Bloomberg: Trump cannot escape involvement in the Ukraine war.

He failed to deliver peace and now faces either committing to a hard [support] strategy or letting Ukraine collapse under Russian pressure. 1/ Trump backed Putin’s call for direct talks, even after Putin skipped earlier peace efforts.

Their 2-hour call ended with no real progress, only vague promises. 2/

Trump: Russia stole U.S. hypersonic missile tech during the Obama years.

They stole it from us. We were the developers. It happened under Obama. That’s bad. We’re rebuilding them now — and fast, and at scale. 1/ Trump: The U.S. military is not here to spread democracy at gunpoint.

Our military’s job is not to run drag shows or reshape other cultures. Its job is to dominate and eliminate threats to the United States. 2/

Special ops, not army secured key Ukrainian victories in 2022 — the liberation of Snake Island, battles for Hostomel and Kharkiv

“Philosopher,” a 2014 Donetsk Airport vet, built Ukraine’s fastest strike teams behind these victories, from scratch.

RBC interviewed him. 1/ After 2022, Ukraine needed military units that could act instantly on real-time intel.

Philosopher helped create Shamanbat, Kraken, Tymur, and Artan — the backbone of Ukraine’s special operations. 2/

Russia has outpaced Ukraine in drone tech for the first time since 2022.

WP: In Kursk, fiber-optic drones gave Moscow a brutal edge — cutting off Ukrainian supply lines and forcing a retreat. 1/ These drones use fiber-optic cables — invisible threads of glass up to 12 miles long.

No radio. No signal loss. No jamming. Just a direct, hard-to-trace line from operator to warhead. 2/

Satanism is spreading in Ukraine - a former pro Russian Ukrainian oligarch speaks to Tucker and parrots Russian propaganda.

Novynskyi: Zelensky’s government is persecuting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
[except that this is not Ukraine, but Russian, nd pushing Russian angles]
1/ Our parishioners are beaten [by whom? When? Evidence?]

Our churches are seized [No. Those were never your churches, you grabbed or rented them illegally] . Satanism is spreading in Ukraine [this Is insane]. 2/

Vance says Russia & China are a threat, determined to beat the U.S.

Past U.S. leaders relied too much on soft power.

Trump’s approach — real red lines, no endless wars. 0/ Vance: Today, rivals like China and Russia challenge us everywhere.

With technology enabling disruption, we must be smarter and better equip our troops. 1/

Trump abandoned a joint U.S.-EU ceasefire ultimatum after Putin proposed talks in Istanbul, says New Lines Magazine. On May 10, U.S., UK, France, Germany, and Poland gave Putin 48 hours to accept a ceasefire. He refused. Trump backed off and pushed for Istanbul talks instead. 1/ After a 2-hour call with Putin, Trump declared the war is no longer his problem. His priority now is “TRADE with the United States,” not stopping missile attacks or ending the abduction of Ukrainian children. 2/

Putin claims Russia leads global arms exports, has surplus weapons, and is winning. If that were true, he would have taken Ukraine by now. He hasn’t. Putin is delusional, but stubborn. 1/ Putin: Russia stays in the top five arms exporters and leads in key sectors. Supplying frontline units remains the top task. 2/

Lavrov: Vatican is an unrealistic venue for talks. [The excuse this time is that]

It's inelegant for Orthodox countries to discuss root causes of the conflict, including moves to eliminate the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on a Catholic platform.

1/ Lavrov: We are ready to realize mutually beneficial projects together with the USA [Forget Ukraine and peace, let’s earn some money together]

2/

Europe is holding $300B in frozen Russian assets—almost as much as all aid Ukraine has received since 2022. Wally Adeyemo and David Shimer for Foreign Affairs say: It’s time to use it. 1/ After the Feb 2022 invasion, the G-7 froze around $300B of Russian sovereign funds—mostly in Europe. Legal fears stopped full seizure. KSE Institute: These assets have sat idle for over three years with no shift in global reserves. 2/

Trump: This is South Africa. A thousand white crosses—each one marks a murdered farmer. Cars aren't moving—they’re parked to mourn the dead. Both sides of the road covered in crosses. All white farmers. All killed. I’ve never seen anything like it. 1/ Trump: These are fresh articles—death after death. White South Africans are fleeing. One couple says they were attacked. Burial sites everywhere. All shot. It’s not old news. It’s happening now. 2/

First time ever: a fully robotic evacuation under fire, of course in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Brigade “Khartia” did it — no humans on the battlefield, no one exposed to enemy fire.

Just a robot, a wounded soldier, and 24 km of warzone. 1/ No vehicle could reach the wounded — it would be destroyed.

Carrying by hand? Too dangerous. Too slow.

So “Khartia” deployed a robotic platform. It even crossed a broken bridge — precisely, carefully, alone. 2/

Ben Shapiro: Zelensky says yes to everything Trump asks - Putin gives nothing back.

Kremlin wants domination, not a deal.

The West keeps projecting its values on a regime that doesn’t share them. 0/ Shapiro: Zelensky’s doing whatever White House wants him to do. They say '30-day ceasefire, mineral deal?'. He says 'No problem'

They say 'Turkey, talks with Putin without a 30-day ceasefire?' He says 'Ok, I’m in Ankara'

Putin is sitting there doing zero of these things 1/

Ukraine and Europe have long known Putin doesn’t want peace. Now, Trump says it too.

WSJ: Trump admitted Putin won’t stop the war — because he thinks he’s winning. 0/ On Sunday, Trump promised sanctions if Russia rejected a ceasefire.

Then he called Putin, dropped the threat, and backed Vatican talks instead. 1/

Rubio:

Ending the war requires talking to putin.

Without connection between the US and Russia in 1961, the world could ended.

The U.S. can no longer solve all the world’s problems. 0/ Rubio: Putin may be a war criminal, but ending the war requires talking to him.

Dialogue is essential despite Russia’s aggression. 1/

Trump after a call with Putin:

- Ceasefire talks dropped
- No new sanctions
- NATO alliance split

NYT says he’s prioritizing Russian business ties over Ukraine’s sovereignty and Western unity.

1/ Trump told Zelensky and EU leaders that Russia and Ukraine should “resolve it themselves” — backing off from earlier claims that only he and Putin could strike a deal.

2/

Trump:

G7 is weaker without Russia.

After 2.5 hours with Putin, we made real progress.

I’m working with both Russia and Ukraine, but I don’t have to.

0/ Trump: The G7 used to be the G8 but they threw Russia out. It would have been a lot better if Russia was in. Because you wouldn't have this war [in Ukraine]. 1/

China will dominate the world no matter what the U.S. does

NYT: The "Chinese century" is underway.

PRC now dominates global production in steel, aluminum, batteries, EVs, drones, and 5G, and is on track to produce 45% of the world’s manufacturing by 2030. 1/ Beijing is making bets on advanced tech, including a new $138B fund targeting quantum computing and robotics.

Recent milestones include DeepSeek’s AI, BYD overtaking Tesla, biotech breakthroughs, a surge in industrial robot installs, Huawei’s semiconductor advances. 2/

Nobody in Ukraine expects peace in 24 hours or 100 days. We have adapted to life next to Russia.

We don’t believe in “memorandums”. We prepare, survive, and fight.

Anne Applebaumʼs fantastic dispatch from Lviv. 1/ At the Lviv Forum, Applebaum asked 200 journalists if Istanbul talks could bring a ceasefire.

No one raised a hand. Some laughed. Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi was asked the same. He answered simply: “No.” 2/

BBC: Trump’s calls with Putin and Zelensky set a positive tone, with Vatican as a host of peace talks. But I think it’s all Russian theatre.

I told BBC: Russia will play the dance of engaging, but it's not open to any ceasefire.

Not 30 days, not 3 days, not 1 day. 1/ BBC asked me: Did you hear any points of pressure from that phone call from the US president to Zelensky?

No, I didn't. But the message from the Russians is clear: they're willing to continue fighting for 5 years, as long as they want. 2/

A key mastermind of Ukraine’s pro-Russian part of the deep state - the one who controlled judges, corrupted courts, and protected the system’s worst - was assassinated today

The evil tried to break Ukraine from within. There is justice in the world

Andriy Portnov was killed
1/

Portonov, 51, was a senior aide to Ukraine's pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a 2014 popular uprising, and was killed this morning in Madrid.

He was also sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 for undermining democratic processes in Ukraine

2/