Friday, August 22, 2025

US oil and gas air pollution causes unequal health impacts

Air pollution from oil and gas is causing 91,000 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of health issues across the United States annually, with Black, Asian, Native American and Hispanic groups consistently the most affected, finds a major new study

University College London

The research, published in Science Advances, is the first to comprehensively quantify the health impacts of outdoor air pollution across all stages of the US oil and gas lifecycle, from extraction to end-use (cars, power plants), as well as to analyse the associated racial and ethnic disparities in exposure and health burden.

In addition, the researchers found that 10,350 pre-term births and 216,000 new cases of childhood asthma per year were attributable to oil and gas air pollution, as well as 1,610 lifetime cancers across the US.

For the study, the research team used advanced computer models to map air pollution from oil and gas activities across the US. They then used this information, along with established health risk data, to estimate the number of severe health outcomes like asthma, preterm birth, and early death.

Lead author, Dr Karn Vohra (UCL Geography, now at University of Birmingham) said: “We used a state-of-the-science air quality model to separate air pollution caused by each major stage of the oil and gas lifecycle from other sources of air pollution. This enabled us to work out and compare health outcomes. What we found was striking: one in five preterm births and adult deaths linked to fine particulate pollution are from oil and gas. Even more concerning is that nearly 90% of new childhood asthma cases tied to nitrogen dioxide pollution were from this sector.”

The US has one of the world’s largest oil and gas industries but the health impacts and inequities from its air pollution have been poorly characterized. The research quantifies the health impacts of air pollution across all oil and gas lifecycle stages, from exploration, extraction and drilling (upstream), through to compression, transport and storage (midstream), refinement or transformation into petrochemical products (downstream) and consumer end-use.

The researchers found that the final end-use stage, mostly from burning fossil fuels, overwhelmingly contributes the greatest detrimental health burden, accounting for 96% of total incidents linked to the oil and gas sector. The five states that experience the greatest total health burden from all stages are amongst the most populated (California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey). When normalised for population, residents in New Jersey, the District of Columbia, New York, California, and Maryland are subject to the greatest health impacts.

Unmasking a hidden health toll

Across the US, marginalised ethnic and racial groups face the greatest exposure to air pollution and health impacts across all stages. Native American and Hispanic populations are most affected by upstream and midstream stages while Black and Asian populations are most affected by downstream and end-use stages.

On a national scale, downstream activities cause far less pollution than upstream and end-use activities, but this stage is the cause for greatest relative adverse health outcomes for the Black population, particularly in Southern Louisiana (the region known as “Cancer Alley”) and eastern Texas. The health outcomes for the Black population that are more severe than national incidences include premature mortality, preterm births, and development of asthma amongst children.

Much of the disparity in exposures and health outcomes stem from a legacy of zoning practices, such as “redlining,” that relegated certain populations to live near pollution hotspots such as industrial areas or high-traffic roadways. Permitting of large factories that produce products from oil and gas is another contributing factor.

Senior author, Professor Eloise Marais (UCL Geography), said: “It is well known that air pollution from oil and gas activities causes certain communities to experience worse health outcomes. These communities are already aware of this unjust exposure and the disproportionately large health burdens they experience. Our study puts science-backed numbers on just how large these unfair exposures and health outcomes are.”

The researchers were also able to track air pollution across borders, attributing 1,170 early deaths in southern Canada and 440 early deaths in northern Mexico to oil and gas air pollution from the US.

Co-author Dr Ploy Achakulwisut (SEI) said: “Our study provides yet another compelling case for why we need to accelerate the phase-out of oil and gas production and combustion with hard numbers: hundreds of thousands of children, adults, and the elderly in the US could be saved from illnesses and early deaths every year. We therefore have an imperative to not only urgently transition away from fossil fuels to achieve net-zero emissions to save lives in the long term from climate devastation, but also to save lives and minimize environmental injustices in the near term from air pollution exposure.”

The researchers developed a comprehensive inventory of oil and gas air pollution sources, then ran it through a computer model that calculates the complex air chemistry that forms harmful pollutants across the US. They then used these air pollutant concentrations with epidemiological evidence of the relationship between exposure and health risk along with census and health data to determine multiple adverse health outcomes and racial-ethnic disparities.

The researchers compiled data for the year 2017, the most recent year of complete data available. They added that their estimates are most likely conservative as US oil and gas production has increased by 40% and consumption by 8% between 2017 and 2023, and their work only focused on outdoor air pollution.

This analysis was carried out by researchers from UCL, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), George Washington University and University of Colorado Boulder.

Notes to Editors

For more information or to speak to the researchers involved, please contact Michael Lucibella, UCL Media Relations. T: +44 (0)75 3941 0389, E: m.lucibella@ucl.ac.uk

Karn Vohra, Eloise A. Marais, Ploy Achakulwisut, Susan Anenberg, and Colin Harkins, ‘The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States’ will be published in Science Advances on Friday 22 August 2025, 19:00 UK time, 14:00 US Eastern Time, and is under a strict embargo until this time.

Following publication, the paper will be available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu2241

Supplementary material will be at: https://www.science.org/doi/suppl/10.1126/sciadv. adu2241/suppl_file/sciadv.adu2241_sm.pdf

Tableau dashboard: https://bit.ly/US_oilgas_healthburden_dashboard

Additional material

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Journal

Science Advances

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The health burden and racial-ethnic disparities of air pollution from the major oil and gas lifecycle stages in the United States

Article Publication Date

22-Aug-2025

Scientists reveal how microbes collaborate to consume potent greenhouse gas

Microbes that filter methane from the ocean floor may hold new clues to addressing climate change, USC Dornsife researchers and collaborators find

University of Southern California

Methane — a potent greenhouse gas — constantly seeps from the ocean floor and can rise into the atmosphere. Now, an international team led by scientists with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences has uncovered how tiny microorganisms work together as a living electrical network to consume some of this gas before it escapes, acting as a powerful living filter.

By revealing how these microbes naturally reduce methane emissions, the findings could lead to innovative strategies to better control methane release in both natural and engineered environments.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, sheds light on a unique partnership between two very different microbes: anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB).

Alone, neither microbe can consume methane. When ANME break down methane, the process releases electrons that must be offloaded — a process known as a redox reaction, in which electrons move from one molecule to another — much like how humans rely on oxygen to accept electrons. Without an electron acceptor, methane consumption stalls.

This is where their bacterial partners step in.

While unable to consume methane themselves, the SRB help by accepting the electrons released during the process and transferring them to SRB’s electron acceptor, sulfate, which powers their own metabolism.

“These two very different microbes come together into physically interconnected bundles,” said Moh El-Naggar, Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy and professor of chemistry and biological sciences at USC Dornsife and one of the study’s lead researchers. “And the whole process works because conductive redox proteins link them up into functioning electrical circuits.”

Using specialized electrochemical methods, the international research team — including scientists from Caltech, Peking University and the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology — measured this electron exchange in the lab for the first time, using samples collected from different marine methane seeps, including the Mediterranean Sea, Guaymas Basin and the California coast.

“These microbial partnerships act as natural sentries, playing a crucial role in limiting the release of methane into the ocean and atmosphere,” said Hang Yu, the study’s lead author, who began this research nine years ago during his PhD at Caltech and focused on it as a postdoctoral fellow at USC Dornsife. Now an assistant professor at Peking University, Yu added, “By uncovering how these partnerships function, we gain insight into how life has evolved over billions of years, even in extreme environments, to consume potent greenhouse gases.”

The researchers say the discovery offers new insight into how unseen microbial activity may influence Earth’s systems in ways we’re only beginning to understand.

“It may surprise people to know that microbes, even in the remotest of places, work together in sophisticated ways that influence processes on a planetary scale,” said Victoria Orphan, James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology at Caltech and co-author of the study. “This discovery, the result of nearly a decade of multidisciplinary research, is a testament to persistence and collaboration in science. It underscores how much we still have to learn about the microbial ecosystems we depend on.”

About the study:
The research was conducted by an international team that also included Shuai Xu and Yamini Jangir, former USC and Caltech postdoctoral scholars, and Gunter Wegener, a senior scientist at the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology. The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Germany’s Excellence Initiative.

Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adw4289

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Redox conduction facilitates direct interspecies electron transport in anaerobic methanotrophic consortia

Article Publication Date

22-Aug-2025

Disclaimer: AAA

New White House TikTok Account Boosts Trump Bashing Zelensky as He Scrambles to End War

Tom Sanders
Wed, August 20, 2025

SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

The White House’s new TikTok account features a clip of Donald Trump berating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, just days after cozying up to him during a high-stakes peace summit in Washington, D.C..

Despite previously labelling the Chinese-owned app a threat to national security and demanding it be sold, the White House, nevertheless, launched its own official account, and kicked things off with a video captioned “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”

Two more videos soon followed, one of which featured quick cuts of the White House exterior accompanied by the caption “We’re so back,” while the other showcased several heavily edited moments of Trump smack-talking, insulting critics, and dancing to the YMCA.

Among them was a clip of the now-infamous Oval Office argument between Trump and Zelensky back in February, in which the president yelled, “You don’t have the cards.” Edited out of the clip was Zelensky’s retort, in which the wartime president tells Trump and JD Vance, “We’re not here to play games.”

The two leaders want to patch up their rift. / Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

The clip’s inclusion is a curious one, given that both sides were keen to downplay the disagreement and repair tensions during Monday’s summit at the White House. Zelensky, donning a suit instead of his usual combat attire, gifted Trump a golf club and presented the first lady a handwritten letter from his wife, Olena, thanking her for challenging Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Trump, meanwhile, presented Zelensky with symbolic keys to the White House and later posted a video of himself praising the Ukrainian president’s golf game.

“I just watched your swing. I know a lot about golf, and your swing is great,” Trump said in the video shared by the Ukrainian veterans organization, United by Golf. “You’re an amazing person, and you just keep playing golf and doing all of the other things. Your country is a great country. We’re trying to bring it back to health.”

The two had a blazing argument when they last met at the Oval Office. / SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

The White House is desperately trying to keep both Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukraine onside as Trump attempts to organize a three-way meeting between himself, Zelensky, and Vladimir Putin.

Putin has previously shown no interest in meeting Zelensky, but Trump insists that position has now changed.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Putin had “agreed to” a meeting with Trump and Zelensky following the call. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov later suggested that was still to be confirmed and that, “Any contacts involving top officials must be prepared with the utmost care.”

Congress previously voted overwhelmingly to ban TikTok last year if parent company ByteDance did not sell to a U.S. buyer, although the deadline for a sale has been extended three times with no concrete deal in sight. The current deadline is less than a month away, on September 17.

The White House’s presence on the app, which Trump is known to have a soft spot for after crediting it for helping him reach younger voters during the 2024 presidential campaign, is perhaps a sign that the app is here to stay.

“The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible,” Leavitt said in a statement after the account went live.

The Daily Beast has reached out to The White House for further comment.

TRUMP SILENCE IS DEAFING

Russia bombs US factory in one of war’s largest attacks

NOT EVEN A SABRE RATTLE

Kieran Kelly

THE TELEGRAPH
Thu, August 21, 2025

A trail of destruction in Mukachevo on Thursday - AFP via Getty Images

Russia struck an American business with cruise missiles overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, Ukraine has said.

The Ukrainian air force said some 574 drones and 40 missiles were fired overnight, primarily targeting western regions of the country – far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country.

The strikes killed one person and injured 15 more and struck a “major American electronics manufacturer” in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia, according to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister.

Video footage showed a large fire at the premises of Flex Ltd, a multinational firm that has its headquarters in Texas.

The company manufactures electronic goods including games consoles, laptops and control units for cars and other vehicles.

The bombardment was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and eighth-largest in terms of missiles.

Poland scrambled aircraft to protect its airspace during the overnight attack on Lviv, which is less than 50 miles from the Polish border. Warsaw said it saw no violations of its airspace.

Credit: zakarpattya_online

The assault came just days after Vladimir Putin travelled to Alaska to meet US president Donald Trump to lay out his terms for peace, which include Ukraine withdrawing from the entire Donetsk region.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said the attack was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.

He said Moscow had shown no signs of pursuing meaningful peace negotiations and urged Ukraine’s allies to respond with stronger pressure, including further sanctions and tariffs.

Russia “wasted several cruise missiles against an American business”, Mr Zelensky said, noting it was a regular civilian enterprise producing domestic utilities, such as coffee machines. “And that too became a target for Russia. Very telling.”

The aftermath of the attack, which destroyed the Flex factory - Reuters

The American business was located in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia and had 600 workers inside. The attack sparked a large fire and injured 15 people.

It is not the first American business to be targeted by Russian strikes after Boeing’s offices in Kyiv were targeted earlier this year.

“No military logic or necessity, just terror against people, businesses, and normal life in our country,” Mr Sybiha added.

The White House has previously said that its minerals deal with Ukraine would protect the country, as Moscow would not dare attack American investments.

Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, while air raid sirens rang out through the night in Kyiv.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had struck an oil refinery in an overnight attack in Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk region and a fuel base in Voronezh.

Mr Zelensky also revealed that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile – known as the Flamingo – that can strike targets at 3,000km, potentially facilitating further strikes deep inside Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said mass production could begin at the start of next year.

Russia’s overnight attack is a significant escalation in aerial attacks by Russia after weeks of more limited strikes against the backdrop of intensifying diplomacy.

A Flamingo cruise missile - Efrem Lukatsky

Shortly after Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, met Putin on Aug 8, Russian strikes reduced in intensity.

On Thursday, Ukraine is expected to hold more meetings with its allies to work out what security guarantees they are willing to provide in the event of a ceasefire.

Mr Zelensky said he believed specific plans would take shape in ten days, at which point he would be ready to meet Putin.

Mr Trump and Ukraine’s president, who met in Washington on Monday, floated the idea of a trilateral meeting, but Putin reportedly responded by suggesting a one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian leader should take place first, perhaps in Moscow.

Smoke rising above the damaged factory - UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images

The Ukrainian leader immediately rejected the idea, with Europe now pushing for a neutral location, such as Geneva in Switzerland.

“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Mr Zelensky said.

“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” he continued. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”

Article 5 is NATO's common defence guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.

A Ukrainian soldier holds the remains of a shell at the site of a Russian Shahed drone strike - Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Ukraine is still not entirely clear what support it can expect from allies, particularly the US, which has said that Europe would do most of the heavy lifting on the ground.

The US, meanwhile, could station air defences in nearby European countries that would respond were Ukraine to face another attack.
Russia demands seat at the table

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Thursday that Europe deploying troops to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire was “absolutely unacceptable”.

“As the West’s discussions with the Ukrainian side show, all these plans are connected, in essence, with providing guarantees through foreign military intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory,” he said.

“And I very much hope that those who are hatching such plans, either they are simply trying to attract attention to themselves, or I hope that they understand that this will be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation and for all sensible political forces in Europe.”

Russia is keen to ensure China, one of Moscow’s main allies, plays a role in enforcing security guarantees, but this has been dismissed by Mr Zelensky.

“First, China did not help us stop this war from the start. Second, China assisted Russia by opening its drone market... We do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at the time when we really needed it.”

Elsewhere, Italy arrested a Ukrainian citizen on suspicion of plotting the underwater bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines.

The suspect, who was identified only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, is the first person known to be arrested in connection with the blasts.

He is 49 years old, according to reports in Italian media, which said he had been arrested in a small town called San Clemente, near Rimini, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna. He is expected to be extradited to Germany.

Russian attack hits American factory in Ukraine during US-led push for peace

Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov, Associated Press
Thu, August 21, 2025

Russia has launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine, officials said, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the US-led peace efforts.

The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely avoided such attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting after Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour.

US President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska last week before hosting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders at the White House on Monday.

Donald Trump (Seth Wenig/AP)

Mr Trump last month questioned Mr Putin’s commitment to ending the war, saying the Russian leader “talks nice and then he bombs everybody”.

In a social media post on Thursday, the US president criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for not providing Ukraine with the weaponry it needs to “fight back”.

“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country,” Trump wrote. “It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offensive. There is no chance of winning! It is like that with Ukraine and Russia.”

Russia has fired nearly 1,000 long-range drones and missiles at Ukraine since Monday’s White House talks, according to Ukrainian tallies.

European countries are discussing how they can deploy military assets to deter any post-war Russian assault on Ukraine, but the Kremlin will not accept the deployment of any troops from Nato countries, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that making security arrangements for Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement was pointless.

Mr Putin is ready to meet with Mr Zelensky to discuss peace terms, Mr Lavrov said on Thursday, but only after key issues have been worked out by senior officials in what could be a protracted negotiating process because the two sides remain far apart.

Ukrainian and European leaders have accused Mr Putin of stalling in the peace efforts in the hopes that his bigger army, which has been making slow advances, can capture more Ukrainian land.

Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the overnight attack which left one person dead (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

US secretary of state Marco Rubio plans to host a conference call on Thursday with the national security advisers of European countries expected to play a role in future security guarantees for Ukraine, a senior US official said.

Military leaders from Ukraine, the US, the UK, Finland, France, Germany and Italy met on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington to work out military options, said Joseph Holstead, a spokesman for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A source said “everything is being considered and nothing is being ruled out” regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, apart from US boots on the ground.

Military chiefs and their staffs are looking at options including “how big” the security guarantee is and what happens if it is implemented with or without a ceasefire, the official said, noting that European defence chiefs acknowledged it is their “responsibility to secure Europe”.

Russia launched 574 drones and 40 ballistic and cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attack mostly targeted western regions of the country where much of the military aid provided by Ukraine’s western allies is believed to be stored. The strikes killed at least one person and injured 15 others, according to officials.

Mr Zelensky condemned the attack amid the push for peace, saying it was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.

A US electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, he told the Associated Press.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP)

At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Mr Hunder added. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he said.

“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Mr Hunder said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”. It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.

In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a nursery school and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.

Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Mr Zelensky said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.

On Wednedsay he said plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week, and he then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Mr Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.

The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Mr Trump, the Ukrainian president said.

Russia carries out its biggest attack in more than a month while accusing Ukraine of not being interested in peace

Svitlana Vlasova, Lauren Kent, Anna Chernova, Victoria Butenko, Mitchell McCluskey,

CNN
Thu, August 21, 2025

Black smoke rises from an electronics manufacturing company production facility in Mukachevo, Ukraine, that was hit by Russian missiles on Thursday. - Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration/Anadolu/Getty Images

Russia launched its largest drone and missile salvo on Ukraine in more than a month, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, as Moscow accused Kyiv of not being interested in a “sustainable, fair and long-term settlement.”

Nine civilians were killed in the strikes as well as in shelling in eastern Ukraine, officials said. The attacks come just days after US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, followed by a White House summit with Zelensky and European leaders, in pursuit of an end to the conflict.

But since then, there have been few signs of tangible progress. Russia’s foreign minister poured cold water on the idea of a leaders’ summit and security guarantees for Kyiv, saying the Kremlin won’t accept the placement of any foreign troops in Ukraine.

In its overnight attacks, Russia launched a total of 574 strike drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hitting as far west as the city of Lviv.

Missiles also struck an American-owned manufacturing company, Flex Ltd., in the western region of Zakarpattia, in an attack that injured at least 19 people, Ukrainian officials said. Flex is a American-Singaporean company that provides electronics manufacturing services and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

“Overnight, Russian missiles attacked one of the largest American investments in Ukraine – Flex – an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce,” said Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. “Russia continues to destroy and humiliate US businesses in Ukraine, targeting companies that invest and trade on the US stock markets.”

A spokesperson for Flex told CNN that six of its staff remain in hospital after the strike, and stressed that the company “does not produce, supply, or support any military equipment.”

Zelensky suggested Russia’s strike on Flex’s facilities was deliberate.

“The Russians knew exactly where they were hitting,” the Ukrainian leader said in his nightly video address Thursday evening, “We believe that this was a deliberate strike against American property here in Ukraine, against American investments.”

The French Foreign Ministry condemned the massive attacks across Ukraine, saying they “illustrate Russia’s lack of willingness to seriously engage in peace talks.”

In a statement, Zelensky also noted the timing of Moscow’s strikes. “The Russians carried out this attack as if nothing had changed at all. As if there were no efforts by the world to stop this war,” he said. “A response is needed. There is still no signal from Moscow that they really intend to engage in meaningful negotiations and end this war.”

Zelensky said a day earlier he is ready to make “some compromise” on his demand that a ceasefire takes place before any talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin – as long as some security guarantees for Ukraine are established.

Ukraine and its allies in Europe have long pushed for there to be a ceasefire as a first step toward ending the war, which would require resolving seemingly intractable issues such as land and security guarantees.

But after Trump pivoted toward favoring a “peace deal” over an immediate ceasefire, Zelensky indicated he was willing to be flexible.

“The format that has been proposed likely involves some compromise,” he said. “I told President Trump that, in any case, we will need a period of calm to develop the entire plan for ending the war – if we truly want the plan to be serious.”

Zelensky told journalists Wednesday that Ukraine is waiting for “security guarantees architecture” to be established within seven to 10 days before setting a date for talks with the Kremlin.
Kremlin pours cold water on bilateral meeting

Moscow’s comments, meanwhile, have openly contradicted the White House narrative that plans for a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky are “underway.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Thursday the Kremlin is open in principle to a Putin-Zelensky meeting, but with an understanding that “all issues … will be worked out first” – effectively batting away plans for an imminent summit.

Lavrov also said that when it comes to signing a peace deal, “the issue of the legitimacy of the person who will sign future agreements on behalf of Ukraine will be resolved.”

The minister was referring to the Kremlin’s claim that Zelensky is an illegitimate president due to his term technically ending in May 2024, ignoring the fact that wartime conditions legally prohibit elections and allow him to remain in office.

He also warned against any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine, calling it “absolutely unacceptable” for Russia and “all sensible political forces in Europe.”

Lavrov also tried to paint a picture that the Ukrainian side was impeding further talks.

Ukraine is “directly showing that they are not interested in a sustainable, fair and long-term settlement,” he said.

The Kremlin has said Putin proposed sending higher-level officials to talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, which, crucially, have so far included lower-level officials and have not made meaningful progress toward a ceasefire. In May, Putin decided not to show up for talks in Turkey that he himself suggested.

CNN’s Clare Sebastian, Pierre Bairin, Kristen Holmes and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

SAME DEMANDS AS WHEN HE FIRST INVADED

Putin's demand to Ukraine: give up Donbas, no NATO and no Western troops, sources say

Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender.

Thu, August 21, 2025

REUTERS

Ukrainian serviceman reacts as he throws a grenade during a training in Donbas region

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

The Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-U.S. summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Speaking afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine - but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed.

In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.

In essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine - which make up the Donbas - plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

Kyiv rejected those terms as tantamount to surrender.

In his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they added.

Russia controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to U.S. estimates and open-source data.

Moscow is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources said.

Putin is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the U.S.-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources said.

Yet the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.

Ukraine's foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the proposals.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine.

"If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines."

Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's membership.

The White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian proposals.

Political scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a U.S.-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically.

"Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise," he added. "The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details."

TRUMP: PUTIN WANTS TO SEE IT ENDED

Russian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to U.S. estimates and open-source maps.

The three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground.

"Putin is ready for peace - for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump," one of the people said.

The sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added

A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into Ukraine.

Trump has said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the war and be remembered as a "peacemaker president". He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the U.S. president.

"I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended," Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace deal.

Putin has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate president.

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the war.

SECURITY GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINE

Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian sources.

Witkoff met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. At the meeting, Putin conveyed clearly to Witkoff that he was ready to compromise and set out

If Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement, then there are various options for a formal deal - including a possible three-way Russia-Ukraine-U.S. deal that is recognised by the U.N. Security Council, one of the sources said.

Another option is to go back to the failed 2022 Istanbul agreements, where Russia and Ukraine discussed Ukraine's permanent neutrality in return for security guarantees from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, the sources added.

"There are two choices: war or peace, and if there is no peace, then there is more war," one of the people said.

"USEFUL IDIOT"

Trump Envoy Helps Putin Troll CIA Official With ‘Medal’ for Dead Son

Tom Sanders
Thu, August 21, 2025

The Daily Beast

Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff inadvertently helped Vladimir Putin troll the grieving family of an American man who was killed while fighting for Russia.

Michael Gloss was killed in Ukraine last year after traveling to Moscow and volunteering for the Russian military after dismissing criticism of their invasion as “Western propaganda.”

The 21-year-old, who reportedly struggled with severe mental health problems for most of his life, was later revealed to be the son of Juliane Gallina, the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation, and Larry Gloss, an Iraq war vet and CEO of a security tech firm.

During a meeting with Putin on a trip to Moscow earlier this month, Witkoff was presented with an award for Gloss by the Russian president and instructed to present it to Gloss’ grieving family—a move considered by many to be a diplomatic slight, given his parents’ line of work.

Yet Witkoff, a real estate friend of President Donald Trump who had no diplomatic experience before becoming his special envoy to the Middle East and special envoy for peace missions, instead took Putin at his word and delivered the medal to Gloss’ relatives, with an administration source telling CNN he considered the matter to be one that transcended geopolitics.

The name of the award remains unclear—CNN reported Putin gave Witkoff the Order of Courage, while the BBC and CBS reported it to be the Soviet-era Order of Lenin, which recognizes outstanding civilian service.

In Witkoff’s eyes, the moment was “not about who he fought for, but rather the memories of our children and the overarching message of ‘Let’s end this war,’” the source said, also claiming that Gallina “wept with her husband” upon receiving the medal.

In a statement to CNN, the CIA said: “The entire CIA family is heartbroken for their loss. Juliane and her husband shared that ‘we adored our son and grieve his loss every moment. We appreciate privacy at this difficult time.”

“Juliane Gallina and her family suffered an unimaginable personal tragedy in the spring of 2024 when her son Michael Gloss, who struggled with mental health issues, died while fighting in the conflict in Ukraine. CIA considers Michael’s passing to be a private family matter for the Gloss family – not a national security issue,” they added.

Steve Witkoff presented the medal to Gloss’ family following a meeting with Putin. / Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Earlier this year, Michael’s father, Larry Gloss, told The Washington Post about his son’s struggle with mental illness and said it was “absolutely news to us that he was involved in any military relationship with Russia.”

Their son, he said, was “the ultimate anti-establishment, anti-authority young man the minute he came into the world,” and traveled to Russia after he became convinced the country was the only place he could accomplish his dream of “building a water purifier” to help people without access to clean water.

“I can only attribute it to his mental illness,” the father said. “It clearly defies logic.”

Gloss was killed during an artillery strike on Russian troops in the Donetsk region. / Libkos / Getty Images

Gloss eventually died from a “massive blood loss” caused by an artillery strike in Donetsk last April, with his remains repatriated to the U.S. in December.

His parents were fearful during that time that “someone over there [in Moscow] would put two and two together and figure out who his mother was, and use him as a prop,” Gloss’ father said, but a Kremlin source later told CBS that they were not initially aware of his family background.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for further comment.

Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024

Jake Tapper, CNN
Wed, August 20, 2025

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff waits for the start of a press conference between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday. - Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesMore

US special envoy Steve Witkoff delivered a Russian medal to the grieving family of an American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024, a senior administration official told CNN.

Earlier this month, when Russian president Vladimir Putin gave the medal – the Order of Courage – to Witkoff, some observers saw it as something of a diplomatic dig, given that the American who was killed, Michael Gloss, 21, was the son of a senior CIA official.

But that wasn’t how Witkoff saw it. The Order of Courage is a Russian Federation decoration typically given to Russian citizens to recognize selfless acts of courage and valor during times of emergency, disaster and war. For Witkoff, who lost a son in the opioid epidemic, losing a child is a traumatic experience that transcends geopolitics. And he thought it worthwhile to give the medal to Juliane Gallina, the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation, and her husband, according to the official.

“She wept with her husband,” the senior administration official told CNN.

For Witkoff, the moment “was not about who he fought for, but rather the memories of our children and the overarching message of ‘Let’s end this war,’” the official told CNN.

A CIA spokesperson issued a statement to CNN: “The entire CIA family is heartbroken for their loss. Juliane and her husband shared that ‘we adored our son and grieve his loss every moment. We appreciate privacy at this difficult time.’”

“Juliane Gallina and her family suffered an unimaginable personal tragedy in the spring of 2024 when her son Michael Gloss, who struggled with mental health issues, died while fighting in the conflict in Ukraine. CIA considers Michael’s passing to be a private family matter for the Gloss family – not a national security issue,” the spokesperson said.

Witkoff has played a significant role in the US effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, including sitting alongside President Donald Trump in his summit with Putin in Alaska on Friday.

He told CNN that the leaders made “game changing” agreements related to security guarantees for Ukraine, though questions remain about how serious Putin is in pursuing a peace agreement.

Witkoff traveled to Moscow this month to meet with Putin, and also played a role in talks with top Russian and Ukrainian officials held in Saudi Arabia earlier this year in order to work towards ending the war.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment

Friday, August 22, 2025

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