Following Russia’s capture of four villages in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region this week, US President Donald Trump issued a second public rebuke to Vladimir Putin in three days, warning on Truth Social (Tuesday,

Volodymyr Zelensky previously challenged the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul for direct talks earlier this month, a dare shunned by Putin

The Russian and Ukrainian positions are far apart, and absent US sticks and carrots, there seems little prospect they will come together.

With diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire appearing remote, and President Trump apparently abandoning the process, Russia has been escalating its assaults on Ukrainian cities and on the battlefield.

This week's prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine was the largest since the war’s onset. But skepticism of a lasting truce, and President Trump’s peace-making, remains. Bridget Brink resigned as ambassador to Ukraine in April,

I served in our country's foreign service for three decades. The Trump administration's Ukraine policy will make the U.S. less safe.

Trump’s mishandling of Putin was well summed up in an interview I did (before Monday’s Trump-Putin phone call) with the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, one of the best-informed and most dedicated foreign service professionals I have met over decades of foreign reporting.

A major decision has been made by Ukraine’s Western allies. For the first time since the war began, countries like Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have lifted restrictions on Ukraine using long-range missiles inside Russia.