise, spawning films, television series, advertising, video games, theme parks and toys.
“A friend encouraged me to join and I thought: ‘Why not?’” said Simone Pronost, 82, dressed as a Smurfette.
Albane Delariviere, a 20-year-old student, made the journey from Rennes, more than 200km (125 miles) away, to join the festivities.
“We thought it was a cool idea to help Landerneau out,” she said.
Landerneau’s mayor, Patrick Leclerc, also in full Smurf attire, said the event “brings people together and gives them something else to think about than the times we’re living in”.
Pascal Soun, head of the association behind the gathering, said the event “allows people to have fun and enter an imaginary world for a few hours”.
Participants were relieved to have good weather, after last year’s attempt was hampered by heavy rain that deterred many from attending.
‘Suspicious and unwarranted’ arrests of Iranians come amid lingering tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and the fallout of Russia-Ukraine war.
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the United Kingdom’s charge d’affaires over what it called “suspicious and unwarranted” arrests of several Iranian nationals.
The UK earlier this month accused several Iranian nationals of offences without offering evidence, wilfully refrained from informing Iran’s embassy in time, and prevented consular access contrary to international norms, the ministry said in a statement issued late on Sunday, according to state media.
It also accused the British government of harbouring “political motivations to exert pressure on Iran” with the arrests.
The diplomatic spat comes two days after British police charged three Iranians with suspected espionage for Iran’s intelligence services under the country’s National Security Act of 2023.
Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, were accused of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between August 14, 2024 and February 16, 2025.
They appeared before a Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, where they were also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention of committing or supporting serious violence against a person in the UK.
Their cases were referred to a central criminal court, and the next hearing is scheduled for early June.
The three are among eight individuals arrested in May, including seven Iranians, as part of two separate operations which Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said were some of the biggest investigations of their kind in recent years.
The four other Iranians were arrested as part of a “counterterrorism” operation, with investigations ongoing. The eighth man was released without charge last week.
In a stated effort towards improving national security against covert foreign influences, the UK has placed Iran on its highest tier under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS).
Strained ties
The arrests come amid strained ties between Iran and three European powers over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The UK, France and Germany have repeatedly criticised Iran for a purported lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure that Iran’s nuclear programme remains peaceful.
The trio, branded the E3 in the context of the negotiations, were party to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, which the United States unilaterally abandoned in 2018.
However, the US has reopened talks with Tehran in a bid to secure a new deal, and amid four rounds of talks mediated by Oman, Iran has emphasised it is open to holding more talks with the E3 as well.
Senior diplomats from the two sides gathered on Friday in Turkiye’s Istanbul for their first meeting since the nuclear talks with Washington commenced last month. Both sides stressed a commitment to continued diplomacy, but there was no breakthrough.
Rather, Iran has repeatedly warned that there will be “serious ramifications” if the E3 push to invoke the “snapback” mechanism of the comatose 2015 nuclear deal, which would reinstate the United Nations Security Council sanctions that were lifted as part of the landmark accord.
Tehran and Washington have also failed to see eye to eye so far when it comes to enrichment of uranium, with Iran reiterating on Monday that it will not back down from its right to have a civilian nuclear programme.
After US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said President Donald Trump’s administration would not allow Iran to enrich uranium even to 1 percent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “unrealistic” demands would only lead to a dead end.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly news conference in Tehran [File: Atta Kenare/AFP]
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran has yet to receive a written proposal from the US to advance to a fifth round of negotiations, which is expected soon.
He also said Iran has not proposed a joint enrichment venture with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but backs such an effort.
“The West Asia region, and specifically countries of the Persian Gulf, may increasingly require nuclear energy and to build power plants requiring nuclear fuel, so it won’t be bad if nuclear fuel facilities or consortiums are created in our region so everyone can invest in them.”
Actory calls on filmmakers to ‘keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are’.
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal has called on members of the film industry to “fight back” and keep expressing themselves amid what he appeared to describe as a political climate of fear in the United States.
“F*** the people that try to make you scared. And fight back. This is the perfect way to do so in telling stories. Don’t let them win,” said 50-year-old Pascal, who was at the Cannes film festival for the premiere of “Eddington”.
“Fear is the way that they win, for one. And so keep telling the stories and keep expressing yourself and keep fighting to be who you are,” he said.
“Eddington” stars Pascal as a small-town mayor campaigning against a down-on-his-luck sheriff played by Joaquin Phoenix in a New Mexico town where tensions are simmering over COVID-19 mask policies and the Black Lives Matter protests.
Pascal, known for his role in dystopian video-game adaptation “The Last of Us”, added that it was “far too intimidating” for him to address a question about US President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
“It’s very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this,” he said.
“I’m an immigrant. My parents are refugees from Chile. We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US after asylum in Denmark … I stand by those protections,” the 50-year-old told a news conference in Cannes.
Trump has launched a crackdown on irregular immigration and has also detained and moved to deport a number of legal permanent US residents, his policies triggering a rash of lawsuits and protests.
Trump has made himself one of the main talking points in Cannes this week after announcing on May 5 that he wanted 100 percent tariffs on movies “produced in foreign lands“.
Acting legend Robert de Niro, who accepted a Cannes lifetime achievement award on Tuesday, also urged an audience of A-list directors and actors to resist “America’s philistine president”.
Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassouna was killed the day after she learned a film about her life in Gaza would be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. Al Jazeera’s Hind Toussiate spoke with the director of the film, Sepideh Farsi.
Reality TV star and business mogul Kim Kardashian has testified before a French courtroom about her experience getting robbed at gunpoint in a Paris hotel.
Taking the witness stand on Tuesday, Kardashian confronted the suspects accused of tying her up and taping her mouth shut on October 3, 2016, while they stole more than $6m in jewellery.
The case concerns a group of about a dozen suspects known in French media as “les papys braqueurs”: the grandpa robbers. The group, many in their 60s and 70s, are part of a crime ring, according to prosecutors. One has died since the robbery took place, while the charges against another have been dismissed due to health concerns.
But Kardashian recounted the terror she felt as members of the group burst into her hotel room after a night at the Paris Fashion Week.
“We were leaving the next morning, so I was just packing up,” Kardashian said. “It was around three in the morning. I heard stomping up the stairs when I was in bed.”
She explained that she figured it was her older sister, Kourtney Kardashian, returning to the hotel room. But instead, it was a group of armed men, dressed as police officers and wearing balaclavas.
Waving a gun at her, one of the men asked her to surrender her $4m engagement ring, a gift from her then-husband Kanye West, a rapper now known as Ye.
“Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say ‘Ring! Ring!’ in English, with an accent, pointing,” she said.
At one point, she said the robbers threw her onto the hotel bed. She was wearing a bathrobe at the time.
“I was certain that was the moment that he was going to rape me,” Kardashian explained. “I absolutely did think I was going to die.”
Her mind flashed to the idea of her sister coming home to find her body, she added. “I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever.”
But the robbers proceeded to restrain her with zip ties and duct tape. They told her she would be safe so long as she remained quiet.
“I have babies,” Kardashian, a mother of four, remembered thinking. “I have to make it home. They can take everything. I just have to make it home.”
Eventually, she was locked in the hotel room’s marble bathroom while the robbers made their escape. During her testimony, she explained that the suspects did not beat her during the attack.
“I was grabbed and dragged into the other room and thrown onto the floor, but wasn’t hit, no,” she said.
Kim Kardashian, centre, leaves a Paris courtroom accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner on May 13 [Aurelien Morissard/AP Photo]
Eventually, Kardashian said she was able to use the bathroom sink to loosen the restraints on her hands. She hobbled downstairs, where she met with her stylist Simone Harouche, who had locked herself in a bathroom one floor below to call for help during the attack.
“She was beside herself. I’ve never seen her like that before,” Harouche said of Kardashian. “She just was screaming and kept saying, ‘We need to get out of here. We need help. What are we going to do if they come back?’”
The attack prompted the entertainment industry to adopt new procedures around security and social media posts, including through the delayed publication of certain images that might help robbers identify targets and locations.
Some critics, however, blamed Kardashian herself for her luxurious lifestyle and lack of on-hand security. The controversial fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, for instance, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as questioning Kardashian’s habit of posting photos of herself on social media.
“You cannot display your wealth and then be surprised that some people want to share it with you,” the late designer said.
That kind of commentary has sparked its own backlash, with some denouncing it as victim-blaming. Still, Judge David De Pas in Paris asked those involved if they had not made themselves targets.
“Just because a woman wears jewellery, that doesn’t make her a target,” Harouche said. “That’s like saying that because a woman wears a short skirt that she deserves to be raped.”
Kardashian added that she had a bodyguard in a separate hotel. “We assumed that, if we were in a hotel, it was safe, it was secure,” she said.
She added that she now keeps five or six guards around her. She also blamed the Paris attack for prompting a copycat robbery at her Los Angeles house.
“I started to get this phobia of going out,” Kardashian said. “This experience really changed everything for us.”
Tuesday’s appearance is expected to be the only time Kardashian testifies in the criminal case, which includes 10 defendants: nine men and one woman.
Five of the men face armed robbery and kidnapping charges that could result in life imprisonment. Others face lesser charges of being accomplices or possessing unauthorised firearms.
Prosecutors say the ringleader in the group was a 69-year-old man named Aomar Ait Khedache, nicknamed “Omar the Old”. He wrote a letter of apology that was read aloud in the court.
“I do appreciate the letter, for sure. I forgive you,” Kardashian replied, looking at Khedache. “But it doesn’t change the feelings and the trauma and the fact that my life was forever changed, but I do appreciate the letter, thank you.”
Are Islamophobic crimes less likely to be classed as terrorism offences? The murder of 22-year-old Aboubakar Cisse at a French mosque should be investigated by anti-terror police, according to the lawyer representing the victim’s family. He spoke to Al Jazeera’s Hind Touissate.
Depardieu is put on the sex offenders list and receives a suspended sentence for groping the women on a film set.
A French court has handed down an 18-month suspended sentence to actor Gerard Depardieu after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.
The Paris court announced on Tuesday morning that Depardieu, the 76-year-old who did not attend court for the verdict, would be placed on the sex offenders list.
In one of the country’s highest-profile Me Too cases, Depardieu, a prominent figure of French cinema who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The trial relates to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) directed by Jean Becker.
One of the two plaintiffs, Amelie K, a 54-year-old set decorator, told the court that Depardieu had groped her as he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.
“He touched everything, including my breasts,” she said, adding: “I was terrified, he was laughing.”
The second witness, a 34-year-old assistant director who was unnamed, said Depardieu initially assaulted her when she accompanied him from his dressing room to the set.
“It was nighttime … he put his hand on my buttocks,” she said, adding that the actor assaulted her on two other occasions.
Plaintiff Amelie K reacts as she speaks to members of the media at the court, after the conviction of French actor Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault of two women in Paris, France [Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters]
Judge Thierry Donard said the actor’s explanation of the events had been unconvincing.
“I’m vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I’ll accept that,” Depardieu told the court, but added: “I don’t touch.”
“I adore women and femininity,” he also said, describing the Me Too movement as a “reign of terror”.
Depardieu also argued before the court that he did not consider placing a hand on a person’s bottom to be sexual assault and that some women were too easily shocked.
Amelie K’s lawyer described Tuesday’s ruling as a “beautiful decision” that gave recognition to Depardieu’s victims.
After the sentencing, Depardieu’s lawyer said they would appeal the court decision.
In recent years, the French actor has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations, with about 20 women coming forward with accusations, but this case was the first to go to court.
The Me Too movement came to prominence in 2017 for people to share their experiences of sexual abuse and sexual harassment by influential figures.
These are the key events on day 1,174 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Tuesday, May 13:
Ceasefire
Moscow has yet to say whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin will attend direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slated for Thursday in Istanbul and proposed by Kyiv over the weekend. The leaders have not met since December 2019.
United States President Donald Trump said he is “thinking about flying over” to Istanbul to join the potential Putin-Zelenskyy talks.
“I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday – I’ve got so many meetings – but I was thinking about actually flying over there. There’s a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen,” Trump said. “Don’t underestimate Thursday in Turkey.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he held a joint call with Ukrainian and European officials to discuss a “way forward for a ceasefire” on Monday.
Europe will reportedly push the White House for new sanctions on Moscow if Putin either fails to attend the Istanbul meeting, or fails to agree to an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire”, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Germany said it is also preparing sanctions against Moscow if the talks stall.
Fighting
Ukraine says that Russia is “completely ignoring” calls for a 30-day ceasefire made over the weekend by the US and Europe. It was due to begin on Monday.
“Russian shelling and assaults continue,” Zelenskyy said in a nightly address. “Moscow has remained silent all day regarding the proposal for a direct meeting. A very strange silence.”
Ukraine’s military said that there had been 133 clashes with Russian forces along the front lines up to Monday night.
The heaviest fighting continues in the Donetsk region on Ukraine’s eastern front and Russia’s western Kursk region. Ukraine’s military said the intensity remains unchanged since the ceasefire was supposed to begin.
Moscow called the 30-day ceasefire an excuse by Europe to “provide a breather for Kyiv to restore its military potential and continue its confrontation with Russia”.
The couple knew they didn’t want to live in the UK when they eventually retire, but never realised they would buy a village for less than a house in the UK
The couple found their dream village(Image: Ben Pearson / SWNS)
With house prices skyrocketing and UK salaries not keeping up, this British couple decided to ditch the rat race and follow their dream of moving to France. But they didn’t just find a house – they bought a whole village.
Ben Pearson, 39 and his husband Nathan, 31 had been craving simpler life for a while. And when Ben’s mum, Karen Pearson, 62 moved to France 10 years ago, the idea became more real. On a visit to see her seven years ago, they stumbled across an abandoned farm – one they can now call home.
The farm comes with five outbuildings and two hectares of land, dating back to the 1600s. Eventually, they hope to turn some of the outbuildings into Airbnb’s and guest houses – but for now, the focus is making the house liveable.
Ben has plans to transform it all by himself(Image: Ben Pearson / SWNS)
The property has no heating or even a toilet, but Ben has plans to transform it into a three bed home, all by himself. “It’s getting out of the 9 to 5 rat race in England,” said Ben, an RAF aircraft engineer. “There’s no way we could afford something like that in the UK.”
They started searching for a retirement home three years ago, but nothing felt right. It wasn’t until two years ago, the same farmhouse came back on the market. After two years of paperwork, they finally got the keys in December 2024. “You can barely buy a flat for £80k,” Ben added “it’s a nicer way of life – there’s no running around,” Ben added.
The property goes back to the 1600s(Image: Ben Pearson / SWNS)
The property is the oldest in its little commune. The main house dates back to the early 1800s, and the farmhouse 1600s. Right now, the only source of heat is an open fire. It needs a new roof, septic tank and modern heating but the couple hope to have a liveable room within six months. Until then, they will be living in a caravan.
Inside, the house still holds traces of the past – old pots, pans, and mason jars left behind on the shelves. They plan to preserve as much of the history as they can while restoring it. “We want to keep the grandeur of it all,” Nathan added.
The property still has items from decades ago(Image: Ben Pearson / SWNS)
They sold everything in the UK and are making the big move in July to start working on their retirement home. “When we dreamed of a simpler life, we somehow ended up buying a small village – we wouldn’t change it for the world,” Nathan said
But the couple can’t wait to move and get out of the UK, while some believe French people can be ‘snobbish’, the couple has had a very different experience. “Even when you go to the nearest town the people are friendly and welcoming,” Nathan said. “This is the sort of thing we’d been looking for.”
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These are the key events on day 1,172 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is where things stand on Sunday, May 11:
Fighting:
Politics and diplomacy:
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkiye, on Thursday “without preconditions” to achieve “lasting peace” and “eliminate the root causes” of the three-year conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russia to confirm an unconditional 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday, saying Ukraine would then be ready to meet for direct talks with Russia.
United States President Donald Trump described the talks offer as a “potentially great day for Russia and Ukraine”.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy received the backing of Europe’s major powers and Trump for the unconditional 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian and French counterparts that a “historic turning point” has been reached in efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and Ankara was ready to host talks between the two warring parties, his office said.
Macron said Putin’s offer to start direct talks with Ukraine is “a first step but not enough”, arguing that an unconditional ceasefire that Kyiv and its allies have called for should happen first. Macron accused Putin of “looking for a way out, but he still wants to buy time”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Putin’s proposal for direct talks with Kyiv a “serious proposal” that is a step towards “lasting peace”.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said the US and Europe are collectively ramping up pressure on Russia to push through a ceasefire. “I think the American administration is also getting a little bit impatient with these Russian games,” Michal said, accusing Russia of dragging its feet in implementing a truce.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, “without preconditions” to achieve “lasting peace” and “eliminate the root causes” of the three-year conflict.
The offer, delivered early on Sunday, came hours after the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom called for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to start on Monday.
The leaders, who were meeting in Kyiv, said their call is backed by United States President Donald Trump and threatened “massive” new sanctions on Moscow if it did not agree with their plan.
Putin did not explicitly address that call in his comments, but slammed European “ultimatums” and “anti-Russian rhetoric” before outlining the counter-proposal for renewed Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
“We are proposing that Kyiv resume direct negotiations without any preconditions,” the Russian president told reporters. “We offer the Kyiv authorities to resume negotiations already on Thursday, in Istanbul.”
Putin said that he would speak to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Sunday about facilitating the talks.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine to the proposal.
But Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously said he was ready for peace talks, but only after a ceasefire is in place.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, has left hundreds of thousands of soldiers dead and triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held direct talks in Istanbul in the first weeks of the conflict, but failed to agree to halt the fighting.
Putin said Russia was proposing restarting the talks in an attempt to “eliminate the root causes of the conflict” and “to achieve the restoration of a long-term, lasting peace” rather than simply a pause for rearmament.
“We do not exclude that during these talks we will be able to agree on some new ceasefire,” he added.
Putin, whose forces have advanced over the past year, has faced increased public and private pressure from Trump as well as warnings from European powers to end the war.
But he has offered few concessions and has stood firm in his conditions for ending the war.
In June 2024, Putin said Ukraine must officially drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.
Russian officials have also proposed that the US recognise Russia’s control over about one-fifth of Ukraine and demanded that Ukraine remain neutral, though Moscow has said it is not opposed to Kyiv’s ambitions to join the European Union.
Putin specifically mentioned the 2022 draft deal from the talks in Istanbul.
Under that draft, Ukraine should agree to permanent neutrality in return for international security guarantees from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
“It was not Russia that broke off negotiations in 2022. It was Kyiv,” Putin said. “Russia is ready to negotiate without any preconditions.”
He thanked China, Brazil, African and Middle Eastern countries and the US for their efforts to mediate.
Russia, Putin added, had proposed several ceasefires, including a moratorium on striking energy facilities, an Easter ceasefire, and most recently, the 72-hour truce during the celebrations marking 80 years since victory in World War II, but accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating the ceasefires.
He said that during the May ceasefire, Ukraine had attacked Russia with 524 aerial drones, 45 sea drones, a number of Western missiles and that Russia had repelled five attacks on Russian regions.
Ukraine, too, has accused Russia of repeatedly violating its own ceasefire.
Earlier on Saturday, for the first time, the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK travelled together to Ukraine in a visit that Zelenskyy said sent “a very important signal”.
The five leaders, following their meeting in Kyiv, issued a statement calling for a ceasefire “lasting at least 30 days” from Monday, to make room for a diplomatic push to end the war.
“An unconditional ceasefire by definition cannot be subject to any conditions. If Russia calls for such conditions, this can only be considered as an effort to prolong the war and undermine diplomacy,” the statement read.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the US would take the lead in monitoring the proposed ceasefire, with support from European countries, and threatened “massive sanctions … prepared and coordinated between Europeans and Americans” should Russia violate the truce.
Meanwhile, retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, said Saturday that a “comprehensive” 30-day ceasefire, covering attacks from the air, land, sea and on infrastructure, “will start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II”.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbath” of the Ukraine war, which his administration casts as a proxy war between the US and Russia.
Former US President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and repeatedly pledged to defeat Russian forces.
Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence, including Ukraine.
