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11:14 pm, May 22, 2025
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UK’s Starmer says coalition to beef up Ukraine security in any peace deal 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stresses the United Kingdom’s intention to provide “robust and credible” security guarantees to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again as Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to sign up to a US-brokered truce proposal as fighting rages on the ground.

“We will build up Ukraine’s own defences and armed forces and be ready to deploy as a ‘coalition of the willing’ in the event of a peace deal to help secure Ukraine on the land, at sea and in the sky,” Starmer said on Saturday after a virtual meeting with 25 European Union and other world leaders as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“We agreed military planners would convene again in the UK this week to progress practical plans for how our militaries can support Ukraine’s future security,” Starmer added.

The meeting was held after Putin agreed in principle to an immediate 30-day ceasefire put forward by Washington and already accepted by Ukraine. But on Friday, Putin said there were issues to work out. These included questions on who would monitor the ceasefire and whether the pause in fighting could be used for Kyiv to mobilise new forces at a time when Russia is regaining ground in Kursk. Part of the Russian region on the border with Ukraine was occupied by Ukrainian forces in a lightning offensive in August.

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Questions loom on whether Putin’s response signalled a sincere step towards peace or a deflecting tactic to continue the war without fully rejecting the proposal by the United States – a move that could have angered President Donald Trump. The Kremlin has so far benefitted considerably as Trump drastically reverses decades of US foreign policy by upending the transatlantic alliance while opening up to Russia.

“The Kremlin’s dithering and delay over President Trump’s ceasefire proposal and Russia’s continued barbaric attacks on Ukraine run entirely counter to President Putin’s stated desire for peace,” Starmer said.

Soon after the virtual meeting, Zelenskyy pressed his Western allies to define a “clear position” on the security guarantees, including basing soldiers in Ukraine.

“The contingent must be stationed on Ukrainian soil,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “This is a security guarantee for Ukraine and a security guarantee for Europe.”

Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continues.

In the Kursk region, some military analysts said Russia is close to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region, prompting Trump to warn that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were “completely surrounded”.

In a statement on social media after being briefed by his top general, Zelenskyy insisted Kyiv’s troops were not encircled in Kursk but Moscow was accumulating forces nearby for a separate strike. The reversal of fortunes in Kursk weakens Ukraine’s leverage in potential territory negotiations. Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the question of territory was “complicated” and should be discussed in detail at a later date.

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He also addressed the battlefield situation near the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, saying it had “stabilised” and Ukraine had successfully used a new domestically produced long-range missile in combat.

In other developments, Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial blows with both sides reporting more than 100 enemy drones over their respective territories. A fire broke out near an oil facility in Russia’s Volgograd region after a Ukrainian drone attack.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it shot down 126 Ukrainian drones overnight, 64 of which were destroyed over the Volgograd region. Drones were also shot down over the Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk, Rostov and Kursk regions.

 

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Health and Wellness Fair, Measles Addressed During Inaugural Bimonthly Health and Human Services Briefing

Thursday marked the launch of a new, twice-monthly news briefing, which Government House Communications Director Richard Motta Jr. said the briefings will include updates from the departments of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Tai Hunte-Ceaser, chief medical officer for the Health Department, said DOH has two major initiatives planned “that speak to the mission of improving access to health care, not just for individuals and families, but for the broader community.”
“That includes the animals we care for and cherish,” she said.
First, the territory’s annual Health and Wellness Fair will return to offer Virgin Islanders free services, including:

Health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, A1C, STIs and HIV

Pap smears, HPV screening and breast exams for women

Digital rectal exams for men

Vaccinations for children and adults

Back-to-school physicals for students

Behavioral health services like screening for anxiety and depression

The fair will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on the following dates.

June 2-6 at the St. Croix Educational Complex

June 9-12 at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School

June 13 at the Morris F. deCastro Clinic

Last summer’s fair was supported by the U.S. Defense Department’s Innovative Readiness Training Program, which brought more than 300 health care professionals and support staff to the territory. Hunte-Ceasar said Thursday that while the full IRT contingent will not be returning this year, they are sending a veterinary unit to provide services at no cost to pet owners at the Humane Society of St. Thomas from June 17-28. Appointments are required. The veterinary team is also expected to work with the St. Thomas Horse Racing Association and Coral World Ocean Park.
“This is truly a unique deployment that promotes health, compassion and collaboration across species, and we are deeply grateful to IRT and our local partners for making it possible,” she said. “We look forward to welcoming the IRT program to St. Croix in 2026 to continue this important work.”
Hunte-Ceasar said the Health Department is also planning to conclude Mental Health Awareness Month with a wellness walk at 2 p.m. on May 31, beginning at Claude O. Markoe Elementary School and ending at Buddhoe Park.
Territorial Epidemiologist Dr. Esther Ellis then took the podium to update the territory on efforts to safeguard the territory from the resurgence of measles in the continental United States.
To date, Ellis said there have been 1,024 confirmed cases reported across 31 states and 14 outbreaks in 2025. Three people have died, including two children. In nearly all cases — 96 percent — people who have contracted measles are either unvaccinated or their vaccination status is unknown, she said. Children under five account for 30 percent of reported cases.
“In the U.S. Virgin Islands, our greatest concern is the fact that more than 50 percent of the children under age six are unvaccinated for measles,” she said. “That leaves a large portion of our youngest population at high risk.”
That statistic, Ellis said, is what prompted the Health Department last week to mail 500 letters to parents who previously requested vaccine exemptions for their children, strongly urging them to reconsider.
“Why does this matter? Well first, measles is extremely contagious,” Ellis said Thursday. “One infected person can spread the virus to 10-12 others. Additionally, an infected person — once they leave a room, that room can be contagious to others that walk into it for two hours. It’s incredibly contagious.”
Ellis said measles is also potentially fatal, and complications include pneumonia, encephalitis, or brain swelling, hearing loss, and death. Measles is also preventable, Ellis said, and the MRR is 97 percent effective after two doses.
Ellis stressed that the territory has not had a confirmed measles case to date, “and with your help, we can keep it that way.”

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