International
Washington and London leave in the air the authorization to use their missiles against Russia
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, reaffirmed their support for Ukraine this Friday, but left Kiev on embers by not announcing a decision on their request to authorize the use of long-range missiles against Russian territory.
Expectations were high around the meeting between the two leaders, although in the end the announcement that Kiev was waiting for was not made.
New debate at United Nations
In statements to the press after the meeting, Starmer said that discussions will continue with a “wider group of individuals” during the week of high-level meetings of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, to be held later this month.
“This meeting was not to make a concrete decision,” stressed Starmer, who defended Ukraine’s right to defend itself and assured that NATO will continue to support Ukraine.
The issue of the missiles did not appear either in the final statement of the meeting, in which both parties “reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine while continuing to defend itself against Russia’s aggression,” nor in the statements that both leaders offered before the meeting to the media.
At that time, Biden was the first to take the floor to thank Starmer for the “leadership” that the United Kingdom has shown in the war in Ukraine and reiterated that Washington is “committed” to helping Ukraine in its defense of “Russian aggression.”
For his part, Starmer expressed his support for Ukraine in “this vital war for freedom” and said that the coming months will be “very important” for the course of the conflict.
US conditions
Hours before the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had insisted again that Ukraine needs to attack military targets located within the Russian Federation to change the course of the war in its favor.
In addition to Ukraine, other allies on NATO’s east flank, such as Poland, want the US leader to allow Kiev to use long-range missiles to attack military targets within Russia, and Biden has been open to making some changes in the policy he has maintained so far.
The question is how far Biden will go and when he could announce a change.
So far, the Biden Government’s policy has been to support Ukraine and, since the beginning of the conflict, it has given it more than 55 billion dollars in weapons, but it has set conditions on how Kiev should use the weapons that the US delivers or that are made with American components to avoid an escalation with Russia.
Those restrictions, however, have been relaxed over time on some occasions. They are maintained in long-range missiles, but in May Biden authorized Kiev for the first time to carry out attacks on Russian territory, specifically to defend the then besieged city of Kharkiv (northeast of the country).
Putin’s warnings
A possible measure that Biden could take is to authorize Ukraine’s use of British Storm Shadow missiles to attack targets outside its territory. The United Kingdom and Ukraine would need the approval of the US president, since some components of these missiles are manufactured in the United States.
Kiev also wants authorization to use the US long-range missiles ATACMS against Russia, which Washington has already sent to Ukraine. However, White House spokesman John Kirby already warned this Friday at a press conference that Biden was not going to announce any change in US policy for the moment.
“There are no changes in our vision on the provision of long-range attack capabilities for Ukraine to use within Russia. I wouldn’t expect any important announcement about it,” he said.
One of the biggest fears in the United States remains an escalation with Russia. This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that if Ukraine is authorized to use long-range missiles to hit targets on Russian territory, it would imply that NATO members, the United States and European countries would be at war with Russia.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links
A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”
The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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