Trump and Putin held a call on peace in Ukraine
President Trump said that he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which he characterized as the beginning of a negotiation to end the war in Ukraine. Afterward, Trump said he had spoken with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Trump wrote on social media of his call with Putin. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths” — in fact, an estimated several hundred thousand — “taking place in the war.”
The call signifies the collapse of Western efforts to isolate Putin diplomatically.
Trump did not say how Ukraine’s interests would factor into the negotiations. But Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier at a NATO meeting in Brussels that a peace deal restoring Ukraine’s borders to those of 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea, was “unrealistic.” Russia now occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine. Trump, Hegseth added, does not support Ukraine’s membership in NATO as part of a peace plan.
Minerals deal: Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources have become a prominent component in the maneuvering over the country’s future after Trump pushed the idea of trading U.S. aid for Ukrainian minerals. The U.S. Treasury secretary was in Kyiv for talks about a possible deal.
Modi hopes to keep India off Trump’s target list
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is expected to try to ease any potential friction between his country and the U.S. when he meets with President Trump today in Washington. Modi has spoken of a warm relationship with the president, but Trump can be a fickle friend.
Two glaring issues could complicate Modi’s goals: trade and immigration. Modi “will be trying to show Trump that he is cooperating on his fixation on tariffs and illegal immigration,” Mujib Mashal, our South Asia bureau chief, said. “Trump has singled out India as one of the main abusers of tariffs that enjoys a trade deficit with the U.S., mentioning India in the same breath as China.”
India’s trade surplus with the U.S. is growing, and Modi could offer lower duties on U.S. goods like bourbon and pecans, which are produced mainly in Republican states.
Deportations: India is also the largest source of illegal immigration to the U.S. after Latin America. Modi’s government has made it clear that it will cooperate with Trump’s deportation effort, even as it caused an uproar in India last week.
Jordan and Egypt attempt diversion on Gaza
Jordan and Egypt are moving with speed to try to dissuade President Trump from forcing them to take in two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The two Arab nations view the proposal as an existential threat.
The strategy appears to be to placate Trump with offers to work together to rebuild Gaza, bring peace to the region and expand humanitarian aid efforts. That could help them buy time, analysts say — perhaps enough for the idea to be jettisoned altogether, or for its strategic and security drawbacks to become apparent. And with Trump, flattery can be highly effective.
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That’s it for today’s briefing. Thanks for starting your day with The New York Times. — Natasha
Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
