Australia inks Ukraine tax deal as Trump confirms Putin peace talks to take place in Budapest
Australia has strengthened its ties with Ukraine through a groundbreaking tax treaty, as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin prepare for peace talks in Budapest.
Australia has signed its first tax treaty with Ukraine in a move designed to bolster business and investment relations between the two countries.
Speaking in Washington DC, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced he had met with Ukrainian finance minister Sergo Marchenko to ink the deal.
It comes one day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet with Donald Trump at the White House to discuss the next steps in the Russian war.
“We salute and we support the extraordinary bravery and courage of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression,” Mr Chalmers said.
“We support the Ukrainian people and its government militarily.
“We support them across the board, but today was an important demonstration of our effort to build even closer economic relations between Australia and Ukraine at a time when its economy, for obvious reasons, is under maximum pressure.”
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, speaking alongside Mr Chalmers outside the White House, said Australia was honoured to be Ukraine’s biggest non-NATO supporter, outlining the $1.3 billion military investment including Abrams tanks.
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TRUMP-PUTIN TO MEET IN BUDAPEST
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Budapest for a second round of face-to-face negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, the US President has announced.
After a lengthy phone call with Mr Putin on Thursday local time, Mr Trump announced senior advisers, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would resume negotiations next week.
“A meeting location is to be determined,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this inglorious war, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end.”
Mr Trump said he believed bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict would help him broker a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine which have been at war since February 2022.
“President Putin congratulated me and the United States on the great accomplishment of peace in the Middle East, something that, he said, has been dreamed of for centuries,” he said.
“We also spent a great deal of time talking about trade between Russia and the United States when the war with Ukraine is over.
“I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed the conversation between the two leaders lasted for more than two hours.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban Viktor declared “we are ready” to host the peace summit.
“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world,” Mr Viktor wrote on X.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev shared the US President’s announcement on X and wrote: “UK and EU warmongers try very, hard to derail peace prospects. But dialogue and peace and the US-Russia co-operation will prevail.”
RUSSIA PREPARES TO DEPLOY 2 MILLION SOLDIERS
Russia is preparing to deploy two million reserve soldiers to fight in the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin is planning to change a Russian law that would allow Vladimir Putin to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the battlefield.
It comes as Mr Putin’s battlefield casualties have soared past a staggering one million after 44 months of meat grinder war.
The rule change, which is expected to be backed by the Russian parliament, would allow the country’s reservists to be called up for duty even during peacetime.
The amendment is being done because Moscow still calls its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” and not a war.
This currently restricts the Russian military to using up the two million reservists it has, which Russian defence bosses say are “professional soldiers”.
Alexei Zhuravlev, deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary defence committee, said the force of two million reservists were “professionals in their field” but were currently being unused.
“Until now it has only been possible to use this potential during periods of martial law or mobilisation. We are engaged in very real and large-scale combat operations [in Ukraine] but officially, war has not been declared,” he told RTVI news.
According to a report in The Sun, leading defence experts said that Mr Putin would not think twice before flooding another million soldiers to die on the battlefield.
And that’s because mass sacrifice is ingrained in his Soviet-style battle plan, they said.
“Putin doesn’t care and never cared for the people of Russian Federation, be it ethnic Russians or representatives of other minorities," a Ukrainian government source told The Sun.
“For him, it is a matter of personal survival and he would be willing to send anyone to death – from a Russian soldier to a Ukrainian child – for his own miserable existence.
“Unfortunately, Russian people in the majority are also too scared to stand up to the monster they’ve created, and would rather die killing other nations’ people than risk their lives standing up against it.”
ZELENSKY REVOKES CITIZENSHIP OF ‘RUSSIAN’ UKRAINE LEADER
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly revoked the citizenship of the man who has served as the mayor of Odessa since 2014.
Multiple media outlets have reported Gennadiy Trukhanov, who has previously denied holding Russian nationality, as well as former Ukraine politician Oleh Tsaryov and ballet dancer Sergei Polunin are the people Mr Zelensky was referring to in a cryptic post on X.
“I held a meeting on the security situation in some of our regions – these are matters of principle,” Mr Zelensky wrote.
“Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk reported on countering Russian agent networks and collaborators in the frontline and border regions, as well as in the south of our country.
“Also confirmed was the fact that certain individuals hold Russian citizenship – relevant decisions regarding them have been prepared. I have signed the decree.”
Trukhanov has denied he is Russian, telling Ukrainian media outlets he has co-operated with a previous probe into his nationality in 2022.
“I will defend myself – I will go to court. If the court cannot resolve it, I will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights … This is already a case of such arbitrariness that simply should not happen,” Trukhanov told Ukrainian outlet Suspilne.
I held a meeting on the security situation in some of our regions – these are matters of principle.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир ЗеленÑький (@ZelenskyyUa) October 14, 2025
Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk reported on countering Russian agent networks and collaborators in the frontline and border regions, as well as in the south… pic.twitter.com/MxKyKjPYc9
MELANIA TRUMP’S DIRECT PLEA TO PUTIN
Melania Trump says eight Ukrainian children held in Russia have been reunited with their families following months of talks with Vladimir Putin.
The First Lady said since personally writing to the Russian President in August imploring him to release children taken captive during the war, the two and their teams have been in regular contact.
President Donald Trump personally delivered his wife’s handwritten letter to Putin during their peace summit in Alaska to discuss bringing an end to the Ukraine war.
In it, she implored the Russian leader to return children taken captive during the war.
Speaking at the White House, Mrs Trump said there had been ongoing back channel meetings and phone calls to discuss the reunification of children taken from Ukraine and being raised in Russia.
She announced in the past 24 hours, eight Ukrainian children had been returned to their families.
“We have agreed to co-operate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war,” she said.
“A child’s soul knows no borders, no flags.”
The International Criminal Court previously issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest, accusing him of responsibility for the mass abductions of Ukrainian children by Russian forces.
RUSSIAN JAIL SENTENCE FOR AUSSIE SOLDIER FIGHTING FOR UKRAINE
An Australian man fighting in the Ukrainian armed forces has been sentenced in absentia to 14 years’ jail by Russian authorities.
Kellen Benjamin Lewis was found guilty by a Russian court based on evidence collected by the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation, according to the ABC, which cited the Russian embassy.
Mr Lewis, who is thought to have been in Ukraine since 2022, has been accused of breaching Russia’s criminal code by fighting as a mercenary in an armed conflict.
The Russian embassy said Mr Lewis received training, a firearm, ammunition and a uniform.
The court found he was paid to take part in combat operations against the Russian military in the Donetsk region.
Mr Lewis did not attend court and in his absence was sentenced to 14 years’ in a maximum-security prison and placed on an international wanted list.
Russian courts have sentenced others to jail in absentia, such as Queensland builder Caleb List.
Mr List is thought to have been killed in the Kharkiv region after going missing fighting in the area in April.
He was also sentenced to 14 years’ jail in absentia, accused of being a mercenary, according to the Daily Mail.
Earlier this year Melbourne man Oscar Jenkins was sentenced in a Russian court to 13 years behind bars for serving as a member of the regular armed forces of Ukraine.
Russian forces captured Mr Jenkins in December 2024.
The sentence was slammed by Anthony Albanese, who called it an “outrage” at the time.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesperson said, “DFAT is aware of media reporting that an Australian has been sentenced, in absentia, in a court in Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russia. We continue to strongly advise Australians not to travel to Ukraine.”
– with AFP
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Originally published as Australia inks Ukraine tax deal as Trump confirms Putin peace talks to take place in Budapest
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