PALM BEACH, Florida — President Donald Trump expressed optimism about making progress on a deal to end the war in Ukraine as he welcomed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his Mar-a-Lago estate on Sunday. But just as he expressed his belief that Ukraine’s revised 20-point peace plan offered “the makings of a deal,” he brushed off a question about whether he would sign a commitment to providing Ukraine specific postwar security guarantees, signaling that there are still several hurdles to overcome. “No one knows what the security agreement will say,” Trump shot back at a reporter. “What a dumb question.” Trump, who made initial comments as he welcomed Zelenskyy in the driveway of his Florida estate, said he didn’t have a hard deadline for a deal but asserted that talks are now in the “final stages.” “We’re going to see — otherwise [the war is] going to go on for a long time. It will either end or it’s going to go on a long time and millions of additional people are going to be killed, millions.” He intended to call Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he already spoke with on Sunday morning, again after sitting down with Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy has worked in recent weeks with European leaders and Trump’s top two interlocutors, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, to revise an initial 28-point plan offered by the White House. Trump and Zelensky sat inside an ornate dining room in Mar-a-Lago for their bilateral meeting, flanked by their respective delegations. The U.S. side included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as well as Witkoff and Kushner. Zelenskyy said it was important to travel to the U.S. to discuss the plan with Trump in person to try to make progress on several unresolved issues, including territorial concessions in the Donbas, future control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and nailing down the specific American security guarantees that would serve as a deterrent to Russia eventually resuming the war. Zelenskyy, who Trump has pressured at times over the past year to “settle” the war, is again striving to demonstrate that Ukraine is far more willing to make concessions in pursuit of peace than Russia has seemed to be. “We want peace, and Russia demonstrates a desire to continue the war,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Saturday prior to arriving in Florida. “If anyone — whether the U.S. or Europe — is on Russia’s side, this means the war will continue.” Zelenskyy has also agreed to hold elections in Ukraine if a peace plan can be reached, a Russian demand that Trump has latched onto. The president said that there would be economic benefits for Ukraine once the war ends but was noncommittal when asked if the billions in Russia frozen assets would go to Ukraine to rebuild after the war ends. He appeared optimistic about peace talks while greeting the Ukrainian president, repeating his claim that both Ukraine and Russia want to see an end to the war. He also praised his European counterparts, calling them “terrific people” who want to get a peace deal done. Veronika Melkozerova contributed to this report.

KYIV — The latest draft of a peace plan agreed by U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators would see Kyiv withdrawing its troops from the eastern territories claimed by Moscow, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Briefing reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said the updated plan contemplated the designation of the eastern Donbas region — the majority of which is currently occupied by Moscow’s troops — as a demilitarized “free economic zone” in which neither Ukrainian nor Russian forces are present. Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine is against the withdrawal, which is one of Russia’s top demands. But, he added, “there are two options: either the war continues, or something will have to be decided regarding all potential economic zones.” The Ukrainian leader said the latest version of the plan — an update of a Trump administration proposal that both Kyiv and the European Union had initially dismissed as a “non-starter” — maintains the proposed security guarantees from the U.S., NATO and European partners that are equivalent to those outlined in Article 5 of the transatlantic alliance’s treaty. “If Russia invades Ukraine, in addition to a coordinated military response, all global sanctions against Russia will be restored,” he said, adding that the guarantees would also be considered invalid if Kyiv takes any unprovoked military action against Moscow. Zelenskyy noted that Washington had dropped text from a previous version of the plan that proposed the U.S. receive compensation for the security guarantees. The plan additionally proposes Russia legally adopt a strategy of non-aggression towards Ukraine and Europe. The text also accepts Kyiv’s eventual accession to the European Union, acknowledges the country’s right to demand reparations from Russia, and endorses the creation of dedicated investment instruments to fund the country’s reconstruction. The revised text also calls for the joint administration of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Ukrainian, Russian and American authorities. Kyiv is loath to allow Moscow to manage the complex, which has been the site of fierce fighting, but is willing to partner with the Trump administration on running infrastructure Washington considers crucial for future minerals mining operations in the country. Zelenskyy said the nearby city of Enerhodar, which is currently occupied by Russia, would be a candidate for demilitarization if the U.S. insists on designating economic zones within Ukraine. But, he added, for the move to be legal, a referendum would have to be held to endorse that decision. The plan also calls on Ukraine and Russia to introduce programs in their educational curricula that promote tolerance of different cultures. Kyiv would additionally be expected to implement EU regulations to protect minority religions and languages. While those measures are likely to clash with Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to “de-Russify” the country and forge a new sense of nationhood, Zelenskyy said that adopting the rules are part of joining the EU, and he challenged Moscow to enact similar regulations, “if they dare.” The Trump administration’s original peace proposal was negotiated by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian officials earlier this month. That 28-point document, which was widely interpreted to be molded to Moscow’s demands, has been substantially revised, and was the subject of trilateral talks held in Miami this past weekend. Trump last week said a peace deal is “closer than ever.” Zelenskyy on Wednesday told journalists that if an agreement is reached, a full ceasefire would enter into force immediately. Final approval of the document would require its ratification by the Ukrainian parliament, as well as its approval in a nationwide referendum.

PARIS — The military recruitment center across from the Eiffel Tower, in the posh 7th district’s historic École Militaire, is filled with promotional posters for the armed forces. In the lobby, I met 26-year-old Charlotte, who currently works in marketing for a private company but is considering joining the French army. “The geopolitical context is inspiring me to sign up and serve, using my skills,” she told me. “I’m sometimes wondering why I am doing marketing when I could be a linguist in the army or an intelligence agency.” The geopolitical context she’s referring to is obvious to everyone in France, which has been at the forefront of Europe’s efforts to cope with the changing U.S. attitude toward its NATO and EU allies. Charlotte, who I agreed to identify by her first name to protect her privacy, told me that she studied Russian and recognizes that Europeans need to become more “sovereign” because they cannot rely on U.S. President Donald Trump to defend the continent against Russia. And she’s ready to help. Trump continues to antagonize the United States’ traditional European allies, deriding them as he did in an interview with POLITICO earlier this month as “weak” and a “decaying group of nations.” And for its part, France wants to prove him wrong. Like many other European nations, France sees Russia has a growing threat to the continent. So it is preparing to defend itself against what the country’s chief of defense staff, Gen. Fabien Mandon, called a “violent test” from Russia in the next three to four years that it would need to counter without much, if any, help from Washington. To do that, France is boosting military spending, increasing weapons production and doubling the reserve forces. As of next year, France will also reintroduce voluntary military service for young adults, primarily 18- and 19-year-olds. The goal is to enroll 3,000 new recruits next summer, 10,000 in 2030 and 50,000 in 2035. These defense efforts come as most of Europe’s nations are having to rethink their security posture in the most meaningful way since the Cold War ended. The challenge is even higher as it’s becoming increasingly clear they can no longer rely on the United States as a primary security provider. Successive U.S. presidents — including Barack Obama and Joe Biden — have warned over the past decade that Washington would eventually have to focus on the Indo-Pacific region instead of Europe, but the Trump administration has already matched those words with action. That is putting the spotlight on France, the EU’s only nuclear power and a country with independent weapons makers that has long warned the continent should become more autonomous in areas such as technology and defense. According to Guillaume Lagane, an expert on defense policy and a teacher at the Sciences Po public research university, the way France and Germany, the EU’s largest countries, respond in the coming months and years will determine whether other European countries will turn to them for Europe’s defense or try to retain bilateral ties with Washington at the expense of EU and NATO unity. “If France and Germany propose credible options, European countries may hesitate, otherwise they will not,” he said. “If only the American guarantee is credible, they will do everything they can to buy it.” To come across as a credible leader, he added, France could look into stationing nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets in Germany or Poland; compensate for the capability gaps potentially left behind by the U.S.; and replace U.S. soldiers who are leaving Europe with French troops. They are going to need a lot of Charlottes. In Paris’ corridors of power, the French elite has always known this moment would come. “We’re neither surprised, in shock or in denial,” a high-ranking French defense official told me in an interview. “Our first short-term test is Ukraine. We Europeans must organize ourselves to face this reality and adapt without being caught off guard.” For the past week, I’ve been talking to French and European officials in Paris and elsewhere to gauge how they are metabolizing the antagonism from Washington. In many cases, I agreed to withhold their names so they could speak more candidly at a moment of high tension with the United States and among European allies. France’s distrust of America dates back to 1956, when U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower forced it and Britain to back down from a military intervention to regain control of the Suez Canal from Egypt, leaving Paris feeling betrayed and humiliated. Since then, unlike most other European countries, France’s defense policy has been based on the assumption that the U.S. is not a reliable ally and that the Western European nation should be able to defend itself on its own if need be. The memory of the Suez incident contributed to former French President Charles de Gaulle’s decision to leave NATO and develop its own nuclear program. Now, European capitals — who until now have been reluctant to think about the continent’s security architecture without the U.S. — are starting to increasingly realize France might have been right all along. “There is a kind of intellectual validation of the French position, which recognizes that interests do not always converge between allies and that the U.S. involvement in European security was the result of an alignment that was not eternal,” said Élie Tenenbaum, director of the Paris-based IFRI security studies center. Since Trump came back to power in January, the clues of Washington’s disengagement from — if not disdain of — Europe have been hard to ignore. Trump’s disparaging comments about Europe earlier this month came only a few days after a U.S. National Security Strategy made thinly-veiled calls for regime change in European countries. A leaked longer version of the document openly says the U.S. should pull Austria, Hungary, Italy and Poland away from the EU. In the months leading up to the strategy’s release, the Trump administration has repeatedly cast doubt on America’s commitment to NATO’s collective defense pact, Article 5 of the NATO charter, and announced a U.S. troop reduction from frontline state Romania. Even more strikingly, the U.S. threatened to annex Greenland by force and is cozying up to Russia, including in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. Less than one year after Trump returned to the White House, influential German voices — in one of Europe’s most transatlanticist countries — are no longer looking at Washington as an ally. Denmark’s military intelligence service has now classified the U.S. as a security risk. In this context, smaller European nations expect the larger ones to step up. “We need the bigger countries to lead the way,” a European defense official from a mid-size nation emphasized in a private briefing. “France has been consistent on that for quite some time, Germany is also important. It’s always helpful if they lead by example.” A Paris-based European diplomat echoed that call for French leadership: “We need Macron to take the initiative [on European defense], who else is going to do it if not France?” Another European official said France could become a “political and military hub,” adding that Paris is ready to lead together with other capitals such as London, Berlin, Rome and Warsaw. Since the war in Ukraine started in 2022, Paris has pivoted to Europe and reinvested in NATO. For decades, Paris had neglected the alliance — rejoining its integrated military command only in 2009 — and focused mainly on faraway lands such as the African Sahel region, from which the French military ultimately had to withdraw after a series of coups d’état. Now, France is leading a multinational NATO battlegroup in Romania, has beefed up its military footprint in Estonia and is in talks to deploy soldiers in Finland. For frontline states, having a nuclear power present on their soil remains a crucial deterrent against Russia. In a first test for Europe’s ability to think about its own security without the U.S., Paris — otherwise a laggard in terms of military aid to Kyiv — has set up alongside London a so-called coalition of the willing to plan security guarantees for post-war Ukraine. That’s a significant step in European-led defense planning and France’s leadership role has been welcomed in European capitals. However, many of them are still reluctant to deploy military assets to Ukraine without American backing. While the French elite has seen this moment coming, not everyone in France is on board, at least not yet. At this year’s Congress of France’s mayors — an influential gathering held annually in Paris — Mandon told the country’s local elected officials to ready their constituents for a potential war against Russia in the coming years. Standing on a white, round platform in front of French and EU flags, he warned them that France is in danger unless it’s prepared to sacrifice. “If our country falters because it is not prepared to accept losing its children …[or] … to suffer economically because priorities will go to defense production,” he said, “If we are not prepared for that, then we are at risk. But I think we have the moral fortitude.” About 24 hours later, that was all the country was talking about. Far-right and far-left parties alike accused Mandon of war-mongering and overstepping. It’s not up to him to speak to the mayors, they argued; his job is to follow political orders. Even in Emmanuel Macron’s camp, lawmakers privately admitted the general’s wording was ill-advised, even if the message was valid. Eventually, the French president publicly backed him. France’s moment to demonstrate leadership is arriving at a challenging time for Europe’s heavyweight. “If you’re right too early, then you’re wrong,” a high-ranking French military officer told me. Macron’s ill-fated decision to call for a snap election in 2024 has embroiled the country in a political crisis that is still unresolved, and the far-right, NATO-skeptic, EU-skeptic National Rally is on the rise and could come to power as soon as 2027. “Intellectually, we are mentally equipped to understand what is happening in terms of burden shifting, but we don’t really have the means to lead the way at the European level,” said IFRI’s Tenenbaum, adding that Germany is currently in a better position to do so. “French leadership makes sense, it is logical given our relative weight, experience, and capabilities, and European countries recognize this, but there is a mismatch between words and deeds,” he added. Even as Macron pledged more defense spending, it’s very unlikely that France’s fragmented National Assembly will pass the 2026 budget by Dec. 31. The French president said France’s military expenditures will increase by €6.7 billion next year, bringing the country’s total defense spending to more than €57.1 billion. In comparison, German lawmakers this week greenlit €50 billion in weaponry procurement — Germany’s military expenditures are expected to reach more than €82 billion next year. “There will be a new balance between France and Germany in the coming years,” said a third Paris-based European diplomat. Since Macron’s snap election in 2024, European embassies in Paris monitor France’s political situation like milk on the stove — especially in the run-up to a presidential election in 2027 where the far-right National Rally is currently leading the polls. While Germany and the U.K. could also see nationalists come to power, their next general elections aren’t scheduled before 2029. Paris-based European diplomats speaking to POLITICO have compared a presidency by National Rally leaders Marine Le Pen or Jordan Bardella to Trump’s return to the White House in terms of changes for France’s security and defense policy. Just a day after Macron pledged that France would join a multinational force to enforce peace in Ukraine if a deal is signed with Russia, Bardella, leader of the National Rally, reaffirmed his party’s opposition to sending French troops. Marine Le Pen confirmed in September she would leave NATO’s integrated command if she’s elected president. A second high-ranking French military officer downplayed that pledge, arguing top French military brass would be able to convince her otherwise. However, he conceded, the National Rally’s refusal to send boots on the ground in Ukraine would “become a problem” for the coalition of the willing. Le Pen also vowed to completely overturn Macron’s offer to have a discussion with European countries about how France’s nuclear deterrent could contribute to the bloc’s security. In a bid to show leadership, the French president is currently engaging with some nations to talk about the role French nukes could play to deter Russia beyond the French borders. Asked whether she’d be open to storing French nuclear weapons in Poland and Germany (something even Macron hasn’t suggested), she replied: “Give me a break. It’s an absolute no, because nuclear power belongs to the French.” Some European countries want to do as much as possible with Macron now, in anticipation of a potential drastic policy change in 2027. Others are concerned about France’s political future, worrying how a leadership change could affect Paris’ commitments. According to an influential French lawmaker who works on defense policy, Poland’s recent decision to award a submarine contract to Sweden instead of France was partly driven by concerns in Warsaw about France’s political future. “The instability of French political life is frightening. Poland is scared to death of Bardella,” the lawmaker said. Countries such as Romania continue to see France as a crucial security provider and would welcome more troops to compensate for the outgoing U.S. soldiers. But officials from the southeastern European country know there could be an expiration date to Paris’ involvement. “There is an election in two years’ time, Macron’s successor will be less inclined to have troops outside of France,” one of them told me. Amid the uncertainty, the French military will continue to try to strengthen the ranks of its armed forces and attract young people like Charlotte. She is still deciding whether she actually wants to join, and regardless of who’s elected president in 2027, the geopolitical environment is unlikely to improve. “It is very important that our generation is aware and knows how to serve their country,” she said.

Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that U.S. President Donald Trump has invited him to America to sign a nuclear power deal — and attend the FIFA World Cup next summer. “It is an honor for me that yesterday the special envoy of U.S. President D. Trump handed me a written invitation to visit the United States and meet with him,” Fico said in a social media post on Monday. “Together, we aim to support the signing of an intergovernmental agreement between the Slovak Republic and the United States on cooperation in nuclear energy and to exchange views on the most pressing global issues,” he added. “The timeframe of my visit will coincide with the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence and the hosting of the FIFA World Cup.” The invitation comes on the heels of the Dec. 4 publication of the U.S. National Security Strategy, which caused an uproar in Europe for suggesting that the Trump administration will support ideologically aligned European patriotic parties, such as Fico’s leftist-populist and nationalist Smer. Late last week, U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner met with senior figures from that country’s far-right opposition National Rally, while U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers met with opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party politician Markus Frohnmaier in Washington. The letter from Trump, dated Dec. 11, was given to Fico by U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly, who was in Bratislava this week. “Our relationship means a great deal to me and reflects the strength of the tremendous bond between the United States of America and Slovakia. Our countries have never been closer. I am confident that, by continuing to work together, we will achieve even greater things — including formalizing our civil nuclear cooperation,” Trump wrote in the letter. Washington and Bratislava are preparing to sign a nuclear power deal that will formally tap Westinghouse, the major American nuclear power company, to build a new nuclear reactor in western Slovakia, with costs estimated at €13 billion to €15 billion. The decision was announced earlier in July and drew criticism from the Slovak opposition after Fico’s government bypassed the tender process to award what is the largest investment project in Slovakia’s history. Slovakia faces a football playoff in March against Kosovo, and then a potential final qualifier against Turkey or Romania in order to reach the 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. is offering Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive as part of NATO, American officials said Monday. The offer is the strongest and most explicit security pledge the Trump administration has put forward for Ukraine, but it comes with an implicit ultimatum: Take it now or the next iteration won’t be as generous. The proposal of so-called Article 5-like guarantees comes amid marathon talks among special envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and Ukrainian and European officials in Berlin as Washington tries to pressure Kyiv into accepting terms that will end the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many European leaders have been reluctant to reach a deal without an explicit U.S. security guarantee, fearful that Russia, after a period of time, would attack again. This latest U.S. offer appears to be an effort to assuage those concerns but also to push Zelenskyy to act quickly. “The basis of that agreement is basically to have really, really strong guarantees, Article 5-like,” a senior U.S. official said. “Those guarantees will not be on the table forever. Those guarantees are on the table right now if there’s a conclusion that’s reached in a good way.” President Donald Trump said later Monday that he had spoken with Zelenskyy and European leaders by phone. Trump also said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but did not say when. “I think we’re closer now than we have been ever, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Asked if the offer for security guarantees had a time limit, he said “the time limit is whenever we can get it done.” The discussions over the weekend largely focused on detailing the security guarantees that the U.S. and Europe would provide Ukraine, but they also included territory and other matters. Witkoff and Kushner were joined by Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, head of U.S. European Command as well as the top commander for NATO. The U.S. expects that Russia would accept such an arrangement in a final deal, as well as permit Ukraine to join the European Union. That could prove to be an overly optimistic assessment, given the Kremlin’s refusal to give ground in peace talks so far. And Moscow has yet to weigh in on any of the new agreements being worked out in Europe over the last few days. “We believe the Russians, in a final deal, will accept all these things which allow for a strong and free Ukraine. Russia, in a final deal, has indicated they were open to Ukraine joining the EU,” a second U.S. official said. Both officials were granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations. It was not clear when or how the Trump administration would bring the new details to Moscow. Russia expects the U.S. side will update it on the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. He added Putin “is open to peace, to a serious peace and serious decisions. He is absolutely not open to any tricks aimed at stalling for time.” The Kremlin said Monday it expected to be updated on the Berlin talks by the U.S. side. Asked whether the negotiations could be over by Christmas, Peskov said trying to predict a potential time frame for a peace deal was a “thankless task.” The second U.S. official said the Ukrainian delegation was pleasantly “surprised” by Trump’s willingness to agree to firmer security guarantees and to have them ratified by Congress so that they will endure beyond his presidency. The U.S. side also spoke highly of its European counterparts, who have been worried for months that the Trump team would force Ukraine to agree to unfavorable conditions. European officials also sounded upbeat. “The legal and material security guarantees that the U.S. has put on the table here in Berlin are remarkable,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters during a press conference after the talks Monday. Merz, along with his counterparts from Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, U.K., Sweden and the EU put out a statement welcoming “significant progress” in the U.S. effort and committing to helping Ukraine to end the war and deter Russian aggression, including through a European-led multinational force for Ukraine supported by the U.S. Over the weekend Zelenskyy conceded that Ukraine would not seek NATO membership, a condition that Russia has repeatedly sought. Trump, who skipped this week’s meetings in Berlin but has been briefed twice by Witkoff and Kushner, planned to call into a dinner Monday for attending heads of state, foreign ministers and security officials, the U.S. officials said. “He’s really pleased with where [things] are,” the first U.S. official said. Witkoff and Kushner also sought to narrow disputes between Ukraine and Russia over what territory Moscow would control in a final deal. Russia has so far insisted on controlling Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, even parts that Moscow hasn’t captured. One of the U.S. officials said the talks focused on many of the specific territorial considerations, stating that there is a proposal in the works but yet to be finalized for Russia and Ukraine to split control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with each country having access to half of the energy produced by the plant. But the American officials mostly avoided specifics on how they aimed to bridge other gaps on territorial disputes. They said they left Zelenskyy with “thought-provoking ideas” on how to do so. After Zelenskyy responds to the proposals, Witkoff and Kushner will discuss the matter with Russia. “We feel really good about the progress that we’ve made, including on territories,” the first official said. Next the U.S. will convene working groups, likely in Miami this weekend, where military officials will pore over maps to solve the remaining territorial issues. “We believe that we have probably solved for … 90 percent of the issues between Ukraine and Russia, but there’s some more things that have to be worked out,” the first U.S. official said. Hans Joachim Von Der Burchard in Berlin contributed to this report.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered top officials to come up with proposals for the potential resumption of nuclear testing for the first time since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump instructed the Pentagon to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with nuclear testing programs in other nations. Putin, speaking at Russia’s Security Council, told the country’s foreign and defense ministers, its special services and the relevant civilian agencies to study the matter and “submit coordinated proposals on the possible commencement of work to prepare for nuclear weapons testing.” Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin at the meeting that it would be “appropriate to immediately begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later clarified that “the president did not give the order to begin preparations for the test” but merely ordered a feasibility study. Russia announced last week that it had successfully tested a nuclear-powered torpedo, dubbed Poseidon, that was capable of damaging entire coastal regions as well as a new cruise missile named the Burevestnik, prompting Trump to respond. The U.S. today launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, Minuteman III, in a routine test. The Cold War was characterized by an intense nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the superpowers competed for superiority by stockpiling and developing nuclear weapons. It ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the signing of nuclear treaties such as START, which aimed to reduce and control nuclear arsenals. The Soviet Union conducted its last test in 1990 and the U.S. in 1992. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin at the meeting that it would be “appropriate to immediately begin preparations for full-scale nuclear tests.” | Contributor/Getty Images A report this year by the SIPRI think tank warned that the global stockpile of nuclear weapons is increasing, with all nine nuclear-armed states — the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea — upgrading existing weapons and adding new versions to their stockpiles.

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President Donald Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea on Oct. 30, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. The president will participate in a bilateral meeting with the Chinese leader at the end of a trip through three countries in Asia. She did not provide any details on the content of the meeting. While Trump said weeks ago that he would meet with Xi at the APEC summit, no date had been announced. The meeting would be Thursday morning local time in Busan, South Korea. On Wednesday, Trump predicted that the two leaders would come to agreements on everything from trade to nuclear power. He also plans to address China’s purchase of Russian oil. Trade tensions between the two nations have flared in recent weeks after Trump announced 100 percent tariffs on Chinese exports, which are set to take effect two days after the leaders meet. Trump’s pledge came after China announced newly imposed export-controls on rare earth metals and related technology in electronics and military goods. The new U.S. tariffs would be “over and above any Tariff” that China is already paying, Trump wrote in a social media post earlier this month. Trump added Wednesday that his priority is to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Xi “would now like to see that war end,” the president said. It will be the first in-person meeting between the leaders since 2019, when the two met in Japan at the G20 summit. Leavitt added that Trump will also participate in bilateral meetings with the leaders of Malaysia, Japan and South Korea during the trip.

BRUSSELS — The EU is bracing for national leaders to vent their concerns about its green agenda — and hoping it doesn’t turn into an outright rebellion. On Thursday, the 27 heads of state and government will have their say on a new target for slashing the bloc’s planet-warming emissions by 2040, a core promise of Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as European Commission president. It’s a critical balancing act for von der Leyen. She is looking for a way to appease the economic and political concerns of a growing number of EU members without allowing them to erode a set of stringent climate laws she built during her first five years leading the EU executive. Von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa “are responsible for the success” of Thursday’s summit, said Linda Kalcher, director of the Brussels-based Strategic Perspectives think tank. “It’s in their interest to manage the debate well and avoid unravelling with leaders opening the Pandora’s box to weaken laws.”  The discussion is meant to break a stalemate that is holding up an agreement on the new climate goal, but could just as easily lead to demands to weaken the policies designed to cut pollution.  In an effort to preempt such demands, von der Leyen this week offered a slate of concessions — vowing to tweak existing climate laws to address governments’ economic concerns, but without substantially weakening the measures. The question is whether that will prove enough.  SEARCHING FOR INCENTIVES Von der Leyen has already spent much of her second term chipping away at green laws she proposed over the previous five years, slashing requirements for companies and promising more flexible rules. Those efforts have been balanced, however, with her desire to protect the core of the bloc’s mission to zero out climate-warming pollution by 2050. Her proposed 2040 target also grants significant leeway to governments, even allowing them to outsource a portion of the required emissions cuts abroad. To date, this approach hasn’t placated leaders. Ahead of Thursday’s summit, 19 countries were calling for even more deregulation from the Commission. A vocal contingent — including Poland’s Donald Tusk and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni — have made far-reaching demands that the bloc’s existing measures be weakened, in return for even considering supporting the 2040 goal.  Leaders are not expected to spend much time discussing the actual target, although some countries that are unhappy with the Commission’s proposal — a plan to cut emissions by up to 90 percent below 1990 levels by 2040 — are bound to vent their frustration.  Costa, who chairs the discussion, has instead asked leaders to discuss how the bloc can marry climate efforts with economic competitiveness.  Ursula von der Leyen has already spent much of her second term chipping away at green laws she proposed over the previous five years. | Selçuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images Both he and von der Leyen were unwilling to debate the target itself, according to one diplomat from an EU country and a European official briefed on the preparations for Thursday’s summit.  But his invitation to leaders to outline their conditions for supporting the 2040 target risks “a Christmas tree” effect, the diplomat said, where each leader hitches their own pet policies to the target.  The diplomat, who was granted anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the summit, added that French President Emmanuel Macron — who pushed for the leaders’ debate — was seen as pivotal.  The Commission has offered France significant concessions for backing the 2040 target, including a large hike on steel tariffs. The attitude Macron brings to the summit could make or break the talks, the diplomat warned. Other leaders are expected to push to weaken existing rules as a tradeoff for backing the target. Poland hopes to delay a carbon tax on fossil fuels used in transport and heating, while Italy has requested changes to the EU’s combustion-engine phaseout.  Others want reassurances about future policies. France would prefer to avoid a fresh renewable energy target that sidelines its nuclear power fleet, and Germany wants a less onerous decarbonization path for its heavy industry.  The details of what is agreed will be key. “It depends on the nature of the tweaks,” said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.  Those might simply make compliance easier, or conversely could weaken the bloc’s climate efforts. “But overall, yes, we are entering dangerous territory.”

Repairs are underway at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after “local ceasefire zones” were established in the area, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security. Both sides engaged constructively with the [International Atomic Energy Agency] to enable complex repair plan to proceed,” the IAEA wrote in a post on X. The Russian-occupied facility in southeastern Ukraine has been cut off from the national grid for four weeks — its longest blackout since the Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The plant has been using on diesel generators since its last power line went down last month. Without reliable power, Europe’s largest nuclear plant risks losing the cooling needed to keep its reactors stable. “The situation is critical,” warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in late September. “The generators and the plant were not designed for this, and have never operated in this mode for so long. And we already have information that one generator has failed,” he said. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reportedly confirmed that specialists were proceeding on the latest round of repair works of the power lines. “The only reason for the unprecedented risks and threat of a radiation incident in Europe is Russian military aggression, the occupation of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhya NPP and the systematic shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure,” it said in a Telegram post.