Key events
Zelenskyy says Trump living in disinformation bubble after blaming Ukraine for Russian invasion
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Donald Trump is “living in a disinformation bubble” after the US president last night appeared to blame Ukraine for Russia’s illegal 2021 invasion.
Trump’s comments, made last night in Florida, were his first on Ukraine since the US held peace talks with Russia in Riyadh earlier on Tuesday. He said he was “very disappointed” that Zelenskyy had complained about Ukraine not being invited to the talks, adding:
You’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.
The comments parrot one of Vladimir Putin’s main talking points which is that Ukraine was somehow to blame for Russia’s invasion.
Trump also falsely suggested that Zelenskyy is unpopular at home and is blocking elections in Ukraine. In fact Zelenskyy declared martial law after Russia invaded and the latest polls show 57% of Ukrainians trust his leadership.
Zelenskyy accused the US of bringing Russia out of diplomatic isolation by holding the bilateral talks in Riyadh, and warned of “a lot of disinformation coming out of Russia” as he called out Trump’s misleading statements.
Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly … is living in this disinformation bubble.
Zelenskyy added that the focus is on what support Europe can provide to Ukraine if there is a reduction in US assistance. He also pointedly rejected the current US draft deal on minerals saying it was “not ready,” drafted under US law, and offering inadequate compensation.
I can’t sell it away, I can’t sell our state.
The Ukrainian president rejected any suggestion of making broad concessions to Russia, saying any such idea was widely rejected by Ukrainians, and challenged the US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, visiting Kyiv today, to go and talk to ordinary Ukrainians about their reception of Trump’s comments.
Zelenskyy also opposed the use of the word “conflict” to describe Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, saying it is a deliberate attempt to soften the perception of the aggression.
For all the latest on Ukraine and Europe, head over to our Europe live blog:
Trump signs executive order expanding access to IVF, says White House
by Léonie Chao-Fong and Carter Sherman
Donald Trump has signed an executive order to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The order directs the domestic policy council to make recommendations to “aggressively” reduce the costs for accessing IVF, according to a White House fact sheet. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on X that the order was evidence of the president’s “promises kept” – even though the order does not directly change any policy and does not, on its own, fulfill Trump’s campaign pledge to make the government or insurance companies cover IVF.
“Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,” the fact sheet reads.
“It is the policy of my administration to ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable.”
During the 2024 presidential election, Trump recast his position on IVF as a strong supporter of the treatment, declaring himself the “father of IVF” while at the same time admitting he only recently discovered what the procedure involved.
Read the full report here:
Donald Trump and Elon Musk lavished praise on each other while defending the Doge overhaul in a joint interview on Fox News.
Musk boasted of a “thrashing of the bureaucracy as we try to restore democracy and the will of the people” when asked about criticism of the so-called “department of government efficiency”.
The pair joked around in the cosy hour-long primetime TV interview with Sean Hannity who at one point was moved to say: “I feel like I’m interviewing two brothers here.”
Trump said Musk, as the face of Doge had identified 1% in alleged waste, fraud and abuse adding that he thinks the billionaire is “going to find $1tn”.
They also dismissed complaints that Musk, who has billions of dollars of government contracts through his ownership of companies such as SpaceX and Tesla, had serious conflicts of interest that could have lead him to skew federal spending in his favour.
Asked by Hannity how he would respond if he saw a conflict, Trump said: “He wouldn’t be involved.” Musk followed up by saying: “I’ll recuse myself. I mean, I haven’t asked the president for anything, ever.”
In other developments:
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Donald Trump has signed an executive order to expand access to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The order directs the domestic policy council to make recommendations to “aggressively” reduce the costs for accessing IVF, according to a White House fact sheet.
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Trump criticized the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appearing to blame Ukraine for the war with Russia after the Ukrainian leader complained about being left out of peace talks between the US and Russia. “Today I heard: ‘Oh, well, we weren’t invited.’ Well, you’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian reaction.
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Zelenskyy responded to Trump’s comments by saying the US president “is living in this disinformation bubble”.
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Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg is in Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy – a day after top US and Russian diplomats held discussions in Saudi Arabia.
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The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, will face a federal judge on Wednesday who will decide whether to grant the justice department’s request to dismiss corruption charges against him after lawyers explain the abrupt change in position just weeks before an April trial.
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio met with the leader of the United Arab Emirates. President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told Rubio on Wednesday that his country rejects a proposal to displace Palestinians from their land, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported.
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Top prosecutor Denise Cheung resigned on Tuesday after refusing to investigate a government contract awarded during Biden’s tenure, as Trump continues to attempt to exert tighter control over the justice department, an agency traditionally seen as independent of White House influence.
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Trump expanded his offensive against trading partners on Tuesday, threatening 25% tariffs on imported cars, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, AFP reports.
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Hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) employees were fired as part of a wave of terminations of federal workers over the holiday weekend and Tuesday, the Washington Post reports, adding the move could affect people struggling to rebuild and prepare for disasters.
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A Republican-led Senate committee is scheduled to hold a hearing today on Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Chavez-DeRemer supported a bill called the Pro Act, a top priority of labor unions, and is endorsed by the Teamsters Union, NBC reports.
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An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a close confidant, the US-born Ron Dermer, to lead negotiations for the second stage of the ceasefire with Hamas. Dermer previously served as Israel’s ambassador to the US and is a former Republican activist with strong ties to the Trump White House.
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One in five Americans have said they are “doom spending” – purchasing more items than usual – owing to concerns over Trump’s tariffs, reflecting heightened consumer anxiety over potential price hikes and economic uncertainty.
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Trump’s cuts threaten a “generation of scientists” as many weigh leaving the US.
