Donald Trump arrives for a rally in Salem, Virginia, November 2, 2024 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: Chaos — Trump, Musk, and Ukraine-Russia

Saturday’s Coverage: Trump on Putin’s Mass Killing — “He Is Doing What Anybody Else Would Do”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1726 GMT:

Donald Trump has told aides that he will not restart aid and intelligence to Ukraine, even if Kyiv signs a minerals deal, according to “an administration official and another US official”.

The officials said Trump wants to see a change in Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “attitude toward peace talks”, including a willingness to make concessions such as giving up territory to Russia. Trump also wants some movement toward elections in Ukraine and possibly towards Zelensky stepping down as President.

The officials insisted that the US does not have any indication that the pause in intelligence-sharing had a direct impact on Russian attacks. They declared that the Kremlin likely planned the escalation of deadly drone and missile strikes before the cutoff.

The officials maintained that the US is still providing “defensive intelligence” helping Ukraine’s defense, as opposed to information assisting Kyiv’s targeting of Russian positions.

They expressed optimism that the flow of weapons and equipment and sharing of intelligence could be restored as early as next week.

Speaking to Fox TV on Sunday, Trump said he expected Zelensky to come back and sign the minerals deal.

He lied about Zelensky:

It was like taking candy from a baby what he did.

He’s a smart guy and he’s a tough guy and he took money out of this country under Biden like candy from a baby. It was so easy.

I just don’t think he’s grateful.

Slamming Europe, he repeated his falsehood that the US has provided $350 billion in aid to Ukraine. The actual figure is around $175 billion.

UPDATE 1719 GMT:

Poland may seek an alternative if Elon Musk’s Starlink proves to be “unreliable”, says Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.

Sikorski posted after Musk, the unelected US co-President, speculated about turning off access to the system amid the Trump Administration’s cutoff of support to Ukraine.

Administration negotiators pressing Kyiv for a minerals deal have raised the possibility of stopping Starlink, which is vital for military and civilian operations.

Sikorski said:

Four European companies are in discussions with governments and European Union institutions about providing an alternative to Starlink (see 0849 GMT).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio snapped in response to Sikorski:

Just making things up. No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink

And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.

UPDATE 1716 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted about the latest Russia attacks:

UPDATE 0849 GMT:

Four European satellite operators —Luxembourg’s SES; Spain’s Hisdesat; Viasat, the owner of UK’s Inmarsat; and France’s Eutelsat/OneWeb — are in talks with governments and European Union institutions about how to provide back-up connectivity to Ukraine, following the Trump Administration’s suspension of satellite imagery to Kyiv.

The service would be an alternative to Starlink, owned by Donald Trump’s unelected co-President Elon Musk. More than 40,000 terminals are in operation across the military, hospitals, businesses, and aid organizations.

UPDATE 0829 GMT:

Six civilians have been killed and 34 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Two people and 23 injured in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Three were slain in the Kherson region in the south, and one in Kharkiv in the northeast.

Air defenses downed 73 of 119 drones launched by Russia overnight. Another 37 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

UPDATE 0818 GMT:

Local officials from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party are being criticized for presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders.

The party in the northern Murmansk region in northwest Russia posted photos on social media showing officials smiling as they gave bereaved mothers flowers and the boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day.

The post thanked the “dear mums” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons”.

Russian mother of slain soldier gets meat grinder

As in English’s “meat grinder”, the Russian “myasorubka” refers to throwing soldiers into high-fatality fighting on the frontline.

United Russia’s local branch in the town of Polyarniye Zori insisted critics are making “callous and provocative interpretations” of its gifts. Mayor Maxim Chengayev said the meat grinders were only included after “one woman asked for it and we of course could not say no”.

The local party posted a video in which a soldier’s mother awkwardly thanked the party for the gifts, saying she requested the meat grinder because she needed one.

UPDATE 0702 GMT:

In his nightly video address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of Russia’s strikes on Dobropilya in eastern Ukraine, killing 11 civilians and wounding 50, including seven children.

The attacks came only hours after the Trump Administration confirmed its cutoff of intelligence to Ukraine, disrupting an early warning system for Russia’s drone and missile assaults.

Russia continues to prove with its cruelty, day after day, that nothing has changed for them in Moscow – they are not thinking about how to end the war, but how to destroy and capture more while the world allows them to continue.

UPDATE 0642 GMT:

France is sending another €195 million ($211 million) in military aid to Ukraine, using interest accrued from frozen Russian assets.

Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the aid will enable the delivery of 155-mm shells and glide bombs for Ukrainian Mirage 2000s.

He added that France is accelerating the transfer of older equipment to Ukraine, including tanks and armored vehicles.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Trump Administration has vetoed a G7 proposal to establish a joint task force addressing sanctions evasion by Russia’s “shadow fleet” transporting oil.

The Administration attempted to remove the word “sanctions” in the draft statement of the G7, and to replace Russia’s “ability to maintain its war” with “earn revenue”.

The G7 meets next week in Canada.

US diplomats briefed G7 counterparts that their veto was because of Washington’s “re-evaluation of its position in multilateral organizations, rendering it unable to join any new initiatives”.

Since December 2022, trying to limit Moscow’s revenues during its invasion of Ukraine, the G7 — the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Canada — has set a cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil transported at sea.

Russia’s shadow fleet of aging tankers is also suspected of cutting undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, part of Moscow’s “hybrid warfare” to disrupt Ukraine’s partners.

European countries are discussing plans for seizures of the Russian tankers in the Baltic Sea. They include using international law to take control of vessels on environmental or piracy grounds.

In the past two weeks, the Trump Administration — tilting towards the Kremlin amid direct US-Russia talks — has also tried to block resolutions by the G7, G20, and the UN General Assembly condemning “Russian aggression”.