European Diplomacy Seeks Ukraine Strategy and Other Headlines of the Day

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Top of the Agenda

European leaders are racing to develop strategies for Ukraine’s—and the region’s—defense after Trump doubled down on criticism of Kyiv. U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday after Zelenskyy accused Trump of repeating Russian propaganda. Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump posted on social media. Trump’s sharp words stunned many European officials and even some U.S. Republicans. After consultations with the leaders of France and the United Kingdom (UK), who voiced support for Kyiv, Zelenskyy is meeting with Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg today.

Europe’s emergency talks. French President Emmannuel Macron hosted his second informal crisis meeting in three days yesterday. More leaders attended this time, including from non-European-Union (EU) countries such as Canada and Norway. While the full details of those talks were not made public, in the last few days...

Digesting Trump’s pivot. Amid Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy this week—which followed bilateral U.S.-Russia talks without Ukraine—some European politicians have said they believe a profound shift in transatlantic relations is underway. “Europe can no longer fully rely on the United States to defend our shared values and interests,” the leaders of the center-right European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, the liberal Renew Europe, and the Greens said in a joint statement Tuesday. Others, such as the European Conservatives and Reformists group—which includes Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party—declined to sign, urging “calm, measured dialogue.” Some argued that Trump should be given space to negotiate and that his strong words might be a tactic to, in the words of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “shock Europeans into action.”

“Europeans are not able anymore to rely on the United States as a security provider and as the country that protects them against Russia and other threats. The United States has been very clear with its messaging: Europe needs to stand on its own feet,” CFR expert Liana Fix says.

Across theGlobe

A step toward quantum computing. Microsoft unveiled a quantum computing chipthat it said uses a new state of matter—not solid, liquid, or gas—and suggests that quantum computing could be used to solve industrial-scale problems in “years, not decades.” Current quantum computing prototypes carry potential for ultra-fast problem solving but are prone to errors. Experts told the BBC more data is needed to assess the significance of Microsoft’s product. While private firms are the main researchers on quantum computing in the United States, the Chinese government and EU have said they are investing billions in the technology. 

Pakistan’s expulsion of Afghans. Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan yesterday of carrying out mass expulsions of Afghan refugees without formally communicating the plan. Pakistan said it was carrying out a process announced in 2023and that those with valid visas would be allowed to stay. Pakistan also last month reportedly approved a plan to soon deport refugees waiting to be resettled in third countries unless their cases are quickly processed; they include tens of thousands of Afghans awaiting resettlement in the United States, who are now in limbo after Trump paused U.S. refugee programs last month. 

New groups on U.S. terrorist list. The Trump administration is designating eight Latin American crime groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Six are based in Mexico, including the country’s two largest drug trafficking groups, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one is based in Venezuela, and one in El Salvador. Trump considered such a designation during his first term but held back amid concerns about damaging relations with Mexico and making it easier for migrants to claim asylum if they said they were fleeing terrorist groups.

EU talk of easing tariffs. The bloc is ready to discuss reducing tariffs on cars and other goods, its trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said yesterday at an event in Washington. It will do its “utmost” to prevent a trade escalation but would respond if one unfolded, he added. Šefčovič went on to meet with Trump’s economic team.

Hamas releases hostage bodies. Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages it abducted from Israel in its October 7, 2023 attack. Israel’s military plans to confirm their identities, while Hamas said they were a mother and her two young children as well as an elderly peace activist. They are the first deceased hostages released as part of the ongoing truce deal.

Trump Media v. Brazilian judge. Trump’s media group and the video sharing platform Rumble sued Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes in a Florida court, alleging illegal censorship and saying Moraes ordered the suspension of U.S.-based accounts of an unnamed “politically outspoken user.” Moraes has ordered takedowns in the past of several social media accounts deemed to be attacking Brazilian democracy. Hours earlier, he had received the indictment that accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup. 

Yoon’s overlapping cases. Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended hearings today for two different legal proceedings. One is a Constitutional Court case over whether to definitively remove him from office following his short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December. The other is a criminal trial—the first for a sitting South Korean head of state—on insurrection charges at a Seoul district court. Yoon and his lawyers have said he did not intend to fully enact martial law and aimed instead to save the country from gridlock.

Order to shift Pentagon spending. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed military officials to identify $50 billion in spending that could be rechanneled toward Trump’s priority areas. Those include border security and a missile defense shield but do not include climate change, a senior defense department official said. The Pentagon has previously described climate change as a national security threat and funded efforts to make its bases more resistant to extreme weather events. The proposed spending shift would be for fiscal year 2026, which begins October 1.

The Day Ahead