Trump’s Call With Putin and Other Headlines of the Day

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Top of the Agenda

Putin committed to a month-long pause to strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure yesterday, but stopped short of agreeing to a full cease-fire. He spoke with Trump on a call that lasted more than two hours. Putin declined to endorse a U.S. and Ukraine-backed proposal for an unconditional halt in frontline fighting as well as air and sea attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv would also halt strikes on energy targets, but that “only a real cessation of strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia…can bring peace closer.”

The latest. Russia’s readout of the call was longer than that of the United States and outlined several conditions for moving toward a peace settlement.

• A “key” condition would be a “total end to foreign military support and intelligence sharing with Kyiv,” the Russian readout said. Trump repeatedly told Fox News yesterday that aid to Ukraine was not discussed.
• Putin said that any deal to end the war should “remove the initial reasons for the crisis.” 
• The White House said that further talks toward a “full cease-fire and permanent peace” would soon begin in the Middle East. It was not immediately clear if Ukraine would be present.

The two readouts said that Trump and Putin both want to improve bilateral relations beyond the issue of Ukraine.

Reactions in Europe. Kyiv and its European allies’ responses to the partial truce included skepticism, cautious welcoming, and steeling for military readiness.

• Zelenskyy said that he sought more information from Washington about what was discussed and was due to speak with Trump today. “It would be right for the world to reject in response any attempts by Putin to drag out the war,” he wrote on Telegram.
• Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the limited truce was an important first step but called for a full cease-fire—and for Ukraine to be involved in decision-making. 
• A group of mostly European countries are building a “coalition of the willing” to secure peace in Ukraine. Individual countries as well as the European Union (EU) are planning increases in defense spending, wary of an emboldened Russia.
• United Kingdom and EU officials held a meeting yesterday regarding the potential seizure of frozen Russian assets, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. 
• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland said they planned to withdraw from a treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, saying they need
• flexibility to defend eastern NATO territory from Russia.

“Putin’s aim in Tuesday’s call was to agree to something resembling Trump’s proposal without limiting his own options. And he succeeded—ironically, by embracing a version of Ukraine’s own partial cease-fire idea. What Putin also said—that a real cease-fire would require a cutoff of U.S. military aid—ought to be a non-starter. Its real message to Trump is that this is where his leverage lies: Putin needs to worry that American aid might actually go up. Stopping the flow of U.S. arms got Zelenskyy’s attention two weeks ago. Increasing it in the weeks ahead may be the only way to get Putin to be serious about a cease-fire the next time he and Trump talk,” CFR expert Stephen Sestanovich told the Daily News Brief.

Across the Globe

Germany’s fiscal policy reversal. The country’s center-left, center-right, and Green blocs joined forces yesterday to pass a constitutional reform that alters the country’s debt limit. The legislative package allows for military spending to surpass the debt limit, creates a more than $540 billion fund for economic stimulus—with a fifth of that earmarked for climate projects—and relaxes state rules on borrowing.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Israel’s defense minister yesterday said that the new strikes on Gaza would not stop unless Hamas releases all remaining hostages and that Israel’s offensive would extend to “air, sea, and land.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strikes “just the beginning.” By midday today local time, there were no reports of Hamas retaliating militarily; the group said it was communicating with mediators. Thousands demonstrated in Jerusalem today against the return to war and Netanyahu’s efforts to dismiss Israel’s internal security chief, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Israel’s return to fighting in Gaza “unacceptable.”

Astronaut splashdown. Three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut returned safely to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday, splashing down in a SpaceX capsule off the coast of Florida. Two of the astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, stayed in space for around nine months longer than originally planned, using the time to perform some 150 experiments. The work aboard the ISS is “the building blocks for going back to the moon and to Mars,” NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate Deputy Associate Administrator Joel Montalbano said. 

Turkish president’s rival detained. Police detained Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu as part of a probe into alleged corruption and support for terrorism. İmamoğlu is a competitor to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and was soon expected to be announced as the main opposition party’s political candidate for a 2028 election. İmamoğlu called the arrest politically motivated in order to “steal the will of the people;” Istanbul authorities banned public demonstrations for four days and access to social media platforms was restricted.  

DRC-Rwanda meeting in Qatar. Qatar hosted a meeting between the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, which backs M23 rebels fighting the DRC government. The three countries issued a joint statement saying all parties were committed “to an immediate and unconditional cease-fire” in the eastern DRC. An M23 spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question about whether this would lead to a truce; M23 refused to attend peace talks in Angola scheduled for yesterday. 

Charges in Belgian Huawei probe. Belgium’s prosecutors office said it charged five people in an investigation of alleged corruption involving Huawei and the European Parliament. Four are charged with active corruption and involvement in a criminal organization, while one is charged with money laundering. They were not publicly identified. The European Parliament did not immediately comment, while Huawei said last week it took the allegations seriously. 

USAID in court. A federal judge ruled that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s moves to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) likely violated the Constitution. The judge ordered DOGE to reinstate access to payment and other systems to current USAID employees and contractors and prohibited further steps related to the shutting down of the agency. A White House spokesperson said that “rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people” and that the White House plans to appeal. 

Changing India-Bangladesh visa permissions. Following the August ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina—who fled to New Delhi—India has sharply curtailed the number of medical visas issued to Bangladeshis, unnamed Bangladeshi sources told Reuters. Some Bangladeshis are reportedly traveling to China and Thailand instead, and China’s ambassador in Bangladesh said Beijing would work to strengthen medical cooperation. The Indian and Bangladeshi foreign ministries did not comment. 

The Day Ahead

• The European Commission presents a white paper on boosting its defense capabilities.

• The UN Human Rights Council discusses the situations in Belarus, Myanmar, and North Korea.

• A three-day session of the International Olympic Committee begins in Greece.