Wednesday Briefing: An Uncertain Path to Peace in Ukraine
President Trump said yesterday that he would not deploy American troops in Ukraine and a White House spokeswoman said President Vladimir Putin of Russia had agreed to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. But Russia has not confirmed such a meeting.
European leaders held talks a day after a White House meeting produced few public signs of tangible progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
Here are the latest updates and a look at where diplomatic efforts are headed.
Military aid: Zelensky said Ukraine would receive $90 billion in American weaponry, including sorely needed air defense systems and war planes. How Ukraine would pay for them remained unclear. It is likely that European countries and allies of NATO will foot much of the bill.
Security guarantees: The White House meetings ended without a formal agreement on Ukrainian security, and European leaders yesterday scrambled to figure out exactly what it would look like. Trump said that no American ground troops would be sent to Ukraine, but that the U.S. could help in other ways, such as providing air support. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain called for an international force stationed in Ukraine, which could range from hundreds to tens of thousands of troops. Trump has suggested that Russia would accept European troop deployments, even though Russia has rejected the idea.
Successes: Zelensky and other European leaders have learned how to work with Trump. Instead of being reprimanded and asked to leave, as Zelensky was during a White House visit earlier this year, he received a warm welcome, promises of U.S. weapons sales and more efforts to broker a face-to-face meeting with Putin. My colleague Michael Schwirtz explains how Zelensky won over Trump, and other small victories, in the video below.
Overnight, Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles. This map shows the front lines now.
Netanyahu under pressure over a proposed Gaza cease-fire
Some far-right members of Israel's governing coalition ruled out a proposed hostage deal with Hamas, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had yet to state his position.
The deal would see the release of some of the remaining hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. A cease-fire would effectively halt Netanyahu's plan to invade Gaza City.
Related: Israel has held talks with South Sudan about accepting Palestinians from Gaza en masse.
Indonesia's rainforests are being cleared to build U.S. motor homes
Recreational vehicles, rolling homes that have grown increasingly popular in the U.S., rely on a crucial import: a plywood made mainly from Indonesian wood called lauan.
R.V. manufacturers consider lauan, which is lightweight, moisture-resistant and flexible, as irreplaceable for features like cabinets and interior walls. But conservation groups said that the industry's demand for lauan has accelerated deforestation in Borneo, where rainforests have been razed in the past five years. Here's what to know.
Pakistan: At least 660 people have died in rain-related incidents since monsoon season began in late June.
Canada: A tentative contract agreement ended an Air Canada flight attendant strike that had stranded thousands of travelers.
U.K.: A judge ruled that asylum seekers must be moved out of a hotel in England, in a case that has highlighted an increasingly contentious issue.
Russia: A report by a research institute said that Moscow's goal was to destabilize Europe by resorting to attacks on critical infrastructure.
Health: Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus, is spreading rapidly to new regions including in China, which reported its first cases.
Europe: Alcohol from the E.U. will likely not be exempt from U.S. tariffs under a new trade deal, a U.S. official said.
Crime: The woman who prosecutors say sold the ketamine that killed Matthew Perry agreed to plead guilty.
Vietnam: A new crowdfunding campaign for Cuba, which sent doctors and food during the war, has raised more than $13 million.
Soccer: Here's a look inside Real Madrid's summer rebuild, as the club tries to dominate Barcelona once more.
Formula 1: How do rival drivers from the same team stack up against one another so far this season?
Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz won the Cincinnati Open after an illness forced Jannik Sinner to quit the tournament.
Paris is particularly ill-adapted to heat waves. In 2023, the medical journal The Lancet deemed it the European capital whose residents were most exposed to heat-related deaths.
But city planners say they are taking steps to prepare for temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius that could force cellphone services to cut out, hospitals to shut down and asphalt streets to melt. They're planting trees, insulating apartments and converting schools to cooling centers. 'It's a race against time,' a city councilor and environmental engineer said. Read more.
Lives lived: Joe Caroff, a quiet giant in graphic design who created the 007 James Bond logo, died at 103.
Moving day: A beloved church in Sweden is being slowly wheeled to a new site over two days to save it from unstable ground.
City lovers: Two coyotes, named Romeo and Juliet, have quietly made New York's Central Park their home.
A museum hit: An exhibition in Paris that confronts stereotypes about life in the suburbs has attracted droves of young people.
High-tech travel: A.I.-powered tools can help you plan trips. But are they any good?
Play like a what?
A classical musical score seems straightforward: play the notes as the composer intended, following tempo indications like 'allegro' or 'andante.' But musicians struggle to interpret oblique, ambiguous or outright surreal paratext, the words and images sometimes jotted alongside the score by the composer.
The most famous example is Erik Satie, who once asked musicians to play 'like a nightingale with a toothache.' George Crumb went beyond written suggestions, producing otherworldly scores in spirals, mandalas or cruciform shapes to coax performers into approaching his music as ritual.
'The words don't tell you what to do,' a violist said. 'They tell you how to be.' Read more.
Freeze: This sweet and salty snack draws on South Asian and Mexican culinary traditions.
Watch: Amanda Knox is an executive producer on a new mini-series about her crime saga.
Read: 'Fetishized' is a candid and intimate memoir of the exoticized Asian body.
Beautify: Learn how to perfect the smoky eye from experts.
Wash: Are you cleaning your bedsheets often enough?
Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.
That's it for today. See you tomorrow. — Dan
Parin Behrooz contributed to this newsletter. We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@nytimes.com.
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Newsweek
3 minutes ago
- Newsweek
President Putin Must Return Ukraine's Children
Last week's much-hyped Trump–Putin summit ended in a cloud of deliberate vagueness: no communiqué, no substantive briefing, no clear commitments. Monday's meeting in the White House with President Volodymyr Zelensky along with some of our most powerful European leaders was far more promising, but time will tell if peace between Russia and Ukraine is possible in the near future. That makes this precisely the moment for Vladimir Putin to demonstrate that he is serious about ending the war in Ukraine. The overgrown playground of the Kherson children's house (orphanage) where Russian forces allegedly took 46 children from, is seen on November 27, 2022, in Kherson, Ukraine. The overgrown playground of the Kherson children's house (orphanage) where Russian forces allegedly took 46 children from, is seen on November 27, 2022, in Kherson, imagine if the Russian leader were to announce not only a commitment to peace but also an unconditional pledge to return the 20,000 Ukrainian children his forces have illegally abducted since the full-scale invasion of February 2022. And while reporting on the meeting in Alaska made little mention of the illegally abducted children, demands that they be located and returned to Ukraine have been unwavering and essentially universal, crossing the political spectrum in the U.S. from Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa); from Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) to Michael McCaul (R-Texas). Just this month, a coalition of 38 countries plus the Council of Europe issued a powerful statement calling on the Russian Federation to "facilitate the return of all unlawfully deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children." The fate of these children, dispersed and unable to communicate with their families in Ukraine, is deeply disturbing to me, as a pediatrician—and especially as a parent and grandparent. Most of the older children have been sent to so-called re-education camps scattered throughout Russia, where they are subjected to relentless propaganda aimed at erasing their Ukrainian identity. Younger children have been placed with Russian families, renamed, stripped of their language, and put on a path toward permanent adoption. These acts are not only morally reprehensible but also flagrant violations of international law. That is why, in March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, charging him with war crimes, including the deportation of children. Having traveled to Ukraine multiple times, representing our organization, the Ukraine Children's Action Project, my wife, Karen Redlener, and I have witnessed firsthand the heartbreak of these abductions. The knowledge that tens of thousands of children have been stolen deepens despair for parents across Ukraine. A credible promise to bring them home could help make the idea of other sacrifices during peace negotiations less intolerable for Ukrainians. Meanwhile, the slow grind of lethal combat and unrelenting attacks on civilian targets have left the most vulnerable—the elderly, people with disabilities, and especially children—bearing the heaviest burdens. Children in particular have endured devastating losses. At least 2,500 have been killed or injured. At least 1.5 million children are now at risk of developing mental health problems. Some 2 million school-age children have had their education upended. And beyond the numbers lies the loss of normalcy: classrooms, friendships, sports, the arts—the everyday fabric of childhood is disrupted by war. During war, children dash to bomb shelters at school, study by candlelight when power fails, use tablets and cell phones when schools have been destroyed, stay indoors for safety, watch their parents grieve the loss of loved ones, and, in the frontline communities, they prepare to flee advancing enemy troops at any hour of the day or night. No child should live like this. And there must be no ambiguity: A credible peace agreement requires the unconditional return of every abducted child. Anything less would legitimize kidnapping as an instrument of war and set a grotesque precedent. To allow these children to remain in Russia under the guise of "integration" or being assimilated into "new families" would make world leaders complicit in cultural erasure on a staggering scale. Some may argue that this demand could complicate peace talks. That is precisely the point. If the futures of stolen children are negotiable, then the peace being crafted is already corrupt. The United States, Europe, and every nation that claims to stand for law and justice must continue to insist on the return of abducted children as a nonnegotiable precondition for any settlement. Ukraine can rebuild its cities, its infrastructure, and its economy. What it cannot do is reclaim the lives lost or undo the profound scars left on its youngest generation. Putin must return Ukraine's children. This may be his best shot at convincing the world that he is serious about ending a war that has already cost too many young lives—Russia and Ukraine's alike. Dr. Irwin Redlener is the co-founder of the Ukraine Children's Action Project, The Children's Health Fund, and is on the faculties of Columbia University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
USA Today
4 minutes ago
- USA Today
Zelenskyy says he wants 'strong' US reaction if Putin not ready to meet
KYIV, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would like a "strong reaction" from Washington if Russian President Vladimir Putin was not willing to sit down for a bilateral meeting with him. President Donald Trump is seeking to broker peace between the two warring countries but has conceded that Putin, with whom Zelenskyy has sought a one-on-one sitdown, may not be willing to make a deal. "I responded immediately to the proposal for a bilateral meeting: we are ready. But what if the Russians are not ready?" Zelenskyy said in comments released on Thursday from a briefing with reporters in Kyiv a day earlier. "If the Russians are not ready, we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States." More: Ukraine's Zelenskyy avoids Trump mauling at White House. Will he get Putin meeting? Despite a flurry of diplomacy in recent days between Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, the path to peace remained uncertain as Washington and allies worked out what security guarantees for Kyiv might look like. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now holds just under 20% of its neighbour, making gradual advances in the east of late though the conflict has become largely attritional. Zelenskyy said it was unclear what concessions regarding territory Moscow was willing to make to end the war. Trump has previously said Kyiv and Moscow will both need to cede land. "To discuss what Ukraine is willing to do, let's first hear what Russia is willing to do," Zelenskyy said. "We do not know that." More: Amid Putin, Zelenskyy talks, several Trump approval polls dropped. Here's what they say. Responding to a question about the Hungarian capital Budapest serving as a potential location for future Ukrainian-Russian talks, Zelenskyy said it would be "challenging". Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the European Union, has twice offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday. (Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko and Yuliia Dysa; writing by Dan Peleschuk; editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)
Los Angeles Times
4 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Immigration enforcement needs oversight. ICE can't just ban lawmakers
As the Trump administration continues to ramp up immigration enforcement actions, a group of lawmakers is suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement for placing restrictions on detention center visits — obstructing Congress' role in overseeing government functions. Twelve House Democrats filed a lawsuit challenging new guidelines that require advance notice for oversight visits and render certain facilities off-limits. 'No child should be sleeping on concrete, and no sick person should be denied care,' said Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles). 'Yet that's exactly what we keep hearing is happening inside Trump's detention centers.' These lawmakers are right to seek access to detention facilities. Detention centers have long been plagued by poor conditions, so the need for oversight is urgent. With record numbers of migrants being detained, the public has a right to know how people in the government's custody are being treated. The U.S. operates the world's largest immigration detention system, at a cost of $3 billion a year. This money is appropriated by Congress — and comes with conditions. Under existing law, none of the funds given to Homeland Security may be used to prevent members of Congress from conducting oversight visits of 'any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens.' In addition, the law states that members of Congress are not required to 'provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.' So ICE's attempt to place limits on oversight appears to be illegal. The restrictions are also problematic because they claim to exempt the agency's field offices from oversight. However, migrants are being locked up in such offices, including at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, and 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. In the former, one detainee reported being fed only once a day, at 3 a.m. In the latter, as many as 80 detainees have been crammed into a single room amid sweltering summer temperatures. These offices were never set up to house people overnight or for days or weeks. If they are functioning as de facto detention centers, then they must be subject to inspections. Congressional oversight of immigration detention is vital right now. The current capacity for U.S. detention facilities is 41,000. Yet the government was holding nearly 57,000 people as of July 27. That means facilities are far over capacity, in a system that the Vera Institute of Justice describes as 'plagued by abuse and neglect.' No matter who is president, conditions in immigrant detention are generally abysmal. Migrant detention centers have been cited for their lack of medical care, poor treatment of detainees, and physical and sexual violence. In 2019, the federal government itself reported that conditions in detention were inhumane. At least 11 people have died in detention since January. This reality cries out for more transparency and accountability — especially because Homeland Security laid off most of its internal watchdogs earlier this year. The ranks of detainees include asylum-seekers, teenagers, DACA recipients, pregnant women, journalists and even U.S. citizens. Most of the detainees arrested lately have no criminal convictions. These folks are often arrested and moved thousands of miles away from home, complicating their access to legal representation and family visits. A visit by a congressional delegation may be the only way to ensure that they are being treated properly. In response to the lawsuit by House Democrats, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Homeland Security, said: 'These members of Congress could have just scheduled a tour. Instead, they're running to court to drive clicks and fundraising emails.' She added that ICE was imposing the new limits, in part, because of 'obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves.' McLaughlin might have been referring to a May scuffle outside a Newark, N.J., detention center that led to charges being filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) and the arrest of the city's mayor. But this incident would not have occurred if immigration officials had followed the law and allowed lawmakers inside to survey the facility's conditions. Indeed, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, told a congressional hearing in May that he recognized the right of members to visit detention facilities, even with no notice. And the notion that any government agency can unilaterally regulate Congress runs afoul of the Constitution. The legislative branch has the right and obligation to supervise the executive branch. Simply put, ICE cannot tell members of Congress what they can or cannot do. The need for oversight in detention facilities will only become greater in the future, as Congress just approved $45 billion for the expansion of immigrant detention centers. This could result in the daily detention of at least 116,000 people. Meanwhile, 55% of Americans, according to the Pew Center, disapprove of building more facilities to hold immigrants. ICE's new policies violate federal law. No agency is above oversight — and members of Congress must be allowed full access to detention facilities. Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. X: @RaulAReyes; Instagram: @raulareyes1
