Overview

• Zelenski set a seven-to-ten day window to study Western security guarantees before agreeing to face-to-face talks with Putin and rejected China as a guarantor.
• Trump’s push for rapid leader-level diplomacy followed his meeting with Putin in Alaska and sessions in Washington with Zelenski and European leaders, with Kyiv open to bilateral or trilateral formats.
• Russia launched roughly 574 drones and 40 missiles overnight, hitting western regions and a U.S.-linked electronics plant, while Ukraine struck targets inside Russia, including oil infrastructure reported near Bryansk.
• Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any leaders’ contact must be thoroughly prepared, signaled limited flexibility on some Trump proposals, and maintained Moscow’s conditions reported to include NATO renunciation and territorial concessions.
• EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that pressuring Ukraine to cede land would be a trap and emphasized that credible guarantees must rest on a strong Ukrainian military and clear commitments from a coalition of volunteers.