NEW YORK — On a new episode of "The Axios Show" — out tomorrow morning — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tells us that if Russia won't end the war, officials working in the Kremlin should make sure they know where the nearest bomb shelter is.

• Why it matters: Zelensky said he had President Trump's explicit backing to hit Russian targets like energy infrastructure and arms factories. And he said that if Ukraine gets additional long-range weaponry from the U.S., "we will use it."

Zelensky told Axios' Barak Ravid he made one particular request of Trump when the two leaders met on Tuesday — a new weapons system he said would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to come to the negotiating table, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.

• Zelensky said he would name the system once the cameras were off, adding that Trump told him: "We will work on it."
• The Ukrainian president sat down with Axios in Manhattan last night, immediately before departing the UN General Assembly for Kyiv.

🔎 Zoom in: Zelensky said Ukraine would not bomb civilians because "we are not terrorists." But he suggested the centers of Russian power, like the Kremlin, were very much on the table.

• "They have to know where the bomb shelters are," Zelensky said of Kremlin officials. "They need it. If they will not stop the war, they will need it in any case."
• "They have to know that we in Ukraine, each day, we will answer. If they attack us, we will answer them."

Zelensky said that during their meeting the day prior, Trump brought up the fact that Ukraine should answer Russian strikes tit for tat.

• "If they attack our energy, President Trump supports that we can answer on energy," Zelensky said.
• Trump said the same about drone factories or missile sites, though those are well defended, Zelensky said.

👀 The intrigue: He noted that Ukraine already has drones that can strike deep inside Russia, but he also said there was an additional weapons system he wanted that would hasten the end of the war.

• "President Trump knows, I [told] him yesterday what we need, one thing."
• "We need it, but it doesn't mean that we will use it," he continued. "Because if we'll have it, I think it's additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak."

🎥 More from the interview: Zelensky said he doesn't intend to lead his country in peacetime. He also vowed to ask Ukraine's parliament to organize elections if a ceasefire is reached.

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The White House is threatening to use a potential short-term spending lapse to make long-term changes to the federal workforce, Axios' Hans Nichols writes.

• Why it matters: Thousands of government employees could permanently lose their jobs if Congress doesn't reach an agreement to fund the government by Oct. 1 (next Wednesday).

"It has never been more important for the Administration to be prepared for a shutdown if the Democrats choose to pursue one," Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote to agencies and departments last night.

• Vought is instructing agencies to send "Reduction in Force (RIF) notices for all employees" in programs that are "not consistent with the president's priorities," according to the memo.
• Vought is also indicating that programs that received money in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will not be targeted.

👓 Between the lines: Vought is setting up a two-track approach that would be triggered by a potential shutdown.

1. Jobs would be spared in programs focused on border security, immigration enforcement and national defense.
2. Entire programs could be hollowed out if Vought determines they are not consistent with the president's agenda.

🔭 Zoom out: The Vought memo, first reported by Politico, marks a dramatic escalation over a government shutdown, with the White House all but daring Democrats not to support a short-term spending stopgap.

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Mike Johnson aren't even talking about how to avoid a government shutdown next week, Jeffries told reporters yesterday. Trust is low.

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With their latest deals to fund the data center boom, AI firms are making history — in terms of dollar amount, convention-busting structure, and astronomical risk, Axios managing editor for tech Scott Rosenberg writes.

• Why it matters: The U.S. is betting its economic fortunes on the belief that OpenAI's Sam Altman, Nvidia's Jensen Huang and other AI leaders are wizardly innovators dreaming up novel financing vehicles to drive a golden future — rather than salesmen juggling billions and praying the music never stops.

🔬 Zoom in: Nvidia announced Monday it'll invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI in stages, with OpenAI using the money to "build and deploy at least 10 gigawatts of AI data centers with Nvidia systems."

• OpenAI announced Tuesday that its Stargate alliance with Oracle and Softbank would build five new U.S. data centers.
• Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon have all projected a total of hundreds of billions more in capital expenditures on data centers for AI.

Between the lines: Some market observers are asking questions about the closed-loop appearance of the OpenAI-Nvidia deal.

• CNBC's Steve Kovach joked on Bluesky: "Nvidia to pay openai so they can get paid by softbank so they can pay oracle to pay nvidia."

⏪ Flashback: At the raging peak of the dotcom-era bubble in the late '90s and early 2000s, online ad giants like AOL Time Warner and high-flying telecoms like Qwest were accused of inflating revenue figures by essentially flooding customers with cash that the customers would then spend on ads or services.

• Such parallels haunt today's AI boom and reinforce the skeptical view that this investment bonanza might be a shell game and can't last forever.

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The White House unveiled a new "Presidential Walk of Fame" yesterday, with an autopen machine instead of former President Biden's portrait, Axios' Jason Lalljee writes.

• The photos — in gold frames, in chronological order — were installed along the White House's west colonnade.

• Keep reading.

The Trump administration's move to restrict visas for foreign-born workers is pushing the U.S. closer to a "skills cliff" — where companies struggle to hire talent and may even start offshoring parts of their business, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

• Why it matters: Add H-1Bs to a laundry list of issues dragging down the supply of skilled workers in the U.S., posing long-term problems for the economy and employers.

Two main forces are at work:

1. The crackdown on immigration reduces the labor supply.
2. An aging population and shrinking native-born workforce.

Zoom out: The White House argues that cutting back on H-1B visas and immigration is a way of "protecting American jobs." U.S. firms will have to hire citizens.

• But there aren't lots of workers just sitting around: Employers say there's a dearth of skilled talent they need for specific roles, pushing them to hire overseas, as Axios' Neil Irwin reported.

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The Justice Department is preparing to ask a grand jury as soon as today to indict former FBI director James Comey on allegations that he lied to Congress as prosecutors approach a legal deadline for bringing charges, AP reports.

• Why it matters: Officials are hoping to file the case in the Eastern District of Virginia days after President Trump appealed to his attorney general to charge Comey and other perceived political adversaries.

Last week, Trump replaced the office's top prosecutor with a White House aide who had served as one of his personal lawyers.

💡 State of play: Prosecutors have been evaluating whether Comey lied to lawmakers during his September 2020 testimony related to the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

• The five-year statute of limitations for bringing a case would be next Tuesday.

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"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" drew more than 6 million viewers in its return to the airwaves Tuesday night following a six-day suspension by Disney, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.

• Why it matters: Kimmel's return was expected to draw a large audience. But 6.2 million is especially impressive given that the program was unavailable on roughly 25% of ABC affiliates.

For context, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" averaged over 1 million viewers per episode last season.

• Earlier this week, Nexstar and Sinclair — two of the country's largest owners of local broadcast affiliates — said they'll continue to preempt Kimmel.

Zoom out: Those who couldn't watch Kimmel's return show live flocked to YouTube in droves.

• Kimmel's return monologue drew over 17 million views on YouTube in under 24 hours.

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D.C. is pushing to host the 2031 Super Bowl at its new NFL stadium for the Washington Commanders, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil writes.

• Why it matters: With construction beginning next year, Mayor Muriel Bowser believes the 65,000-seater redeveloped RFK Stadium will open just in time in fall 2030.

"I believe, you heard it here, in 2031 we're going to host the Super Bowl," Bowser said this week at a business conference.

• It's early days, but the bidding process starts years in advance, and stadiums must meet certain criteria to host.
• That reportedly includes a dome in cold climates (check), 70,000 seats (a waiver might be needed, or temporary additional seats) and specific hotel and parking capacity.

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