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Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & NatSec newsletter

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Defense &
National Security

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The Big Story

Will Trump get played by Putin? Europe is worried

President Trump’s sharp criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday is sending chills across Europe, where leaders are working to guard against the worst-case scenario: Trump aligning with Russia.

Trump blew past a deadline last week to impose punishing sanctions on Russia and its primary trading partners in exchange for the face-to-face meeting with Putin, set for Friday in Alaska.

And while the president has expressed increased frustration with Putin and Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, he this week reverted to criticisms that Zelensky is to blame for starting the war.

“[Trump] is very unpredictable,” Lesia Zaburanna, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament in Zelensky’s Servant of the People party and the deputy chair of the budget committee, said in a call with The Hill.

“We highly appreciate all American support, and we highly appreciate all military, financial support. But if we talk about the situation with Trump’s negotiation, we are not sure what we will have on Friday.”

The worst case scenario, Zaburanna said, would be if Trump reached an agreement with Putin on territorial concessions without Ukraine, and a fatal blow for Kyiv would be if Trump withdrew U.S. support, particularly intelligence sharing on the battlefield and military support.

Zaburanna described living in Kyiv now as similar to the first days of the full-scale invasion — nightly air raid alarms, massive explosions, menacing drone attacks, destruction of civilian buildings and mounting casualties.

Trump has provided few details on his goals for the meeting, telling reporters Monday he’s using the summit as an opportunity to “feel out” Putin, who has so far rebuffed all his calls for a ceasefire and increased the pace of attacks on Ukraine.

But Zelensky told reporters this week that Ukraine could be asked to withdraw from the Donbas region to attain a ceasefire. Zelensky said he’d received these indications from Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the region.

“During the call, I said that I am not ready to discuss Ukraine’s territories, as this is solely a matter of our Constitution,” Zelensky added.

While Trump has called Putin’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine “cold,” he also offered criticism this week of Zelensky.

“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying, ‘I have to get constitutional approval.’ He has approval to do a war and kill everybody, but he needs approval for land swapping?” Trump told reporters Monday.

Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, described it as “quite crazy” that Trump was putting pressure on Zelensky instead of calling out Putin for launching the war.

“We don’t have any high hopes on what’s going to happen in Alaska,” he said in a phone call with The Hill.

Read the full report at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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Essential Reads

How policy will affect defense and national security now and in
the future:

National Guard troops expected to be deployed Tuesday in DC

National Guard troops began arriving in Washington on Tuesday morning, a day after President Trump deployed some 800 members to the nation’s capital to combat what he called out-of-control violent crime. The troops were seen arriving at the D.C. Armory, the National Guard’s headquarters in the city, and are expected to be on the ground later in the day, a White House official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. …

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Pentagon planning ‘quick reaction force’ for civil disturbances: Report

The Trump administration is looking at plans to set up a 600-person National Guard “quick reaction force” to quickly deploy to U.S. cities to quell protests or other unrest, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Internal Pentagon documents reviewed by the Post lay out the parameters for a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” calling for hundreds of guard members outfitted with weapons and riot gear to be …

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Trump-Putin talks ‘painful’ for Ukraine’s former POWs

As President Trump seeks a breakthrough in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, former Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are torn. A ceasefire deal could finally free thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who remain in Russian prisons, but it could also mean ceding land that thousands have died fighting to defend. “The guys who have been there have been rotting,” said Oleksandr Didur, a service member …

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In Other News

Branch out with a different read from The Hill:

Judge mandates ICE improve Manhattan holding facility conditions

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve conditions for migrants it detains in a federal building in downtown Manhattan. Civil rights groups raised alarm to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan about conditions in the facility, saying migrants …

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On Our Radar

Upcoming things we’re watching in and around the defense world:

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy will have a virtual discussion on “Arms Sales and the Middle East: Another Arena for Great Power Competition,” tomorrow at 1 p.m.

What We’re Reading

News we’ve flagged from other outlets:

A $13 million military drone was lost in the Mediterranean Sea because the propeller fell off (Military.com)
Army sergeant charged with attempted murder in the shootings of 5 Fort Stewart soldiers (The Associated Press)
How Trump’s DC takeover could supercharge surveillance (Defense One)