President Trump and France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, repeatedly exchanged compliments and friendly gestures during a White House meeting this afternoon. But on the topic of Ukraine, the divergence between the two leaders was evident.
Trump refused to call Vladimir Putin a dictator, as he has described Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and falsely claimed that the U.S. had spent three times as much as Europe on the war. He demanded that Ukraine sign over hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from natural resources to the U.S., without mentioning Russian concessions.
Macron corrected Trump’s assertions about European aid, made clear that Russia — not Ukraine — was to blame for the war, and insisted that any truce “must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.”
The meeting came on the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several European leaders acknowledged the day by visiting Kyiv and pledging their support. Meanwhile, Trump suggested that his negotiations with Putin could end the fighting “within weeks,” and said that he might visit Moscow if a peace deal were reached.
The U.S. also angered its European allies by voting against a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly that condemned Russian aggression and called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. The Americans were joined by Russia, Belarus and North Korea.
For more: There are many ways to measure the cost of three years of war. One is the death toll: It is estimated that more than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 150,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. My colleague Kim Barker, however, looked at the war though the story of Olha Kurtmallaieva, a young cancer patient whose husband is in a Russian prison.
Musk’s threat to federal workers split Trump’s team
This past weekend, federal workers were told that they had until midnight tonight to respond to an email from Elon Musk ordering them to justify their jobs or face termination. This afternoon, the government’s personnel department clarified that it was just a “voluntary” request. Yet, nearly simultaneously, Trump called Musk’s effort “ingenious” and said, “If you don’t answer, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired.” Confusion reigned.
One thing was clear: Not everyone among Trump’s senior ranks was comfortable with Musk’s plan. Workers at the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security and Justice were all flatly told not to comply — a sign of rare dissent in the administration.
In other politics news:
The virtuoso Roberta Flack died at 88
Roberta Flack, the magnetic singer and pianist whose intimate blend of soul, jazz and folk helped her rule the charts in the 1970s, died today at 88. After spending almost 10 years as a Washington, D.C., schoolteacher and performing at night downtown, Flack was well into her 30s when she became a star with majestic anthems like “Killing Me Softly” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”
Here are 11 of her essential tracks.
More top news
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Business: Apple said that it would build A.I. servers in Texas as part of a plan to spend $500 billion and hire 20,000 people in the U.S. over the next four years.
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Middle East: One of Hamas’s top officials said he would not have supported the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel if he had known the devastation it would wreak in Gaza.
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Vatican: Pneumonia, a complex infection and now kidney problems have left Pope Francis in critical condition, but an official statement said that he was “alert and well oriented.”
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Health: Chatbots posing as therapists may encourage users to commit harmful acts, the nation’s largest psychological organization warned.
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Media: Lester Holt said that he would step down as anchor of the “NBC Nightly News.”
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New York City: The congestion pricing program raised $48.6 million in tolls during its first month, exceeding expectations.
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Immigration: Mayor Eric Adams said that the Roosevelt Hotel, nicknamed “the new Ellis Island” and housing nearly 3,000 migrants, would stop being a shelter by June.
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France: A former surgeon went on trial on charges that he raped or sexually assaulted 299 people. It is considered to be the country’s largest-ever pedophilia case.
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Lives Lived: Clint Hill, the former Secret Service agent who in 1963 leaped to President John F. Kennedy’s side as he came under fire in Dallas, died at 93.
Wu-Tang Clan is back together for one final tour
Few groups have had more impact on the evolution of hip-hop than Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island supergroup that helped define the sound of 1990s New York rap. And yet, Wu-Tang Clan was never a reliable touring unit.
RZA, the group’s chief architect, is hoping to change that reputation. He sat down with my colleagues on the podcast “Popcast” and said that the group was hitting the road for one last tour — and that all of the surviving original members were set to join.
Vertical dance arrived on Broadway
The Oakland dance troupe Bandaloop likes to push the boundaries of choreography. Using equipment like harnesses, ropes and belay devices, its dancers have performed while hanging off the side of cliffs and giant buildings.
Now the group’s gravity-defying moves have come to Broadway in the musical “Redwood,” starring Idina Menzel. The performance, Menzel said, has helped her “return to an innocence and a playfulness that I yearn for.”
There’s something magical about crab Rangoon
The crab Rangoon is a bit of an impostor: It came from a California tiki bar chain, not Rangoon (present-day Yangon, Myanmar). And it’s not reliably made with real crab. But it often seems as if American diners can’t possibly get enough of it.
The wonton treat stuffed with cream cheese is so beloved that chefs have begun experimenting: There’s a crab Rangoon bagel in Indianpolis, a crab Rangoon pizza in Des Moines and even a crab Rangoon doughnut in Seattle. “Even bad crab Rangoon is better than no crab Rangoon at all,” one chef said.
Have an appetizing evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
Sean Kawasaki-Culligan was our photo editor today.
We welcome your feedback. Write to us at evening@nytimes.com.
