According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. President Donald Trump told European leaders he is open to offering security guarantees for Ukraine—a notable shift in his position on America’s role in ending the war with Russia—following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Several European officials briefed on the discussions said Trump conveyed that Putin would not pause hostilities during peace talks and demanded that Ukraine surrender territory in its eastern regions in exchange for freezing the frontline elsewhere. Trump also noted that, according to Putin, any peace agreement would require Western troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its enforcement, the officials said.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said that new measures to increase pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s regime will be announced “in the coming days and weeks.” However, Landau stressed that political change in Venezuela must be led by its own citizens. “The Venezuelan people must rise up and demand their freedom. We cannot go around the world changing governments at will.”

At a White House press conference, U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced he will invoke the 1973 Home Rule Act, placing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal authority and deploying the National Guard across Washington, D.C.

Rutte affirmed that NATO will continue supplying arms to Ukraine regardless of Friday’s summit, vowing full support to sustain Ukraine’s fight and prepare it for eventual peace negotiations.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has instructed the Pentagon to develop military options for targeting several Latin American drug cartels that were designated as foreign terrorist organizations earlier this year, a senior U.S. official told the *Wall Street Journal*. The proposals under consideration reportedly center on special forces missions, intelligence sharing, and precision strikes, with any operations to be carried out in coordination with Mexico and other partners in Central and South America. According to sources familiar with the matter, Trump urged Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum during an April phone call to permit greater U.S. military involvement in combating Mexico’s drug cartels. U.S. and Mexican officials are now finalizing an agreement that would include intelligence cooperation and joint enforcement actions. Sheinbaum, who says she expects the deal to be signed soon, has stressed that “respecting our territory” is a non-negotiable condition in working with the United States.

According to European and Ukrainian officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented the Trump Administration with a sweeping new ceasefire proposal for Ukraine, demanding significant territorial concessions from Kyiv—along with international recognition of Russia’s claims—in exchange for halting the war. During a meeting in Moscow earlier this week with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin reportedly offered to agree to a full ceasefire if Ukraine withdrew its forces from the entirety of Donetsk Oblast. This would leave Russia in control of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea—territories it insists must be recognized globally as part of the Russian Federation. The proposal marks a notable shift from Moscow’s earlier demands, which had included control over additional eastern regions, Ukrainian neutrality, an end to arms shipments to Kyiv, and a ban on NATO or U.S. troop deployments in Ukraine. European officials say the plan outlines two phases. In the first, Ukrainian troops would withdraw from Donetsk and the current battlelines in Eastern Ukraine would be frozen. In the second, Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump would reach a final peace agreement, to be formally negotiated with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, European and Ukrainian officials briefed by Trump and Witkoff this week expressed concern that Putin’s offer may be a calculated maneuver to stave off a new wave of U.S. sanctions and tariffs on Russia, which were set to be announced Friday.

The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia have signed a historic peace agreement at the White House, brokered by U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

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