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Trump says Venezuela airspace to be shut ‘in its entirety’ as tensions rise

Trump says Venezuela airspace to be shut ‘in its entirety’ as tensions rise

United States President Donald Trump has said the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed “in its entirety”, as tensions between the countries escalate. There was no immediate response by Venezuela to Trump’s social media post on Saturday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Trump’s post comes amid weeks of escalating rhetoric by senior US officials against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government. While the Trump administration has said it is targeting Venezuela as part of a push to combat drug trafficking, experts and human rights observers have warned that Washington appears to be laying the groundwork for an attempt to unlawfully remove Maduro from power. The US has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean and carried out a series of deadly bombings on vessels it accused of being involved in drug trafficking, killing dozens of people in what United Nations experts have described as extrajudicial killings. Earlier this week, Trump also warned that he would start targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land” soon. During a speech broadcast on national television on Thursday, Maduro said Venezuelans would not be intimidated. The Venezuelan president had said the US “was increasing what he called ‘excuses and lies’ to try and justify an intervention in Venezuela, and that was before this announcement was made [on Saturday] by President Trump”, Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman explained. Fear of attacks Newman said the Trump administration has been “systematically increasing the pressure” on Maduro’s government over several months. Advertisement In August, Washington offered a $50m reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest, doubling a previous sum. And earlier this week, the US announced it was designating the so-called “Cartel de los Soles”, which it asserts is linked to Maduro, as a “terrorist” organisation. Venezuelans began using the term Cartel de los Soles in the 1990s to refer to high-ranking military officers who had grown rich from drug-running. At the same time, there have been reports that the US president has spoken with his Venezuelan counterpart. On Friday, The New York Times reported that Trump spoke with Maduro last week and discussed a possible meeting between the two leaders in the US. Citing multiple people with knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said there were no plans at the moment for such a meeting, which, if it were to take place, would be the first-ever encounter between Maduro and a US president. Trump is “going hot and cold” vis-a-vis Venezuela, said Newman, Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor. She added that while Trump’s statement on Saturday is “an escalation … on paper”, it remains to be seen whether Washington will attack the country, “which is the fear being raised”. “When you tell airlines not to go to Venezuela, when you say that the airspace has now been closed, you’re sending a very, very aggressive message. Whether this will play out is another matter altogether,” she said. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had warned airlines last week of a “potentially hazardous situation” in Venezuelan airspace due to a “worsening security situation and heightened military activity”. Six airlines that account for much of the travel in South America then suspended flights to Venezuela. That drew the ire of Caracas, which suspended the companies’ operating rights and accused them of “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States”. ‘Scorched earth’ policy Charles Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Venezuela, said Trump’s announcement on Saturday “turns up the pressure on Maduro” “Clearly, what the government of the United States [and] President Trump wants is for Maduro to leave office, and that would mean he’d have to leave the country,” Shapiro told Al Jazeera. He added that while the Trump administration’s claims that its actions are part of a push to stem drug trafficking to the US, the real intention is to remove Maduro. Meanwhile, Francisco Rodriguez, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a US-based think tank, warned of the effects that Trump’s policies will have on the citizens of Venezuela. Advertisement Saturday’s announcement reflects a “scorched earth” policy towards the country, which for years has been grappling with widespread poverty, unemployment and mass outward migration, Rodriguez wrote on X. “A country subject to air isolation is a country where medicine and essential supplies cannot enter, and whose citizens cannot travel even for emergency reasons,” he said, adding that the Venezuelan people are not “chess pieces”. Adblock test (Why?)

Russian strikes on Kyiv kill three as Ukraine envoys travel to US for talks

Russian strikes on Kyiv kill three as Ukraine envoys travel to US for talks

Two people were killed in the strikes on the capital, and a woman died in a combined missile and drone attack on the broader Kyiv region, officials said. Russian drone and missile strikes in and around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have killed at least three people and wounded dozens of others, officials said, as Ukrainian representatives travelled to the United States for talks on a renewed push to end the war. “Russia shot dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles and over 500 drones at ordinary homes, the energy grid, and critical infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Saturday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “While everyone is discussing points of peace plans, Russia continues to pursue its ‘war plan’ of two points: to kill and destroy,” he added. The Kyiv City Military Administration said two people were killed in the strikes on the capital in Kyiv. A woman died, and eight people were wounded in a combined missile and drone attack on the broader Kyiv region, according to the regional police. Vehicles burn after being damaged during a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, November 29, 2025 [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters] Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 29 people were wounded in Kyiv, noting that falling debris from intercepted Russian drones hit residential buildings. He also said the western part of Kyiv had lost power. Kyiv’s military administration head, Tymur Tkachenko, said in a social media post that a 42-year-old man was killed by a drone, while the man’s 10-year-old son was taken to hospital with “burns and other injuries”. “The world should know that Russia is targeting entire families,” Tkachenko said, adding that the son was the only child recorded among the injured so far. Advertisement Following the attacks on Kyiv, EU Ambassador Katarina Mathernova cast doubt on Russia’s stated interest in a peace deal. “While the world discusses a possible peace deal. Moscow answers with missiles, not diplomacy,” Mathernova said in a post on X. Ukraine team heads to US On the diplomatic front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his negotiators had left for Washington to seek a “dignified peace” and a rapid end to the war begun by Russia in 2022. Zelenskyy is under growing pressure from Washington to agree to a US proposal to end the war that critics say heavily favours Moscow. The Ukrainian team is being led by former defence chief Rustem Umerov, following the resignation on Friday of his chief of staff Andriy Yermak amid a corruption probe. “The task is clear: to swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war,” he posted on X. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov, together with the team, is already on the way to the United States. Rustem delivered a report today, and the task is clear: to swiftly and substantively work out… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 29, 2025 “Ukraine continues to work with the United States in the most constructive way possible, and we expect that the results of the meetings in Geneva will now be hammered out in the United States.” At Kyiv’s insistence, US President Donald Trump’s initial 28-point plan to end the war was revised during talks in Geneva with European and US officials. However, many contentious issues remain unresolved. Black Sea attacks Separately on Saturday, an official from the SBU security service said that Ukraine had hit two tankers used by Russia to export oil while skirting Western sanctions with marine drones in the Black Sea. The joint operation to hit the so-called “shadow fleet” vessels was run by the SBU and Ukraine’s navy, the official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. Turkish authorities have said that blasts rocked two shadow fleet tankers near Turkiye’s Bosphorus Strait on Friday, causing fires on the vessels, and rescue operations were launched for those on board. This video grab taken from images released by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) shows smoke rising from a cargo ship on fire in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict [AFP] The SBU official said both tankers – identified as the Kairos and Virat – were empty and on their way to the port of Novorossiysk, a major Russian oil terminal. Advertisement “Video [footage] shows that after being hit, both tankers sustained critical damage and were effectively taken out of service. This will deal a significant blow to Russian oil transportation,” the official said. They did not say when the strikes took place. Ukraine has consistently called for tougher international measures for Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which it says is helping Moscow export vast quantities of oil and fund its war in Ukraine despite Western sanctions. Adblock test (Why?)