Q: What would it take to force Zelenskyy and Putin to sit down together, maybe with you?
Trump: It’s going to happen, but it should have happened 3 months ago. 1/
Q: Are you closer today to secondary sanctions on Russia?
Trump: We're looking at that whole situation. It could be that we'll have to put secondary sanctions.
Q: Sooner than 50 days?
Trump: Maybe, yeah. 2/
Trump on the expiring nuclear arms reduction agreement between the U.S. and Russia in 6 months:
That's a big problem for the world when you take off nuclear restrictions.
That's not an agreement you want to expire. We're starting to work on that. 3/
Trump: Hamas pulled out of negotiating in Gaza. It was too bad. Hamas didn't really want to make a deal. I think they want to die, and it's very bad. 4/
Q: Macron said France will recognize the Palestinian state. Is it counterproductive?
Trump: What he says doesn't matter. It's not going to change anything.
He's a very good guy, I like him, but his statement doesn't carry any weight. 5/
Q: What do you think of the trade deal with the EU?
Trump: We have a 50/50 chance, maybe less, of making a deal with the EU. It'll be a deal where they have to buy down their 30% tariffs. 6/
Trump: We made a deal with Japan. Japan is putting up $550B to lower their tariffs, and they are also open for free trade with the U.S.
Maybe we get such a deal with the EU. 7/
Q: Do you think that the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity would apply to Obama?
Trump: It probably helps him a lot. He's done criminal acts, but he has immunity. 8X
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Russia has failed every major ally in the Middle East - Syria, Hezbollah, Iran.
Moscow offered no military aid, no retaliation when Assad fell, the US bombed Iran, and Israel hit Hezbollah.
Putin offers nothing beyond oil and gas, writes McFaul & Milani in Foreign Affairs. 1/
When Assad’s regime collapsed in December 2024, Russia offered asylum but gave no support. Rebel forces entered Damascus without resistance. Russian troops withdrew from their bases in days. 2/
In June 2025, Israeli and U.S. forces bombed Iran’s nuclear sites. Iran sent its foreign minister to Moscow. Putin condemned the attack — but provided no weapons, no defense systems, no intelligence sharing. 3/
China doesn’t want Russia to win the war in Ukraine. Nor does it want it to lose.
Alexander J. Motyl in The Hill: Beijing benefits from a Russia that is isolated from the West, and subordinate to China. It supplies cheap energy, accepts trade terms and poses no regional risk. 1/
If Putin wins, he could start new war — against Kazakhstan or a NATO state. China would face a stronger, more assertive Kremlin.
If he loses, Russia risks elite infighting, separatism in the Caucasus or Siberia, and instability across China’s border. 2/
Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, told EU’s Kaja Kallas that China can’t accept Russia losing.
But a prolonged war in Ukraine that weakens Russia suits Beijing. It drains Russian resources, and keeps Moscow too preoccupied to pursue its own foreign policy. 3/
Oleksii Sobolev is Ukraine’s new Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
Trusted by international partners, respected by business, and effective in getting things done.
Also, he teaches at KSE — and we’re proud of it.
1/
Sobolev, 42, is from Kyiv. He holds a degree in Finance from Kyiv National Economic University. He started his career at Ernst & Young and later managed assets at Dragon Asset Management.
2/
He entered public service after the Revolution of Dignity. In 2018, he became head of — a platform for transparent state asset auctions. After the full-scale invasion, he joined RISE Ukraine, a coalition for transparent reconstruction.
Russia is forcing kidnapped Ukrainian teens to prepare to fight Ukraine
Times: Vlad Rudenko was 16 when Russians raided his home in Kherson. They sent him to re-education camp in Crimea, then naval school
For 18 months, they made him sing Russian anthem and train with rifles 1/
Russians gave dummy rifles to 16- and 17-year-olds and live ammunition to older teens.
Vlad: The more it went on, the more I worried they were going to send us to fight. The Russians didn’t manage to take anything from me - they just deprived me of my childhood. 2/
Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, told The Times: We have facts that Putin is building soldiers to fight against the country where they were born.
Ukraine has recovered teen bodies from battlefields and found conscription papers. 3/
FT calls Zelensky's signing of the NABU and SAPO bill a power grab and his biggest political crisis.
Protests erupt in Kyiv as western allies urge to rethink move against anti-corruption bodies.
But Zelenskyy heard society and EU, US partners and rewrote the law. 1/
Zelenskyy signed legislation bringing Ukraine's two main anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO under control of his handpicked prosecutor-general, sparking the biggest political crisis of his wartime presidency. 2/
Over 2,000 protesters gathered outside Zelenskyy's office chanting "Shame!" with hundreds defying military curfew in rare wartime defiance. 3/