Three threads define the day: a possible Trump-Putin meeting tied to sanctions relief, a diplomatic expulsion out of New York, and a step back to see what a week of scattered incidents might add up to.

Ukraine diplomacy

  • President Trump says a meeting with Vladimir Putin will happen soon, as his administration weighs easing sanctions on Russia's flagship investment fund — more.
  • The signal follows US envoy Steve Witkoff's trip to Saint Petersburg to hand Putin an updated Ukraine peace plan, suggesting sanctions relief is now on the table as part of a broader settlement — more.
  • Open question: whether Putin accepts the plan, and whether any sanctions rollback survives pushback in Congress and among European allies — more.

Washington and Havana

  • The US is expelling a Cuban official accused of shoving an American diplomat during a shouting match between Mike Waltz and Cuba's foreign minister at the UN — more.
  • The US ambassador called the official simply "gone"; the diplomat on the receiving end had reportedly been recording the confrontation — more.
  • Unclear for now: whether Havana retaliates with an expulsion of its own, and what it means for other US-Cuba contacts at the UN — more.

Gray-zone pressure

  • A Nunissum analysis ties together a week of cyberattacks on government systems in Moldova, Ohio and Italy, drone strikes on a commercial ship in the Black Sea, a reported Iranian navy threat to a cargo ship's crew, and US warnings about Russian and Chinese harassment of satellites — more.
  • The piece argues these incidents look unrelated mainly because separate institutions — cyber agencies, navies, space commands — each track only their own slice, letting gray-zone pressure exploit the fragmentation — more.
  • None of the cyberattacks has a named attacker yet; the open question is whether investigators and NATO start comparing notes across domains rather than treating each incident in isolation — more.