Axios

President Trump said Tuesday that he believes Ukraine can "win" the war against Russia and take back all of the territory lost over the course of Moscow's invasion.

Why it matters: Trump's remarks after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York represent an extraordinary 180-degree shift in his position on the war.

A North Carolina tribe, whose legitimacy has been questioned by other tribal nations, is seeking to obtain federal recognition through the latest annual defense authorization bill.

Why it matters: The Lumbee Tribe seeks federal recognition to unlock millions of dollars in funding for Native American programs, while other tribes argue that shortcutting the process by using Congress with the Lumbee's past would set a bad precedent.

Scroll through TikTok, and it might feel like the end of the world.

The big picture: Videos about an alleged Rapture have taken TikTok by storm, as end times discussion finds a new vehicle — algorithmic social media.

President Trump had a harsh message for fellow world leaders at the UN General Assembly today: "Your countries are going to hell!"

Why it matters: In Trump's depiction, the U.S. is in a "golden age" — but every other country, particularly Western European allies, are collapsing due to immigration, unreliable green energy sources and weak leadership."

Violent crime is falling in some majority-Black U.S. communities even as mayors warn that President Trump's cuts to prevention programs and threats of National Guard deployments could reverse the trend.

Why it matters: Drops in violence mark progress in cities long hit hardest by crime, but the Trump administration is using crime rates as a pretext to send troops to expand federal control over blue cities.

NEW YORK – The Trump administration is putting oil and gas deals front and center at Climate Week and the UN General Assembly, a senior White House official said at Axios House on Monday.

Why it matters: The White House is focusing on natural gas by making it a strategic asset in global power politics.

• Axios' Mike Allen and Amy Harder hosted conversations with Jarrod Agen, executive director of the White House National Energy Dominance Council; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission former chair Neil Chatterjee; and Form Energy co-founder and CEO Mateo Jaramillo. The event was sponsored by GE Vernova.

What they're saying: ​​"We are abundant in natural gas here and it is a huge leverage point we have," Agen said.

• Agen stressed that countries are looking to strike deals to stop depending on Russian oil: "It's Europe, it's Asia. They are looking for U.S. energy. They want to get off of Russian energy sources, and we have such a supply."

While many in the sustainability industry disagree with the use of fossil fuels, Chatterjee believes AI is going to "snap us out" of the decades-long fossil fuel versus clean energy debate.

• "AI and the national security implications of AI will be the thing that finally breaks us out of our probably two decades long sort of antiquated fight that we've had to where if you're for fossil fuels, you're of the political right, and if you're for clean energy and climate solutions, you're of the political left," Chatterjee said.
• "For the political left, there has to be a recognition that in order to win the AI race and keep energy affordable and reliable, we cannot do it without fossil fuels."
• "For the political right, I think there has to be a recognition that we cannot possibly do this with fossil fuels alone."

By the numbers: Rising energy costs are a challenge leaders across the spectrum are trying to solve, and Jaramillo says long-term storage could be one of the keys to driving costs down.

• "We expect that this will be a sort of a dampener effect on prices," Jaramillo said. "You're utilizing the assets you already have more efficiently, more effectively, and you don't have to go overbuild in the future to get the same result, and so it sort of has a deflationary effect on the system overall."

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In a View From the Top conversation, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik called nuclear power a breakthrough technology that's "moving very rapidly" because of its power density.

• "Land is going to become a challenge," Strazik said. "You can take a 300-megawatt small, modular reactor that we're constructing right now, and that one football-field-size solution powers 300,000 homes in the U.S. We're building the first one right now in Ontario, Canada."
• "We have our first application into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to start construction on the first plant in the U.S. that we hope to be there by sometime in '27. … So we're going to need zero-carbon electrons that can run at base load, and nuclear is a good solution for that."

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is facing three counts of crimes against humanity in connection with his years-long deadly war on drugs, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors announced Monday.

The big picture: Duterte, who said he launched the crackdown to stop drugs from destroying his country, is accused of committing the crimes during his time as mayor of Davao City and later as president.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York that France now recognizes the State of Palestine.

Why it matters: Macron's announcement was the height of an initiative he launched several months ago with Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and led a dozen countries to recognize a Palestinian state in recent days.

Kamala Harris says Joe Biden was incapable of showing more empathy for civilians in Gaza killed by Israel in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, according to a copy of Harris' new book obtained by Axios.

• "I had pleaded with Joe, when he spoke publicly on this issue, to extend the same empathy he showed to the suffering of Ukrainians to the suffering of innocent Gazan civilians," the former vice president writes in her book "107 Days," out Tuesday.
• "But he couldn't do it: While he could passionately state, 'I am a Zionist,' his remarks about innocent Palestinians came off as inadequate and forced."

Why it matters: It's part of Harris' larger effort in the book to distance herself from Biden after not doing so during last year's campaign.

President Trump will present a group of Arab and Muslim leaders on Tuesday with principles for peace and post-war governance in Gaza, according to two U.S. officials and two Arab officials.

Why it matters: This will be the most concrete proposal to date from Trump for ending the war.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told Axios she worries about the message Israel's recent attack in Qatar and its string of strikes around the region send about Israel's biggest ally, the United States.

Why it matters: Shaheen sat down with Axios' Mike Allen after a meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. She said he'd noted that Qatar hosts the biggest U.S. base in the region and was hosting the Hamas officials Israel targeted at Washington's request.

President Trump has let Russian President Vladimir Putin "embarrass" him and the entire U.S. by failing to respond as Russia crossed "seven red lines," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said Monday at Axios House on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Why it matters: Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, is one of several senators calling for more sanctions on Russia and more weapons for Ukraine.

Trump administration officials are hoping to ink new oil and gas deals with other governments this week during Climate Week and the United Nations General Assembly, Jarrod Agen, a senior White House official, said on stage at an Axios event Monday.

Why it matters: Agen pitched U.S. energy sources as a diplomatic tool.

Nearly two years into the Israel-Hamas war, a cascade of countries has formally recognized a Palestinian state — a debate that's set to dominate the UN General Assembly this week.

The big picture: As representatives from more than 190 countries gather Monday in New York, it will be President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who oppose recognition of the state of Palestine, against much of the world."

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday to discuss Russian fighter jet incursions into NATO member Estonia's airspace, the Estonian government and the UN said.

Why it matters: NATO countries have reported several such violations in recent weeks. European leaders warn the incursions are a calculated escalation of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

TikTok's new U.S. entity would lease its algorithm from Chinese owner ByteDance under the terms of a proposed deal between the U.S. and China, a senior White House official tells Axios.

Why it matters: There had been some talk that ByteDance would be required to sell the algorithm in order to satisfy a 2024 law that demands TikTok be controlled by Americans or face a ban.

Leaders and diplomats from more than 140 countries will convene on Monday in New York to advocate for a Palestinian state and peace in Gaza.

• There will be three notable absences: Israel, the U.S., and Palestinian leaders themselves, because the Trump administration banned them.

Why it matters: Recognition of Palestine by a wave of countries — including the U.S. and Israel's closest allies — will be the dominant topic this week at the UN General Assembly. President Trump will be the only major world leader still standing by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's side.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un suggested his country can resume dialogue with the U.S. if Washington drops calls for Pyongyang to denuclearize, state media reported Monday morning local time.

Why it matters: President Trump has said he wants to meet with Kim again this year and his administration has for months been game-planning for potentially restarting dialogue with North Korea, which has made alarming nuclear advances since they last met, per Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler.