European and Ukrainian leaders will hold a virtual meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday to stress the risks of compromising Kyiv’s interests in pursuit of a ceasefire. The talks come ahead of Trump’s Friday summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom the West has shunned since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Trump has described the meeting as a “feel-out” session aimed at advancing his efforts to end the war. He agreed to the summit last week, reversing course after weeks of frustration over Putin’s resistance to U.S. peace proposals, noting his envoy had made “great progress” in Moscow.
US TRACKING AI CHIP SHIPMENTS TO STOP FLOW TO CHINA
U.S. authorities have secretly embedded location-tracking devices in certain high-risk shipments of advanced chips to monitor potential illegal diversion to China, according to two people with direct knowledge of the previously undisclosed tactic. The measure targets only select shipments already under investigation and is intended to detect AI chips being rerouted to destinations under U.S. export restrictions. The practice highlights the lengths Washington is going to enforce its semiconductor export controls on China, even as the Trump administration moves to ease some restrictions on Beijing’s access to advanced American chip technology.
TRUMP DOUBLES SANCTIONS
Donald Trump says he wants the war in Ukraine to end — as does Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many other world leaders. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, does not share that goal. For Putin, the war has become the political, psychological, and economic core of his regime. This fundamental imbalance has largely prevented any meaningful peace talks in the three and a half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. Trump believes he can break the stalemate, claiming he will use his negotiating skills and escalate economic pressure until Putin is forced to halt the fighting.
