I guess we can call this a FAFO war edition.  Ukraine, likely the CIA all things considered, built a drone manufacturing facility next to the buildings housing the EU and British delegations in Kiev.  Putin blew it up.

None of the EU or Brits were harmed, but the EU and British go bananas.

(Via Politico) – Early Thursday, Russia launched a deadly attack on Kyiv that killed at least 12 and damaged buildings housing the EU and British delegations.

There were no injuries to EU staff in the attack. Commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà said Thursday: “The attacks are completely unacceptable. In no way will they shake our support for Ukraine.” She added that diplomatic staff would remain in Ukraine despite the attack.

The EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, said the building was “severely damaged by the shock wave” of the “massive” barrage of drones and ballistic missiles Russia launched at Ukraine overnight. (read more)

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Vice President JD Vance appears on Meet the Press for an extensive interview about current events and the Russia-Ukraine negotiations.

The beginning of the interview starts with questions about the FBI investigation of former National Security Advisor John Bolton.  WATCH: 

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appears on Meet the Press (NBC) to outline the Russian position on further discussions for a peace agreement with Ukraine.

Lavrov notes the working group from the Russian delegation is willing to meet in Istanbul to further negotiate the parameters for any principal meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. WATCH:

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A very interesting response from President Trump against the U.S. President stepping back and awaiting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to organize their teams and schedule a bilateral discussion.

President Trump has said he expects the diplomatic teams of Zelenskyy and Putin to coordinate a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy in the next two weeks.

As noted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sometimes it just takes putting the principals into the same room to break the logjam.  However, both regimes have entrenched ideologues who are positioning for maximum leverage.

President Trump is asked what he will do if Zelenskyy and Putin cannot or do not organize a meeting. WATCH:

For the first time President Trump indicates he’s willing to take a full retreat position from the effort, “or do we do nothing, and say it’s your fight.”  Doing nothing seems to indicate the U.S. withdraws all support and lets them fight to the point of defeat or surrender.  Doing nothing is actually doing something quite remarkable.

In the background of all of this, DNI Tulsi Gabbard has issued a directive telling all of the intelligence agencies all information regarding the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations is not to be shared with U.S.-allied intelligence partners.

[…] “The memo, dated July 20 and signed by Gabbard, directed agencies to not share information with the so-called Five Eyes, the post-World War II intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, multiple U.S. intelligence officials told CBS News.” {LINK}

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It is said that pictures tell a thousand words. If that oft-cited phrase is correct, then this picture speaks volumes.

The image below is from when President Trump asked Zelenskyy and the EU leaders to vacate the Oval Office while he called Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to discuss the results of the Zelenskyy/EU leadership meeting.

While President Trump was on the phone with President Putin, Zelenskyy and the EU team waited to return.

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President Trump called into Fox & Friends show this morning to explains some of the details within the Ukraine Peace Summit held at the White House with President Zelenskyy and European leaders.

There’s some interesting insight into the urgency, held by President Trump, as he describes talking about the need to stop the killing now, not next week.  President Trump notes he told the EU leadership, it is ridiculous to say meet again in a few days; thousands of people are dying each week.  Trump told them they need to get into action tonight.  WATCH:

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In his generally off-the-cuff remarks, President Trump provides some remarkable insight into the status of current events.

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Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, continues to play a key role in both diplomacy and strategy for the goals and policies of President Trump.

Rubio was present for every moment of both the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  Rubio outlines in this interview the goals and objectives of the next steps.  As the EU assembles the outlines for security guarantees to protect Ukraine moving forward, President Trump is organizing a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy.

Hopefully, the Trump administration can set the table for Zelenskyy and Putin to come to terms and stop the war.  If they can agree to terms, President Trump will then coordinate a trilateral meeting between Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump to sign a peace deal – complete with the security guarantee package provided by the Europeans.  WATCH:

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Following a historic peace summit consisting of EU leaders attending the White House, President Donald Trump says arrangements are beginning for a bilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine.  If the approach is successful, this could be a significant move toward ending the conflict between the two countries.

President Trump – “I had a very good meeting with distinguished guests, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Friedrich Merz, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, in the White House, which ended in a further meeting in the Oval Office.

During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America. Everyone is very happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine.

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The White House provides the following pictures of the Ukraine peace summit in the Oval Office.

Everything about the optics is epic.

[Original Source]

The map is also interesting.

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President Trump holds a summit with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various EU leaders.  At the beginning of the meeting, President Trump allowed the press pool to have access to the opening statements. WATCH:

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