Dave DeCamp | Russian officials also reiterated their warnings against the US providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles | Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Wednesday said that the momentum toward a peace deal in Ukraine following the August 15 summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been “largely exhausted” as the two sides remain very far apart on the conditions to end the war. Ryabkov said...

In the wake of the Alaska summit, the US’s European allies continued to push for a deployment of European troops to Ukraine as part of a potential future detail, an arrangement Russia made clear would be a non-starter. President Trump also expressed support for the European deployment, making the chances of a deal unlikely.

✅ Where Does Trump Think Ukraine Will Send Tomahawks? (Bryan Anthony Reo)
✅ Trump just took another big step toward World War III with Russia (Leo Hohmann)

The US first lady and the Russian president have been working to reunite Ukrainian children with their families, she has said | First Lady Melania Trump has revealed that she has been in direct communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin for months, engaging in a behind-the-scenes diplomatic initiative to reunite Ukrainian children displaced by the conflict with their families. ● Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Moscow has evacuated children from the combat zone and relocated them to safety until they can be reunited with their families. Kiev, however, has accused Russia of “kidnapping.” Speaking on Friday, the first lady said the outreach began after she sent a letter to Putin last August.

According to the first lady, both sides have taken part in several back-channel meetings and calls over the past three months, “all in good faith.” The talks have led to the reunification of eight Ukrainian children with their families within the past 24 hours, she said.

The US president has blasted Beijing for restricting certain rare earths exports and vowed to retaliate with tariffs | US President Donald Trump has warned of strong retaliation against China after accusing it of “becoming very hostile” by imposing export controls on rare earth elements and other critical materials. ● On Thursday, Beijing announced new restrictions on the export of certain strategic minerals that have dual-use in military applications, saying the move was intended to protect national security and meet international obligations, including those related to non-proliferation. ● In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump responded with a threat to target Chinese imports into the US. ”One of the policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs,” Trump wrote, adding that further steps are also “under serious consideration.” ● Trump also threatened to cancel a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that was scheduled to take place in two weeks at the APEC summit in South Korea.

■ Trump rattles markets with new 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods (The Cradle)
■ China slams US plan to restrict flights over Russia (RT)
■ Trump says never cancelled meeting with Xi, but unsure if it will take place (TASS)
✅ When Presidents Kill (Andrew P. Napolitano)
✅ Beijing has angered Trump, and the US president is imposing 100 percent tariffs on China (Alexey Volodin)

✅ The Nobel Peace Prize laureate dedicated her victory to Trump (Maxim Svetlyshev) | [He said] Machado had already called him and announced that she was accepting the award in Trump's honor. Trump asserted that the Venezuelan opposition figure recognized the American president's achievements in peacemaking and is convinced that he truly deserves the award. Trump also claims that Machado would gladly give him the prize if he asked. [...] Currently, "peacemaker" Trump has deployed American warships in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela and ordered them to attack vessels suspected of being used by drug cartels. At least several dozen Venezuelan citizens have already been killed in such attacks.