Tuesday Briefing

Tensions on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion

President Trump met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House yesterday, three years to the day after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The leaders diverged significantly over the war’s causes, each side’s role in the conflict and its possible resolution.

Trump told reporters that the fighting could be over “within weeks” and suggested he might visit Moscow as soon as this spring. He refused to call President Vladimir Putin of Russia a dictator, while Macron stated flatly that “Russia is the aggressor.”

At the U.N., the U.S. opposed a European effort to condemn Russia and call for its immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. The Trump administration introduced its own resolution, which softened the language and called only for an end to the war, essentially siding with Moscow over longtime allies.

In Ukraine: Zelensky has mostly played weak hands wisely, our correspondent writes, but his approach to Trump has fallen flat. Is the strategy hurting Ukraine? Meanwhile, the country’s military is struggling to replenish its ranks. Some wounded soldiers have pushed through pain to fight Russia again.

Russia: Putin said U.S. companies could do lucrative deals in Russia and even help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied Ukraine, amplifying the Kremlin’s message that the U.S. would profit from a better relationship with Moscow.

First person: She is getting treatment for cancer, while her husband languishes in a Russian prison. It’s the story of Ukraine writ large: an exhausted population still holding on.