Leaders meet to discuss Ukraine | Morning News Bulletin 18 August 2025

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In this bulletin ... European leaders will join a White House meeting aimed at ending the war in Ukraine ... A man is dead after being shot outside a Sydney hotel ... and in sport ... The Tigers keep their N-R-L finals dreams alive.


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TRANSCRIPT

In this bulletin ...

European leaders will join a White House meeting aimed at ending the war in Ukraine ...

A man is dead after being shot outside a Sydney hotel ...

and in sport ...

The Tigers keep their N-R-L finals dreams alive.

[--]

European leaders say they will be joining a key meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U-S President Donald Trump at the White House today.

The meeting about the Ukraine war will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as leaders from the U-K, France, Finland and Germany.

It follows Mr Trump's face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, which ended without achieving a ceasefire.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the meeting was still a positive step, suggesting progress was made on the issue of security guarantees.

"I think it is a really great progress that America is prepared to give such security guarantees together with us Europeans, but the major work on a peace agreement, if there is no ceasefire now, the major work on such a peace agreement now lies ahead of all those involved and not behind us."

On Sunday, a separate meeting was held with Mr Zelenskyy and the leaders of countries that have pledged to support Ukraine through the so-called 'coalition of the willing'.

[--]

Members of the Australian Ukrainian community have expressed outrage over the meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The meeting in Alaska excluded Ukrainian leaders and while failing to reach a deal, reportedly included discussions of Ukraine potentially giving up land to Russia.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the dialogue between the U-S and Russian presidents is 'a good thing', he stressed that Russia should not be rewarded for the invasion.

Ukraine's ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, told SBS World News that Mr Putin is not a trustworthy figure.

"We haven't seen anything from Russia, that Russians were actually serious about ending this war, they've actually stepped up their attacks. They have brought in more people to Ukraine, and they have sent more missiles and drones to destroy and kill more Ukrainians, so that's what we have seen. Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, he's indicted by the International Criminal Court and we hate the guts of him."

[--]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed nationwide protests demanding an end to the Gaza war.

Demonstrators say a ceasefire is needed to bring back the hostages Hamas is still holding in the Gaza Strip.

In response, Mr Netanyahu defended the Israeli security cabinet's decision to expand its military operations and occupy Gaza City.

"Our continued security control over the Strip is just one of our conditions for ending the war, conditions that Hamas refuses to accept. We insist not only that Hamas be disarmed, we also insist that Israel enforces the demilitarisation of the Strip over time by taking continuous action against any attempt to arm and organise any terrorist element."

Meanwhile Hamas has issued a statement describing Israel's plans to relocate civilians out of Gaza City as a "new wave of genocide and displacement".

Health authorities in Gaza say Israel has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

[--]

One person has died and another is being treated for gunshot injuries after a shooting outside a hotel in Sydney's inner west on Sunday [[17 AUG]].

Emergency services were called to a hotel on Ross Street in Forest Lodge at 6.40pm following reports of a shooting.

Police say two people had been shot multiple times by unknown attackers before fleeing in a car.

One of the victims died at the scene; another was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Police have established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the incident.

[--]

Tasmania's minority Liberal government has announced an independent review into the salmon farming industry as it seeks to appease crossbenchers ahead of a critical week in parliament.

 

Premier Jeremy Rockliff says the review will ensure the industry maintains its social licence while meeting environmental expectations.

"This is not something that the industry should fear. It's actually something that the industry should embrace, and embrace the fact that we are wanting to support the industry (to)  become better.

[--]

To sport now and in the N-R-L ...

Manly's attack has misfired again in a fierce blow to their NRL finals hopes, while Wests Tigers kept theirs alive with a dominating 26-12 win.

Tries in the first and 79th minutes on Sunday at Allianz Stadium took Manly's tally to just 32 points in their past four games, all losses.

It was a dagger blow to Manly's finals hopes, with the Sea Eagles now likely needing to win all three remaining games to be a top-eight chance.

The Tigers' hopes were officially over if they lost on Sunday, but, improving to 9-12, they moved level on 24 points with Manly to remain alive.

West Tigers head coach Benji Marshall says he's happy with how the team played.

"Just the effort and the fight we showed today I thought, obviously a desperate Manly team on the points they are, needing to probably win to make the semis, you know, I thought we toughed out and played some pretty high quality footy, but just the attitude towards the way we want to play this week, they trained accordingly."


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Leaders meet to discuss Ukraine | Morning News Bulletin 18 August 2025 | SBS News