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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Several European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he meets with President Trump at the White House later today, to present a “united front between Europeans and Ukrainians,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. Zelenskyy and Trump are expected to discuss the outcome of the Friday summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which failed to yield a ceasefire agreement. Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are all expected to be present during the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. Constant Méheut and Enjoli Liston report for the New York Times; BBC News reports; Maegan Vazquez reports for the Washington Post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine’s Donbas region in exchange for freezing other frontlines of the war and a written promise not to attack Ukraine or any European country, Trump told European leaders and Zelenskyy. According to sources, Trump also dropped his demand for an immediate ceasefire, stating that Ukraine and Russia should go straight to negotiating a peace treaty. Russian forces at present occupy almost all of the Luhansk region of Donbas, but do not control part of the strategic, fortified Donetsk region. Christopher Miller, Amy Mackinnon, Max Seddon, and Anne-Sylvaine Chassany report for the Financial Times; Ellen Francis, Siobhán O’Grady, Catherine Belton, and David L. Stern report for the Washington Post; Steven Erlanger reports for the New York Times.
Trump told European leaders he is open to offering U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine, a move commended by the Europe’s “coalition of the willing.” According to three European officials, Trump indicated such guarantees could include U.S. military support for a European-led security force and said that Putin had accepted that a durable peace would need to include the presence of Western troops in Ukraine. Bojan Pancevski, Laurence Norman, and Daniel Michaels report for the Wall Street Journal; BBC News reports.
There is “no going into NATO by Ukraine” and “no getting back” of the Crimean peninsula, Trump stated in a social media post yesterday. He also incorrectly claimed that Crimea was occupied by Russia “without a shot being fired.” Kevin Liptak reports for CNN; Vitaliy Shevchenko reports for BBC News.
U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff yesterday told CNN that Putin agreed to “robust security guarantees” and “legislative enshrinement” of a promise not to invade Ukraine or another European country during the Friday summit in Anchorage. Neither provision has been mentioned in Russian accounts of the summit. Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ABC News that while “progress was made … we’re not at the precipice” of a peace deal. Kevin Liptak reports; Kelsey Walsh reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia is preparing to test its new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile, Ukraine’s military intelligence service said on Friday, warning that Moscow plans to use the results to bolster its negotiating position if the test is successful. While the service did not name its sources, its account corroborates findings of U.S. researchers and a Western security source reported by Reuters last week. Tom Balmforth and Jonathan Landay report for Reuters.
A Russian overnight attack on an apartment block in Ukraine’s Kharkiv killed at least four people, including a child, the local mayor said today. Separately, a glide bomb attack killed one person and injured six in the Zaporizhzhia region. Vitaliy Shevchenko reports for BBC News; Vitalii Hnidyi reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL
The U.S. State Department on Saturday announced it had paused approvals of visitor visas for people from Gaza to conduct a “full and thorough review” of the process by which temporary medical visas are issued. The move, which halts a pathway for those seeking medical care in the United States, came after a lobbying campaign by the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who called medical evacuation flights of children from Gaza a “national security threat.” Hamed Aleaziz and Ken Bensinger report for the New York Times; Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing reports for POLITICO.
A group of between 30 and 50 critically ill and injured Palestinian children will travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment from Gaza in the coming weeks, according to BBC News. Leila Nathoo and Jessica Rawnsley report.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis yesterday participated in some of the largest anti-war protests in months, organized by a group representing families of Israeli hostages, according to local media reports. While the protests were ongoing, the IDF Chief of Staff, Eyal Zamir, and senior military commanders in Gaza approved a plan for “the next phase of the war” focused on capturing Gaza City, according to an IDF readout and Israel’s public broadcaster Kan. Claire Parker, Heidi Levine, Alon Rom, and Abbie Cheeseman report for the Washington Post.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Bolivia is set to elect its first non-left-wing president after nearly two decades of near-continuous rule by the incumbent socialist party, the results of yesterday’s preliminary presidential election suggest. The country’s former socialist president, Evo Morales, has urged his supporters to cast invalid votes in protest against legal and constitutional rulings blocking him from running for a fourth term. Ione Wells reports for BBC News.
Mali’s military junta on Thursday announced it had arrested several individuals planning a coup, including Malian military personnel and a French national whom it accused of being a spy. The French foreign office on Saturday said the French national is a member of the French embassy and the accusations against him are “unfounded.” Eve Sampson reports for the New York Times; Reuters reports.
A prominent Sudanese human rights group, the Emergency Lawyers, has accused the Sudanese army and security forces of torturing people to death and operating “execution chambers.” Wedaeli Chibelushi and Will Ross report for BBC News.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Syria’s southern city of Sweida in support of the Druze minority’s self-determination on Saturday. According to the activist media collective Suwayda 24, the protests were the largest since last month’s deadly clashes. AP News reports.
A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spoof reputable organizations and spread disinformation, according to misinformation tracker NewsGuard. Dana Nickel reports for POLITICO.
FEDERALIZATION OF D.C. POLICING
Some National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., were told late on Friday to expect an order to carry weapons, sources say. A Guard spokesperson confirmed the reports yesterday, stating that “Guard members may be armed consistent with their mission and training.” Separately, the Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio announced they would send up to 750 more Guard soldiers to the city. Vera Bergengruen, Lara Seligman, and Micah Maidenberg report for the Wall Street Journal; Joe Hernandez, Luke Garrett, and Brian Mann report for NPR.
A National Guard soldier on Friday temporarily detained a man who the authorities say assaulted a U.S. Park Police officer on the National Mall in D.C., the first such action by the Guard during its ongoing deployment. Eric Schmitt and Campbell Robertson report for the New York Times.
The Justice Department on Friday agreed to rescind its attempt to insert Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as the head of the D.C. Police Department. The DOJ’s move to agree to leave the current city police chief in charge came after a hearing with a federal judge, who pledged to intervene unless the administration revised its stance in response to a lawsuit filed by Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times; Nicole Markus and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
Hundreds of demonstrators protested against the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington on Saturday. Alyce McFadden reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The Trump administration is discussing a refugee admissions cap of around 40,000 for the coming year, with the majority of spaces allocated to white South Africans, according to two U.S. officials and an internal email seen by Reuters. Ted Hesson reports.
The Pentagon is deploying a hundred Marines to support ICE operations in Florida, U.S. Northern Command announced on Thursday. Other troops will be deployed to Texas and Louisiana, the Command added. Zita Ballinger Fletcher reports for MilitaryTimes.
ICE is planning to double its immigrant detention system capacity by opening or expanding 125 facilities this year, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post. Douglas MacMillan, N. Kirkpatrick, and Lydia Sidhom report.
U.S. FOREIGN DEVELOPMENTS
The United States has had internal discussions on whether Trump should discuss using Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker vessels to support the development of gas and LNG projects in Alaska during the summit with Putin, sources say. The icebreaker idea was one of the potential deals to try to strike with Russia considered by the White House, a source added. Marwa Rashad and Anna Hirtenstein report for Reuters.
Guests at an Anchorage hotel on Friday found papers with U.S. State Department markings revealing previously undisclosed and potentially sensitive details about the Trump-Putin meeting in one of the hotel’s printers, NPR reports. An administration spokesperson characterized the papers, which included precise times and locations of each meeting, as well as the phone numbers of several administration officials, as a “multipage lunch menu” and not a security breach. Chiara Eisner reports; Katie Rogers reports for the New York Times.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
OpenAI is strongly considering adding encryption to at least some ChatGPT conversations, the group’s CEO Sam Altman said, pointing to the growing number of people sharing sensitive information with AI. Ina Fried reports for Axios.
A federal lawsuit filed on Friday accuses Otter.ai of “deceptively” recording private conversations to train its popular transcription service. Bobby Allyn reports for NPR.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent last week ousted three senior IRS executives responsible for online tax services and the scrutiny of tax-exempt organizations, sources say. Jacob Bogage and Shannon Najmabadi report for the Washington Post.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration’s extensive reductions in force at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can proceed, an appeals court ruled on Friday in a 2-1 decision. The majority held that the claims of employees who were laid off “must proceed through the specialized-review scheme established in the Civil Service Reform Act.” Laurel Wamsley reports for NPR.
A federal judge on Friday denied the Trump administration’s request to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a policy meant to protect immigrant children in federal custody. The judge ruled that “there is nothing new … regarding the facts or the law” since the government’s latest attempt to depart from the agreement that would justify its termination. Valerie Gonzalez reports for AP News.
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