Overview

• At the White House, Trump interrupted meetings to call Vladimir Putin and said he is organizing a Putin–Zelensky encounter to tackle territorial and security issues, reiterating that negotiations do not require a ceasefire.
• Germany’s Friedrich Merz and France’s Emmanuel Macron insisted on a truce before any trilateral and proposed a follow‑on format that brings the European Union directly into security decisions.
• Trump pledged U.S. participation in Article‑5‑style security guarantees alongside European partners, while Russia’s Foreign Ministry restated its categorical rejection of any NATO troop deployments in Ukraine.
• Documents cited by the Financial Times describe a proposal for Ukraine to purchase roughly $100 billion in U.S. weapons financed by Europe as part of a post‑peace security arrangement.
• Fighting continued during the Washington talks, with Ukrainian alerts over Kinzhal‑capable aircraft and new strikes reported across multiple regions.