Uncertainty on the Ukraine war’s anniversary
President Trump met with President Emmanuel Macron of France at the White House yesterday at a head-spinning time for Western alliances. It was the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine, and peace talks with Russia have sidelined Kyiv and European leaders. Here’s the latest.
Trump told reporters while sitting next to the French president that the fighting could be over “within weeks,” and he suggested that he may visit Moscow as soon as this spring. He refused to call President Vladimir Putin of Russia a dictator.
The U.S. opposed a European effort at the U.N. to condemn Russia and call for it to immediately withdraw from Ukraine. The Trump administration introduced its own resolution, which softened the language and called only for an end to the war, essentially siding with Moscow over longtime allies.
Analysis: Zelensky has mostly played weak hands wisely during the war, but his approach to Trump has resulted in hostility. Is his strategy ultimately harming Ukraine?
Hamas official expressed doubts about Oct. 7
Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, told The Times that he wouldn’t have supported the Oct. 7, 2023, attack if he had known of the devastation Israel would wreak on Gaza. The Israeli offensive in the enclave has killed thousands of Palestinians and reduced it to rubble.
It’s unclear to what extent Abu Marzouk’s views on Oct. 7 are shared by other Hamas leaders, who have tended to take a harder line, or if he shared them in an attempt to influence negotiations with Israel.
What’s next: The truce between Hamas and Israel is set to end Sunday, but both sides have yet to begin negotiating an extension. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mideast envoy, said he would return to the region tomorrow to push for a new truce.
While a brief extension of the cease-fire is possible, the likelihood of a long-term deal seems remote. Here’s what could lie ahead.
North Koreans face ‘forced labor’ at sea, report said
Some North Koreans are assigned by their government to work on board Chinese tuna ships in the Indian Ocean. Their earnings go straight to Kim Jong-un’s regime, according to a report published yesterday by the Environmental Justice Foundation. The report described “forced labor” conditions in which workers went years without setting foot on land, and were often cut off from their families.
Context: The U.N. bans member states from hiring North Korean workers because it says Kim uses them to raise funds for a nuclear weapons program. But last year more than 100,000 North Koreans were reported to be still working in 40 countries.
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