World
Russia and Ukraine due to hold talks. Israel launches deadly hospital attack. Imprisoned Duterte re-elected mayor of Davao. By Jonathan Pearlman.
Albanese’s Indonesia visit aims to boost trade relations
Great power rivalry
Ukraine: Russia and Ukraine were due to hold their first direct talks this week since the early days of the war, but Vladimir Putin was expected to reject an offer from Volodymyr Zelensky to attend.
On Tuesday, Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, called for the talks – which Türkiye offered to host – to be held at a presidential level rather than between officials.
“If Putin does not arrive and plays games, it is the final point that he does not want to end the war,” he told reporters.
But the Kremlin on Wednesday listed the names of the Russian delegation, which did not include Putin. The delegation was due to be headed by a presidential aide, Vladimir Medinsky, a hardliner.
United States President Donald Trump, who was visiting the Middle East this week, suggested he would attend if Putin attended. But Trump signalled on Wednesday he would skip the talks. The US delegation was due to be headed by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.
Ahead of the talks, Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said Ukraine must agree to “denazification” and to Russia incorporating territory in eastern Ukraine that it has unilaterally annexed – demands Kyiv is almost certain to reject.
Zelensky, who last met Putin in 2019, indicated he would not attend if Putin was not there. He said he and Putin were unlikely to agree to a comprehensive deal in the near future but called for a ceasefire that would enable talks on next steps.
“We have to somehow find a way to end the war,” he said.
The neighbourhood
Indonesia: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Jakarta this week to meet with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, marking the first overseas trip of his second term.
The two leaders were expected to hold talks focusing on improving trade and investment as they try to find new markets in the wake of the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. Albanese was also expected to discuss recent reports that Russia asked Indonesia to allow it to establish a military base in Papua. Indonesia, which avoids alignments with major powers, has insisted it would not allow such a base.
Since a free trade deal between Indonesia and Australia came into effect in 2020, trade has increased but remains relatively low. In 2024, two-way trade was worth $32 billion, up from $18 billion in 2022. Despite Indonesia being a neighbour and the world’s fourth most populous country, it is only Australia’s 11th-biggest trading partner, behind countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Prabowo, a former general, was inaugurated in October but Albanese did not attend due to a visit to Australia by King Charles.
War zone
Gaza: Israel launched a deadly attack on a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday aimed at killing Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, as the US pushed for a ceasefire deal during a visit to the Middle East by President Trump.
The strike on the European Hospital killed at least 28 people, according to local officials. Israel said it was targeting a command centre beneath the hospital that was reportedly being used by Sinwar, the commander of Hamas’s military wing and the brother of former leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed last October.
The attack came as Israeli negotiators travelled to Qatar for US-mediated talks on Wednesday on a ceasefire deal. Trump was due to be in Qatar on Wednesday.
Ahead of the talks, Hamas released an American–Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, after negotiations with the US. Trump described the release as “a step taken in good faith”.
Israel has announced plans to escalate its offensive and seize and hold territory in Gaza but will not begin the campaign until after Trump’s travels and the latest ceasefire talks.
United Nations-backed food security experts this week urged Israel to resume aid flows into Gaza, warning that the enclave’s 2.2 million residents were at “critical risk of famine”. “Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border,” said Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Programme. Israel said the experts had warned of famines that have “repeatedly failed to materialise”.
Trump began his regional visit this week in Saudi Arabia, where he said he will lift sanctions on Syria, which faces economic collapse. He also met with Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led a rebel alliance that overthrew former leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda member, is a designated terrorist in the US but has been looking to meet with international leaders to seek legitimacy for his government and economic support for the country.
No US president has met with a Syrian leader since Bill Clinton met Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, in Geneva in 2000.
Announcing the end of sanctions, Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh: “It’s their time to shine … Good luck Syria, show us something very special.”
Spotlight: Jailed Duterte elected mayor
Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, won a landslide victory in an election to be mayor of Davao City despite being in prison in The Hague over charges of crimes against humanity.
Before entering national politics, Duterte spent 22 years as mayor of Davao – a position he first held in 1988 – and attracted attention for his brutal crackdown on crime and drugs, which involved extrajudicial executions of an estimated 1400 people. The victims, killed by vigilante death squads, were mainly believed to be drug users, petty criminals and street children.
“We’re the (world’s) ninth-safest city,” he said in a speech in 2015, referring to a claim by a crowdsourcing website. “How do you think I did it? … Kill them all [criminals].”
As president from 2016 to 2022, Duterte expanded his approach nationally, resulting in the killings of up to 30,000 people, often residents of poorer areas who were shot by police and vigilantes.
In March, Duterte was arrested in Manila and flown to The Hague after a warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court over the killings during his terms as mayor and president.
But Duterte, who is 80 years old, remains popular, especially in his home city. He decided to run again for mayor last year, months before he was arrested. With about 97 per cent of the vote counted, he was on track to receive 88 per cent of the vote.
Despite Duterte’s victory, it is not clear whether he will be able to take his oath of office in prison. His duties as mayor are expected to be conducted by the new vice-mayor, Sebastian Duterte, who is also his son. Sebastian won the vice-mayoral race, also with 88 per cent of the vote. Six other members of Duterte’s family won races during this week’s midterm elections.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 17, 2025 as "Albanese’s Indonesia visit aims to boost trade relations ".
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