Moscow is welcoming the apparent shift in U.S. relations with Ukraine following last week's tense Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump and Vice President Vance.
The big picture: Kremlin officials commended the U.S. on Sunday, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the United States' "rapidly changing" foreign policy configurations "largely coincides with our vision."
Democratic senators who crossed the aisle to back their former colleague Marco Rubio for Secretary of State now say they regret it.
The big picture: Rubio easily swept through the Senate with bipartisan backing. But as the early days of Trump 2.0 bring historic shifts in American foreign policy, some Democrats now see the former Florida senator in a different light.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others in the GOP chided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday following a heated Oval Office meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance on Friday.
The big picture: The tense exchange between the three leaders has further soured an already strained relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine and led to at least one GOP member — South Carolina's Lindsey Graham — to suggest Zelensky leave office.
Israel announced on Sunday it is halting all humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries to Gaza and closing the border crossings between Israel and the enclave.
Why it matters: Israel took the step a day after the ceasefire agreement with Hamas ended.
Israel has agreed to a new U.S. proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of about half of the remaining hostages — both living and dead — but Hamas has so far refused to accept it, the Prime Minister's Office claimed in a statement. Hamas has in recent days said the original agreement needs to be implemented.
Why it matters: The Israeli statement was released just after the first phase of the hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal ended on Saturday.
Palestinians continue traditional Ramadan celebrations in the southern Gaza Strip to a backdrop of devastation from Israeli attacks in the Israel-Hamas war.
The big picture: While observed last year in the thick of the humanitarian crisis, the monthlong Islamic holiday is celebrated this year amid a Gaza ceasefire deal and 42-day truce, which ends on Saturday.
For years, Donald Trump has been obsessed with presidential power, revenge against his enemies — and winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
Why it matters: Now Trump's administration is aggressively pushing him for a Nobel — the obsession that has eluded him. That was a subtext to Friday's Oval Office blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I am not sure we did something bad," he said in an interview with Bret Baier aired Friday evening.
Why it matters: The earlier shouting match in front of the cameras led to the explosion of a meeting between the two leaders, with Trump asking Zelensky to leave the White House.
