Putin says not opposed to Europe involvement in Ukraine talks
In a televised interview on Monday, Putin welcomed the Europeans to the talks, adding that other countries also have the right to take part.
“I see nothing wrong with this”, Putin said, when asked what he thought of European countries insisting on a role in talks on Ukraine.
“Well, probably no one can demand anything here. Especially not from Russia,” he added.
Putin said Russia respects the views of its friends from the BRICS, a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and other emerging economies including Iran.
The Russian president underlined that it was the Europeans themselves that rejected peace talks with Moscow, wanting Ukraine to win on the battlefield.
“If they want to come back, they”re welcome,” he said.
And “in this case, of course, we are not rejecting the participation of our European countries”.
“But their participation in the talks process is in demand,” he added.
He criticized European countries” reaction to a meeting last week between Russian and US officials in Riyadh as “emotional”.
Putin said the meeting, which was held in the absence of Ukrainian officials, was only part of a process of improving the level of trust between Moscow and Washington.
He underlined that they touched on issues related to the Ukrainian crisis, but nothing was discussed in essence.
Putin agreed with US President Donald Trump on several points but said European countries could also play a role in ending the fighting.
When asked about Europe”s reaction to Trump”s comments on the Ukrainian president, Putin said Volodymyr Zelensky is becoming a toxic figure among the armed forces for giving ridiculous orders, and also in society as a whole.
The US president had called Zelensky a dictator, saying that he was highly unpopular and illegitimate.
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump wrote on his social media network Truth Social, raising concerns among European allies that his approach to resolving the conflict may favor Moscow.
Zelensky”s five-year term was set to end in May 2024, but due to the martial law enacted in February 2022 following the war, elections cannot take place.
Despite disagreements within his own party, Trump continues to push for a peace deal that has unsettled both European leaders and US allies, reinforcing concerns over his shifting foreign policy approach.
Russia has captured around 20 percent of Ukraine and continues to steadily gain territory in the east, stressing that its “special military operation” is a response to the existential threat posed by Kiev’s pursuit of NATO membership, while Ukraine and the West label Russia’s actions as an imperialist land grab.
Zelensky has suggested granting US companies the right to extract valuable minerals from Ukraine in exchange for US security guarantees, rejecting a previous US proposal that would have given Washington 50 percent of Ukraine”s critical minerals, including lithium.
He stressed that the deal was too focused on US interests, emphasizing that he could not “sell” his country.
Trump, for his part, claimed that Ukraine had “more or less” agreed to the proposal and criticized US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s treatment in Kiev, expressing his intent to revive the minerals deal.
Source: Marzieh Rahmani
Iran, Bahrain top diplomats dismiss relocation of Gazans
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and his Bahraini counterpart Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani held a meeting on the sidelines of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council and the 2025 session of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Monday.
The foreign minister of Iran warned against the serious threat posed by the Israeli regime’s policy of expansionism and occupation against Palestine and the other regional countries.
Araqchi also called for concerted efforts by the regional and Muslim countries to counter the Zionist regime’s genocidal crimes in Palestine.
He also described an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as a good opportunity for united action against the colonial plot for the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza.
For his part, the Bahraini foreign minister expressed his country’s fierce opposition to the displacement of people from Gaza.
Nearly all regional countries have opposed US President Donald Trump’s proposal of relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, such as Jordan and Egypt.
Despite the backlash, Trump has insisted that Egypt and Jordan will eventually agree to his demands of displacing Gaza’s population.
Rights groups warn that forced displacement may constitute a crime against humanity under international law.
Source: Marzieh Rahmani
Shocking details of massacre of 90 civilians by Israel
The Israeli army attacked the Juha family’s home in the eastern parts of Gaza City shortly after the first truce ended in early December 2023 without warning or military necessity, killing about 90 civilians – including 71 women and children – and injured dozens more, the Euro-Med Monitor reported on Monday.
This was one of the most horrifying massacres carried out by Israel during its genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The investigation found that the Israeli military assault included an attack on the Juha family building located in the densely populated Sha’af area, which, along with the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, was a focus of the offensive.
Israeli warplanes bombarded the Juha family’s home in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City on the morning of December 6, 2023.
The bombardment completely destroyed the house – a compound consisting of two adjacent buildings, killing all of its occupants.
At least 117 people – including several relatives who had been forcibly relocated from the Zeitoun neighborhood – were living in the building at the time of the attack, with women, children, and the elderly comprising the majority, according to the Euro-Med Monitor.
The bombing killed most occupants. Some were dragged out from under the debris, and others were thrown outside by the force of the explosion.
At least 17 people suffered burns, wounds, and fractures. Some of them got their limb amputated.
The explosion was so powerful that it ripped apart the bodies of many victims, leaving their remains lying across the street and even on the roofs of buildings close by.
Approximately 56 people were recovered from beneath the debris. More than 34 bodies remain buried beneath the rubble.
The Euro-Med Monitor team conducted multiple field surveys of the main site. The targeting of the Juha family was a grave violation of international humanitarian law, constituting various war crimes against civilians and civilian property.
The team described these actions as fully-fledged crimes against humanity but also as part of a large-scale, organized genocidal assault on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023.
The report highlights that the targeting of the Juha family home is emblematic of a broader pattern of a deliberate strategy to target Palestinian civilians and infrastructure. This pattern includes the partial or complete destruction of 436,000 homes (roughly 92% of the homes in the Gaza Strip) and the killing of more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of whom were inside their homes.
Liali Raid Zaki Juha, 14, a survivor of the massacre who was pulled from under the rubble, told the Euro-Med Monitor team: “I was talking with my uncle’s family when, suddenly, I couldn’t feel anything and found myself buried under the rubble, surrounded by a raging fire.”
“The fire was so intense that my uncle’s family melted right before me, and there was no one to rescue us. My uncle’s family kept screaming for help—‘Get us out, Dad, get us out!’—with my uncle replying that he couldn’t,” she said.
“The ceiling was collapsing on us, and they were only able to dig a small hole to reach us. They began smashing through with a heavy hammer to pull us from under the rubble, and after a lot of struggle, they managed to do it.”
The investigation called the International Criminal Court to examine all of Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip, including the murder of the Juha family.
Source: Marzieh Rahmani