The U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on Thursday defended President Trump’s conversation about Ukraine with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, saying it was “no betrayal” of Kyiv even though no representative of that country took part. The call on Wednesday, which Mr. Trump characterized as the beginning of a negotiation to end the war … Read more
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was already facing a daunting week as foreign officials gathered in Europe for talks about his country’s future. The Trump administration was demanding $500 billion in Ukrainian mineral rights, it canceled Ukraine’s exemption from U.S. tariffs on steel and a leading American skeptic of military assistance for Kyiv, Vice President … Read more
The question of where Ukraine’s borders with Russia should be drawn in any peace negotiations came into sharp focus this week after Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, said that it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to try to regain all of the territory Russia has seized since 2014. Ukraine’s government has long said that its … Read more
Driver Arrested After Injuring Several in Munich Crowd
What James Howells wants to do is, by his account, simple: buy a landfill, excavate tens of thousands of tons of trash, cart every piece by dump truck to a scanner with A.I.-trained detection technology, install a backup magnetic belt to pick up any lingering metallic objects and, thus, find the long-lost hard drive that … Read more
Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators filled the streets of Brussels on Thursday during a nationwide strike to protest proposed cuts to public services, halting air traffic and causing other travel delays. Brussels Airport said there would be no departing or arriving flights because of the strike, which included air traffic controllers, external security service … Read more
The Trump administration is preparing to release a Russian cybercriminal as part of a prisoner exchange that led to the release of an American schoolteacher from a Russian prison, three U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Officials were preparing to release Alexander Vinnik, who pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2024, to Russia as part of … Read more
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the first senior Trump administration official to visit Ukraine, arriving on Wednesday for talks on an agreement that would trade access to Ukrainian natural resources for continued military support. Mr. Bessent’s trip comes amid anxiety in Kyiv and among American allies about whether U.S. support for the Ukrainian war effort … Read more
A return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “an unrealistic objective” and an “illusionary goal” in the peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia that President Trump wants to accomplish, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, said on Wednesday at a meeting of countries supporting Ukraine. In his first meeting that included NATO and Ukrainian defense ministers, … Read more
President Trump said on Wednesday that he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, characterizing it as the beginning of a negotiation to end the war in Ukraine. It was the first confirmed conversation between the two men during Mr. Trump’s second term, coming as Mr. Trump … Read more