☕ What Trump and Putin discussed

Welcome to Thursday.

There’s breaking news this morning from the German city of Munich, where a number of people have been injured after a car drove into a crowd. We break down what we know below.

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Some headlines from this morning:

💰 The offer to federal employees to resign in exchange for up to eight months of salary has ended, with about 75,000 people - about 3.3% of the workforce - accepting the proposal. It came after a federal judge lifted a pause on the program earlier in the day, but leaves the White House short of its goal of 5-10% of the workforce who it said were expected to accept the buyouts. Federal employees who choose to stay in their jobs were told to accept new “performance standards” and other reforms in their respective departments.

🪖 Hamas has said it will release Israeli hostages as planned, averting a potential immediate collapse of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. Yesterday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu had said the ceasefire would end should Hamas not release hostages by Saturday, with Israeli forces initially told to prepare for a resumption of fighting. Hamas had said it would delay the release of hostages because of Israel’s failures to comply with humanitarian provisions of the deal, which Israel denies. Both sides were able to reach an agreement via mediation that took place in Egypt this week.

✅ Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as the US intelligence boss by the full US senate 52-48, ending a months long confirmation process for the controversial candidate. In her new position Gabbard oversees the US Intelligence agencies, including the CIA. Mitch McConnel, former Republican Senate leader, was the only Republican to vote against Gabbard, citing her “ history of alarming lapses in judgment”, a reference to Gabbard’s past apparent sympathies for some of America’s biggest rivals, including Vladamir Putin, Basheer Al Assad and Edward Snowden.

🎭 President Donald Trump has continued his ‘war on woke’, replacing Biden-era appointments to the Kennedy Performing Arts Centre’s board with his own, who today voted him Chairman. The Centre is a federal institution, established by Congress to honor President Kennedy, which allows the sitting president to appoint board members. On Friday, Trump announced his now-complete plan to clear the board, become Chairman, and ‘make sure that [the centre] is good and … not … woke’, a reaction to drag shows at the Kennedy Centre last year.

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We’re learning more details about this morning’s suspected car ramming in the Germany city of Munich, just days before a major security conference is set to be held there. Here’s what we know so far.

What happened

This morning, a car went into crowds who had gathered for a local trade union demonstration. Pictures posted on social media from the scene show a brown Mini as the car in question, and police confirmed to local media the driver was detained at the scene, and poses no further threat.

Up to 20 people (including children) are seriously injured, but police or officials are yet to confirm if it was a deliberate act, or an accident. Some German media reports cite witnesses who heard gunshots, but this has not been confirmed by officials.

Munich Security Conference

It comes just one day before world leaders, including US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, gather in the city for the Munich Security Conference. The conference is an annual meeting of international security lawmakers and experts, and one of the largest events for the industry.

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President Trump announced that Russian/Ukraine Peace talks had officially begun after ending a call with Russian President Vladamir Putin on Wednesday morning. Later on Wednesday, Ukrainian’s Zelensky confirmed he had also had a discussion with the US President about ‘lasting, reliable peace’.

The war approaches its three year anniversary this month, could an end really be in sight?

Here’s some background

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said he considers Ukraine to be part of Russia. In 2014, took the Crimean peninsula, in Ukraine’s south-east.

On 24 February 2022, Putin announced a “special military operation” into Ukraine. Russian troops crossed the border and fired missiles into cities. This invasion was partly in reaction to Ukraine’s bid to be a NATO member - a western military alliance.

Zelensky said the country would defend itself. While Ukraine retook large chunks of its territory in 2022, its counter-offensive then stalled.

This week’s call

This week, a call between President Trump and President Putin lasted nearly 90 minutes, and at its conclusion President Trump announced that both Presidents had "agreed to have [their] respective teams start negotiations immediately."

The two leaders also said they had agreed to visit each other’s countries. This would be a big departure from the last administration, who had cut contact with the Russian President after the invasion.

Zelensky

After his call with President Trump, the Ukrainian President said: "Together with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression." He also said he was apprised of the content of the President’s earlier conversation with Putin.

The Ukrainian leader did not reference any peace talks but said it had been agreed to maintain further contact and arrange meetings.

Munich Security Conference

The calls come directly after Defence Secretary Pete Hegeseth confirmed at a military conference in Munich, Germany that Ukraine was unlikely to become a member of NATO and was unlikely to restore its borders to their pre-war configuration - two of Ukraine’s major aims. President Trump confirmed this when asked after his call.

Zelensky will be meeting with other Trump officials at the same Munich conference later this week.

What could the next steps be?

No date was set for the meeting of the Russian and US peace-talk teams but President Trump announced it would take place in Saudi Arabia and be hosted by the Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salaman.

It remains unclear if Ukraine or Europe will be involved in these peace talks, despite Zelensky’s repeated insistence that there "can be no talks on Ukraine without Ukraine."