U.S. special envoy arrives in Ukraine, North Korea calls U.S.-South Korea joint flight rehearsal for invasion, President Trump to meet with NATO secretary-general this week.
1. U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three-year war. Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts. Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”
2. Two U.S. Air Force bombers, escorted by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets, conducted a joint flight near the Korean Peninsula on Friday — a move that immediately prompted unspecified threats of retaliation by North Korea. The flight by the B-52H Stratofortress bombers, two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters and two South Korean air force KF-16 Fighting Falcons marked the three countries’ third joint operation this year, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a Friday news release. INDOPACOM said the flight demonstrates the three countries’ “collective ability to immediately respond to regional security challenges,” but North Korea described the exercise as a threat to regional peace. The communist regime routinely criticizes South Korea’s military exercises with the United States and Japan and describes them as a rehearsal of an invasion.
3. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet President Donald Trump this week on the heels of the U.S. leader announcing plans to sell NATO allies weaponry that they can then pass on to Ukraine. Rutte will be in Washington on Monday and Tuesday and plans to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as members of Congress. “I’m gonna have a meeting with the secretary-general who’s coming in tomorrow,” Trump told reporters as he arrived in Washington on Sunday night. “But we basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated (weapons) and they’re gonna pay us 100% for them.”
4. Russia’s foreign minister on Saturday warned the U.S., South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited his country's ally for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to North Korea’s eastern Wonsan city on Friday for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui.Relations between Russia and North Korea have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying troops and ammunitions to support Russia’s war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. That has raised concerns among South Korea, the U.S. and others that Russia might also transfer to North Korea sensitive technologies that can increase the danger of its nuclear and missile programs.
5. House Armed Services Committee members this week will hold their annual marathon markup for the defense authorization bill, a daylong tradition that lays out the panel’s policy and budgetary priorities for the Defense Department for next fiscal year. The move comes just days after the Senate Armed Services Committee approved its draft of the must-pass legislation behind closed doors. In contrast, House members will debate a series of controversial social issues and complex funding priorities in the open, although the Republican majority is unlikely to adopt any major changes led by Democratic representatives. The Senate version outlines spending goals for a $879 billion base budget for the Pentagon, about $32 billion above the White House request for fiscal 2026. For now, the House sticks to the administration’s $847 billion plan.
- Security