"To end this oppression, it is necessary for the US administration to pressure Israel and withdraw its support from murderer Netanyahu and his associates," Erdogan stated.

• Gaza deal must allow Israel to keep fighting - Netanyahu
• ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu highlights once again Western hypocrisy
• U.S. officials say Netanyahu's accusation video hurts effort to avoid war in Lebanon
• Blinken made secret weapons promise to Israel - Netanyahu
• Netanyahu warns Israel to be 'prepared for very intense operation' on Lebanon Border

• Israeli settlements illegal - top UN court
• Landmark opinion of U.N.'s top court says Israeli settlements violate international law
• Lavrov tells UN: Israel wants to escalate conflict NOT Hezbollah
• Lavrov: Hezbollah, Lebanese govt. avoid full-scale war with Israel, but some within regime seek conflict
• Israel strikes Iran-backed Houthis after attack on Jewish state
• Top US commander calls for more powerful response to Houthi attacks: Report

• Ukraine violated Chemical Weapons Convention - Russian MOD
• Ukraine using US-made chemical weapons - Russian diplomat
• Ukraine using 'chemical warfare agents' - Moscow
• Russia says Ukraine is using US-made chemical weapons
• Ukraine has used chemical weapons - Russian general
• Ukraine using chemical weapons, Russian journalist claims
• US preparing false flag chemical attacks in Ukraine - Moscow
• Best of the Web: Ukraine accused of chemical warfare against Russian troops in Donbass - alleged footage of the war crimes appear online

Grenell, who held several senior diplomatic posts during Trump's first tenure and is now widely regarded as his "envoy" and likely pick for the Secretary of State, should the Republican win the elections, made the remarks in an interview with German tabloid Bild on Friday. Among other things, the diplomat suggested Ukraine was largely the EU's "responsibility" and not Washington's.

"It's in your backyard. If there was a war in Mexico, we would do most, if not all, of the job. And we certainly wouldn't ask the Germans for help if there was a war in Mexico," Grenell stated.

"There were no wars in Europe during Donald Trump's time in office," he pointed out, insisting that the continent had fared better during the previous president's administration.

Grenell also criticized the incumbent, Joe Biden, for his apparent lack of any effort to engage in diplomacy with Russia or talk to President Vladimir Putin.

"Biden has not spoken to [Putin] in three years. I think talking to people is a tactic. Not the goal, not the solution - but it gets us there," he suggested.

Grenell has been rather vocal about the Ukrainian conflict lately, floating a proposal earlier this month on how exactly the hostilities could be brought to an end. The diplomat said Ukraine should not become a member of NATO any time soon, and that transforming the country into a federation of sorts with more autonomous regions could be the key to ending the hostilities.

"Autonomous regions can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but you got to work through those details," Grenell stated during a Bloomberg News roundtable.

The proposal received a cold response in Moscow, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissing it as an attempt to re-imagine the long-defunct 2014-15 Minsk Agreements. The deal, which had provided a roadmap out of the conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass, was ultimately revealed both by Kiev and its Western backers to be a mere ruse to buy time for arming Ukraine.

"Where were you, Rick, when the Minsk agreements dedicated to exactly this were on the table of the international community, and Russia did its best in support of them and called for finding a form of federalization of Ukraine to preserve its integrity?" Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post.

• Moscow reacts to reports of Western mercenary war crimes in Ukraine
• Report on alleged Ukrainian war crimes presented to UN

Harris will be easier to beat than Biden, Trump says

Kamala Harris will be easier to defeat in the race for the White House than Joe Biden, Donald Trump has said.

In a phone call with CNN minutes after Mr Biden announced his exit from the 2024 race, Mr Trump said he did not know who he would face, but suggested the vice president would not pose him a bigger problem than the sitting president.

Separately, in a brief phone interview with our partner network NBC News, Mr Trump said: "There has never been a president who has done such damage to our country.

"From energy independence to letting in millions and millions of illegal immigrants."

"We will fix what he has done," he continued.

When asked if he was surprised at the announcement, he said: "He should never have been there in the first place... he should have stayed in his basement."

Moments later, Mr Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform that "Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve — And never was!"

Mr Trump claimed that Biden "attained" the job as president "by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement".

"All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn't capable of being President, and he wasn't - And now, look what he's done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists," Trump said.

"We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"