February 18, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

About 30 federal workers who help build and maintain the power grid for the Pacific Northwest have been asked to return to work after being terminated just two days earlier, according to the union that represents them.

The employees hold mission critical roles at the Bonneville Power Administration, a division within the Department of Energy that serves electricity to nearly 3 million people in the Pacific Northwest. Despite their mission-critical roles, they received termination letters on Thursday, the union said.

“Per OPM instructions, DOE finds that your further employment would not be in the public interest,” the letter said. “For this reason, you are being removed from your position with DOE and the federal civil service effective today.”

Thousands of probationary federal employees — those on the job for less than one or two years — were terminated at agencies across the government last week. AFGE Local union 928, which represents the workers, said a total 130 of its members who help run the power grid were dismissed, including employees responsible for fixing transmission lines and expanding powerlines and infrastructure to remote areas.

The terminations were in addition to 250-300 of its union members who took the Trump administrations buyout offer, and the 30 employees coming back is not enough to properly maintain and operate the power grid, the union said.

The agency does not receive congressional appropriation funds and employee salaries are recovered through its energy rates.

President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing an executive order at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday, in Palm Beach, Florida.

President Donald Trump said today that tariffs of at least 25% on autos shipped to the United States could be announced as soon as April 2. And that the rate could increase over time.

“It’ll go substantially higher over a course of a year,” he told reporters after signing new executive orders at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The tariffs, he said, would not take immediate effect to give car companies time to move their factories to the US to avoid tariffs.

This comes days after Trump ordered an investigation into other nations’ tax and tariff policies, paving the way for new reciprocal tariffs to take effect as soon as April 2, the day after the investigation is set to conclude, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said on Thursday.

Trump also recently enacted a 10% across-board-tariff on goods coming from China as well as 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum the US imports.

The No. 2 House Republican took a swipe on social media at his Senate GOP counterparts as the two chambers pursue competing strategies to advance Donald Trump’s agenda through Congress — a battle that will likely come to a head this month.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise signaled on X that the House GOP planned to move ahead with their strategy — an all-of-the-above approach for Trump’s many priorities, including border, tax and the debt limit — as Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced plans to power ahead with his separate, narrower plans later this week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson fired back in his own post, saying on X that the “House budget resolution implements President Trump’s FULL America First agenda, not just parts of it with promises to come back later for the rest.”

It’s a major difference in strategy — the House’s sweeping plans versus the Senate’s bite-sized approach — that will require party leaders to come to a final decision in the coming weeks.

And House leaders are making clear they won’t give up easily.

The Department of Defense is reviewing lists of civilian probationary employees for potential termination that could come as early as this week, multiple US officials told CNN, following a string of firings of other probationary employees at other federal agencies last week.

Combatant commands — the major US military commands around the globe — were asked to submit lists of probationary employees by Tuesday afternoon, one official said. Two other officials said the Pentagon is expected to be reviewing a list of the employees, including requests to exempt certain people for national security purposes, and make decisions imminently.

CNN reported last week that probationary employee firings had begun at various federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration. Federal employees on probationary status have typically served less than a year in the job.

The news comes after personnel with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency held meetings at the Pentagon on Friday. It’s unclear if DOGE personnel are still actively in the Pentagon this week — one US official said they are still going through various support requirements such as office space, IT support, and clearances, in order to be fully integrated into the building.

After top US and Russian officials held talks today that excluded Ukrainians, President Donald Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and continued to parrot the Kremlin’s talking points about the war.

Ukraine did not start the war, which began in February 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the country.

Trump claimed he could have made a deal for Ukraine “that would have given them almost all of the land… and no people would have been killed.”

“But,” he concluded, “They chose not to do it that way.”

Trump, speaking from his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, added that he likes Zelensky “personally,” claiming, without evidence, that the leader has a “four percent” approval rating.

“He’s fine, but I don’t care about personally, I care about getting the job done. You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on that should have never even happened, even without the United States,” Trump said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at City Hall on December 12, 2024, in New York.

More than 900 former Justice Department prosecutors penned a letter Monday in support of the federal prosecutors who have faced immense pressure to abide by orders from top agency officials to drop the criminal case against Eric Adams, saying that they are dealing with “ethical challenges of a type no public servant should ever be forced to confront.”

The letter comes on the heels of an tumultuous week inside the Justice Department, during which at least eight prosecutors resigned in protest instead of signing a court document seeking a dismissal of the criminal corruption case against Adams, the Democratic mayor of New York.

It is signed by high-ranking and well-known prosecutors whose tenures span decades of the department’s most notable offices and investigations, including special counsel Jack Smith, more than a dozen former US attorneys like Edward L. Dowd, Jr., who also was the special counsel for the Waco investigation, and hundreds former prosecutors from the Southern District of New York as well as the department’s Public Integrity section.

John Dean, who was former President Richard Nixon’s White House counsel and testified against him about the Watergate scandal, also signed on to the letter as did several Watergate-era prosecutors, including special prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste.

President Donald Trump had many names for Elon Musk when pressed about the billionaire’s role in the new administration as they work to remake the federal government.

Trump’s comments were in response to a question asking the president to clarify Musk’s position in the administration. Specifically, a recent court filing said Musk had no authority to make decisions because he is not a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee.

In the filing, the White House said, “Mr. Musk is an employee in the White House Office. He is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service of the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization.”

The filing was at the request of the judge hearing a case brought by more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general who claim that Musk’s actions are unconstitutional because he is not confirmed by the Senate.

Later in the news conference, the president began reading off a paper with instances of what he seemed to suggest was fraud in the Social Security system. He pointed to the statistics as examples of Musk and DOGE’s importance.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, in Palm Beach, Florida.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Associated Press will continue to be restricted from some White House events until the newswire complies with his administration’s use of the “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico.”

The president added the restrictions also had to do with the AP’s previous coverage of him and his administration: “Now the Associated Press, as you know, has been very, very wrong on the election, on Trump, and the treatment of Trump, and other things having to do with Trump and Republicans and conservatives, and they’re doing us no favors.”

“And I guess I’m not doing them any favors,” Trump added. “That’s the way life works.”

Some context: The AP, a cooperative that transmits news to thousands of clients, has been a member of the White House pool for more than 100 years. The wire service has repeatedly signaled that it is preparing a legal challenge to the White House restrictions.

In this April 2018 photo, US District Judge Rudolph Contreras listens during the investiture ceremony for US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden at the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC.

A federal judge today ordered a member of an independent board dismissed by President Donald Trump to be temporarily reinstated while the court reviews her firing in another blow to the administration’s effort to quickly consolidate power within the executive branch.

US District Judge Rudolph Contreras, named to the bench by President Barack Obama, ruled that Cathy Harris could return to her post on the federal Merit Systems Protection Board as he reviews her lawsuit challenging her firing. The independent entity reviews claims made by federal employees about violations of civil service laws.

The case is one of several testing the power of the Trump administration to fire members of independent boards that are supposed to be protected from at-will dismissals.

Another case centered on special counsel Hampton Dellinger is already pending at the Supreme Court in an emergency appeal.

Harris’ case may provide an even more direct challenge than Dellinger’s to a 1935 Supreme Court precedent that has allowed Congress to require presidents show cause before firing members of independent government boards.

French President Emmanuel Macron will hold additional virtual talks about the war in Ukraine on Wednesday “with several European and non-European states,” he said in an interview with local press.

Macron will receive the acting President of Romania Ilie Bolojan, and the “two leaders will then participate in a new informal meeting by videoconference with other heads of state and government, with the aim of continuing to bring together all partners interested in peace and security in Ukraine and Europe,” the French presidency said in a statement.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has also been invited and will participate in the talks, according to his spokesperson.

European leaders were sidelined from the United States’ bilateral talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia today, and instead held their own emergency talks on Monday in Paris.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who attended the emergency summit on Monday, is not going to attend the talks Wednesday, according to his spokesperson.

In his interview with regional French newspapers, Macron described Russia as an “existential threat” to Europe citing specifically its actions on the Polish border, its cyber-attacks and its spread of disinformation. But Macron also said he is willing to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This post has been updated with additional information about the meeting.

An eighth Justice Department attorney resigned Monday amid the continuing fallout over the attempt to dismiss the federal corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, according to a copy of the resignation letter obtained by CNN.

The attorney, Ryan Crosswell, tried cases with the department’s Public Integrity Section, which typically handles corruption cases. His resignation comes days after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove held a contentious meeting with the unit, during which he ordered prosecutors to find a career prosecutor to file a dismissal motion.

“I do not know whether you will view this as a compliment or a criticism — a fact that underscores why I can no longer serve the Department that I love,” Crosswell wrote. “But I do know that ensuring justice and protecting our citizens depends entirely on the public servants serving in the Department. You will fail without their support, and they will fail without yours.”

Crosswell addressed the Friday meeting with Bove in his letter, saying that the acting deputy attorney general “alluded to our lower position in the chain of command and suggested that whoever agreed to sign the motion would be rewarded with a position of leadership,” and made clear that there would be “professional consequences” if the motion was not filed.

Bove’s demand, Croswell added, was an effort to “add legitimacy to a motion that he admitted was not based on the facts or the law.” After the meeting, two career prosecutors agreed to sign the motion, one of whom is part of the Public Integrity unit. Croswell wrote that “many more career prosecutors may have lost their job” if that prosecutor hadn’t “stepped in to protect the section.”

Next steps: A hearing is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in New York on the request to drop the case. Bove, who also signed the dismissal request, is planning to attend, a person familiar with his plans told CNN.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune answers questions at the US Capitol following a weekly Republican policy luncheon on February 4, in Washington, DC.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said today his chamber would take up the GOP’s budget resolution this week. It’s the first step in advancing President Donald Trump’s sweeping agenda and a process that ultimately will take months to hash out.

The Senate GOP’s plan is far narrower in scope than the House Republicans’ more sweeping proposal, and the two chambers will have to reach consensus on one budget resolution before they can begin to draft the details of the binding legislation. The full House still needs to act on their chamber’s budget blueprint, which passed the House Budget Committee late last week.

The Senate is expected to approve its plan later this week.

“Securing the border, rebuilding our defense, and unleashing American energy. That starts this week with passing Chairman @LindseyGrahamSC ’s budget,” Thune said on X.

After the Senate votes to proceed to the budget measure, there will be 50 hours of debate followed by a marathon series of votes on amendments — known in the Senate as a “vote-a-rama” — often politically contentious votes designed to put their foes in a bad political position.

At the same time, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise signaled on X that the House GOP planned to move ahead with its strategy — an all-of-the-above approach for Trump’s many priorities, including border, tax and the debt limit.

It’s a major difference in strategy: the House’s sweeping plans vs the Senate’s bite-sized approach. It will require party leaders to come to a final decision in the coming weeks. And House leaders are making clear they won’t give up easily.

This budget resolution has nothing to do with the government funding bill to keep federal agencies open past March 14.

Read more about budget reconciliation and spending bills here.

CNN’s Sarah Ferris contributed reporting to this post, which has bee updated with Scalise’s comments.

The head of a government ethics watchdog agency who was fired by President Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to reject an emergency appeal from the administration, warning that delving into the case could open the door to a flood of appeals from the Justice Department over other short-term court orders pausing the president’s agenda.

While accepting the Trump administration’s appeal over the firing of special counsel Hampton Dellinger, his attorney told the high court it would create “a rocket docket straight to this court, even as high-stakes emergency litigation proliferates across the country.”

Dellinger, who was named to the post by President Joe Biden, was fired by the Trump administration on February 7 despite legal protections that permit his dismissal only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Dellinger sued and a federal judge in Washington issued a temporary restraining order allowing him to remain in the job while courts consider his case.

The Justice Department appealed, attempting to toss that temporary restraining order. After a divided US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled for Dellinger over the weekend, the administration filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court.

Temporary restraining orders are generally not appealable — a point Dellinger stressed in his brief Tuesday.

“There is no merit to the government’s effort to declare a five-alarm fire based on a short-lived TRO,” Dellinger told the high court.

In its appeal, the Justice Department framed the district court’s order as an “unprecedented assault on the separation of powers.”

The Office of Special Counsel – which is unrelated to special counsels like Jack Smith or Robert Mueller who are appointed to oversee politically sensitive Justice Department investigations – handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation and is an independent agency.

Katherine Royce, a former honors attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), was recently terminated from her position as the Trump administration moves forward with its agenda of reshaping the federal government.

The former federal worker told CNN on Tuesday that she is worried about the future of her medical treatment given the status of her insurance is unclear and she is locked out of her health savings account. Royce said that she was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease about two years ago while she was a student at Harvard Law School and has undergone surgery to remove a tumor.

“I had neurosurgery to take out a brain tumor that stood a 50/50 chance of killing me,” Royce said, adding that her neurosurgeons and endocrinologists told her that she needed annual MRI’s for the rest of her life to make sure the tumor does not return. She said that her checkup this year was scheduled for April, but she had to cancel that appointment because she would no longer have insurance at that time.

Royce also said that she is not only angry because of her personal situation, but also because she is worried about the mission of the CFPB and Americans who the agency protects against financial scams.

“If the CFPB can’t do its mission without people like me, people who use any kind of financial product in America, whether that’s credit cards or mortgages or student and auto loans, are going to suffer,” Royce said.

“The procedural protections that are in place for federal employees, such as having to fire probationary employees for cause, prohibiting employees from taking part in partisan political activity on the job, they are there to guarantee the independence of the civil service. There is a procedure that the president could have used if he wanted to downsize our agency, if he wanted to get rid of it. That procedure is to go talk to Congress and make a law and the failure to respect that procedure really bodes well — bodes ill for the American constitutional order,” Royce continued.

Officials from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) attended meetings at the Pentagon last week, a defense official confirmed Tuesday.

“Some DOGE personnel attended meetings in the Pentagon Friday,” the defense official said. “We have no further details to provide.”

It’s unclear if DOGE personnel are still actively in the Pentagon this week. A US official said personnel are still going through various support requirements — for things like IT support, office space, and clearances — to be fully integrated into the building.

The meetings come after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that the Pentagon will welcome Elon Musk and DOGE “very soon.”

“There’s plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we’ll do it in coordination,” Hegseth said last week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meets with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric in Moscow, Russia, on Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it would be “unacceptable” for troops from countries of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to be present in Ukraine — even under their national flags or the European Union flag — dismissing the idea that NATO allies could be peacekeepers following a potential ceasefire deal.

It comes as some European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have floated the idea of putting peacekeeping forces in Ukraine if there is an agreement.

Russia has previously demanded that Ukraine must cede control of large swaths of its territory and give up its ambition to join NATO — conditions Kyiv previously rejected.

Last week, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Ukraine joining NATO is not “a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”

The government body in charge of procuring federal contractors is reversing a Biden administration policy that required agencies to consider private companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices before signing a government contract.

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced Tuesday it was changing regulations around how the government acquires goods and services with procurement contracts. The GSA also said it’s ending an effort to replace plastic straws with paper straws in federal operations.

The GSA is taking these steps to implement President Donald Trump’s executive orders clamping down on DEI and paper straws.

“The steps taken by GSA will make it easier for industry to sell their products and services to the government,” GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian said in a statement.

Wider context: Since taking office, Trump signed a number of executive orders to end DEI programs within the federal government and to penalize private employers that support DEI initiatives. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a memo to Justice Department staff earlier this month called on the DOJ to seek potential criminal prosecutions of private-sector companies if they’re determined to have engaged in illegal discrimination. Prominent companies in recent months have publicly stepped back from efforts to increase diversity in hiring or contracting.

A hearing over whether to indefinitely block President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender service members grew testy on Tuesday as a federal judge struggled to get a Justice Department attorney to answer basic questions about the order.

US District Judge Ana Reyes appeared frustrated at various points during the hearing when DOJ lawyer Jason Lynch dodged questions about the text of the order, including its references to “ideology” and whether it actually called for a ban on transgender people in the military.

“The plain language of executive order actually says that being transgender is a gender identity and calls it an ideology,” Reyes said at one point. “Is being transgender an ideology?”

“I don’t know the relevant definition of ideology in that sense,” Lynch replied.

“You’re the government’s legal representative, right?” the judge said as she tried to get the attorney to reply to some of her questions. “I mean, I have no one else to ask, right?”

Lynch repeatedly disputed that Trump’s order is a ban on transgender service members — something the plaintiffs in the case have argued and that the judge appears to believe as well.

The hearing over whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the order is likely to last for hours Tuesday and could spill into another day.

This is one of several legal challenges against Trump’s executive orders and moves to shrink the government.

The US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia, while short on progress when it comes to Ukraine, was certainly long on PR deliverables for Moscow and offered a clear sense the US sees “opportunities” in ending this war that go beyond saving lives.

Ahead of the meeting, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump had agreed to “leave behind an abnormal period in the relations between two great powers.” Note the phrase “two great powers.” For Russia, the United States’ decision to talk to Moscow first and the smiles and handshakes amid the green and gold opulence of Riyadh’s Diriyah Palace, were all a step towards restoring what Moscow sees as its rightful place in world affairs.

And Russia has not had to do anything different to get to this point. It hasn’t offered any concessions to try to end the war, nor did Lavrov signal any were coming in his post-meeting press conference. Why would he need to when he could back up his argument that Ukraine should not be allowed into NATO, by citing the US president?

“We explained to our today’s interlocutors that we very carefully noted that President Trump on several occasions had been the first of all Western leaders who said that dragging Ukraine into NATO was one of the main reasons of what is going on,” said Lavrov.

“The US is delighted with the talks with Russia,” wrote pro-Kremlin commentator Sergey Markov on Telegram. “Now the Russian side will prove that it did not make any concessions. Honestly, we didn’t make any concessions!”.

Instead of repeating Trump’s previous threats of slapping Moscow with more sanctions or collapsing the oil price if it doesn’t negotiate fairly, the US delegation only seemed to offer incentives. Russia and the US, said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are “beginning to engage in identifying extraordinary opportunities that exist should this conflict come to an acceptable end,” adding that this cooperation could be geopolitical and economic.

And it even dangled sanctions relief — a critical point to Moscow as its economy buckles under the weight of war. “Sanctions are all the result of this conflict,” said Rubio, and to end any conflict “there has to be concessions made by all sides.”

Part of the “long and difficult journey” ahead may be convincing an emboldened Moscow that includes them.

The Trump administration sent a list of drug cartels to Congress last week that it is planning to designate as foreign terrorist organizations, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The list includes transnational gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as well as several cartels active in Mexico including the Sinaloa, Jalisco, Zetas, and Gulf cartels, Cartel Unidos, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM).

The list was mandated by an executive order Trump issued on January 20, which called for the State Department to make a recommendation within 14 days of which groups to designate as terrorist organizations. Congress now has the ability to weigh in on the list, before the formal designations are made by the State Department.

Some current and former officials say designating the cartels as terrorist organizations could potentially lay the groundwork for direct US strikes against the cartels and their drug labs in Mexico and elsewhere in Central and South America.

A State Department spokesperson said the administration is “following well established laws passed by Congress that mandate notifications be made to key stakeholders before foreign terrorist organization designations take effect, and so have no further comment at this time”

More background: CNN reported on Tuesday that CIA under President Trump has been covertly flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico to spy on the drug cartels, as part of Trump’s dramatic reorientation of national security assets to the US southern border. The drones used for the missions are not currently armed. But they can be equipped with payloads to carry out precision strikes. The US regularly uses them to target suspected terrorists in Syria, Iraq and Somalia.

The addition of drug cartels to the terrorist list will mark a significant shift in policy. Extremist Islamist groups make up the vast majority of currently listed foreign terrorist organizations, and those groups differ from the cartels in key ways. Former officials and analysts say that, though they share some operational similarities, the cartels are essentially commercial organizations, not ideological ones; they are not interested in governing populations or seizing territory; and they in some cases are deeply entwined with parts of the Mexican government, which the US military actively partners with and supports on counter-narcotics initiatives.

Jim Jones, who oversaw food safety and nutrition at the US Food and Drug Administration, has resigned from the agency over apparent disagreements with the Trump administration and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Jones joined the FDA in September 2023 as the agency’s first deputy commissioner for human foods, overseeing policy changes including a new rule for labeling foods as “healthy” and banning the use of red dye No. 3.

Jones’ resignation comes amid deep cuts across health agencies, including at the FDA.

As the White House pushes forward with plans to overhaul the federal government, some federal employees have quit after disagreeing with President Donald Trump and officials from his administration.

There are some of the latest high-profile resignations as the administration moves forward with its cuts to the federal government workforce:

This post has been updated with remarks from former FDA official.

The United States has no intention of reducing the number of troops in eastern Europe, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday following a meeting with the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg.

He added that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said Poland can “expect a strengthening of the American presence.”

The United States currently has about 10,000 US personnel on rotation in Poland, as part of a battle group funded through the European Deterrence Initiative, according to the State Department.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed “the importance of joint efforts to ensure security guarantees for Ukraine” during his Tuesday meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Zelensky also said in a social media post that he is grateful to Turkey for the warm welcome and “absolutely constructive approach in our negotiations.”

Erdoğan also said he held a phone call with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Tuesday, in which they discussed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

The entrance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is seen in this 2022 photo.

At least 700 workers at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had their jobs cut since Friday, a source told CNN, amid firings across federal agencies that affected the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and more.

The cuts included jobs in crucial training programs at the CDC, including the Laboratory Leadership Service and the Public Health Associate Program for Recent Graduates, said the source, who declined to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, also known as CDC’s “disease detectives,” were spared after last week guidance suggested its entire first class would be cut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the 61st Munich Security Conference on February 15 in Munich, Germany.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is postponing his official visit to Saudi Arabia until March 10, after Kyiv was excluded from US-Russia talks in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Zelensky had said on Monday that he was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia later this week.

Zelensky said he wants the war to end, “but we want it to be fair and that no one decides anything behind our backs.”

The Ukrainian leader added that he is “expecting” a US delegation to arrive in Kyiv. Zelensky said earlier that Keith Kellogg — the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy who was not part of the US delegation in Riyadh — is scheduled to visit Ukraine Thursday.

The United States and Russia did not discuss sanctions relief in detail during talks in Riyadh on Tuesday, according to Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and part of Moscow’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia.

The West has placed punishing sanctions on Russia’s economy since it launched its invasion into Ukraine three years ago — targeting in particular its oil and gas sector.

Dmitriev said that “many people in Russia believe that sanctions are actually good for Russia” and that they have bolstered the country’s economy, pointing to its GDP growth of nearly 4% last year. However, CNN has previously reported on how headline figures like GDP growth obscure more troubling signs in the Russian economy.

Asked what Russia offered the US during the talks, Dmitriev said both countries are “open to cooperation and openness to engage in economic and investment activity.”

By sending his team to discuss peace with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team before consulting Europe, US President Donald Trump has left European leaders scrambling to find a role in diplomatic efforts surrounding the Ukraine war.

Trump revealed he had spoken with Putin last Wednesday and negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would start “immediately.”

Today, the first stage of those talks about the future of Ukraine took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — without Ukraine or Europe invited to the table.

Here’s what came from the meeting:

Four principles: The US and Russia agreed on four principles, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday. They include reestablishing embassies in their respective capitals, the US appointing a high-level team to help end the war in Ukraine, beginning to discuss the “geopolitical and economic cooperation” that an end to the Ukraine war could provide the US and Russia and finally, all of those engaged in today’s talks committing to ensuring it progresses productively.

Here’s how various parties are responding to the talks:

“Huge accomplishment”: Kirill Dmitriev the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and part of Russia’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia described the talks as a “huge accomplishment” following years of enmity, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the talks were “useful.”

“Extraordinary opportunities”: Rubio said “extraordinary opportunities” could be available for both the US and Russia if the war in Ukraine ends. Rubio said there are “credible opportunities” for the US to “partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and, frankly, economically.” Speaking to reporters after the talks, Rubio also said that Trump was the only person who could end the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, US national security adviser Mike Waltz said that the talks will involve discussions of territory and security guarantees.

Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said following talks between Trump administration officials and Moscow. Before Tuesday’s talks in Riyadh, Zelensky had said he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

Earlier in the day, other European leaders responded, with the president of the European Commission telling the US Ukraine-Russia envoy during a meeting that “now is a critical moment” for the war, and that a resolution “must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Separately, UK Defense Secretary John Healey also said the efforts to end the war in Ukraine herald “a new era of threat.” China also said it expects “all parties” to the Ukraine war to sit together for peace negotiations.

The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC on January 10, 2025.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday formally docketed the Justice Department’s appeal over Hampton Dellinger, the special counsel who was fired by President Donald Trump and who lower courts have temporarily reinstated.

The court requested a response from Dellinger by 2 p.m. ET Wednesday, a quick turnaround by comparison with other emergency appeals.

Notably, the high court did not agree to issue an administrative stay while it considers the Trump administration’s appeal. Look for an order by the end of the week, or early next.

Remember: Trump is using an emergency appeal to call on the justices to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency.

The case, Bessent v. Dellinger, could eventually help clarify whether Congress may create independent agencies that are protected from the whims of the White House, or whether presidents can fire anyone seen as a potential critic.

It arrives at a moment when Trump is attempting to consolidate power within the federal government, summarily dismissing federal officials who might challenge him and attempting to freeze federal funding that Congress has required to be spent.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will not “give in to Russia’s ultimatums,” following talks between Trump administration officials and Moscow in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Zelensky – who was not invited to the US-Russia talks and is instead in Turkey – said Ukraine did not give in to Russian ultimatums when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion three years ago, “and I am not going to do so (now).”

Zelensky said Moscow gave Ukraine an “ultimatum” shortly after launching its invasion, demanding that Ukraine reduce its troop numbers and allow Moscow to install “a pro-Russian leadership” in Ukraine.

“If we didn’t go for all these ultimatums at the most difficult moment, why do we have the feeling that Ukraine will do it now?” the president said.

Before Tuesday’s talks in Riyadh, Zelensky had said he would refuse to sign any agreement negotiated without Kyiv’s involvement.

Zelensky suggested that the US-Russia talks dealt another blow to the West’s policy of nothing “about Ukraine without Ukraine,” which President Donald Trump effectively ended when he called Vladimir Putin last week.

The Ukrainian leader said he would like to see those who are “able to provide security guarantees to Ukraine” to be invited to join future talks about ending Russia’s invasion.

A presidential aide to Vladimir Putin who is part of Moscow’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia said it was unlikely that US President Donald Trump would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next week.

Earlier on Tuesday, some media reported that the two leaders would meet some time next week, but Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s aide suggested that timeframe was unlikely.

Ushakov did say that Moscow and Washington will work to “create conditions” for a meeting between the leaders at some stage in the future.

The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks to a member of the media on the sidelines of the U.S.-Russia meeting at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

Talks between Russia and the United States are a “huge accomplishment” after years of enmity, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and part of Moscow’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia, told CNN.

The uptick in US-Russia relations is “starting from a very low base,” Dmitriev said Tuesday after talks wrapped in Riyadh, citing the lack of communication under the Biden administration.

Tuesday’s talks were “respectful” and the two sides aimed to “understand each other’s position,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, right, and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff attend an interview after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “extraordinary opportunities” could be available for both the United States and Russia if the war in Ukraine ends.

Rubio said the US and Russia are “beginning to engage in identifying extraordinary opportunities that exist should this conflict come to an acceptable end,” following talks in Riyadh.

Rubio said there are “credible opportunities” for the US to “partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and, frankly, economically.”

With regards to territory: Meanwhile, US national security adviser Mike Waltz said that the talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine will involve discussions of territory and security guarantees.

“We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees. Those are just fundamental bases that will, that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion,” Waltz said after talks with Russian officials in Riyadh.

Asked whether the US would find it acceptable for Russia to retain Ukrainian territory it has annexed since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Waltz said this is “to be discussed.”

This post has been updated with additional comments from the US national security adviser.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya speaks during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York City on Monday.

US and Russian officials have been meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks to end the war in Ukraine, leaving Kyiv to watch from afar.

While the talks have been framed as “exploratory” by both sides, it is already clear that Moscow is insisting on conditions that will be unacceptable to Ukraine and its allies.

Here is a look at some of the key demands outlined by Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, on Monday:

Ukraine to cede more territory: Nebenzya told the UN Security Council that parts of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea and four other regions, have been “irrevocably lost.”

He incorrectly claimed that the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, have “joined the Russian Federation.” He was referring to referenda that were held by Russian-installed authorities across the occupied areas, widely denounced as shams by Ukraine and its Western allies.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor, Russia currently occupies about 99% of the Luhansk region, 70% of the Donetsk region, and roughly 75% of both the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Nebenzya said that the peace negotiations should “correct” this situation, insisting that Ukraine give up control of the parts of the four regions not under Russian occupation.

Zelensky’s removal: Nebenzya also made it clear that Russia wants to force Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky out of office. The Russian ambassador called Zelensky “the self-proclaimed Ukrainian president” and referred to his government as “the Zelensky cabal,” saying that neither have “a role to play in the new Ukraine.”

Zelensky, then a political newcomer, won Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election in a landslide. His mandate should have ended last May, but he remains in office because Ukraine is currently under martial law after Russia launched an unprovoked full-scale invasion in February 2022. Martial law prohibits holding elections.

“Neutral” Ukraine: Nebenzya also said that Ukraine should be a “demilitarized, neutral state, not a part of any blocs or alliances.” Ukraine has long insisted on joining NATO in the future and the defense alliance has said the door is open to any country that wishes to join, as long as it fulfills the admission criteria.

EU and UK excluded from talks: Nebenzya also said that the European Union and the United Kingdom are “absolutely unfaithful” to their word and cannot act as mediators or be part of any agreement on Ukraine. He added that the EU and UK are “incapable” of reaching any agreement with Russia because they are blinded by “primitive Russophobia.”

The United States and Russia agreed on four principles following talks that lasted more than four hours in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday.

They are:

The five people Rubio referred to were himself, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

What Russia is saying: Lavrov said talks with US officials on Tuesday in Riyadh were “useful.”

Lavrov also said he told US diplomats in Riyadh that if Ukraine joined NATO that would pose a “direct threat” to Russian sovereignty.

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post. This post has been updated with Lavrov’s remarks.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits next to U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

Only US President Donald Trump has been able to “drive the war (in Ukraine) to a conclusion,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said shortly after Russian and American officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the three-year-long war in Ukraine.

His comments mirror an earlier statement from a spokesperson for the US Department of State, who said Trump is the “only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia” to agree to peace.

“President Trump wants to stop the killing; the United States wants peace and is using its strength in the world to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree to that,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a Tuesday statement.

Rubio on Tuesday added that Trump wants the war in Ukraine to end in a way that is “fair, enduring, sustainable and acceptable” to all parties involved in the conflict.

Rubio said the US and Russian teams in Riyadh on Tuesday had “agreed on what the goal is.”

Rubio said that the European Union, which had been sidelined from Tuesday’s talks, would “have to be at the table at some point,” because they have sanctioned Russia over its war in Ukraine.

This post has been updated with additional comment from Rubio.

The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration Michelle King resigned from her role this weekend after staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) requested access to sensitive government records, a source familiar with her departure told CNN.

King, who spent several decades at the agency before being named its acting commissioner last month, stepped down from her role on Sunday.

Her departure comes as top officials from all corners of Washington, from Capitol Hill to the courts, are raising concerns over how DOGE is operating, and specifically, if they have the legal authority to try and access highly-sensitive government systems.

It also comes as questions over the future of Social Security continues to serve as a political flashpoint. Trump has vowed to protect social security, but so far has yet to provide details on how he would solve for its looming insolvency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, center right, listen to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the talks at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

Yuri Ushakov, a presidential aide to Vladimir Putin and part of Moscow’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia, said Russia and the United States agreed to “take each other’s interests into account” during talks in Saudi Arabia Tuesday.

Asked by Russia’s Channel One how the negotiations went, Ushakov said: “Not bad.”

The aide said it is “difficult to say” that the positions of Russia and the US are “getting closer,” but that the two countries discussed this in Riyadh.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) won’t be restricted from accessing data at the Department of Education, a federal judge decided late Monday.

A large group of students who receive financial aid through Education Department programs had asked Judge Randy Moss of the DC District Court for emergency intervention to protect their personal data as DOGE affiliates work with computer systems. But the judge said the student group who brought the lawsuit couldn’t show at this time how they were being harmed.

Violations of privacy law weren’t certain to take place at this time, Moss noted.

This is the third time in recent days emergency lawsuits built around privacy concerns have failed to convince courts to step in to curtail DOGE’s work in executive branch agencies. Several of the early tests in court of DOGE have been the group’s access to sensitive data, but judges in Washington, DC, haven’t been convinced their work is causing irreparable harm at this point.

In his ruling Monday declining to put in place a temporary restraining order on DOGE, Moss noted that the students could come back to court later seeking financial compensation if their data is disclosed in an unauthorized way.

The lawsuits continue however, and new types of cases against DOGE that are broader than just privacy claims have been filed more recently.

Earlier on Monday, Moss declined to block Musk’s use of a server to send out mass emails to government employees, and a different judge last week decided not to restrict DOGE’s access to data at the Labor Department, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, left, welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ankara, Turkey, on Tuesday.

Ukrainian leader Volodymy Zelensky was meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital Ankara, the Turkish presidency said Tuesday.

The presidency said earlier that the pair would meet to “further strengthen cooperation” between the two countries.

Their meeting is being held on the same day that the top diplomats of Russia and the United States met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Kyiv was not invited to those talks.

The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev speaks to the media in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.

Talks in Riyadh between top diplomats from Russia and the United States on Tuesday were “positive,” Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and part of Moscow’s negotiating team in Saudi Arabia, told CNN.

The talks lasted more than four hours and have now wrapped for the day, he added.

Separately, the Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukraine joining the European Union is its “sovereign right,” as it continues to sound more relaxed about Kyiv joining a political and economic union than a military alliance like NATO.

Asked about the Kremlin’s stance on Ukraine joining the EU, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “This is the sovereign right of any country.”

“We are talking about economic integration processes. Here, of course, no one can dictate anything to any country and we are not going to do this,” he added.

However, Peskov said that the Kremlin takes a “completely different position” on issues relating to “security, defense or military alliances.”

Also on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova reiterated Moscow’s long-standing position that Ukrainian membership of NATO would be “unacceptable” to Russia.

Ukrainian membership of NATO would be “unacceptable” to Moscow, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.

“Ukraine’s membership in NATO… is unacceptable for us. This creates serious threats to our security and will lead to catastrophic consequences for all of Europe,” Maria Zakharova said at a news conference.

Zakharova also said that “refusing to accept Kyiv into NATO now is not enough,” suggesting that Moscow may want longer-term guarantees that Ukraine will not be allowed to join the military alliance in the future.

The spokesperson called on NATO to “disavow its Bucharest promises of 2008,” referring to the alliance’s agreement at a summit in the Romanian capital that left Ukraine and Georgia with an open-ended promise of eventual membership.

Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dealt a blow to Ukraine’s hopes of imminent NATO membership, saying this was not a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement with Russia. Later, Hegseth appeared to backtrack on his own remarks, telling reporters in Brussels that “everything is on the table” for Ukraine during negotiations.

At last year’s NATO summit in Washington, DC, the alliance reaffirmed that Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” to NATO membership, but did not provide a timeline.

After Hegseth’s comments, a NATO official briefed that Ukraine’s membership “is not necessarily something that needs to be negotiated with Russia. It’s something that’s a decision for allies.” The official insisted that “the alliance’s position has not changed and Ukraine is still on a path to membership.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen greets Keith Kellogg, US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday.

The president of the European Commission told the US Ukraine-Russia envoy during a meeting Tuesday that “now is a critical moment” for the war, and that a resolution “must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Ursula von der Leyen met Keith Kellogg in Brussels on Tuesday, as American and Russian officials convened in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending Moscow’s war on its neighbor.

The meeting comes as Europe scrambles to ensure its involvement in those discussions. European leaders including von der Leyen met in Paris for emergency discussions on Monday, but they have not been included in conversations in Saudi Arabia and several have raised concern that their voice and that of Kyiv is being shut out.

“President von der Leyen stressed that the EU is carrying its full share of military assistance to Ukraine and stands ready to do even more,” the readout added. “She also expressed the EU’s willingness to work alongside the US to end the bloodshed and help secure the just and lasting peace that Ukraine and its people rightfully deserve.”

“As the President made it clear: now is a critical moment,” it concluded.

As Russia and the United States discuss the future of Ukraine, here’s a reminder of where things stand on the ground.

Russian advances: According to the Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday, troops advanced and took two villages in the Kharkiv region, in eastern Ukraine, and in the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August and still holds territory.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian open-source intelligence group Deepstate separately said Russian forces had made significant territorial gains in Kurakhove, in the Donetsk region.

But the Ukrainian Defense Force said they had made some successful counterattacks, and stopped Russian forces from advancing deeper into Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian military on the ground confirmed to CNN that the situation around Pokrovsk — an important logistical hub in eastern Ukraine — had stabilized.

Death toll: In an interview with NBC news on Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and about 380,000 wounded in the three years of war. An additional tens of thousands have gone missing or been taken prisoner, he added.

According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, 861,090 Russian troops are dead, wounded or missing in Ukraine since 2022. Russia has not released its own numbers, and CNN cannot independently verify Ukraine’s claims about Russian losses, nor the number of its losses.

Artillery stocks: In January, US officials said stocks of weaponry and ammunition held by Ukraine were stable as administration under former President Joe Biden announced its final $500 million tranche of military aid. January’s aid package included missiles for air defense, air-to-ground munitions and equipment for Ukraine’s use of F-16 fighter jets.

Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized brigade fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Saturday.

As the talks between senior US and Russian officials began in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Russia’s forces in eastern Ukraine kept up intense assaults in several areas, especially in eastern Donetsk.

Further Russian advances towards the town of Kurakhove have left Ukrainian units in the area vulnerable to being surrounded. But the Institute for the Study of War said that the Russians appear to have lost a large number of armored vehicles as they pushed west.

Around Pokrovsk, the logistical hub that’s been a Russian objective since last summer, a Ukrainian officer told CNN that some commanders had been changed and there was more coordinated use of a huge number of attack drones against the Russians.

The Ukrainian military reported 139 clashes across the frontlines over the past day. Russian forces have also been on the offensive in the northern Kharkiv region.

Both sides continue tactical assaults in the Russian region of Kursk, where Ukrainian forces still hold several hundred square kilometers of territory. The Kremlin has ruled out out any “exchanges” of territory as part of a settlement.

Russia is also keeping up nightly waves of drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. The Ukrainian military said 176 strike drones were launched against a dozen regions last night, of which 103 were shot down.

A view shows the Kremlin in downtown Moscow on March 27.

A long-term peace deal in Ukraine will not be possible without addressing a wider range of security concerns across Europe, according to the Kremlin.

“A comprehensive long-term settlement is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

Peskov said it was not yet clear when a possible meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would take place, but that the talks between the top diplomats of Russia and the United States in Saudi Arabia could help provide an estimate.

Peskov also said Putin would be willing to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “if necessary.”

Putin had previously said that he is unwilling to negotiate with Zelensky because his rule is “illegitimate,” in part because Ukraine has not held elections since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly three years ago.

Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey speaks about defence reforms and priorities at the Institute for Government in London on Tuesday.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey said the efforts to end the war in Ukraine herald “a new era of threat,” as US-Russia talks begin in Saudi Arabia.

“We’re in a new era of threat, and that demands a new era for defense,” Healey said at a news conference in London.

The defense secretary outlined how the UK has increased its defense spending this year by nearly £3 billion ($3.8 billion) and would in the coming months “set a path” to spending 2.5% of GDP on defense. This proportion would, however, fall far short of the 5% of GDP figure called for by the Trump administration.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday said he is “prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground, alongside others, if there is a lasting peace agreement.”

Starmer joined several top European leaders for an emergency summit in Paris yesterday to discuss a coordinated response to the prospect of a diminished US footprint on the continent.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun speaks during a press conference in Beijing, China, on Monday.

China has said it expects “all parties” to the Ukraine war to sit together for peace negotiations, as the top diplomats from the US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending Moscow’s war on its neighbor — from which Kyiv and its European partners have been excluded.

“At the same time, China expects all parties involved and stakeholders to participate in the negotiation process in a timely manner.”

China has long sought to position itself as a potential peace broker in the conflict — promoting its own vaguely worded proposal to settle the war. But its bid has been overshadowed in the West by Beijing’s deepening ties with Moscow.

A Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on late Monday night.

Russia launched an extensive drone attack on Ukraine just hours before US and Russian officials convened in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending Moscow’s war on its neighbor.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 176 Shahed-type strike drones and decoy drones overnight, the latest barrage in near-daily aerial attacks aimed at weakening Ukrainian defenses and degrading the country’s energy infrastructure during the winter months.

More than 100 drones were shot down and nearly 70 decoy drones lost from radar without negative consequences, Ukraine’s air force said. It did not specify any damage or casualties from the attack.

Left to right - US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, the Russian president's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a meeting together at Riyadh's Diriyah Palace on Monday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are meeting in Saudi Arabia ahead of initial talks to end the Ukraine war, which will be held without Kyiv and its European supporters.

Other US officials in attendance for the talks in Riyadh include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff. On the Russian side are top-level political, intelligence and economic figures, including presidential aide Yury Ushakov and sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev, who played a key behind-the-scenes role in a recent US prisoner release deal.

Lavrov has said the talks will aim to end the “abnormal period” in relations between the two “great powers.” The discussion could also lay the foundations for a potential meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

European leaders, who have expressed alarm at being sidelined from the potentially pivotal talks, held an emergency meeting on Ukraine in Paris on Monday. Their gathering came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to band together to create a united army and foreign policy, warning that the days of guaranteed US support for the continent are over.

Europe’s exclusion from the US-Russia talks today means “Ukraine has to go into those secondary talks playing by somebody else’s rules, playing mostly by Russia’s rules, which means the outcome is pretty foreordained before they even get to the table,” said analyst Matthew Schmidt.

Schmidt, an associate professor of national security at the University of New Haven, told CNN the talks raise the question of which potential peacekeepers could be accepted by both NATO and Russia.

Michael Bociurkiw, a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told CNN that Ukraine has “very little leverage” right now and relies on the US for “critical intel” used on the battlefield.

President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly asking for “extortionate” amounts of rare earth minerals located in Ukraine, he said, potentially worth billions of dollars.

Some context: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that he was open to signing a deal that would grant the US access to those rare earth minerals if Washington provides security guarantees to Kyiv in return.

Speaking to Fox News last week, Trump pointed to Ukraine’s “tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth, in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured.”

Emmanuel Macron talks to French media at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires province on November 17, 2024.

French President Emmanuel Macron said late Monday that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, emphasizing the need for strong security guarantees for Kyiv.

“Otherwise, there is a risk that this ceasefire will end like the Minsk agreements,” he added, referring to two deals struck in 2014 and 2015 during a conflict in eastern Ukraine that were never fully implemented.

Macron said that Europe would continue working to support Ukraine, and the continent must also invest more in its own security and defense. His comments come after repeated calls from The Trump administration for NATO allies in Europe to increase defense spending.

A White House readout described the 30-minute-long Macron-Trump call as “friendly.”

US and Russian officials will meet in Riyadh today for talks on ending the Ukraine war.

The US team: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz are expected to be at the talks.

On Russia’s team: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, presidential aide Yury Ushakov and sovereign wealth fund chief Kirill Dmitriev are expected to join the talks. Dmitriev said he has already met with several members of the US team in the Saudi capital.

What does the US say? Rubio framed the talks as an attempt to determine whether Russia is serious about ending its war in Ukraine. He also said if negotiations progressed, then Ukraine and European countries would be involved.

Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, has discussed a “dual track” set of negotiations and is expected to visit Kyiv on Thursday.

What does Russia say? The Kremlin said the talks “will be dedicated primarily to the restoration of the entire complex of Russian-American relations.”

Lavrov said Trump and Putin want to leave behind an “abnormal period” in relations. He also implied that Moscow is unwilling to make compromises on Ukraine in the talks.

What does Ukraine say? Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government “knew nothing about (the talks)” and would not participate.

But Zelensky has repeatedly signaled his willingness to enter a deal that would grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for security guarantees.

What have European leaders said? In an emergency meeting yesterday, European leaders focused on the potential deployment of their troops to Ukraine and upping defense spending. But NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said a US backstop was essential.

Donald Trump speaks to the press as he signs an executive order at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC., on February 3.

A dangerous fault line is opening as Donald Trump rushes to end the war in Ukraine.

The US president craves an early political triumph to fuel his claims to a Nobel Peace Prize. But an equitable end to the conflict may defy a quick fix since it poses existential issues for Ukraine and European security.

This tension was exacerbated by the president’s decision to exclude officials from Kyiv and European powers from US-Russia talks taking place in Saudi Arabia.

The fate of his push to end the war will ultimately rest on whether his swift pace can accommodate critical details of a peace that allows Ukraine to survive, secures the borders and security of Europe and avoids rewarding Russia’s illegal invasion.

Trump has shown little obvious concern for any of these three goals – one reason why his strategy is a gamble.

There’s a chance that Trump’s urgency and power could change the dynamics of the war of attrition.

Trump is, for instance, only voicing a reality that many US and European officials have shared privately for months: that Ukraine can no longer win the war and eject Russia from all the territory it has seized.

The stakes are huge. A hurried peace deal that strengthens Russia and weakens European security by validating Putin’s expansionism would likely sow the seeds for an even worse future war.

Read the full analysis.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman looks on during a meeting in Riyadh on October 23, 2024.

Saudi Arabia will host top US and Russian officials today for a high-stakes rapprochement meeting — a role that underlines the kingdom’s aspirations to become a global actor capable of mediating conflicts.

Another likely aim: added leverage for Riyadh in future talks on the fate of postwar Gaza.

At the meeting, the kingdom expects to play a mediation role, a Saudi official told CNN. The Saudi team will be led by the country’s national security adviser.

The location for these talks is widely considered a win for the kingdom’s 39-year-old de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He’s on a mission to transform his oil-rich country and its fundamentalist Islamist past, into a nation that can cultivate soft power from immense wealth.

Saudi Arabia has realigned its policies towards neutrality in global conflicts with the hope of attracting billions of investments that could help achieve the crown prince’s plan to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil.

Prince bin Salman has significantly pulled back from Yemen after years of war with neighboring Houthis, he is mending ties with regional rival Iran and has maintained a relationship with China – all while preserving the close Saudi relationship with the West.

The crown prince’s ascension as a powerbroker in the talks stems from his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who supported the young royal when he was internationally shunned following the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

The crown prince also has warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The crown prince resisted Western pressure to alienate Moscow after Ukraine’s invasion and continued coordinating with Putin to control global oil supply.

Read more on Saudi Arabia’s role in the US-Russia talks.

U.S. citizen, Kalob Wayne Byers, detained on suspicion of drug smuggling, appears on a screen in the courthouse during a video link to a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, on February 15.

American Kalob Byers, 28, who was recently arrested in Russia, has been released after several days in detention, according to a senior Trump administration official.

Byers, who was arrested at a Russian airport 10 days ago, was freed hours before talks between senior US and Russian officials over the war in Ukraine were set to commence in Saudi Arabia.

As the Associated Press earlier reported, Byers was detained on February 7 at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after customs officials allegedly found cannabis-laced marmalade in his baggage. Byers had traveled from Istanbul with his Russian fiancee, who was also reportedly detained. The authorities said he had attempted to smuggle a “significant amount” of drugs into the country and put him in custody on the charges of drug smuggling, punishable by a prison term of up to 10 years.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday in response to a question about Byers that Moscow expects “to discuss restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations” at the talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, “so certain events can be viewed in this context.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Byers’ fiancee was also released. Russian media reports identified her as Naida Mambetova and said she was placed in pretrial detention on the same charges.

Byers’ release comes less than a week after that of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained for more than three years in Russia.

Read more about Byers’ release.

The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Acting Commissioner Michelle King’s departure from the agency over the weekend – after more than 30 years of service – was initiated after King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, the people said Monday.

The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the people said.

King’s exit from the administration is one of several departures of high-ranking officials concerned about DOGE staffers’ potential unlawful access to private taxpayer information.

DOGE has accessed Treasury payment systems and is attempting to access Internal Revenue Service databases.

Since President Donald Trump has retaken the White House, his billionaire adviser Elon Musk has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies.

The Department of Homeland Security is launching a multi-million-dollar ad campaign aimed at telling undocumented immigrants that they are not welcome in the US, according to the agency.

This series of ads will run on radio, broadcast, and digital, in multiple countries and regions in various dialects, the agency’s statement read. Ads will be hyper-targeted, including through social media, text message, and digital, to reach illegal immigrants in the US and potential immigrants internationally.

Elon Musk speaks about his federal cost-cutting efforts as US President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11.

New court filings from the Trump administration said Elon Musk is neither the administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, nor is he a DOGE employee.

He is described as an adviser to the president working within the White House as a special government employee.

The court filings also claim that DOGE has no power to order personnel decisions at various agencies that came up at hearing today in DC federal court.

His designation as a special government employee means billionaire tech entrepreneur Musk is not a volunteer but also not a full-time federal employee.

A special government employee is “anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period,” according to a Justice Department summary. Musk is not being paid, and he has a top-secret security clearance.

Some context: Musk, who is the world’s richest man and became an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump’s during the campaign, has an office on the White House campus. Within weeks of Trump taking office, Musk has shown he has a broad mandate to carry out his government efficiency initiative.

The designation also makes Musk subject to many government ethics standards, but not all of them. It remains to be seen if Musk’s designation requires him to file a financial disclosure that will be made public.