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Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report. John is flying solo this week as Rishi enjoys a much-deserved vacation.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Trump’s renewed push for a Ukraine peace deal, Kyiv’s complicated budget concerns, and the Republican backlash to Witkoff’s praise of Putin.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report. John is flying solo this week as Rishi enjoys a much-deserved vacation.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Trump’s renewed push for a Ukraine peace deal, Kyiv’s complicated budget concerns, and the Republican backlash to Witkoff’s praise of Putin.

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Trump Puts His Faith in Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pushing for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war throughout his second term but has so far failed to make meaningful progress as both sides continue to pummel one another. Trump is now taking another swing and has (once again) soured on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the process.

Trump is blaming Zelensky for prolonging the war and portraying him as an obstacle to an agreement. “We want Zelensky to make a deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.” He also suggested that Zelensky is “more difficult to deal with than [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” a longtime adversary of the United States.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has also delayed the transfer of Patriot missile interceptors that Ukraine needs to........

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