Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.
Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In a readout provided by Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy said that a „lot of progress was made“ during the meeting, without providing details.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Zelensky signaled that Ukraine seeks NATO-like security guarantees as part of a peace deal to prevent future Russian aggression, as full membership is opposed by the U.S. and other partners.
Ahead of the meeting, Axios reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that the Trump administration may be willing to provide Congress-approved NATO-like security guarantees.
Erika Kirk’s passionate advocacy for conservative values, alongside her husband Charlie, has long placed her in the public eye. In the wake of tragedy, how does she think about responsibility, resilience — and the work still to come? Watch this conversation about leading through uncertainty and how to turn hardship into purpose.
Guest: Erika Kirk, C.E.O. and Chair of the Board of Turning Point USA
Interviewer: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Founder and Editor at Large of DealBook
Though Kirk has become a national figure since the death of her husband, her selection as the closing speaker at the annual summit for the Times’ business vertical was unexpected. But Sorkin explained the reason for the decision after the two got onstage. About a year ago, he said, he met and befriended Charlie. The two texted and emailed frequently about their political disagreements.
“Charlie Kirk was supposed to be here today. He was supposed to be part of a task force that we had been talking about for quite some time,” Sorkin said. He decided to instead extend the invitation to Erika Kirk after she spoke ahead of President Donald Trump at her husband’s televised memorial service. “I sat and watched the funeral by video, and I watched you, and I sat in awe…when you forgave the assassin…. It was at that moment I said to myself, I need to talk to Erika,” Sorkin explained.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled two options for financing Ukraine over the next two years, as Kyiv approaches an existential cash crunch.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, von der Leyen said that under the first option, European countries would jointly borrow and lend the money to Ukraine. All 27 member states would have to be on board for the plan to go ahead.
During the inaugural conference being held in Liverpool this weekend, all members were asked to vote on what to call the new party, which was temporarily named ‘Your Party‘ earlier this year.
Members voting online have now chosen to keep the ‘Your Party’ name permanently, with 37.06 per cent voting in favour on a 30 per cent turnout. Almost 17,000 members voted on the name.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed a meeting of delegations of Ukraine and the United States at the end of this week to discuss, in particular, better diplomatic positions and security guarantees.
„Our team, together with American representatives, will already this week – at the end of the week – continue to bring the points that we have according to the results of Geneva closer to a form that will lead to peace and security guarantees. There will be a meeting of delegations. The Ukrainian delegation will be well prepared and tuned to substantive work,“ Zelenskyy said during his evening address.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to meet with President Trump „as soon as possible“ – possibly by Thanksgiving – to finalize a joint agreement between the United States and Ukraine on the terms of ending the war, said Andriy Yermak, head of the President’s Office of Ukraine.
„I hope the visit of President Zelenskyy will take place as soon as possible, because … it will be help President Trump to continue his historical mission to end this war,“ Yermak told Axios in an interview over Zoom Tuesday morning. „Because [Trump] can say: ‚Look, this is confirmed and agreed, our position with the Ukrainians. We support it, and we continue now to speak with the Russians.'“
(November 18, 2025)
(November 20, 2025)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Representatives Jason Crow (D-CO-06), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06) released the following joint statement:
“We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation.“
“What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.“
“But this isn’t about any one of us. This isn’t about politics. This is about who we are as Americans. Every American must unite and condemn the President’s calls for our murder and political violence. This is a time for moral clarity.“
“In these moments, fear is contagious, but so is courage. We will continue to lead and will not be intimidated.“
“Don’t Give Up the Ship!”
(November 18, 2025)
Zelenskyy also separately informed about Russia‘s terrible strike on Ternopil.
„The X-101 missile, with which the Russian army hit an ordinary high-rise building yesterday, was manufactured in 2025. It contains 175 foreign components that still enter Russia bypassing sanctions. We are counting on the help of the United States in limiting all schemes,“ the president said.
He handed over to Secretary Driscoll specific materials with information about the companies that produce critical components, the countries of origin, and the parts themselves.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a series of subpoenas Tuesday for some of Epstein’s financial records.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, issued subpoenas to J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank and requested additional documents from U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Gordon Rhea.
(updated 12 hours ago)
Trump’s reversal comes as expectations of mass GOP defections grew ahead of a House vote this week on an attempt to force the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein case files.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California last week gathered enough signatures on a discharge petition to force such a vote.
Massie and Khanna appeared optimistic earlier Sunday about their bill’s chances of passing, insisting there was growing support among the GOP in the House.
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The UK’s decision marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence sharing partner and underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the US military’s campaign around Latin America.
(June 18, 2025)
Earlier Wednesday, Gov. Hochul told Pix 11, “I don’t want to lose more people to Palm Beach“ when asked about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan to raise taxes. Delgado referenced the governor’s comment when explaining his own position on taxes.
“All options should be on the table, and the notion that we wouldn’t contemplate raising taxes on the super wealthy, or that we wouldn’t contemplate making sure that larger corporations pay more into the system, to me, is the exact type of ‘maintain the status quo, do what you need to do just to maintain power’ as opposed to actually thinking about what is required,” he stated.
Hochul has raised corporate taxes, but has held the line on raising new income taxes.
(March 20, 2025)
„Ultimately, we don‘t have a unified front where everybody‘s on the same page about saying, “Hey, wait a second. We‘re all trying to make a living here. We‘re all trying to get by, irrespective of race, irrespective of gender and sexual orientation. We‘re all trying to make a living. Why is it so hard for all of us to make a living?”
We have to be able to address it, because if we don‘t address it, then we will continue to be in the stock that we‘re in, because people will not invest in the system. They will stay home; 500,000 Democrats stayed home in New York. So people are staying home.“
(June 2, 2025)
After months of open political warfare with Ms. Hochul, Mr. Delgado said Monday he would challenge her in next year’s Democratic primary.
“People are hurting and New York deserves better leadership,” Mr. Delgado said in an interview. “There’s an absence of bold, decisive, transformational leadership.”
That phrase has become the theme for Mr. Delgado’s campaign, the first official challenge to Ms. Hochul, and a message he repeats in a video announcing his candidacy.
He never mentions Ms. Hochul by name in the video, but he suggests that everyday New Yorkers deserve a governor with a vision to fight for them as they face unaffordable housing, child care and health care costs.
(October 30, 2025)
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the horrific violence occurring in El Fasher. The situation is both tragic and appalling.
We have said this before, and we will say it again – the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide.
The RSF has and continues to systematically kill men and boys – even infants – and deliberately target women and children for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. These crimes are ethnically motivated.
RSF militias are targeting civilians as they flee, killing innocent people escaping conflict, and preventing those who remain from accessing life-saving supplies.
The United States condemns these abhorrent atrocities in no uncertain terms. Those responsible should be held accountable, including through sanctions, as noted by the Sudan Sanctions Panel of Experts in its most recent report.
(…)
Colleagues, ending wars is a priority for President Trump, and the United States remains committed to working with our partners and other stakeholders to resolve the crisis.
Together, we are focused on securing an immediate humanitarian truce, halting external support, and advancing a transition to civilian governance.
Diplomats told Middle East Eye that representatives of Burhan’s government and its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), were both in Washington for indirect talks.
According to an Egyptian presidential source, US President Donald Trump has personally tasked Sisi to work on ending Sudan’s civil war.
(October 20, 2025)
US President Donald Trump’s senior envoy for Arab and African affairs said peace negotiations in Libya and the Democratic Republic of Congo were progressing, and his team was working hard to pursue a ceasefire in Sudan.
“We think it’s achievable,” Massad Boulos said in an interview in Rome of a deal in Libya, which has been mired in chaos since the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. “You can’t expect a peace process to be implemented overnight,” he added. “I hope that this process moves fast.”
A sharp drop in oil demand from Russia’s two largest customers will put a strain on Moscow’s oil revenues and force the world’s top importers to seek alternative supplies and push up global prices.
Chinese national oil companies PetroChina (601857.SS), Sinopec, CNOOC and Zhenhua Oil will refrain from dealing in seaborne Russian oil at least in the short-term due to concern over sanctions, the sources said.
Die US-Sanktionen richten sich gegen die beiden größten russischen Ölkonzerne Rosneft und Lukoil, wobei ersteres Unternehmen auch von der EU auf die schwarze Liste gesetzt wurde. Brüssel hat Lukoil hingegen ausgespart, da für Ungarn und die Slowakei weiterhin eine langjährige Ausnahmeregelung gilt, die ihnen erlaubt, russisches Öl zu beziehen.
The Scandinavian country initiated the UN resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the ICJ on Israel’s obligations, and the court ruled earlier that Israel is obliged under international law to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza.
“Norway intends to follow up on this (ICJ) decision with a new resolution at the UN General Assembly,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide tells a press conference.
“No country can place itself above its obligations under international law. This is essential, both for Palestinians and for all other populations living in situations of war and conflict,” he adds.
Today, 1:49 pm
(…)
Israel Airports Authority says traffic disruptions around the airport are expected between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time and that some flights are scheduled to be moved to another terminal.
Neither the White House nor the Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the trip.
Today, 10:34 am
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and top White House advisor Jared Kushner land in Israel, the US Embassy tells The Times of Israel.
Their visit is part of a concerted US push to keep the fledgling ceasefire in Gaza from fraying further, a day after two IDF troops were killed in a Hamas attack and Israel responded with airstrikes across the Strip.
US President Donald Trump said there’s no reason for the US military in Gaza.
“No, I don‘t see that … I think we‘re going to handle it very well,” Mr Trump said.
“We‘re going to be helping Israel.”
The Palestinian Authority delegation was invited “personally” by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who will host leaders from at least 20 countries. The guest list includes U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and representatives from Italy, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Qatar.
(October 11, 2025)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday called for the deployment of international forces in Gaza, and the ceasefire agreement to receive international legitimacy through the UN Security Council.
(October 10, 2025)
The spokesman stated that the UN chief underscored the need to deploy international forces in Gaza and to grant international legitimacy to the ceasefire agreement through the UN Security Council.