Overview
- U.S. officials said there are no plans for a near-term Trump–Putin meeting in Budapest, and a planned Rubio–Lavrov face-to-face was dropped after a phone call the White House described as productive.
- Russia signaled it wants Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas and reiterated opposition to an immediate halt in fighting, underscoring the gap with U.S. and Ukrainian positions.
- EU leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky issued a joint statement backing negotiations that start from the current line of contact and pledged to develop measures to use the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine.
- EU energy ministers approved a phased roadmap to end Russian gas and LNG: no new contracts from January 1, 2026, existing short-term deals to end by June 17, 2026, and long-term contracts by December 31, 2027.
- Zelensky said he is ready to join talks and voiced cautious optimism about a possible end to the war, while European capitals work on a reported 12‑point peace framework and Russian state TV publicly mocks Trump’s approach.