KYIV, Ukraine — President Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back the invasion of a much larger Russian military.

The EU’s 16th package of sanctions against Russia imposes a ‘phased-in’ ban on imports of Russian aluminium products © Bloomberg EU agrees new Russia sanctions in the face of US push to end Ukraine wa

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian officials for talks over the war in Ukraine on Feb. 18.