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The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok is warning Americans of potential ‘violent retaliatory attacks’ Friday after a group of 45 Uyghurs were deported by Thailand to China in a move Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned in the ‘strongest possible terms.’ 

Thai police and security officials said China had given assurances that the men — who had been in custody for more than a decade — wouldn’t face penalties or be harmed. They said at a news conference Thursday that all of them voluntarily returned after being shown a translation of a written Chinese agreement requesting their repatriation and declaring they would be allowed to live normally. 

‘Similar deportations have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past,’ the U.S. Embassy warned though on Friday. ‘Most notably, in the wake of a 2015 deportation of Uyghurs from Thailand, improvised explosive devices detonated at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok killing 20 people and injuring 125 others as this shrine is heavily visited by tourists from China.’ 

The Embassy is now encouraging Americans in Thailand to ‘exercise increased caution and vigilance, especially in crowded locations frequented by tourists due to the potential for increased collateral risk.’ 

Rubio slammed the deportations Thursday, describing it as a ‘forced return of at least 40 Uyghurs to China, where they lack due process rights and where Uyghurs have faced persecution, forced labor, and torture.’ 

‘As Thailand’s longstanding ally, we are alarmed by this action, which risks running afoul of its international obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,’ Rubio continued. ‘This act runs counter to the Thai people’s longstanding tradition of protection for the most vulnerable and is inconsistent with Thailand’s commitment to protect human rights.’ 

‘We urge all governments in countries where Uyghurs seek protection not to forcibly return ethnic Uyghurs to China,’ he added. 

‘We call on Chinese authorities to provide full access to verify the well-being of the returned Uyghurs on a regular basis,’ Rubio also said. ‘The Thai Government must insist and fully verify continuously that Chinese authorities protect the Uyghurs’ human rights.’ 

Thai lawmakers, activists and lawyers had raised the alarm Wednesday that the men were about to be deported, and after midnight, trucks with black sheets covering their windows left Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center, where they had been held, according to the Associated Press. 

The news agency reported that it appeared the truck drove them to Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport, where a China Southern Airlines plane was waiting, and then flew to the heartland of China’s Uyghur population in northwestern Xinjiang province. 

In a statement on Facebook, the Chinese Embassy acknowledged Thursday that 40 Chinese nationals who it said entered Thailand illegally were deported to Xinjiang by a chartered flight. 

It said the men had been detained in Thailand for more than 10 years because of ‘complicated international factors.’ 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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As the regular season winds down in women’s basketball, conference bragging rights and potential No. 1 seeds are still to be settled before conference tournaments start next week.

It remains to be seen if those teams can keep their seeding when the Women’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show airs March 16 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN).

Here are this weekend’s top games to watch:

No. 3 USC at No. 2 UCLA

Time/TV: Saturday, 9 p.m. ET, FOX

Part 2 in the Battle for Los Angeles has national seeding implications more than anything. The Trojans handed UCLA its only defeat, 71-60, on Feb. 13, and another victory over the Bruins would be a résumé booster no other team in the country has, regardless of what happens in the Big Ten tournament. Even though UCLA center Lauren Betts is a front-runner for Player of the Year honors, another vintage JuJu Watkins game could also change the conversation concerning that race.

No. 8 TCU at No. 18 Baylor

Time/TV: Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, FS1

First place and the regular-season conference title in the Big 12 are on the line as the Horned Frogs visit the Bears. TCU is led by the dynamic transfer duo of Hailey Van Lith (17.4 ppg, 5.5 apg) and Sedona Prince (17.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg) and will break a 15-year NCAA Tournament absence regardless of what happens the rest of the season. Baylor has been on a roll, winning nine straight since losing back-to-back games to UCLA and TCU. One of the Big 12’s deeper teams, the Bears have six players who average more than 10 points a game.

No. 14 Kentucky at No. 6 South Carolina

Time/TV: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN

When the Gamecocks are on defensively and can use that to create offense, there isn’t anyone in the nation beating them. While UConn exposed them in a blowout home loss, Dawn Staley’s crew got back to basics by blowing out Arkansas and Vanderbilt. Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore is playing at an all-conference level and will likely need to play the entire game (she plays an average of 36 minutes per game) and stay out of foul trouble to counter South Carolina’s blitz of quick guards and contributors off the bench.

No. 20 Alabama at No. 13 Oklahoma

Time/TV: Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, SECN+

Here is the good about Oklahoma: They can score on anyone, dominate teams on the boards, and share the ball better than anyone in college basketball. Now the bad: The Sooners foul too much and are entirely too careless with the ball, contributing to most of their six losses. Alabama is the best 3-point shooting team in the SEC, with six players hitting 35% or better from downtown, and will need to stretch the floor in order to contain a suddenly red-hot Raegan Beers, who has 76 points and 28 rebounds in her last three games for the Sooners.

Louisville at No. 4 Notre Dame

Time/TV: Sunday, noon ET, ESPN

NC State may have shown the blueprint to beating the Irish when it snapped their 19-game winning streak with a double overtime home win on Sunday. The Irish are the nation’s best 3-point shooting team and ranked fourth in field goal percentage, so the key for Louisville to have any chance is to make them take tough shots and keep them off the boards. The Cardinals didn’t do that in their first meeting and lost by 18 as Notre Dame, despite 23 turnovers, shot 55% and dominated on the boards and in the paint. 

No. 15 Duke at No. 24 Florida State

Time/TV: Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, ACC Network

A double-bye in the ACC Tournament is at stake in this one. For those who haven’t seen Florida State play, you are missing out. The Seminoles have the nation’s leading scorer in Ta’Niya Latson, and for a tough inside presence, Makayla Timpson (3.3 blocks per game) can erase any threat driving to the hoop. The Blue Devils have struggled lately, but got a big victory over rival North Carolina on Thursday. Against Florida State, Duke may need more from leading scorer Toby Fournier, a freshman from Canada, who rarely plays more than 25 minutes a game.

Princeton at Harvard

Time/TV: Friday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN+

While Columbia has the lead in the Ivy League standings, these two teams might be battling for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, with the loser hoping their NET rating will impress the committee to warrant their inclusion unless they go on to win their conference tournament. The Crimson, winners of five straight games, haven’t been to the dance since 2007, and the Tigers are the three-time defending league champions. The first team to score 50 might be at an advantage, as scoring will be at a premium in this matchup. Harvard leads the nation in scoring defense.

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INDIANAPOLIS – For nearly 24 hours, the main topic of conversation at Prime, the J.W. Marriott hotel bars and St. Elmo steakhouse hasn’t been a prospect or a veteran quarterback, although Abdul Carter’s health and Matthew Stafford’s potential landing spot have been newsy themes at this year’s combine. 

It’s one reporter confronting another at a Starbucks that doubles as a confluence of influence between executives, coaches, agents and media who frequent the brew station throughout the week.

On Wednesday, FOX and Bleacher Report NFL insider Jordan Schultz (who has also worked for ESPN and the Score) confronted NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport at the Starbucks located above the J.W. Marriott lobby. The situation escalated to the point Rapoport alerted NFL Security (since he is an employee of the league), according to NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk. 

Schultz did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY Sports. The NFL also confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the league’s security apparatus had been notified.

The spirited interaction first started going viral thanks to a post on social media from Barstool Sports personality “PFT Commenter” (real name Eric Sollenberger). It didn’t become physical, but the two were face-to-face by the end of the discussion.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Schultz briefly relayed his side of the story Wednesday to Pro Football Talk. 

“It really isn’t anything too much,” Schultz told Pro Football Talk via text message. “Ian Rapoport and I had a verbal confrontation. It lasted a little over a minute. Multiple agents and reporters were nearby. Rapoport was the one who called security shortly after, but it never escalated further.”

Rapoport, on Thursday, had a chance to set the record straight during an appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” 

“Last night when it all broke, everyone in the world texted me, wanting to know details,” Rapoport said. “And it was all out there. (Pro Football Talk) basically wrote the whole thing, so there’s not much to add. And then I woke up this morning, and everyone in the world had texted me.”

The backstory is such: Schultz reported Stafford, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback, and Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady had a meeting in Montana recently, with Brady courting him to play for the Raiders. Rapoport’s reporting on social media and the show he co-hosts, “The Insiders,” countered that Brady and Stafford had more of a casual run-in with one another in public rather than a formal meeting. 

Brady’s agent, Don Yee, told a different NFL Network reporter that Schultz’s report essentially amounted to ‘an Internet rumor.’

‘There’s no issue here,’ the NFL told the Las Vegas Review-Journal regarding a potential tampering violation. ‘The Rams gave the player and his agent permission to speak to the Raiders.’

Schultz was insistent he and Rapoport speak. Rapoport did not feel that was necessary. Then the biggest story of the combine was born – or brewed.

Upon inspection Thursday afternoon, there was no yellow caution tape on the Starbucks’ premises. Nor was there an outline of a body composed of plastic coffee stoppers.

The final layer of irony: Schutlz is the son of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

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A Florida judge said the U.S. Center for SafeSport “perpetuated a fraud” and intentionally withheld evidence in a criminal case brought at the encouragement of one of the center’s investigators.

In a ruling Tuesday related to the expunction of misdemeanor charges against a female water polo player, Seminole County judge John Woodard said SafeSport violated the woman’s due process rights by withholding evidence that would have cleared her. Even after prosecutors recognized there was no basis for the charges, SafeSport continued to stonewall, Woodard said.

“SafeSport acted in bad faith, intentionally and with malice,” Woodard said in his ruling, “and the court finds the evidence of fraud, collusion, pretense and similar wrongdoing to be clear, convincing, intentional and beyond doubt.”

In a statement, SafeSport said Woodard’s order lacked jurisdictional, factual or legal basis.

“This is a stunt designed to interfere in the Center’s ability to hold individuals accountable for sexual misconduct,” SafeSport said in a statement.

Following sexual abuse scandals in several sports, Congress created SafeSport as an independent body to handle abuse complaints in the Olympic movement. Almost since it opened in 2017, however, SafeSport has been criticized for its lengthy delays in resolving complaints and investigative and appeals processes that both sides of the process have deemed unfair and insensitive.

But Woodard’s rebuke is the most stunning criticism yet.

Kelsey McMullan, then 18 years old and a high school senior, went to SafeSport in February 2022 to report bullying by teammates. According to court records, after talking with the teammates, a SafeSport investigator encouraged police to open a sexual abuse case against McMullan.

McMullan was able to provide evidence refuting the accusations against her, including an acknowledgment by one of the teammates that what she’d told police was not true. The charges against her were dropped 15 months later.

But Woodard blasted SafeSport for not providing McMullan earlier with evidence it knew would clear her. He also was furious the center refused to cooperate when police and prosecutors decided to investigate the other women for potential falsification of a report.

“The exculpatory information is and was within the knowledge, custody and control of SafeSport,” Woodard wrote. “The exculpatory information is and was within a SafeSport file that was the subject of numerous court orders and properly issued subpoenas. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney Office and defense counsel went above and beyond any duty, and made every reasonable and good faith effort to obtain the exculpatory material and compliance by SafeSport to no avail.”

Woodard ordered the charges against McMullan erased, making it as if the case never happened. But Russell Prince, McMullan’s attorney, said nothing can erase the trauma McMullan suffered in fighting the charges.

“The Center is irreparably broken and serves neither claimants or respondents in a fundamentally fair and lawful manner,” he said. “These actions are consistent with a pattern of conduct that the Center employs on a regular basis. This time, they were finally held accountable according to commonly accepted standards of fairness and due process.”

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LSU is mourning the loss of freshman pole vaulter Dillon Reidenauer, one of two people killed in a car crash on campus on in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Wednesday night. She was 18.

‘LSU Athletics is heartbroken to share the tragic news of the passing of freshman track and field student-athlete Dillon Reidenauer in a traffic incident Wednesday evening in Baton Rouge,’ the university said in a statement shared with USA TODAY Sports. ‘Our thoughts and prayers are with Dillon’s family, friends and teammates, as well as with those impacted by the loss of another individual who died as a result of the incident.’

The incident happened Wednesday evening around 9:07 p.m. local time. Authorities say a Honda Civic was struck by a motorcycle while attempting to make a left turn, according to an incident report obtained by WVLA Baton Rouge. The motorcyclist, identified by police as 23-year-old Bodhi Linton, also died in the crash.

Reidenauer graduated from Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville, Louisiana in May 2024. A native of Abita Springs, Louisiana, Reidenauer finished second at the 2024 Louisiana High School Athletic Association State Championships with a clearance of 3.64 meters. She committed to LSU as one of the top pole vaulters in the state.

‘I’m so excited to announce that I will continue to pole vault for Louisiana State University next year,’ Reidenauer wrote on Instagram, days after her high school graduation. ‘I am so blessed and grateful to have a great support group and a wonderful coach who has taught me everything I know. I am so excited to be a part of the LSU track and field team next year! GEAUX TIGERS!’

LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said Reidenauer was ‘taken from us much too soon.’

“Everyone in our LSU Track & Field family is keeping Dillon’s loved ones in our thoughts and prayers, as well as those of the other individual lost in the incident. “We will do everything we can to make sure our student-athletes and staff have the resources they need to process the grief of this terrible loss. I would also like to thank Texas A&M for offering their support and compassion as we are on the road at College Station for the SEC Championships.”

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Five former defense secretaries issued a scathing letter on Thursday assailing President Donald Trump for firing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior officers. 

In an open letter published Thursday, former Defense Secretaries James Mattis, Leon Panetta, Lloyd Austin, Chuck Hagel, and William Perry urged Congress to hold immediate hearings on Trump’s recent firings of Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown and several other senior military leaders. 

They said senators should ‘refuse to confirm’ any new DOD nominations in response to the firings.

In the letter, they alleged that Trump’s actions undermined ‘our all-volunteer force and weaken our national security’ and they accused the president of trying to turn the apolitical U.S. military into an instrument of partisan politics and using firings, which extend to the top Army, Navy and Air Force lawyers, to do so.

All defense secretaries but one, James Mattis, served under Democratic administrations. 

Trump announced the firings late on Friday, but his administration has yet to clarify in any detail what caused the unprecedented shakeup, which also included the dismissal of the head of the Navy, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first female officer to lead a military service.

Air Force General C.Q. Brown was only the second Black officer to become Joint Chiefs chairman and he was less than halfway through his four-year term when he was let go.

‘Mr. Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military,’ they wrote. ‘We, like many Americans – including many troops – are therefore left to conclude that these leaders are being fired for purely partisan reasons.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment on the letter. 

The former defense secretaries called on Congress to hold hearings to ‘assess the national security implications’ of Trump’s dismissals. Republicans hold a majority in both chambers.

The letter cautioned that the actions at the Pentagon could deter Americans from choosing a life in the military, should their careers be judged through the lens of partisan politics. It could also have a chilling effect on speaking ‘truth to power,’ they cautioned.

‘We write to urge the U.S. Congress to hold Mr. Trump to account for these reckless actions and to exercise fully its Constitutional oversight responsibilities,’ they wrote.

Fox News’ Liz Friden and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, shared a message on X in which he declared, ‘Make Iraq Great Again!’

His post included a graphic featuring the Iraqi flag along with the letters ‘MIGA,’ and the phrase ‘MAKE IRAQ GREAT AGAIN.’ 

An X user wrote in response to Wilson’s post, ‘American first huh?’

‘Forget Iraq and worry about Americans,’ another account wrote when replying to the congressman.

Wilson has been speaking out on social media about various foreign countries, including Iraq and Iran.

Wilson asserts that Iran controls Iraq.

He has been using the phrase ‘Free Iraq from Iran.’

‘Iran runs Iraq’s government,’ as well as its ‘military,’  ‘judiciary,’ ‘police,’ and ‘banks,’ the U.S. lawmaker declared in a post. 

‘The great people of Iraq of all religions and ethnicities are the inheritors of an amazing civilization,’ he said in another post. ‘They deserve more than to be ruled by the terrorist regime in Iran. Biden abandoned the nonsectarian protest movement in Iraq. We must empower the Iraqi people to Make Iraq Great Again and Free Iraq from Iran.’

‘Defund Iraq,’ he declared in another post.

In another post Wilson advocated several policies, one of which is to ‘Cut all aid to Iraq as long as Iran runs Iraq.’

Wilson and some other GOP lawmakers are pushing a proposal for the creation of a $250 bill featuring President Donald Trump.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t backing down from seeking NATO membership for Ukraine despite the fact that President Donald Trump has said the Ukrainian leader ‘could forget about’ joining the military alliance. 

Still, Zelenskyy is all in on securing NATO membership for his country, and he said Sunday he would step down as president if it meant NATO adopted Ukraine. Zelenskyy reiterated his position Wednesday and told the BBC, ‘I want to find a NATO path or something similar.’ 

‘If we don’t get security guarantees, we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing,’ Zelenskyy said. 

Zelenskyy is slated to visit the White House on Friday, and Trump told reporters on Thursday that a peace negotiation to end the war between Ukraine and Russia is in the final stages. Even so, no deal is secured, and Trump hesitated to discuss plans regarding a peacekeeping force in the region until one was signed.

Although Trump said on Thursday he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will uphold his end of a peace deal, several experts claim Zelenskyy remains adamant about pushing for Ukraine to become a NATO member because it reduces the likelihood that Putin could resume hostilities, and it means that other security guarantees are more likely. 

Article 5 of the NATO treaty stipulates that if a member country is attacked, it will be considered an attack against all NATO members and requires other NATO countries to take action, including the use of armed forces. 

Peter Rough, a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute think tank, said that with backing from the West, Ukraine becomes bigger than Russia. 

‘Putin would have to think twice about restarting a war if he thinks the major Western powers are obligated to defend Ukraine,’ Rough said in a Thursday email to Fox News Digital. ‘Of course, bringing Ukraine into NATO would put American (and European) skin and credibility in the game. That explains Trump’s hesitation, even resistance to such a concept.’ 

Rough said Zelenskyy’s ‘fallback position’ if NATO membership isn’t possible is to secure support from Western troops to promote a ceasefire. For example, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Feb. 16 that the U.K. was ready to send troops to Ukraine if necessary to ensure peace between Ukraine and Russia.

‘If all else fails, then, Zelenskyy may have to settle for continued financing and military assistance,’ Rough said. ‘But he isn’t going to negotiate with himself, which is why he remains adamant about security guarantees in public.’

John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, said another conflict between Russia and Ukraine is likely and that the ‘hard truth’ is the negotiations from the Trump administration won’t ‘resolve the fundamental question at stake in this war.’

‘Putin’s goal isn’t just to grab some more territory in eastern Ukraine,’ Hardie said in an email to Fox News Digital. ‘He remains determined to make Ukraine itself into a vassal state and to rewrite the broader security order in Europe.’

As a result, Hardie said NATO membership for Ukraine provides the best option for preserving Ukraine’s safety against Russian aggression. Although that’s a no from Trump, Hardie said the U.S. does need to articulate just how much support it can offer for European troops who will provide a post-war security presence in the region. 

For example, Starmer told reporters on Feb. 17 that any reassurance force would require a ‘U.S. backstop because a U.S. security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.’ 

‘The Trump administration needs to provide Europe with clarity on what U.S. contribution it can expect,’ Hardie said. ‘Ukraine will also need a continued supply of military aid from the West, including the United States, though there are ways to reduce the burden on American taxpayers, such as the use of frozen Russian assets.’ 

 

Zelenskyy told reporters Wednesday he is prepared to broach ‘very important questions’ with Trump during their Friday visit, including whether the U.S. will continue to provide aid to Ukraine. Congress has appropriated $175 billion since 2022 for aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

To recoup some of these costs, Trump said Zelenskyy is expected to sign a rare-earth minerals deal that will allow the U.S. and Ukraine to partner on developing resources like oil and gas.

The agreement will permit the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals and will also help Ukraine rebuild from the war, Trump said. 

‘We’re going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides, because it’s really going to get us into that country,’ Trump told reporters Thursday. ‘We’ll have a lot of people working there and so, in that sense, it’s very good.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday is set to meet with President Donald Trump for the first time since he re-entered the White House to sign what could be a key minerals deal to help end Russia’s war. 

Though some details of the agreement have emerged since the meeting was announced this week, the exact terms remain unclear, and European leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, are waiting to see what could come out of this agreement, particularly when it comes to security demands.

Trump on Wednesday told reporters that Zelenskyy could ‘forget about’ any ambitions to join NATO, but the Ukrainian president also said that day that he needs security guarantees, otherwise ‘we won’t have a ceasefire, nothing will work, nothing.’

‘I want to find a NATO path or something similar,’ Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian leadership has long sought NATO membership, and in 2008 at the Bucharest Summit the alliance agreed Ukraine would eventually become a member of NATO, a defense partnership Zelenskyy has since argued is the best defense against a future Russian invasion.

Trump told reporters that by entering into a minerals deal with Washington, Kyiv will be granted ‘automatic security’ guarantees by the mere presence of American extractors on Ukrainian soil.

‘Nobody’s going to be messing around with our people when we’re there,’ Trump said. ‘We’ll be there in that way.’

But it remains unclear if this ‘guarantee’ will be enough to comfort Zelenskyy, and according to former CIA Moscow Station Chief Dan Hoffman, there are too many outstanding factors to determine whether Putin would be deterred, including Kyiv’s rearmament capabilities and whether NATO nations would agree to send in troops to Ukraine. 

‘As far as deterring Putin from attacking again [and] as far as Ukraine’s relationship with the United States, especially with this administration, you want the U.S. to have economic skin in the game,’ Hoffman said. ‘That’s how you walk down that path of closer bilateral relationship, and one where it’s certainly in our interest … for [Ukraine] to be an independent, sovereign nation.’

Trump said on Wednesday that European allies, including the U.K. and France, will be watching U.S. negotiations with Ukraine and Russia ‘very closely.’

‘They volunteered to put so-called peacekeepers on the site. And I think that’s a good thing,’ he added.

In response to questions by Fox News Digital over the European Union’s position on a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, top diplomat for the EU, Kaja Kallas, said the agreement could prove positive for Kyiv so long as it puts Ukraine in a position of strength when it comes to countering Russia at the negotiating table.

‘[The] U.S. also has a very clear self-interest in play, and that hopefully makes U.S. support Ukraine more, because economic ties are making this stronger,’ she said. ‘And then it all works.’

‘Right now, it is a very important message that we send that we are behind Ukraine, to make them strong enough to be able to say no to a bad deal,’ she added. 

But it’s not just European allies watching the dealings unfold; Putin is also keeping a close eye on a U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal.

Putin’s representatives reportedly proposed a similar deal to the Trump administration while meeting in Saudi Arabia last week, and they said a deal could be brokered to give the U.S. access to minerals in Ukrainian regions now occupied by invading Russian forces, including Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

The Trump administration has reportedly not ruled out an economic deal with Moscow. 

Hoffman said it is in Zelenskyy’s strategic interest to make a deal with Trump, as it would hamper Putin’s strategic goals. 

‘[Putin] doesn’t want Ukraine to have commercial relationships with Europe and the United States,’ he said. ‘That was part of why he wanted to topple the central government in Kyiv and then install a puppet regime that was beholden to Russia.

‘The more links Ukraine has to the West … commercial links, diplomatic and strategic military links … it’s not good for Putin,’ Hoffman added.

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European leaders are weary of President Donald Trump’s push to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, with the European Union’s top diplomat saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘doesn’t really want peace.’

Trump on Thursday said his administration had been in ‘very good talks with Russia,’ though he did not expand on whether any tangible progress in ending Russia’s war in Ukraine had begun.

Some NATO allies, as well as the U.S.’s decades-old partners, are increasingly frustrated with President Trump’s controversial comments about Ukraine in what has been perceived as a cost of Washington bettering ties with Moscow.

‘[The] U.S. is talking to Russia, and you have to establish contacts,’ EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview. ‘But right now, Russia doesn’t really want peace. 

‘[Russia] … wants us to think that they can wait us out and that time is on their side, but it’s not really so,’ she continued. ‘If we increase the pressure, economic pressure on them, but also political pressure, if we support Ukraine so that they would be stronger on the battlefield, then they would also be stronger behind the negotiation table.’

The warning comes as Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to secure a minerals deal on Friday in what some hope could eventually help ceasefire discussions.

Trump has championed his ability to re-enter talks with Russia and his successful demands that NATO nations share more of the economic burden in securing Ukraine. 

NATO allies did drastically ramp up their defense spending after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but the stark reversal of U.S. policy in Ukraine between the Trump and Biden administrations has sent some European nations reeling.

While some allies, like the U.K., are looking to prove to Trump that Washington and London have more shared values than not, other leaders, like the incoming chancellor of Germany, are looking to distance themselves from the U.S., a position Berlin has not taken since the fall of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II.

Kallas, in speaking with Fox News Digital, also looked to remind the Trump administration of the important value of the NATO alliance and emphasized the only time Article 5 has been called in the 76 years since the alliance was formed was after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

‘In terms of … international security, we need to work together with the Americans, who have been our allies for a very, very long time,’ she said. ‘And we have been there for America.’

Kallas, who served as the first female prime minister of Estonia, pointed to the sacrifices that NATO troops made in aiding the U.S. fight in the War on Terror.

‘We, as Estonia, lost as many soldiers per capita as the United States,’ she said. ‘We were there for you when you asked for help. 

‘That’s why it’s painful to hear messages that, you know, we don’t care about our European allies. It should work both ways,’ Kallas added. 

The EU chief diplomat has repeatedly urged the U.S. and European nations not to let Putin succeed in dividing the West over Ukraine. 

Ultimately, she argued that the U.S. needs to remain a steadfast partner with Europe in deterring Russian aggression because it is not only Putin that poses an active threat to the collective alliance.

Kallas visited Washington this week to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and lawmakers about vital issues that affect the EU-U.S. security partnership, though her meeting with Rubio was canceled.

The State Department did not confirm why the meeting was canceled without being rescheduled during her stay in Washington, though Kallas said that after positive discussions with Rubio at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, she if confident communication will remain ongoing.

‘There’s a lot to discuss, from Ukraine to the Middle East, also what is happening in Africa, Iran – where we have definitely mutual interest to cooperate – and not to mention China as well,’ Kallas said.  ‘There are a lot of topics that we can do [work] together with our transatlantic partners.’

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