Trump to Visit China in May for High-Stakes Xi Summit Amid Iran War 
WTO Reform Talks Begin in Cameroon Amid Global Trade Tensions 
Russia Strikes Kharkiv and Izmail as Cross-Border Drone War Escalates 
Trump Pauses Iran Strikes as Peace Talks Stall Amid Military Buildup 
Jay Bhattacharya to Continue Leading CDC as White House Searches for Permanent Director 
Taiwan Arms Deal on Track Despite U.S.-China Summit Uncertainty 
SMIC Allegedly Supplies Chipmaking Tools to Iran's Military, U.S. Officials Warn 
Pakistan's Diplomatic Rise: Mediating U.S.-Iran Peace Talks 
CPAC 2026: Republicans Back Trump's Iran Strikes Amid Growing Public Skepticism 
China Opens Door to Stronger U.S. Trade Ties Amid Rising Tensions 
Trump's Overhaul of American History: Museums, Monuments, and Cultural Institutions 
California Renames Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day Following Sexual Abuse Allegations 
Israeli Airstrike Targets Building in Beirut's Southern Suburbs Amid Ongoing Hezbollah Conflict 
Ukraine-Russia War: Frontline Updates as Spring Offensive Looms 
US Accelerates Taiwan Arms Deliveries Amid Rising China Threat 
Iran Allows Oil Tankers Through Strait of Hormuz Amid U.S. Negotiations 
US Military Eyes 10,000 Troop Surge to Middle East Amid Iran Nuclear Tensions 
Ukraine continues to push back against Russia as the war moves toward its 10th month. A Ukrainian presidential aide criticized the call by a former top US diplomat to negotiate with Russia for peace.
In a post on the Telegram messaging platform, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s aide Mykailo Podolyak criticized former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s call for Ukraine to start negotiations with Russia for peace.
This follows the opinion piece Kissinger wrote for The Spectator, where Kissinger – an architect of the Cold War policy to detente with the Soviet Union under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford – said that Russia made significant contributions to the world throughout history and must not be degraded.
The former top diplomat for the US proposed back in May that Ukraine should let Russia keep the Crimean peninsula it annexed back in 2014 and prior to the February 24 invasion, said Russia should withdraw to the front lines. Kissinger has also met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin several times.
“Mr. Kissinger has not understood anything…neither the nature of this war nor its impact on the world order,” wrote Podolyak. “The prescription that the ex-Secretary of State calls for, but is afraid to say out loud, is simple: appease the aggressor by sacrificing parts of Ukraine with guarantees of non-aggression against the other states of Eastern Europe.”
“All supporters of simple solutions should remember the obvious; any agreement with the devil – a bad peace at the expense of Ukrainian territories – will be a victory for Putin and a recipe for success with the autocrats of the world,” said Podolyak.
Ukraine has said that it does not believe Putin is serious about peace and that there will be no peace until every Russian soldier leaves Ukraine, including Crimea.
In May, Zelenskyy also shut down suggestions that Ukraine should cede the territories Russia claims to have annexed in order to reach a peace agreement, comparing the move to that of appeasing Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
During his nightly address, Zelenskyy said that those who suggest ceding territory have no regard for the interests of the Ukrainian people, especially those who reside in the territories that are proposed to be ceded to Russia.
