World

WASHINGTON — Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that his relations with the United States can still be repaired, after President Donald Trump shouted at him in an angry White House meltdown accusing the Ukrainian leader of refusing to make peace with Russia.

"Of course," Zelensky said when asked in a Fox News interview if the relationship with Trump could be salvaged.

US-Ukrainian ties are about "more than two presidents," he said, adding that Ukraine badly needs Washington's help in the fight against Russia's far bigger and better-armed military.

"It will be difficult without your support," Zelensky said on Fox, Trump’s favourite news channel.

Zelensky's olive branch came hours after the extraordinary Oval Office scene where the years-long US policy of massive support for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion collapsed in a shouting match.

The row saw European leaders scramble to voice support for Ukraine after Zelensky was made to leave the White House early and without signing a minerals-sharing deal seen as vital to an eventual US-brokered truce.

During the clash, played out in front of US and international media, Trump and Vice President JD Vance shouted at Zelensky, accusing him of not being "thankful" and refusing to accept their proposed truce terms.

"You don't have the cards right now," Trump said. "You're either going to make a deal or we’re out, or if we're out, you'll fight it out and I don't think it's going to be pretty."

Zelensky departed shortly after, with Trump posting on social media that "he can come back when he is ready for peace."

"They were asked to leave the room. Then they had to be asked to leave the building," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had been in the Oval Office for the row, told Fox News of the Ukrainians.

The president told journalists later Friday that Zelensky was "overplaying his hand" and should agree to end fighting "immediately."

Zelensky, however, refused to apologize, telling Fox News, "I'm not sure that we did something bad." He did, however, say he wished the exchange had not taken place in front of reporters.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later on CNN called for Zelensky to "apologise for wasting our time."

'Not alone'

US allies in Europe,  already worried that Trump will force Ukraine to effectively hand victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin, rushed to back Zelensky.

"You are not alone," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, fresh off his own visit to the White House, said he had spoken to both Trump and Zelensky by phone following the clash and vowed "unwavering support" for Kyiv.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for a summit "without delay" between the United States, Europe and allies on Ukraine.

Trump and Vance are "doing Putin's dirty work," top US Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted.

But Russia was delighted.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev called Zelensky an "insolent pig" who had received "a proper slap down in the Oval Office."

Trump's Republican Party echoed the Russians in blaming Zelensky.

Ukraine appeared united behind Zelensky, with its army chief vowing to stand with him while the foreign minister praised his "bravery."

"He did what he must," 26-year-old Valentyn Burianov told AFP in Kyiv, echoing others in the streets of the Ukrainian capital.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, suffered a breathing "crisis" on Friday which caused him to vomit, but he was given air and responded well, the Vatican said.

The 88-year-old, who has spent the past two weeks at Rome's Gemelli hospital, "presented an isolated crisis of bronchospasm which... led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory picture", it said in a statement.

"The Holy Father promptly underwent bronchoaspiration and began non-invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response on gas exchange," it said.

Francis "remained alert and oriented at all times, cooperating with the therapeutic manoeuvres," it added.
The pope was hospitalised on February 14 for breathing difficulties but his condition deteriorated into pneumonia in both lungs, sparking widespread alarm.

He suffered a breathing attack at the weekend, but since then appeared to have been getting slightly better, with the Vatican releasing more optimistic medical updates.

A Vatican source went so far Friday as to say Francis's condition was not currently critical following incremental improvements in his condition.

But the Vatican has not yet modified the pope's prognosis of "reserved", which means doctors will not predict changes in his health.

Medical experts have warned that Francis's age and the chronic respiratory disease from which he suffers mean a sustained recovery could take time.

And Friday's bulletin from the Vatican stressed once again that his "prognosis remains reserved".

This hospital stay is Francis's longest since he was elected pope in 2013.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Friday after his angry Oval Office argument with Volodymr Zelensky that the Ukrainian leader is uninterested in peace so long as he has US support in the war with Russia.

"I have determined that President Zelensky is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added: "He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace."

Trump and Zelensky openly argued in the White House on Friday as they clashed on the need for compromising with what the Ukrainian president called Russia's "killer" leader.

Trump berated Zelensky as they sat in the Oval Office, telling him to be more "thankful" and saying, "You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel."

And he told the Ukrainian president that he either "make a deal" with Russia "or we're out."

US Vice President JD Vance, sitting nearby, also attacked Zelensky, calling him "disrespectful."

Zelensky appeared to try to speak but was cut off.

The extraordinary outburst came after Trump said Ukraine will have to make "compromises" in a truce with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor three years ago.

"You can't do any deals without compromises. So certainly he's going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won't be as big as some people think," Trump said.

But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said there should be "no compromises with a killer on our territory."

"Crazy Russians," he said, deported Ukrainian children and committed war crimes during their three-year invasion of his country.

Trump lashed out at Zelensky, who he said was "not acting at all thankful" and not "nice."

"You're gambling with the lives of millions of people," Trump said. "You're gambling with World War Three, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country -- this country."

The dramatic public breakdown in the long-tense relationship between Zelensky and Trump came after their meeting -- in front of a large group of journalists -- appeared to get off to a friendlier start.

Zelensky had said, "I think President Trump is on our side."

He said that he would be speaking to the US president about the "crucial" need for a so-called US security "backstop" to any European deployments of peacekeepers monitoring an eventual truce.

"This is crucial, this is what we want to speak about, this is very important," he said.

Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies with his abrupt U-turn in US policy, ending what had been full-throated support for Ukraine's attempt to defeat the Russian invasion and casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky.

Trump said in the Oval Office that he had "spoken on numerous occasions" to Putin -- more than has been publicly reported beyond the lengthy call between the two leaders earlier this February.

Trump had told Zelensky that a truce is "fairly close."

He also said that a deal he was set to sign with Zelensky allowing US exploitation of Ukraine's natural resources would be "very fair."

The resources deal is intended to give the United States access to rare-earth and other critical minerals as part of an overall plan to help Ukraine recover after a truce.

Zelensky told Trump that he should visit his embattled nation. "You have to come and to look."

KINSHASA — International courts have failed to stop three decades of atrocities in conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, showing a special tribunal is needed, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor said Wednesday.

The eastern DRC, scene of decades of relentless conflict, has been plunged into fresh turmoil as fighters from the M23 group backed by Rwanda seize swathes of territory in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

In an interview with AFP during a visit to Kinshasa, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan admitted the international justice system's failure to stem the gruesome atrocities that have accompanied decades of conflict in the region, and said he was "extremely concerned by the escalation of violence".

The ICC, which has convicted three people of atrocities in eastern DRC and is currently investigating further crimes in the region, is "focusing on the awful accounts that are coming from the east", he said.

He gave his backing to a proposal from the government in Kinshasa to create a special tribunal for the DRC, which is set to be discussed in April at an international conference in the capital.

Such a body is "absolutely" needed, he said.

'Several different conflicts'

Despite the ICC's efforts to address the situation in the DRC, "cycles of violence have continued", Khan told AFP.

"We can't just scratch the surface. It requires a more holistic approach. I think it requires a better-resourced, credible mandate dealing with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"What we're looking at is not just accountability in specific cases -- that's the basic responsibility -- but one is trying to have a wider effect, a more profound effect that stops these cycles of violence that have bedevilled this extraordinary, diverse and rich land," he added.

"That requires more justice and more consistently applied justice in all parts of the country."

Khan underlined the complexity of coming to grips with the decades of violence that have racked the sprawling country.

"There's not only one armed group. There's many. It's not only one part of the country. There's several different conflicts going on and I think we need to address it holistically," he said.

 'International institutions under siege'

The format of a special tribunal would be defined in April, but it "will be on the soil of the DRC" and "be DRC-owned", Khan said, mentioning the possibility of a "hybrid" court including international and local judges, as has been tried in Colombia and the Central African Republic.

"We are going to do our best to make sure that justice is not something we say before the television cameras. It's something that is felt by the people that are in terror," he said.

His comments came at a time when the ICC and other international institutions face a crisis of confidence and sharp criticism, notably from the United States, which sanctioned Khan this month over investigations targeting US personnel and alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

"We are in the middle of a storm in which different international institutions are under siege," Khan said.

"Unless we can prove that they mean something to people in the DRC and in other parts of the world, there is going to be an erosion because we are under attack. By we, I mean the rules-based system," he added.

"What we're trying to do... is to show that the flag of justice that has been planted, that has been promised since Nuremberg, is not going to be taken or will not be allowed to fall lightly. We're going to try our best to stand up for justice."

GENEVA - Mpox remains an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization said Thursday after deciding the epidemic still merits the highest level of alert, with cases rising and its geographic spread widening.

"The mpox upsurge continues to meet the criteria of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)," said a WHO statement.

The emergency committee on mpox met for the third time on Tuesday and advised WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation still constituted a PHEIC.

The decision was "based on the continuing rise in numbers and geographic spread, the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo -- which hampers the response -- as well as a lack of funding to implement the response plan", said the brief statement.

Tedros concurred with the committee's advice, extending the PHEIC first declared on August 14 last year.

A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations, which are legally binding on 196 countries.

The UN health agency's chief had declared the emergency amid a rapid spread of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, in Africa and especially in the DR Congo.

15 countries so far 

Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox. It can be transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed between people through close physical contact.

The disease, which was first detected in humans in 1970 in the DR Congo, then known as Zaire, causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.

It has two subtypes: clade 1 and clade 2.

The virus, long endemic in central Africa, gained international prominence in May 2022 when clade 2 spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.

Nearly 128,000 mpox cases have been laboratory confirmed across 130 countries since then, including 281 deaths, WHO data shows. 

The WHO declared a global health emergency in July 2022, but thanks to vaccination and awareness drives that helped stem the spread, that declaration was lifted in May 2023.

Just a year later, however, a new two-pronged epidemic broke out mainly in the DR Congo, with both the original clade 1a strain and a new strain, clade 1b.

This prompted the WHO's new emergency declaration last August.

To date, community spread of the clade 1b strain has been confirmed in the DRC and five other African nations, and it has been detected in another 15 countries around the world in connection with travel, WHO data shows.

The DRC confirmed more than 13,000 mpox cases and 43 deaths in 2024, and the country confirmed more than 2,000 cases in the first five weeks of this year -- more than half of the cases confirmed globally.

MOSCOW — The Kremlin on Thursday ruled out any negotiation over the status of five Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed despite not fully controlling four of them.

"The territories which have become subjects of the Russian Federation, which are inscribed in our country's constitution, are an inseparable part of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"This is undeniable and non-negotiable," he said in a phone briefing attended by AFP.

Russia in 2014 annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula following a brief military operation and a referendum that was criticised as illegitimate by Kyiv and Western powers.

After launching its full-scale offensive, Russia in September 2022 declared the annexation of four Ukrainian regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Russian forces control most of the Donetsk and Lugansk region but only parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Moscow also occupies part of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

Ukraine has seized hundreds of square kilometres of Russia's Kursk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky has raised the possibility of an "exchange" of territory with Moscow -- a notion ruled out by Russia.

Russian forces have been pushing further into eastern Ukraine in recent months and have seized back territory in the Kursk region.

The Russian defence ministry on Friday said it had re-captured the village of Nikolsky near the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, battling pneumonia in both lungs, slept well and is resting, the Vatican said Thursday, after revealing the 88-year-old's condition was slightly improving.

The pontiff, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.

He was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 and this is the longest hospitalisation in Francis's papacy.

"The pope slept well last night and is now resting", the Vatican said in a morning bulletin on the health of the pontiff.

The clinical conditions of the Argentine, admitted to Gemelli with breathing difficulties, "in the last 24 hours have shown a further, slight improvement," the Holy See said late Wednesday.