In an address full of nuance, Russian President Vladimir Putin  on Thursday thanked President Donald Trump for his efforts to end the hostilities in Ukraine, but said he wanted lasting peace over a 30-day ceasefire. 

‘The idea itself is correct, and we certainly support it,’ Putin said in a carefully worded message during a news conference in Moscow. ‘But there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners.’

‘We agree with the proposals to halt the fighting, but we proceed from the assumption that the ceasefire should lead to lasting peace and remove the root causes of the crisis,’ Putin added. 

Putin was careful not to directly say no to the 30-day ceasefire deal Ukraine agreed with earlier this week, but he also suggested there were too many variables to be discussed, like what happens to the Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, which he said will be fully surrounded in the coming days.

The Kremlin chief also claimed a ceasefire would only benefit Ukraine as it would allow Kyiv to mobilize and rearm.

‘In these conditions, I believe it would be good for the Ukrainian side to secure a ceasefire for at least 30 days,’ Putin said.

The Russian president’s comments echoed ones issued by his top aide earlier in the day when Yuri Ushakov told a Russian reporter, ‘Our position about this is that it’s nothing other than a temporary breathing space for Ukrainian forces and nothing else.’ 

‘We believe that our goal is a long-term peaceful normalization – we are striving for this,’ he added. ‘Our concerns are known. No one needs steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation.’

Ushakov, who met with national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month in Saudi Arabia, said ultimately Putin would address Moscow’s position on the ceasefire during a press conference later on Thursday. 

The comments came after Ushakov said he spoke with Waltz and as special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow to further discuss the agreement. 

Reports on Thursday suggested Russia has put forward its own wishlist items to achieve an end to the fighting, but those demands remain unconfirmed. Previous demands included barring Ukraine from joining NATO and control over the five Ukrainian regions it has illegally seized – only one of which Russia fully occupies.

Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to the 30-day ceasefire following an hours-long meeting with Waltz and Rubio in Saudi Arabia, contingent on the Kremlin’s acceptance of the terms. 

The ceasefire was an attempt to get both sides to lay down their arms so that further negotiations on issues like territory, occupation status, the return of prisoners and the return of abducted Ukrainian children could then be hashed out. 

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions. 

Russia ramped up its barrage of missile and drone attacks after the U.S. paused military aid and intelligence sharing after Trump suggested he didn’t believe Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was ‘serious’ about peace. 

The comments came following an Oval Office blow-up when Zelenskyy refused to sign a mineral deal without security guarantees from the U.S. 

Vice President JD Vance accused the Ukrainian president of being ‘disrespectful.’

But following the successful talks with Ukraine in Jeddah this week, the U.S. immediately lifted its aid and intelligence pause. 

‘Ukraine is committed to moving quickly toward peace, and we are prepared to do our part in creating all of the conditions for a reliable, durable, and decent peace,’ Zelenskyy said in a post on X Thursday. ‘I thank our teams for the fact that military aid and intelligence sharing resumed.

‘Ukraine was ready for an air and sea ceasefire, but the U.S. proposed extending it to land. Ukraine welcomes this proposal,’ he added.

Zelenskyy said Putin’s thus far silence on the ceasefire proposal ‘once again demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war and postpone peace for as long as possible.’ 

‘We hope that U.S. pressure will be sufficient to compel Russia to end the war,’ he added. 

President Donald Trump insisted that no one would be ‘expelled’ from Gaza, amid questions about his audacious plan to rebuild the war-torn strip. 

‘Nobody’s expelling any Palestinians,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday while meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

Egypt, which led negotiations on an Arab-led plan to rebuild Gaza, welcomed the president’s comment. 

‘This position reflects an understanding of the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the importance of finding fair, sustainable solutions to the Palestinian issue,’ theEgyptian foreign ministry said.

In February, Trump proposed that the U.S. ‘take over’ war-torn Gaza.

‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,’ Trump stated. ‘We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexplored bombs and other weapons on the site.’

He had said at the time that Gaza’s population of about 2 million would be ‘permanently’ relocated. Asked whether that would be done by force, he claimed no Palestinians wanted to live among the rubble in Gaza. 

‘We’re moving them to a beautiful location where they have new homes, where they can live safely, where they’ll have doctors and medical and all of those things,’ he said while meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan last month. ‘And I think it’s going to be great.’

But finding a Middle Eastern nation willing to take in masses of Palestinian refugees has proven difficult. After receiving pushback from Egyptian and Jordanian leaders on his vision for a Gaza without Palestinians, Trump said he would not ‘force it.’ 

‘The way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,’ he told Fox News in February.

Earlier this month, Arab leaders agreed on a $53 million Egyptian-led reconstruction plan, but the White House rejected it. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the Arab proposal ‘does not address the reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable and residents cannot humanely live in a territory covered in debris and unexploded ordnance.’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Trump’s plan as a ‘revolutionary, creative vision.’

But Hamas also welcomed Trump’s assurance that Palestinians would not be expelled.

‘If US President Trump’s statements represent a retreat from any idea of ​​displacing the people of the Gaza Strip, they are welcomed,’ Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in the statement.

‘We call for this position to be reinforced by obligating the Israeli occupation to implement all the terms of the ceasefire agreements,’ he added.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff is in Qatar for intensive talks on the next phase of the ceasefire agreement. Israel wants a two-month pause in fighting in exchange for about half of the remaining living hostages. Hamas is pushing for a full cessation of hostilities. 

The White House said a lawsuit filed by a law firm with ties to the FBI’s Russia investigation during President Donald Trump’s first term – known among conservatives as the ‘Russia collusion hoax’ – is ‘absurd,’ after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting off the firm’s access to federal resources Wednesday. 

Perkins Coie, the firm that hired the company responsible for composing the so-called ‘Steele dossier’ released in 2017about Trump’s alleged connections to Russia that was used to obtain a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, filed a motion in a federal court in Washington Tuesday requesting a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration from rescinding its access to federal resources. 

U.S. Judge Beryl Howell approved the request Wednesday afternoon. 

‘The Trump Administration is working efficiently to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government,’ White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a Wednesday evening statement to Fox News Digital. ‘It is absurd that a billion-dollar law firm is suing to retain its access to government perks and handouts.’

Perkins Coie and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, appeared before U.S. Judge Beryl Howell Wednesday afternoon. 

Attorney Dane Butswinkas, who is representing Perkins Coie, said roughly a quarter of the firm’s revenue stems from clients with government contracts, and compared Trump’s order to ‘a tsunami waiting to hit the firm.’ 

Additionally, Howell said Wednesday that the order ‘sends little chills down my spine.’ 

Trump signed an executive order March 6 suspending security clearances for Perkins Coie employees until a further review evaluating its access to sensitive information is complete to determine if it aligns with national interests.

The order also pulled access to sensitive information facilities for Perkins Coie employees and limits the company’s access to government employees. The order also prevents the federal government from hiring Perkins Coie employees without specific authorization.

As a result, Perkins Coie’s lawsuit claims that the Trump administration’s executive order is an ‘affront to the Constitution and our adversarial system of justice’ and that the order means the firm’s ability to represent its clients is ‘under direct and imminent threat.’ 

Likewise, the lawsuit asserts the order violated procedural due process because it failed to give Perkins Coie the opportunity to contest accusations included in the executive order. 

‘The order violates core constitutional protections, including the rights to free speech and due process, and undermines all clients’ right to select counsel of their choice,’ a Perkins Coie spokesperson said in a Tuesday statement. ‘We were compelled to take this step to protect our firm and safeguard the interests of our clients.’

Attorneys general from states including California, Arizona, Massachusetts and Rhode Island filed an amicus brief Wednesday voicing support for Perkins Coie ‘to underscore the bedrock rule of law principles and free speech imperatives at issue in this case.’

‘Through official action, the President has attempted to exclude certain lawyers and certain viewpoints from reaching a court of law at all,’ the coalition of attorneys general wrote in the brief. ‘It is a menacing message to attorneys nationwide: unless they advance positions or represent clients favorable to the current administration, their livelihood may be at risk and their patriotism will be called into question.’

Perkins Coie represented Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election and former President Joe Biden after Trump challenged Biden’s 2020 election win. 

Marc Elias, the former chair of the firm’s political law practice, hired opposition research firm Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research into presidential candidate Trump in April 2016 on behalf of Trump’s opponent, Clinton, and the Democratic National Committee.

Fusion GPS then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who authored the so-called ‘Steele dossier.’ The document, which BuzzFeed News published in 2017, included shocking and mostly unverified allegations, including details that Trump engaged in sex acts with Russian prostitutes. 

Trump, who repeatedly denied the allegations included in the dossier, filed a lawsuit in September 2023 against Orbis Business Intelligence, a company Steele co-founded, claiming that the dossier led to personal and reputational damage. A judge tossed the case in February 2024. 

Meanwhile, Trump said Thursday it was an ‘honor’ to sign the executive order. 

‘What they’ve done, it’s just terrible,’ Trump said. ‘It’s weaponization. You could say weaponization against a political opponent, and it should never be allowed to happen again.’

Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report. 

Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has once again called on the U.S. to place nuclear weapons within its borders in a show of deterrence to Russia’s continued aggression just over the border in Ukraine.

A similar request was apparently made to the Biden administration in 2022, which was never agreed to, but Duda has not given up on the idea. This time he addressed his appeal to the Trump administration during an interview with the Financial Times that was published Thursday.

‘Russia did not even hesitate when they were relocating their nuclear weapons into Belarus,’ Duda told the Financial Times in reference to actions Russia took beginning in 2023, a year after it invaded Ukraine. ‘They didn’t ask anyone’s permission.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about where President Donald Trump stands when it comes to this form of deterrence.

The Trump administration this week took steps to try and bring about an end to the war in Ukraine, which has been raging for more than three years following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. 

While Ukraine has agreed to the U.S.’s initial 30-day ceasefire contingent on Russia’s acceptance of the terms, Moscow has not, and it is unlikely that the Trump administration would take steps to jeopardize those negotiations by agreeing to put U.S. nukes in Poland – which shares a border with Russia and could be viewed as a threat by the Kremlin.

But Duda’s advisor on international affairs, Wojciech Kolarski, echoed the Polish president’s plea and, in a Thursday interview with Poland’s RMF FM radio, argued that as a NATO member who shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region, as well as Ukraine and Belarus, the steps were important for Warsaw’s security.

But should the U.S. again refuse Poland’s request, there is another nuclear-armed nation in the NATO alliance that may be willing to assist in ‘nuclear sharing.’

Amid mounting concern in the European Union that the U.S. could withdraw forces from the bloc or become an unreliable defense partner in countering Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron opened discussions on a strategy that could help extend its nuclear deterrence to other EU nations.

While the specifics of that strategy remain unclear, including whether France has proposed actually dispersing nuclear arms to other nations, Poland has reportedly been in talks with France about the issue.

Russia has already called France’s strategy to re-evaluate its extension of nuclear deterrence ‘extremely confrontational.’

Despite Moscow’s objections, France’s defense concept is far from new as the U.S. deterrence umbrella during the Cold War was intended to ensure NATO allies would be protected under America’s nuclear power in case of a direct threat by another nuclear-armed nation, like Russia, China or North Korea.

While France is the EU’s only nuclear power, it has the third-largest nuclear stockpile when it comes to nuclear-armed nations in NATO, which also includes the U.S. and the U.K. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.   

Eastern European countries are eyeing an exit of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines so they can place lethal underground bombs along their border to prevent Russia from invading, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Poland is expected to withdraw from the treaty, together with Lithuania and Estonia, multiple eastern European officials predicted. Latvia and Finland are considering the idea as well. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked the Ministry of Defense to initiate withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention ‘and possibly the Dublin Convention,’ referring to both the treaty governing anti-personnel landmines and the use of cluster munitions. 

Pressure among the Baltic States, together with Poland and Finland, has swelled in recent months to stop adhering to the Canada-brokered treaty as a way to bolster defenses at a time when the U.S. has said it will not offer Ukraine security guarantees to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from once again invading and pushing west.

Lithuania pulled out of the treaty banning the use of cluster munitions recently, making it the first European Union nation to pull out of an international arms treaty. It’s now expected to pull out of Ottawa as well.

Russia and Ukraine both use cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines in the current war. 

Lithuanian National Security Committee Chairman Giedrimas Jeglinskas said that the ‘threat assessment has changed dramatically’ since his nation joined the convention in 2003. Jeglinskas, who has led the charge to leave the treaty in Lithuania, said the nation had wanted to withdraw from the treaty for a long time, given it shares a border with Russian vassal state Belarus, but needed the agreement from other border nations, so Russia could not just ‘go around’ Belarus and through Poland or Latvia. 

‘We hold that Latvians and Estonians will move in the same direction,’ he said. 

Canada urged Eastern European states to remain in the treaty, but laid blame on Russia for their moves to withdraw. 

‘Support for the convention and universal adherence remain a priority for Canada,’ Global Affairs office spokesperson Brittany Fletcher told Fox News Digital. 

‘These debates are taking place as a result of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s actions in the region are forcing states to act out of necessity, not by choice,’ the office said. ‘While we understand the need to consider all options … such measures need to be balanced with the long-term impacts, including impacts on civilians.’

Finland, meanwhile, has asked for ‘a couple weeks more’ to come to its own decision, according to the chairman. 

Estonia’s defense ministry said that its ‘military assessment has not changed’ on the treaty. ‘At the same time, this is a wider political question, on which a decision has not been made in Estonia,’ according to a defense ministry official.  

Latvia, meanwhile, has to consider the 1,700 Canadian troops stationed within its borders as part of the withdrawal. 

Finland began a report to assess the need and deterrent effect of anti-personnel land mines within its borders, which will be finalized in the spring and the Ministry of Defense will then make a recommendation to parliament on whether to leave, according to Finnish press counselor Riikka Hietajärvi.

Two other European officials said behind the scenes Finnish, Estonian and Latvian officials expressed an openness to the idea of leaving the treaty. 

For Lithuania to withdraw, the president needs to notify his defense council and then propose the withdrawal to parliament, where it needs a 60% vote.

Jeglinskas said he expects such a vote would pass without widespread dissent. ‘There might be some lone voices expressing their concern, but it should pass without issue.’ 

As of now, 164 nations are party to the agreement. No EU country has ever left the Ottawa Treaty.

The United Nations holds that the ‘number of casualties has sharply declined’ since the agreement and 40 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed. 

Tusk acknowledged that this is ‘not a pleasant’ decision but insisted that Poland must consider its current security needs. ‘Anything that can strengthen Poland’s defense will be implemented. We will use all available options,’ he stated.

The U.S. is not party to the treaty and in November the Biden administration began supplying Ukraine with anti-personnel mines. 

Critics of landmines argue that they are indiscriminate and can instantly kill and maim civilians who step into the wrong area. 

‘No matter what decision we make – and I think this decision is very, very clearly going towards withdrawal – it’s still a difficult decision,’ said Jeglinskas. ‘Just the situation … it just does not allow us the privilege to remain part of this coalition on anti-personnel mines, and it’s with a heavy heart, I would say that, that’s unfortunate, but that’s just the military reality.’ 

The Russian military has the supreme edge against any of its border states on their own, necessitating lethal deterrence like land mines, according to Hudson defense analyst Can Kasapoğlu.

‘The Russian military has the upper hand over the Polish armed forces, and it has a gigantic, gigantic upper hand over the entire Baltic nations. So for these nations to keep being a part of the Ottawa treaty and and ditching the landmines, for the sake of some international image, it doesn’t make sense.’ 

The anti-personnel mines would need to be combined with anti-tank mines and artillery and drones stationed along the border to effectively deter an enemy. ‘It forms a kill box that the Russians can’t evade.’ 

He said that such mines have advanced to self-destruct after a set period of time so that the fallout does not last for generations like in wars past. 

The new movement comes as Europe has moved at a rapid-fire pace to account to take charge of its own defense since President Donald Trump took office and brought along his critiques of Europe and the NATO alliance. 

The European Union last week proposed an $841 billion plan to ‘rearm Europe,’ and defense leaders met in Paris this week to discuss how to offer Ukraine security guarantees after the war. 

Ukraine has agreed to the U.S.-brokered terms of a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia has said it is still reviewing the details. Overnight, Russia struck the Black Sea port of Odesa with missiles, killing four and damaging a grain vessel. 

China’s dominance over the U.S. in terms of shipbuilding is sending alarms through Capitol Hill, forthcoming legislation suggests.

A bipartisan group of military veterans now serving in the House of Representatives – Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C. – are rolling out a bill aimed at revitalizing the flailing U.S. commercial ship sector.

‘This is no drill. A fundamental pillar of America’s security, our naval supremacy, is under threat from Communist China,’ Green told Fox News Digital. 

Green said China’s Navy was now the largest in the world, surpassing the U.S. with 350 estimated seafaring vessels, compared to 280.

‘China has used its fleet to erode freedom of navigation, harass civilian ships, and intimidate our allies,’ he said. ‘To maintain our strategic edge, we must invest ‘full speed ahead’ in our maritime industrial base – encompassing commercial shipbuilders, military shipyards, and every link in the supply chain.’

The bill would establish a National Commission on the Maritime Industrial Base, and mandate it to launch a probe into the status of American maritime industries, both military and commercial. 

The goal would be to develop policy and legislative recommendations to revitalize U.S. shipyards.

Kiggans said shipbuilding was the ‘backbone’ of her coastal Virginia district’s economy, in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘However, due to workforce and supply chain issues, our maritime industrial base is struggling to keep pace with growing global threats. This Commission is a critical step toward identifying the challenges facing our shipyards and strengthening our ability to build and sustain a world-class fleet,’ she said.

Davis said, ‘We must collaborate to ensure that both the public and private sectors work together to find solutions that will strengthen our maritime industrial base. Shipbuilding is vital for our national security.’

U.S. competition with China has remained among the most bipartisan issues in Congress, even with the current hyper-partisan environment.

China has nearly 47% of the global market in shipbuilding, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.

South Korea and Japan are second and third, with roughly 29% and 17% of the market, respectively. The U.S. has 0.13% of the market.

A single Chinese shipbuilder managed more output by tonnage in 2024 alone than the U.S. has in its entirety since World War II, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which said China’s dominance in the sector was a national security risk.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) voted Thursday morning to advance President Donald Trump’s pick to head the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. 

The vote was strictly along party lines, 12 votes in favor and 11 against, but with the committee having one extra Republican member in the majority, Bhattacharya sailed to the finish line with only GOP support. Bhattacharya now heads to the full Senate for an impending confirmation vote that will be the last hurdle before he becomes the next director of the NIH.   

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., expressed concern Thursday, saying he feared Bhattacharya would not do enough to help lower the cost of prescription drugs. Sanders and other Democrats have also expressed concern over how Bhattacharya will approach medical research at the NIH, especially considering Trump just imposed a cap on facilities and administration costs associated with NIH research grants. 

A physician, Stanford professor of medicine and senior fellow at the university’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, Bhattacharya was a leading voice during the COVID-19 pandemic against lockdown measures and vaccine mandates. 

Bhattacharya was probed by the Senate HELP Committee roughly a week ago over various issues related to his potential role as NIH director; however, much of the hearing he was forced to defend the president’s decision to put a 15% cap on indirect research costs dispersed by the NIH.

Bhattacharya would not explicitly say he disagreed with the cuts, or that, if confirmed, he would step in to stop them. Rather, he said he would ‘follow the law,’ while also investigating the impact of the cuts and ensuring every NIH researcher doing work that advances the health outcomes of Americans has the resources necessary.

In addition to addressing questions about the Trump cuts, Bhattacharya also laid out what he called a new, decentralized vision for future research at NIH that he said will be aimed at embracing dissenting ideas and transparency, while focusing on research topics that have the best chance at directly benefiting health outcomes of Americans. Bhattacharya added that he wants to rid the agency’s research portfolio of other ‘frivolous’ efforts that he says do little to directly benefit health outcomes.

‘I think fundamentally what matters is: Do scientists have an idea that advances the scientific field they’re in?’ Bhattacharya said last week during his confirmation testimony. ‘Do they have an idea that ends up addressing the health needs of Americans?’

Bhattacharya was notably a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document published in October 2020 by a group of scientists advocating for an alternative approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic. It argued largely against widespread lockdowns and promoted the efficacy of natural immunity to the virus for low-risk individuals, suggesting the vaccine may not be the best course of action for everyone.

Prior to his confirmation hearings, Bhattacharya, alongside several other scientists, including Trump’s pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, launched a new research journal focused on spurring scientific discourse and combating ‘gatekeeping’ in the medical research community. The journal, titled the Journal of the Academy of Public Health (JAPH), aims to spur scientific discourse by publishing peer reviews of prominent studies from other journals that do not make their peer reviews publicly available.