Von der Leyen rebukes Trump over suggestions US could influence European elections – Europe live

European Commission president says ‘sovereignty’ of Europe’s voters must be protectedPeter Ricketts, a former chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and UK national security adviser, shared some of Zelenskyy’s concern about the US proposal to form a “free economic zone” in Donbas (10:20).In a series of posts on X, he said:“The Ukrainians are right to be very wary of a plan that would mean them pulling back to create a ‘free zone’ in the part of the Donbas Russia has failed to occupy. The US might pledge to ensure that this w’d be demilitarised. But what would any ‘guarantee’ be worth in reality?Very little in my view. Once the issue was out of the headlines, US attention would move elsewhere. Putin would infiltrate his forces (remember Crimea?), create incidents as pretexts to move in to ‘protect Russian speakers’. Before long they would have occupied the whole area and the US would not lift a finger. Continue reading...