International

Blinken and Austin to visit war-battered Ukraine, Zelensky says

Published

4 years ago

April 24, 2022

Anachenko from Chernihiv territorial defense

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Ukraine on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in what would be the first high-level visit by Biden administration officials since the start of the Russian invasion.

Such a trip would underscore the administration’s emboldened approach to Ukraine in recent weeks, as President Biden has committed additional billions of dollars in weapons and equipment to Ukraine’s military. The Pentagon has also announced training exercises for select groups of Ukrainian officers on U.S.-made weapons systems.

It also highlights the continued disconnect, with Ukraine continuing to step up demands for more military and financial aid and the West’s pledges. “They should not come here with empty hands,” Zelensky warned, speaking from an underground subway station in Kyiv. “We are expecting specific things and specific weapons.”

“Come to us, we’ll be happy to see you. But please bring us the assistance, which we have discussed,” the Ukrainian president added. “That’s why the visit from the U.S. is very important.”

Heavy bombardment continued in several Ukrainian cities in the east of the country over the weekend as fighting appears poised to rage straight through the country’s observance of Orthodox Easter on Sunday despite international appeals for a cease-fire over the holiday.

On Saturday, Russian missile struck Odessa, a strategic southwestern port city that has seen fewer attacks during the war. At least eight people were killed, including a 3-month-old infant, Ukrainian officials said.

READ ALSO:

The attacks hit two residential buildings and a military facility, Ukraine’s air force said, rocking a city where life had largely returned to normal after Russia narrowed its military campaign in recent weeks to focus on the eastern regions, where Russia-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine for several years.

Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Zelensky, wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app that the number of casualties from Saturday’s barrage on Odessa is likely to rise. Zelensky later told reporters that Russian forces were “dirty scumbags” for carrying it out.

“The child was one month old when the war started,” he said. “What is even happening here?”

Two people were rescued from the rubble, and 86 were evacuated from a 16-story apartment building that was hit, Ukraine’s national emergency services office said. A video of the aftermath shared on social media and verified by The Washington Post showed large black plumes of smoke billowing from a tall building near a grassy area.

The Russian defense ministry asserted that its missile strikes had destroyed a logistics terminal in the city where foreign weapons were being stored. The Post could not independently verify that claim.

The strikes were an ominous reminder of a recent warning from a top Russian commander that forces intend to take “full control” of all of the southern port cities of Ukraine so that Russia could have a path to Ukraine’s western landlocked neighbor of Moldova, which has its own breakaway region, Transnistria, aligned with Russia. His comments were condemned by Moldova, where residents have worried since the beginning of the war they could be next in the Kremlin’s crosshairs.

The United States has allocated roughly $3.4 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the war began in February and has intensified its shipments of weapons and equipment into the country over the past two weeks.

The donations include thousands of missiles that can be used against Russian military aircraft and artillery, long-range artillery cannons, helicopters, armored vehicles, radar defense systems, drones and anti-personnel mines, among other equipment.

The latest $800 million assistance package, announced Thursday, includes two drone systems.

But the Pentagon has remained tight-lipped about the timing and locations of its deliveries and has said that the Ukrainians control the destination of the weapons once they cross into the country.

More than two dozen nations have joined the effort to funnel military support to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February.

Numerous foreign dignitaries, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have visited Kyiv in recent months to show their support for Zelensky’s government. He announced Saturday that Britain would reopen its embassy in Kyiv, which diplomats had evacuated at the start of the invasion.

READ ALSO:

Biden last month traveled to Poland and visited with Ukrainian refugees and U.S. service members stationed there.

Austin will also be hosting a summit in Germany in the coming days to build support for Ukraine’s defense and security needs, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, John Kirby, said Thursday.

The “Ukraine Defense Consultative Group,” which will meet at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday, will focus not just on Ukraine’s short-term military assistance needs and the latest battlefield assessments, but also take “a longer, larger view of Ukraine’s defense needs, going forward beyond the war that they’re facing right now,” Kirby said.

More than 20 countries have agreed to participate that meeting, Kirby said Friday.

But as nations including the United States dispatch heavy weaponry, some cracks are emerging in the coalition of allies. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz cautioned that it was a “top priority” for NATO to “avoid a direct military confrontation between NATO and a highly armed superpower like Russia, a nuclear power.”

In an interview with Der Spiegel published Friday, Scholz said it was not “justifiable for Germany and NATO to become parties to the war in Ukraine.”

Scholz made the comments in response to several questions about the prospect of his country’s delivering heavy weapons to help Ukraine fight Russian attacks. He noted that Germany had already provided 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) and delivered “defensive weapons,” antitank mines and antiaircraft equipment to Kyiv.

Horrors continue to emerge each day, especially from the bombed-out port city of Mariupol. Civilians evacuated from the city in recent days spoke of bodies in the streets and shelling so relentless that venturing above ground to find water was easily a death sentence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week declared Russia’s victory in the battle for Mariupol, even as Ukraine said a contingent of about 1,000 Ukrainian fighters and civilians remain holed up in the steel plant. Putin said in a rare televised address that he had ordered his troops not to storm the steel plant but to blockade it “so that even a fly could not get through.”

Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko on Saturday said that Russian forces had again “thwarted” a coordinated attempt to evacuate civilians from the city.

Boychenko’s office wrote on Telegram that more than 200 people had planned to board buses outside a city shopping center, to evacuate to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

That plan collapsed, Boychenko alleged, after Russian forces told some of those assembled that “there will be shelling,” and that the buses would only travel as far as Dokuchaevsk, a city currently under Russian control.

The Post was unable to independently verify this claim, or another from Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman who said this week that Russia had taken more than 300 Mariupol civilians, including 90 children, to Russia.

Evacuation plans and other efforts to establish humanitarian corridors in and out of Mariupol have routinely failed, amid relentless shelling and the Russian encirclement of the city, that has left residents largely cut off as food, water and medical supplies have dwindled.

A video released Saturday by Ukrainian forces at their last stronghold at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol appears to show a large number of civilians living in cramped conditions in an underground bunker, including women and children.

The video, if confirmed, would be the most extensive footage to date of life in the plant, where an unspecified number of Ukrainian civilians and fighters are said to be holding out against a much larger and better-equipped Russian forces. The video could not be independently verified.

“We want to go home. We want to see the sun,” said one child in the video, standing in a cramped underground shelter with other women and children, where belongings were suspended on lines above makeshift beds.

A woman in the video said her family had been hiding there since March 2. “My husband works here. So we came here with the whole family,” she said. “Grandmother and grandfather stayed at home.”

Other cities in Ukraine also came under heavy fire. Three people were killed and more than 20 people were wounded in the city of Kharkiv and the region as a result of more than 50 strikes from Russian forces on Saturday, a Ukrainian military governor said Saturday. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, claimed that Russian forces “continue to fire on the civilian infrastructure of Kharkiv and the region.”

The United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet this week described Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine as a “horror story of violations perpetrated against civilians,” as the international human rights monitor has documented growing evidence of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas and summary executions.

As Russia has withdrawn from northern cities near Kyiv, where earlier bombardments were heavy, the U.N. said satellite imagery has confirmed the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure there. Nearly 80 percent of the village of Horenka appeared to have been destroyed, Bachelet said.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres is slated to meet separately with both Putin and Zelensky next week in the latest diplomatic effort to mediate an end to the fighting.

Amid the continuing siege, Zelensky said Ukraine had appealed to Pope Francis to try to help civilians stranded in Mariupol.

During the Saturday news conference, Zelensky proposed that the pope help with negotiations to try “to unblock the humanitarian corridors” into and out of the city, echoing a proposal for the pope to visit the war-torn country.

“It is too early to tell, but we are waiting for him,” Zelensky told reporters. “We are waiting because he has a mission — a mission from God. He is trusted by a large number of people; I think this is important.”

THE WASHINGTON POST

Related Topics:Austin Blinken Ukraine Zelensky

Up Next

Putin to send ‘doomsday’ warning to West at Russia’s WW2 victory parade

Don't Miss

Biden to speak on Ukraine war amid expectation of new military aid

International

US Court Blocks Trump Visa Rule Limiting Stay of Foreign Students, Journalists

Published

13 hours ago

September 15, 2026

Trends Admin

US Court Blocks Trump Visa Rule Limiting Stay of Foreign Students, Journalists

A federal court in the United States has temporarily blocked the Donald Trump administration from implementing a new immigration rule that would have imposed fixed time limits on how long foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists could remain in the country without applying for extensions.

The ruling, delivered by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Boston on Monday, September 14, came just one day before the controversial rule was scheduled to take effect.

The decision provides immediate relief for thousands of Nigerians in the United States, particularly international students, researchers, exchange visitors and journalists whose immigration status could have been affected by the new restrictions.

However, the ruling does not specifically exempt Nigerians. The rule applies broadly to foreign nationals covered by the affected visa categories, meaning Nigerians are among the people who would have been subject to the proposed restrictions.

The Trump administration’s rule, published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in July, sought to replace the long-standing “duration of status” (D/S) system with fixed admission periods for holders of F, J and I visas.

Under the proposed system, F-1 international students would generally have been admitted for a maximum of four years, while J-1 exchange visitors would also have faced a four-year limit.

Foreign journalists holding I visas would have been permitted to remain for up to 240 days before being required to seek an extension. The Federal Register rule also contained a separate 90-day limit for certain Chinese journalists.

The changes would have represented a major departure from the system that has governed foreign students and researchers in the U.S. for decades.

Under the existing duration-of-status arrangement, eligible students can generally remain in the country for the period necessary to complete their approved programme, provided they maintain their immigration status and comply with the relevant requirements.

The proposed fixed-term system would instead have required many students whose programmes extend beyond four years to seek an extension from U.S. immigration authorities.

Judge Saylor ruled that the Department of Homeland Security had failed to provide an adequate justification for such a significant change.

The judge described the agency’s reasoning as “exceptionally weak”, finding that DHS had not sufficiently addressed the consequences of abandoning the existing system or considered less restrictive alternatives.

READ ALSO:

The court’s decision also highlighted the potential impact on American universities, research institutions and the wider U.S. economy.

According to the ruling, approximately 1.6 million people hold F visas, while another 500,000 hold J visas. Major American research universities have significant numbers of international students, particularly at postgraduate level.

Saylor warned that implementing the rule could result in substantial financial and educational disruption, including declining international enrolment and increased administrative costs for universities.

He noted that the existing system had facilitated the arrival of millions of foreign students and researchers whose contributions had supported advances in science, medicine and technology as well as economic growth in the United States.

The legal challenge was brought by a coalition representing higher education, immigration and journalistic interests, which argued that the new restrictions would create uncertainty for international students, universities, researchers and journalists.

The groups maintained that forcing students and exchange visitors to repeatedly apply for extensions could disrupt academic programmes, research projects and professional activities.

They also argued that the rule could make American universities less attractive to international students at a time when institutions depend heavily on global talent.

The Trump administration, however, defended the policy as necessary to strengthen immigration enforcement and prevent abuse of the student and exchange-visitor visa system.

DHS General Counsel James Percival criticised the court’s decision, arguing that the existing system could allow people to remain in the United States for excessively long periods while technically maintaining student status.

The administration has particularly raised concerns about individuals who enrol in minimal academic programmes and remain in the country for years.

The court’s decision therefore represents a temporary legal setback for the administration’s effort to impose tighter controls on foreign student visas and other temporary immigration categories.

For Nigerian students in the U.S., the immediate consequence is that the proposed four-year F-1 limit does not take effect while the preliminary injunction remains in force.

Students who need more than four years to complete their programmes are therefore not currently required to leave the United States or obtain an extension solely because of the blocked rule.

READ ALSO:

The same applies to eligible exchange visitors and foreign journalists who would have been affected by the proposed fixed admission periods.

The ruling also means that the existing immigration framework remains in place while the legal battle continues.

However, Judge Saylor’s decision is a preliminary injunction, not a final judgment on whether the Trump administration has the legal authority to change the visa system.

The administration can continue defending the rule in court, and the final outcome could still change depending on subsequent proceedings or appeals.

A further hearing in the case is expected on October 2, 2026, as the parties continue their legal arguments over the new immigration policy.

The dispute comes amid a broader tightening of U.S. immigration policies under Trump, with the administration seeking greater scrutiny of foreign nationals entering or remaining in the country.

The blocked rule was formally published in the Federal Register on July 17 and was scheduled to become effective on September 15, 2026.

For now, however, foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists covered by the affected visa categories can continue operating under the existing rules while the court proceedings continue.

The ruling could therefore provide temporary certainty for Nigerian students in America, Nigerian researchers, exchange visitors and journalists who had faced the prospect of additional immigration applications and tighter deadlines under the now-blocked policy.

It also leaves open a wider debate over how the United States should balance immigration enforcement and national security with the interests of universities, international education, scientific research, cultural exchange and journalism.

The Federal Register had said the new system was intended to establish fixed periods of admission and clearer procedures for extensions. The court’s intervention means those provisions cannot currently be implemented as scheduled.

The case is consequently being closely watched by American universities and international students, including Nigerians, because any eventual decision could determine whether the U.S. returns permanently to fixed periods of admission or retains the long-standing duration-of-status framework.

For the moment, the key development is that Trump’s proposed visa time limits have been blocked, and the existing rules remain in effect pending further litigation.

US Court Blocks Trump Visa Rule Limiting Stay of Foreign Students, Journalists

International

Iran Rejects US Talks as Trump’s Mixed Signals Deepen Hormuz Standoff

Published

15 hours ago

September 15, 2026

Trends Admin

Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump

Iran Rejects US Talks as Trump’s Mixed Signals Deepen Hormuz Standoff

Iran’s top security official on Tuesday ruled out any negotiations with the United States, dismissing President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he was open to talks as “mixed signals” and insisting that Tehran’s conditions must be met before any dialogue can begin.

“Don’t get distracted by the U.S. president’s mixed signals — from ‘no negotiations’ to ‘we’re ready to talk’,” Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, posted on X. “The stakes around oil and the straits have changed. Damage control won’t stop what’s coming. No talks until Iran’s conditions are met. Period!”

Trump said on Monday that he was open to holding talks with Iran, after weeks of saying it was too early to make a deal to end the Middle East war. “The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage — The concept of which we are open to,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. The statement marked a sharp reversal from Trump’s remarks just days earlier. On September 9, he told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base that the US was “not looking for” negotiations with Iran. “Originally, I wanted to make a deal. We’re so far down the line; they have very little country left right now. So we’re not looking for it,” he said at the time.

Tehran has repeatedly listed demands as preconditions for ending the war and its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iranian officials, these include a definitive end to the war and all aggression against Iran and its regional allies, lifting the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports, full compensation for war damages, removal of sanctions against Iran’s economy, and the unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets abroad. Rezaei’s rejection came as Tehran and Muscat postponed talks between Iran and Gulf Arab states that had been scheduled for Monday. Iran’s Fars news agency reported that the postponement was made “at the request of some countries in the region and was a joint decision by Tehran and Muscat”.

READ ALSO:

The diplomatic standoff unfolds against a backdrop of continuing violence in the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, an attack on an Iranian commercial cargo vessel killed one person and wounded four others, according to Iranian state media. The same weekend, an attack on the commercial vessel MT El Gaia left one Indian crew member missing and 13 rescued. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has reported multiple incidents involving merchant vessels in the strategic waterway, advising mariners to “consider the latest maritime security information and maintain awareness of the evolving operational environment”. Oman, which has emerged as a key mediator in the conflict, saw its Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announce the postponement of the Gulf talks “in the interests of consensus.” “We remain committed to fostering dialogue that supports stability and lasting cooperation in our region,” he said on X.

The Strait of Hormuz remains a central point of contention. Before the war began in late February, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies were shipped through the waterway. Traffic has since plummeted amid continued security risks. Brent crude futures jumped more than 2 per cent on Tuesday, trading above $107 per barrel as the diplomatic impasse deepened. Trump has pushed to restore shipping through the strait to pre-war levels to bring down energy prices ahead of November’s midterm elections. But Tehran has shown no sign of relinquishing what it regards as a key source of strategic leverage.

The latest exchange fits a broader pattern of conflicting signals from Washington. In June, the United States and Iran signed a framework agreement that included provisions for a $300 billion private investment fund to rebuild Iran’s economy. Negotiations were scheduled to conclude within 60 days, but the process stalled amid renewed hostilities. Iranian officials have repeatedly dismissed contradictory statements from Washington as political messaging rather than evidence of a genuine diplomatic opening. Tehran has stressed that any future diplomatic process would require concrete guarantees rather than verbal commitments, arguing that previous US reversals have undermined trust.

Iran Rejects US Talks as Trump’s Mixed Signals Deepen Hormuz Standoff

International

Saudi Arabia Vows ‘Firm’ Response as Houthi Attacks Wound 13

Published

16 hours ago

September 15, 2026

Trends Admin

Saudi Arabia Vows ‘Firm’ Response as Houthi Attacks Wound 13

Saudi Arabia has pledged to respond “firmly” to a wave of Houthi missile and drone attacks that wounded 13 civilians in the kingdom’s south, as the Iran-backed group tightens its grip on the Bab al-Mandab Strait and pushes oil prices above $100 a barrel.

The Saudi-led coalition said it would take “all necessary operational measures” to protect the kingdom’s sovereignty after Monday’s strikes on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif — three southern cities far from the Yemeni border. The attacks injured 13 civilians, damaged seven homes and two vehicles, and triggered air-raid alerts across six Saudi regions, including Jeddah, Yanbu, Jizan and AlUla.

According to coalition spokesman Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, Houthi forces launched “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” at civilian and military targets in southern Saudi Arabia. A resident of Khamis Mushait told Agence France-Presse he heard “intense blasts” that left fires burning for a “long time”. “Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all,” he said. Saudi air defences intercepted multiple projectiles, but falling debris caused civilian injuries. Civil Defence lifted the alerts by Tuesday morning, saying the danger had “passed”. The coalition retaliated with more than 50 airstrikes on Houthi-held areas, according to Houthi sources — matching the scale of the previous day’s bombardment.

READ ALSO:

The renewed fighting has far-reaching consequences beyond Yemen’s borders. Houthi forces have seized Mayyun Island, along with Greater and Lesser Hanish and Zugar Island, giving them control of all three key islands at the southern entrance to the Bab al-Mandab Strait. They have also captured the port city of Mokha and the coastal town of al-Khawkhah, completing their takeover of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast. The timing is critical. With the wider US-Iran war choking the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab has become a vital artery for Saudi oil exports. Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure have already pushed oil prices above $100 per barrel**, while average US diesel prices topped **$6 for the first time. Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West pipeline as a precaution following attacks in the Riyadh and Medina regions — a move that further constrains the kingdom’s ability to export crude.

The human cost of the renewed conflict continues to mount. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 93,864 people have been displaced since fighting reignited in July, with the heaviest impact in Ta’iz and Lahj governorates. UN monitors verified 40 civilian casualties — 8 deaths and 32 injuries — between 1 and 14 September. Women and children accounted for half of those killed and more than half of the wounded.

A member of the Houthi Political Bureau declared that “Yemen’s response will continue and escalate” until Saudi Arabia stops its “aggression” against the Yemeni people. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the attacks were retaliation for more than 300 Saudi airstrikes in Yemen over the past five days. The Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and sparked a civil war that has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, remain undeterred by Saudi air power.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday to discuss regional developments. But hopes of a broader de-escalation remain slim. US media reported last week that President Donald Trump had rejected a personal request from the Saudi crown prince to intervene in the war. Trump said on Monday he was open to talks with Iran, but Tehran’s top security chief Mohsen Rezaei responded that “there will be no negotiations until Iran’s conditions are met”. A proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed on Monday, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a pretext to delay the talks.

Saudi Arabia faces a difficult path. Its airstrikes have so far failed to deter the Houthis’ advance, and the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy is increasingly vulnerable to disruption. With the Strait of Hormuz closed and the Bab al-Mandab now under Houthi control, the world’s leading crude exporter is navigating its most dangerous security environment in years. For ordinary Yemenis and Saudis alike, the cost is measured not only in oil prices but in lives, homes and displaced families.