TV News LIES

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin needed to see "certain dynamics" on the battlefield before agreeing to an extended ceasefire, insisting arms deliveries from Ukraine's allies must stop before there can be a pause in hostilities.

"Otherwise, it will be advantage for Ukraine. Ukraine will continue their total mobilization, bringing new troops to front line. Ukraine will use this period to train new military personnel and to give a rest to their existing ones," Peskov told ABC News' Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz. "So why should we grant such an advantage to Ukraine?"

Peskov also asserted that Ukraine is "not ready for immediate negotiations," denying that Putin was the one dragging his feet.

"President Putin is doing whatever is possible to solve the problem, to achieve a settlement through peaceful and diplomatic means. But having no peaceful and democratic means at hand, we have to continue military operation," he said.

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The United States will begin admitting the first group of White South African refugees next week, whom President Trump’s administration has argued have been victims of “racial discrimination.”

“The refugee program is not intended as a solution for global poverty. And historically it has been used that way…this is an example of the president returning the refugee program to what it’s intended to be used as,” White House’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Friday.

“What’s happening in South Africa fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created…race based persecution,” Miller, Trump’s chief immigration policy architect, told reporters.

An explosion in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip has killed and injured Israeli troops from the Golani Brigade, who were detonating a building, according to Israeli websites.

There is currently an Israeli media blackout on the incident on Thursday and there has been no official comment from the government there yet.

Witnesses in Rafah told Al Jazeera of a large explosion, and Israeli helicopters trying to evacuate the wounded. There has been heavy fighting in the area, they said.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reports from Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, that Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades says it is engaging in “fierce point-blank clashes and confrontations with Israeli occupation forces operating in the El Geneina neighbourhood east of Rafah city”.

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US president Donald Trump has suggested Russian leader Vladimir Putin should “ideally” accept a 30-day ceasefire, backing similar calls from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky after the two spoke on the phone on Thursday.

"Talks with Russia/Ukraine continue. The US calls for, ideally, a 30-day unconditional ceasefire," Mr Trump said on his Truth Social network after speaking to Mr Zelensky.

Mr Trump has also threatened further sanctions on Moscow if any potential ceasefire is violated. "If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions."