A news conference that was planned to follow talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy was canceled Thursday as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia.

The event was originally supposed to include comments to the media by Zelenskyy and retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, but it was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity where the two posed for journalists. They did not deliver statements or field questions as expected. The change was requested by the U.S. side, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nikiforov said.

Kellogg’s trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Trump and Zelenskyy that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort.

Dozens of journalists gathered at Ukraine's presidential office in Kyiv after being invited to take photos and observe a news conference with Zelenskyy and Kellogg. As the meeting began, photographers and video journalists were allowed into a room where the two men shook hands before sitting across from each other at a table.

Journalists were then informed that there would be no news conference with remarks by the leaders or questions from reporters. Nikiforov gave no reason for the sudden change except to say that it was in accordance with U.S. wishes.

The U.S. delegation made no comment. The White House did not respond to questions about why the news conference was called off.

Two leaders were to speak about ending the war

The two men were due to speak about Trump's efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy had previously said he looked forward to explaining what was happening in Ukraine and showing it to Kellogg.

Kellogg, one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book laying out an “America First” national security agenda, has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues.

Writing on his Telegram channel, Zelenskyy said the meeting with Kellogg was a “good conversation, lots of details.” He said they discussed security guarantees for Ukraine and the return of Ukrainian prisoners from Russian custody.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed the importance of keeping the path open for Ukraine to join the European Union and rejected suggestions that the country was to blame for its invasion by Russia, in a radio interview aired on Thursday.

Asked if he shares U.S. President Donald Trump's view, in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that Ukraine was to blame for the war, Scholz told the ARD public broadcaster: "It is not. We in Europe insist on this."

For this reason, he said, the EU was keeping the door open to Ukraine as a prospective member, adding, "Ukraine must not be hindered in its decision to be a democratic, sovereign nation on its way into Europe."

In the case of a future peace settlement, Scholz said Ukraine must have a strong army, "for which we in Europe and our international and transatlantic partners share responsibility".

Europe is scrambling to find a response to Trump's policy on the war, after high-level U.S.-Russian talks sidelined Ukraine and its European backers, raising fears that the U.S. leader could make concessions to Moscow to end the war.

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As Donald Trump insisted this week that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was somehow responsible for his own country being invaded by Russia, and accused him of being a “dictator” responsible for “millions” of unnecessary deaths, even Vladimir Putin likely couldn’t believe what he was hearing. For three years, the Russian leader—who, unlike the democratically elected Zelenskiy, is an actual dictator—has been spouting similar disinformation to justify his invasion of a sovereign nation. Putin also has held stubbornly to his wild demands, despite the war having long been mired in a stalemate.

Now, improbably, Putin is poised to get everything he wants—huge territorial gains, the crippling of Ukrainian democracy, a weakened NATO—for no reason other than that Trump was elected as part of a global backlash to rising prices. It’s shocking that any American president would effectively abandon its defense of a former Soviet state in favor of Russia, but it’s also unsurprising that Trump, specifically, would do so. He has long made it obvious that he sees no value in sticking up for a small democracy against a larger dictatorship. And yet his negotiations with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine are still breathtaking in their cynicism and inhumanity. In his haste to end the war and give himself the bogus title of “peacemaker,” Trump is acceding to every Russian demand and setting Europe, and perhaps the world, up for even more devastation to come—without getting anything in return for the United States.

One of the hallmarks of Trump’s style of governance is that he cares little about most aspects of foreign policy. But he does appear to have genuinely swallowed the entire Russian propaganda narrative about Ukraine, short of repeating Putin’s nonsensical pretext that Ukraine needed to be “de-nazified.” While Trump is unmoved by the actual stakes of the war—an emboldened Russia that may look to invade other neighbors, particularly Poland and the Baltic states, that belong to NATO—he does adore strongmen. At the same time, he also is so desperate for a huge, legacy-defining “win” that he is eagerly giving Russia everything it wants, even going so far as to make concessions to Putin before negotiations have begun in earnest.

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The White House continued to press Kyiv on Thursday with its efforts to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, urging it to rein in criticism and quickly sign a minerals deal pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal," Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in an interview with Fox News.

Pushback from Ukraine on the minerals deal and how Trump is carrying out peace talks is simply unacceptable, Waltz said, given everything the United States has done for Ukraine.

Waltz's comments come a day after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traded insults, with Trump calling Zelenskiy a dictator and Zelenskiy saying the U.S. president was living in a disinformation bubble and spewing talking points from Moscow.

However, Waltz said U.S. differences with Ukraine were not irreconcilable, saying: "The president also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people."

Ukraine and European leaders have balked at being left out of peace talks begun after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone last week.

Waltz denied that U.S. allies and Ukraine were not being consulted.

"There's a term for this in diplomacy. It's called shuttle diplomacy, because bringing everybody to the table at once just hasn't worked in the past," he said.

"So we've engaged one side, we've engaged the other side, and then we're going to have a process moving forward under President Trump's direction and leadership."

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US resisting including reference to ‘Russian aggression’ in G7 Ukraine anniversary statement

A diplomatic back-and-forth is underway among Group of Seven members over a joint statement marking the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the United States resisting a reference to “Russian aggression” in the document.

The dispute, described by two Western officials familiar with the matter, reflects the larger shift in approach from the White House to the conflict. President Donald Trump has blamed the war on Ukraine, and likened its wartime president to a “dictator.”

That stands in stark contrast to how the Biden administration, along with its allies in the G7, have described the war over the last three years.

The group is set to convene virtually next week around Monday’s anniversary of the invasion, but resistance from Washington over pinning blame on Russia for the conflict is threatening Western resolve as the war enters its fourth year.

“Russian aggression” has been used in G7 statements dating back to the start of the conflict, as has the descriptor of the conflict as an “illegal war of aggression.” The bloc has acted as something of a steering committee for marshaling assistance to Kyiv.

Now, envoys from Washington have voiced concern over how the war is framed in the document, the officials said. Trump has also suggested Russia be allowed to rejoin the G7 after it was ejected for annexing Crimea in 2014.

The officials said the US was resisting language assigning blame on Russia for the war, but that other nations in the group have been adamant that any softening of the statement would amount to a win for Moscow.

“The talks are still happening,” one of the officials said, “but there is a lot of concern at equivocating who is responsible for the war.”

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In the Trump administration, nearly every major department is an immigration agency

Drug Enforcement Administration agents touting immigration arrests, IRS agents poring over documents, the military escorting deportation flights. As the Trump administration works on the president's pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations, the flurry of activity has stretched across the federal government — well beyond the Department of Homeland Security, the traditional home to most immigration and border security functions.

President Donald Trump's sweeping promises have translated into a whole-of-government approach for immigration enforcement. In other words, nearly every major Cabinet agency is an immigration agency in Trump's government.

The departments of State, Defense and Justice have made immigration a clear priority in their work and public messaging. Parts of the departments of Treasury and Health and Human Services have been involved. And the reach and focus on immigration are only expected to grow, with the Republican president late Wednesday signing an executive order aimed at ending federal benefits for people in the U.S. illegally.

“The breadth of what is happening in these first couple of weeks is much wider than we saw during the first Trump administration,” said Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, associate policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.

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US State Department revises China webpage to focus on trade, business curbs

The U.S. State Department has changed references to China on its website, emphasising the trade deficit in an expanded section on economic ties, while dropping talk of working with allies and assistance to China on cultural and environmental issues.

The February 13 changes underscore the new administration's focus on trade and other priorities after removing a phrase last week from the department's Taiwan fact sheet about not supporting the island's independence, which angered Beijing.

China's economy is "one of the most restrictive investment climates in the world", read the expanded section on economic ties that highlighted the U.S-China trade deficit and U.S. businesses' concerns on the challenges of operating in China.

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China says 'doing its best' to push for tariff negotiations with EU

China has been "doing its best" to push for negotiations with the European Union over its tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, a commerce ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, almost four months after the punitive import curbs took effect.

The bloc voted to increase the tariffs to as much as 45.3% in October after the European Commission - which oversees EU trade policy - launched an anti-subsidy probe into whether Chinese firms benefited from preferential grants and financing as well as land, batteries and raw materials at below market prices.

"China has been doing its best to push for negotiations with the EU," He Yadong said. "It is hoped that the EU will take notice of the call from industry and promote bilateral investment cooperation through dialogue and consultation."

China launched its own probes last year into imports of EU brandy, dairy and pork products.

He told reporters China's anti-dumping probe into Europe's pork products and anti-subsidy investigation into the 27-strong bloc's dairy trade were still ongoing, when asked how the cases were progressing.

"We will conduct the investigation in an open and transparent manner in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations and World Trade Organization rules," he added.

China's commerce ministry in December decided to extend its anti-dumping investigation into EU brandy imports by three months to April 5.

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Cook Islands deal with China on economy, seabed mining spurs protest

A strategic partnership deal between China and the Cook Islands spans areas from deep-sea mining to education scholarships but excludes security ties, a document released by the Pacific island nation's government showed.

Western nations that traditionally held sway in the region have become increasingly concerned about China's plans to increase influence after Beijing signed defence, trade and financial deals with Pacific countries in the last three years.

Amid domestic criticism of lack of transparency, the government unveiled the action plan for the deal on Monday in the Cook Islands, in response to calls from New Zealand, which had not been consulted, despite constitutional ties.

"This does not replace our longstanding relationships with New Zealand, Australia, and others, but rather complements them, ensuring that we have a diversified portfolio of partnerships," Prime Minister Mark Brown told the Cook Islands parliament.

"We are strengthening economic diplomacy through initiatives like our comprehensive strategic partnership with China," he added, pointing to opportunities on offer in areas such as trade, infrastructure, and ocean resources.

Opposition has grown in the Cook Islands to any threat its pacts with China pose to close ties with New Zealand, and Brown's government faces a no-confidence vote in parliament due after February 25 called by opposition parties.

Brown's remarks, which also expressed confidence in Cook Islands' ability to protect its interests, followed a protest march to parliament in the capital of Avarua backing ties with New Zealand.

"Stay connected with New Zealand," read one placard held by protesters, who also brandished huge replicas of New Zealand passports.

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