The Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of 41 countries as part of a new ban.

Reuters quoting sources and an internal memo on Saturday, said a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups are on the list.

The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.

In the second group, five countries — Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan — would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.

In the third group, a total of 26 countries including Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan among others would be considered for a partial suspension of U.S. visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days”, the memo said.

A U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The move harkens back to President Donald Trump’s first-term ban on travellers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.

That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 21 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”

Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.

He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

Ukraine has dismissed claims that its troops are trapped in Kursk Oblast amid Russia’s ongoing offensive in the region.


Kyiv’s response followed President Donald Trump’s statement that he had urged President Vladimir Putin to “spare” encircled Ukrainian troops during their discussions.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military and in a very bad and vulnerable position.”


Also on Friday, at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, Putin stated that some Ukrainian troops “are blocked” in the embattled Kursk Oblast.

However, Ukraine’s military has accused Russia of claiming the encirclement of rival forces “for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”

In an update, the General Staff confirmed that Ukrainian units had regrouped, moved to more favourable defensive positions, and were completing their assigned tasks in Kursk Oblast.


“There is no threat of encirclement of our units,” the statement read. “Our soldiers are repelling the enemy’s offensive and inflicting effective fire damage using all types of weapons.

Ukraine endorsed an American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire and agreed to immediate negotiations with Russia in pivotal talks in Jeddah on Tuesday after three years of grinding war.

In the first high-level US-Ukraine meeting since President Volodymyr Zelensky’s White House dressing down, the Americans agreed to restore military aid and they pledged to conclude a deal on Ukrainian minerals “as soon as possible”, a joint statement said.

“Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court,” he added.

The joint statement said that “Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties”.

The ceasefire is “subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” it added.

“The United States will communicate to Russia that Russian reciprocity is the key to achieving peace.”

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said he would now speak to Russia about the proposal, adding it was now a question of “how” not “if” the war would end.

The talks in western Saudi Arabia took place after Ukraine launched its biggest direct attack on Moscow overnight, with hundreds of drones slamming into the capital and other areas, leaving three people dead.

The Ukrainians were hoping to restore the US military aid, intelligence sharing and access to satellite imagery that was cut off after Zelensky’s public row with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

They entered the meeting with a proposal for a sea and sky ceasefire that had been cautiously welcomed by Rubio.

“We are ready to do everything to achieve peace,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak told reporters as he entered Tuesday’s meeting at a luxury hotel.

Kyiv said the “largest drone attack in history” was intended to push Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to the aerial and naval ceasefire.

“This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air,” said Andriy Kovalenko, a national security council official responsible for countering disinformation.

Zelensky, who met Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler in Jeddah on Monday, left the White House late last month without signing an agreement pushed by Trump that would give the US control over Ukrainian mineral resources.

Asked whether the overnight drone attack could derail peace talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said: “There are no (peace) negotiations yet, so there is nothing to disrupt here.”

He also declined earlier to comment on Russia’s stance on the proposed partial ceasefire.

“It is absolutely impossible to talk about positions yet,” he said.

“The Americans will find out only today, as they themselves say, from Ukraine to what extent Ukraine is ready for peace.”

For its part, Russia has escalated strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, and said it had retaken 12 settlements in its Kursk region that Ukraine had captured in a bid for bargaining leverage.

Rubio seeks ‘concessions’
In the infamous White House meeting last month, Zelensky refused to bite his tongue in the face of criticism from Vice President JD Vance, with the Ukrainian leader questioning why his country should trust promises from Russia.

He has since written a repentant letter to Trump.

Rubio had signalled that the Trump administration would likely be pleased by the Ukrainian proposal of a partial ceasefire.

“I’m not saying that alone is enough, but it’s the kind of concession you would need to see in order to end the conflict,” he told reporters.

Rubio said he did not expect to be “drawing lines on a map” towards a final deal in the Jeddah meeting, but that he would bring ideas back to Russia.

Rubio and Waltz met last month with counterparts from Russia, also in Saudi Arabia, ending a freeze in high-level contacts imposed by former president Joe Biden after Russia defied Western warnings and launched its invasion.

Trump last week also threatened further sanctions against Russia to force it to the table as it carried out strikes on Ukraine.

But Trump’s abrupt shift in US policy — including suggesting Ukraine was to blame for the war, and recently siding with Russia at the UN — has stunned many allies.

Rubio said Monday that the United States would also object to “antagonistic” language on Russia from a forthcoming meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers.

AF