Ukraine’s Zelenskyy: Russia trying ‘to play’ game with Trump, stall peace talks
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is trying “to play with the president of the United States” and stalling U.S.-brokered efforts to end the war.
In an interview with Fox News in Kyiv, Zelenskyy pushed back on suggestions from President Trump that Ukraine is holding up the peace process.
“We always supported peace,” Zelenskyy said. “When you are at your home, in your house, on your territory, in your city, of course you want to stop it.”
Instead, Zelenskyy charged that Russia is attempting to drag out discussions to avoid making concessions.
“They try to play with the president of the United States,” he said.
Asked by Fox News if he thinks Vladimir Putin is playing a game, Zelenskyy replied, “Yeah, I think so. Yeah. He needs to postpone any kind of negotiations.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to freeze the conflict along its current lines, proposing a ceasefire followed by negotiations. But he said he would not accept a Russian demand for Ukraine to surrender territory the Russian army has not been able to capture in four years of fighting.
Fox News spoke with Zelenskyy at his offices in Kyiv, a heavily guarded complex where the lights are dimmed and sandbags dot the corridors. Among the grand marble staircases and high ceilings, walls are decorated with giant portraits of soldiers, standing some 12 feet tall.
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Speaking one day after the conflict entered its fifth year, Zelenskyy accepted that some in Ukraine are weary of war. But he said peace proposals so far are heavily tilted toward Russia’s demands.
“Everybody wants peace, and a lot of people are tired,” Zelenskyy said. “But believe me, not everybody is ready … to eat what Putin cooked for us.”
The Ukrainian leader urged President Trump to visit his country, saying, “He will see such a result of the attacks. And he will see how the nation really lives. Not just surviving.”
Despite massive losses, Zelenskyy hailed Ukraine’s fight.
“Russia couldn’t and can’t occupy us. They didn’t win, and for us, it’s a victory. We defended our independence and freedom,” he said.
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“They didn’t change the country. They didn’t change our flag.
“I’m sure that Russia recognized — really recognizes now — that it was a big mistake.”
Iran’s supreme leader runs ‘state within a state’ through secret 4,000-person network, report says
FIRST ON FOX: A new report detailing the inner workings of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office says the Islamic Republic’s real command structure lies not in Iran’s visible government, but in a shadow apparatus designed to preserve regime control even if the supreme leader himself disappears from public view.
The report, Unmasking the Bayt: Inside the Supreme Leader’s Office, published by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and authored by Saeid Golkar and Kasra Aarabi, describes the Bayt, the Office of the Supreme Leader, as a vast institutional network embedded across Iran’s military, economy, religious institutions and state bureaucracy.
“It is the hidden nerve center of the regime in Iran… it operates as a state within a state,” Aarabi said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
According to Aarabi, the system allows Khamenei to oversee and influence decision-making at every level of the Islamic Republic, including nuclear policy, war planning and internal security.
“This is what gives Khamenei absolute control. It’s not the visible state, this is the invisible state,” he said.
The report estimates roughly 4,000 people operate inside the Bayt’s core structure, with tens of thousands more working through affiliated institutions across the country.
“There’s around 4,000 close employees… think of them as commissars… the real policymakers,” Aarabi said. “Beyond that, the Bayt’s umbrella has 40,000 individuals working for it… entrenched at every single layer of policy, every single state entity.”
The report maps a tightly controlled inner circle at the top of the Bayt, including Khamenei’s sons, particularly Mojtaba Khamenei, who is described as operating like a “mini-supreme leader” within his father’s office.
It details how the structure reaches directly into Iran’s military chain of command, with senior promotions requiring approval from the Supreme Leader’s office and parallel counterintelligence bodies monitoring loyalty across the armed forces. The Bayt, the report says, also plays a decisive role in nuclear negotiations and wartime decision-making, ensuring ultimate authority remains concentrated around the supreme leader.
The network, Aarabi said, effectively duplicates state ministries inside Khamenei’s office, allowing direct oversight and ideological enforcement across government agencies, universities and cultural institutions.
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The report also outlines how the Bayt sustains regime durability through control of the economy, religious institutions and the education system. Networks of foundations and conglomerates tied to the supreme leader oversee major sectors of Iran’s economy, while clerical institutions, universities and cultural bodies are monitored by embedded representatives tasked with enforcing ideological compliance and suppressing dissent.
“Think of the Bayt as the nucleus of the core power of the regime,” Aarabi said.
The findings come amid renewed speculation about Khamenei’s health and reduced public visibility, as well as growing regional tensions and the possibility of military confrontation involving Iran.
Aarabi pushed back on suggestions that Khamenei’s absence from public appearances signals weakening authority or internal fragmentation.
“We saw this during the 12-day war… even if he is hiding in a bunker, he is in full control. The Bayt has been tightening Khamenei’s grip on power,” he said.
The structure, he argued, was deliberately built to function even without the supreme leader physically present.
“Even if he is eliminated, the Bayt as an institution enables the supreme leader to function,” Aarabi said. “Think of the supreme leader as an institution rather than just a single individual.”
The report places the Bayt at the top of Iran’s power hierarchy, above the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the formal government.
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“The Bayt is the core apparatus… the strategic policymaking body that is driving the ballistic missile program, the nuclear program, [and] regional destabilization,” Aarabi said.
The implications, he added, are significant for policymakers in Washington and across the region, particularly as the U.S. weighs options for confronting Iran’s nuclear program and regional activities.
“Eliminating Khamenei in isolation on its own is not enough… you have to dismantle this extensive apparatus that he has created,” Aarabi said.
Instead, any effort to weaken the regime would require targeting the broader institutional structure surrounding the supreme leader, not just the individual at its center.
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“It involves a comprehensive strategy… cyber operations, sanctions, [and] a military component,” he said. “For any meaningful change in Iran… you have to go after the core nucleus of power within the Islamic regime, and that is the Bayt.”
He said on reports of Khamenei being a target that, “the elimination of Khamenei alone is not enough… dismantling the extensive apparatus of the Bayt is essential,” he added.
Trump says Iran pursues ‘sinister ambitions,’ hasn’t told US that Tehran ‘will never have a nuclear weapon’
President Donald Trump warned in his State of the Union address that Iran has “sinister ambitions” with its nuclear program and that the U.S. has not yet heard from Tehran that it will “never have a nuclear weapon.”
The remarks come as the U.S. and Iran are gearing up for another round of negotiations on Thursday.
“After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program and, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over. We wiped it out, and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” Trump said Tuesday, referencing the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last summer.
“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’” Trump added. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen.”
“For decades it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate,” Trump also said during his speech. “They’ve killed and maimed thousands of American service members and hundreds of thousands and even millions of people with what’s called roadside bombs. They were the kings of the roadside bomb. And we took out [Iranian Gen. Qassim] Soleimani. I did that during my first term. Had a huge impact.He was the father of the roadside bomb.”
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“And just over the last couple of months with the protests, they’ve killed, at least, it looks like 32,000 protesters in their own country. They shot them and hung them. We stopped them from hanging a lot of them, with the threat of serious violence. But this is some terrible people. They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” Trump said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said following Trump’s address that, “No one should be fooled by these prominent untruths.”
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“Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,’” Baghaei claimed on X.
Trump’s former Ukraine envoy criticizes US abstention on UN peace vote
President Donald Trump’s former Ukraine envoy on Tuesday criticized the United States for abstaining from a United Nations vote calling for a lasting peace in Ukraine, questioning whether four years of war and civilian suffering were not “enough.”
“A UN vote on a lasting peace in Ukraine and we abstained. Go figure,” Keith Kellogg wrote on X. “The Russian Federation was against the proclamation. Is not four years of war enough? Is not missing children, shelling of cities and the killing of innocents enough? It is not a business deal — it is war.”
Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, left his role in the White House at the end of last year.
The U.N. General Assembly adopted the resolution titled, “Support for lasting peace in Ukraine,” that demands an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
The measure passed 107-12, with 51 countries abstaining, including the United States, while Russia, Belarus and Iran voted against it.
The resolution also calls for an exchange of prisoners of war and the return of civilians, including children, who were forcibly transferred or deported.
The White House on Wednesday referred Fox News Digital to a statement from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations following the vote.
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Ambassador Tammy Bruce, U.S. deputy representative to the United Nations, defended the abstention, saying Washington supports ending the war but objected to certain language in the resolution.
“The United States welcomes, of course, the call for an immediate ceasefire. As we’ve said, this resolution also includes language that is likely to distract from ongoing negotiations, rather than support discussion of the full range of diplomatic avenues that may pave the way to that durable peace,” Bruce said. “For this reason, the United States called for a vote on the two paragraphs and ultimately chose to abstain on the resolution.”
“What is needed now to end the war is political will. We believe we are closer to a deal than at any point since this war began. Let this be the last anniversary of an ongoing war that has continued for far too long and at far too great a cost,” she added. “Let’s end it now.”
Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said during an event hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and Yalta European Strategy that Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, was expected to travel to Geneva on Thursday for talks with him and Jared Kushner.
The discussions are part of ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement to end the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Trump admin ramps up ‘maximum pressure’ Iran sanctions ahead of new round of nuclear talks
President Donald Trump‘s administration expanded sanctions against Iran ahead of another round of nuclear talks, ramping up the U.S. “maximum pressure” policy for Tehran.
Representatives of the U.S. and Iran are slated to meet once again in Geneva this week as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise. The Treasury Department’s new sanctions target Iran’s shadow fleet as well as networks supplying ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.
The sanctions specifically hit over 30 individuals, entities and vessels that are involved in Iran’s illicit behavior. That ranges from the transport of Iranian petroleum to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Ministry of Defense’s supply lines for building advanced missiles and drones.
“Iran exploits financial systems to sell illicit oil, launder the proceeds, procure components for its nuclear and conventional weapons programs, and support its terrorist proxies,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s strong leadership, Treasury will continue to put maximum pressure on Iran to target the regime’s weapons capabilities and support for terrorism, which it has prioritized over the lives of the Iranian people.”
The sanctions hit at least 12 vessels allegedly involved in Iran’s shadow fleet, along with nine companies associated with the same. The new sanctions also name four individuals for “being owned or controlled by” to Qods Aviation Industries, a company the U.S. says “designs and manufactures light and ultra‑light UAVs” and supplies them to Iran and its allies, including Russia and Venezuela.
The new sanctions come after Iran lashed out at the U.S. after Trump put the regime on notice in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, delivering a forceful warning about Tehran’s ambitions.
Speaking amid the largest deployment of U.S. aircraft and warships to the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War buildup, Trump said he wanted to resolve tensions with Iran through diplomacy while accusing Tehran of expanding its missile capabilities.
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“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas,” he said. “And they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
Trump argued that previous U.S. action, including the “Operation Midnight Hammer” strike in June, had severely degraded Iran’s capabilities but warned the threat had not disappeared.
“We wiped it out and they want to start all over again and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions,” he said.
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Tehran sharply rejected Trump’s claims about its missile and nuclear programs. According to The Associated Press, Iranian officials characterized U.S. statements as propaganda while stopping short of closing the door on diplomacy ahead of the Geneva talks.
The Times of India reported that Iranian officials warned any U.S. military strike, even a “limited” one, would be treated as aggression and met with a decisive response.
Ukraine to meet Trump envoys ahead of high-stakes Geneva talks with Russia as war enters fifth year
Representatives from Ukraine and the U.S. are reportedly set to meet ahead of high-stakes trilateral talks in Geneva that will include Russian envoys. The report about the meeting comes just after the Russia-Ukraine war entered its fifth year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters about the Thursday U.S.-Ukraine meeting, The Associated Press reported. The Ukrainian leader reportedly said that Thursday’s meeting would focus on the possibility of post-war recovery for Ukraine as well as preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Russia, according to the AP.
The meeting is expected to involve Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to the AP, which cited Zelenskyy. Additionally, Umerov’s press secretary Diana Davytian told the AP that the meeting would take place in Geneva. The outlet noted that the Swiss city is also expected to be the site of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations on the same day as the trilateral talks.
Zelenskyy said that he had tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange, the AP reported. He added that Ukraine would like the talks with Russia to take place next week.
The Trump administration’s push to end the years-long war has brought Russian and Ukrainian envoys to the table in both Abu Dhabi and Geneva, though the meetings have yet to produce a breakthrough for peace.
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Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that he had met with Zelenskyy and discussed “Ukraine’s security and deepening defense and economic partnerships.”
“President Trump wants a solution that ends the bloodshed once and for all,” Rubio wrote.
Additionally, last week, Zelenskyy said that he spoke with Witkoff and Kushner ahead of the trilateral meetings in Geneva, which he said the Ukrainian government expects to be “truly productive.”
“We also discussed some developments following the meetings in Abu Dhabi. Not everything can be shared over the phone, and our negotiating team will present Ukraine’s position next week. I also spoke about our meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. We greatly appreciate that America consistently maintains a constructive approach and is ready to assist in protecting lives,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I thank President Trump, his team, and the people of the United States for their support.”
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On Tuesday, which was the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy stood firm, saying that Putin had not defeated Ukraine nor broken the country’s spirit. The statement came as Ukrainian forces made the biggest gains since 2024, according to the AP, which cited the Institute for the Study of War. The institute noted that Ukranian forces have pushed back on Russia’s army at points along the front line in eastern areas of the country.
The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.