Reuters | Russia lays out demands for talks with US on Ukraine, sources say
Russia has presented the U.S. with a list of demands for a deal to end its war against Ukraine and reset relations with Washington, according to two people familiar with the matter.

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The Hill | Putin adviser says ceasefire gives nothing to Russia, would only help Ukraine
An adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin said a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire gave nothing to Russia and only benefited Ukraine, in one of Moscow’s first public signs of opposition to a deal Kyiv agreed to on Tuesday.

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NPR | A Putin aide rejects Trump's 30-day Ukraine ceasefire proposal

As U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff enters talks with Russian officials in Moscow on a Trump administration proposal Ukraine has already accepted for a 30-day ceasefire, President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, rejected the idea.

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The Wall Street Journal | South Korea’s Acting President Is Betting on Keeping U.S. Ties Strong
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, hasn’t spoken with President Trump. But he desperately wants to.

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Military Times | US agrees to resume military aid, intel sharing with Ukraine
The U.S. is resuming security and intelligence aid to Ukraine after talks between the two countries in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, ending a weeklong standoff that threatened to strengthen Russia’s battlefield position.

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Stars & Stripes | VA secretary accuses lawmakers of making the VA a ‘punching bag,’ pouring billions of dollars into agency without reform
Doug Collins, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, defended the mass firing of VA workers last month as the Trump administration’s solution to making the agency more accountable and responsive to veterans.

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Military.com | Supreme Court Upholds VA Court Decision Not to Review 'Benefit-of-the-Doubt' Evidence in Veterans' Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against two veterans who argued that their disability claims were unfairly denied because they did not receive favorable decisions when the evidence presented in their cases was equal.

Foreign Affairs | Would a Peace Deal in Ukraine Last? | G. John Ikenberry and Harold James
A peace settlement to end a major war can be an opportunity to reorder the world. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in France, European leaders negotiated new territorial boundaries at the Congress of Vienna, in 1814–15, in an attempt to establish a stable balance of power on the continent. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, after the end of World War I, participants drew up plans for the League of Nations, an international body tasked with securing world peace. And in early 1945, as World War II was winding down, representatives of 50 countries gathered to draft a charter for a new organization to replace the ineffective league. The United Nations began its operations later that year.

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Responsible Statecraft | Kurds sign deal in Syria: Case for US troops there 'weaker than ever' | Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

Amid all of the violence on the Syrian coast this week, there was one development Monday that may reduce the chaos in the northeast: the new Sunni leadership has struck a deal with the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces to merge with the central government in Damascus.

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The American Conservative | The Afghan Refugee Program Is an Unfixable Mess—and May Bring the Next Terrorist Attack
History will rightly lambast the Biden administration for the tragic and disastrously managed evacuation from Kabul in 2021. In the wreckage and chaos of that withdrawal, the Biden administration's National Security Council (NSC) set up a program to assist Afghans who had worked with U.S. authorities to leave the country and resettle in the United States. The State Department’s “Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts” (CARE) has largely managed the resettlement operation, but not without controversy. Whistleblowers have credibly alleged that CARE officials have tolerated unacceptable security risks in resettling unknown Afghans, while also ignoring internal corrupt screening practices. There is little doubt that CARE has prioritized resettling Afghans over protecting the American homeland.

Concerned Veterans for America has been vocal on the war in Ukraine. We believe it is time for a negotiated peace deal.

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CVA’s Executive Director, John Vick wrote an opinion piece for Foreign Policy, arguing that Trump is right: Zelenskyy and Ukraine need a negotiated settlement:

The recent, tense oval office meeting between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Ukrainian President Zelensky, followed by a pause in U.S. aid and support have charted a new course for how the U.S. will participate in the war between Russia and Ukraine. In short, the administration (and President Zelensky too, per a letter sent to President Trump) are committed to peace and a negotiated settlement. A realistic understanding of viable options for Ukraine is tough, but necessary. The longer the war continues, the greater the chance the Ukrainian military will face a catastrophic collapse that will result in far greater Russian gains than might have been secured in a negotiated settlement. As President Trump accurately put it, Ukraine does not have the cards. And as former President Biden learned, those cards cannot be purchased with American tax dollars.

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For years, the Biden administration’s rhetoric misled Ukraine into imagining that the United States could supply its war effort indefinitely and that Americans would be willing to guarantee Ukraine’s security with U.S. troops. These misconceptions need to be dropped, and this war needs to come to an end. After what amounted to a moratorium on diplomacy under the Biden administration, the Trump administration took the correct step of beginning talks with Russia about how to end the war. Such negotiations will be complex and difficult, but the Trump administration has thus far demonstrated smart instincts when it comes to recognizing the reality of the situation. Ukraine is nearing the end of its rope. Its armies have fought bravely, but are depleted, demoralized, and exhausted. Ukraine is running out of weapons, munitions, and soldiers. The West is losing the ability to replenish the former two inadequate numbers due to the degraded state of our military manufacturing industrial base. As for manpower, Ukraine faces mass desertions, a failing campaign to draft its citizens, and reluctance to endanger its future by conscripting 18-22 year-olds. The war has already resulted in an estimated one million casualties.

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Read more here.

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