Putin pissed off Trump after a 40-minute historic lecture in Alaska.
Trump came with a ceasefire proposal, and Putin refused it. Trump lost patience, ended the meeting early, and scrapped all follow-up talks, FT.
[Second lecture in Budapest?] 1/
Putin claimed Ukraine was part of Russia’s historical core.
He listed Rurik, Yaroslav the Wise, and Bohdan Khmelnytsky as proof of shared origins and accused the West of inventing Ukraine to break up the “Russian world.” 2/
Alaska blowup exposed bad prep. Trump’s envoy Witkoff told Washington that Putin was ready to compromise.
Instead, Putin demanded Ukraine’s surrender, regime change, and an end to NATO support. Trump ended the discussion on the spot. 3/
The meeting showed Trump that Putin wasn’t interested in peace.
Back in Washington, he stopped trying to bargain and started pressuring Moscow. Washington let Europe buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine, shared intel for strikes on Russian energy sites, and hinted Kyiv could get Tomahawks next. 4/
Putin tried to fix it with flattery, calling Trump a “peacemaker” and saying he deserved the Nobel Prize.
Trump thanked him publicly but brushed it off privately. After Alaska, he saw Putin as unreliable and someone who wasted his time. 5/
The fallout also unsettled Moscow. Russian officials admitted Putin “overreached.”
Within days, Lavrov blamed U.S. allies for pressuring Trump to walk away, saying “they fooled him.” The Kremlin now worries Trump may lean harder on Kyiv’s side. 6/
Trump still plans another meeting with Putin in Budapest but no date is set. European officials called it “high-risk” but noted that Trump now treats Putin as a problem to manage. 7X
Zelenskyy: This's momentum to finish Russia's war against Ukraine. We understand that Putin is not ready. But I'm confident that with your help we can stop this war.
Russians don't have successful steps on the battlefield, they have a lot of losses in people and in economy. 1/
Zelenskyy: Yesterday I had a good opportunity to meet with the big American energy companies, they're ready to help us after all Russian attacks on our infrastructure.
I also had meetings with good military companies, we spoke about air defense. 2/
Zelenskyy: First — we need to sit and speak.
Second — we need a ceasefire. We want this. Putin doesn't want it. That's why we need pressure on him. We need to push Putin to the negotiation table. 3/
“I think Russians will kill me… so I don’t have time,” — Alina Sarnatska.
Once a combat medic, now a playwright. She turns war’s brutality into theater that Ukraine can neither ignore nor fully bear to watch, writing as if she’s racing death, not polishing tragedy, The Guardian. 1/
18 months ago, Alina was a frontline medic in Bakhmut, 6 months later, her 1st play "Military Mama" premiered in Kyiv, launching her as one of Ukraine’s most unflinching new voices. 2/
“I think Russians will kill me, maybe after 2 years, maybe after 3… so I need to do everything right now,” she says, describing how war stripped her of illusions about time and safety. 3/
Trump says he ended 8 wars. Can he end another one? I don’t know, but I hope so.
Trump’s optimistic about Ukraine peace after the Middle East hostage deal. He meets Zelenskyy on Friday as Ukraine seeks Tomahawks, more weapons, air defense, drone production support — Politico. 1/
Several Ukrainian delegations have spent two weeks in Washington in a “new engagement format,” including military, financial, and energy teams.
Trump told Zelenskyy to meet with U.S. energy and defense companies during his visit. 2/
Ukrainian officials saw Gaza as “the simplest” issue but believe success there can build momentum.
Ukraine plans new arms deliveries under NATO’s PURL initiative. Ambassador Stefanishyna hinted at a tech-sharing deal giving the U.S. access to Ukrainian drone technologies. 3/