Thursday Briefing: Tensions rise between Trump and Zelensky

Plus, the writers who influenced Jane Austen

View in browser|nytimes.com February 20, 2025 By Natasha Frost Good morning. We're covering tensions between President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, and an Arab vision for the Gaza Strip. Plus: The writers who influenced Jane Austen. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine responded to comments by President Trump that included a suggestion that Ukraine had started the war. Tetiana Dzhafarova/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Trump and Zelensky traded blows in an escalating feud President Trump yesterday called Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a "dictator" who had taken money from the U.S. to go to war with Russia. In a social media post littered with falsehoods, Trump didn't mention President Vladimir Putin, or that Russia had seized some Ukrainian territory in 2014 before its full-scale invasion in 2022. Trump also suggested that the future security of Ukraine would not be an American problem. "This War is far more important to Europe than it is to us," he wrote on Truth Social. "We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation." The feud began after White House and Kremlin officials in Saudi Arabia began peace talks that excluded Ukraine. After that meeting on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Ukraine had started the war. Afterward, Zelensky said Trump had been "caught in a web of disinformation." E.U.: Leaders met yesterday for a second emergency meeting seeking to recalibrate relations with the U.S. as Trump moved closer to Russia. Reactions: Russians are hoping that a return to normalcy is near now that Washington and Moscow are moving to reset their relationship. In Ukraine, many are becoming disillusioned with the Trump administration. Trump's claims: Here's a breakdown of recent falsehoods he has made about Ukraine. More on the Trump administration Here's what we know about the migrant detention center at Guantánamo Bay. Environmental groups filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from opening up vast new areas to offshore oil and gas drilling. The Internal Revenue Service will start laying off more than 6,000 employees today, according to three people familiar with the plans. Separately, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, ordered plans to cut 8 percent from the defense budget over each of the next five years. Trump intends to revoke federal approval of New York City's congestion pricing program. Trump is angry that his new Air Force One jets have been delayed. He has empowered Elon Musk, one of his top advisers, to find drastic ways to prod Boeing to move faster. Trump compared himself to a king on social media as he celebrated his administration's move to kill New York City's congestion pricing program. Track Trump's actions since he took office. Much of Gaza has been destroyed in 500 days of fighting between Hamas and Israel. Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Arab leaders are working on a proposal for Gaza's future Envoys from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are set to meet in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, and again in Cairo next month, to begin fleshing out a postwar plan for Gaza. According to their vision, Arab countries would help fund and oversee the reconstruction of the enclave while keeping residents in place and preserving the possibility of a Palestinian state. But the obstacles to these ideas are as old as the ideas themselves — Israeli leaders oppose postwar plans that would pave the way to Palestinian sovereignty, and Arab leaders will support only a framework that at least nominally forges a path toward Palestinian statehood. What's next: Egypt is likely to propose a committee of Palestinian technocrats and community leaders, all unaffiliated with Hamas, who could run Gaza after the war, according to two Arab diplomats and two Western officials. Hostages: Israelis are waiting anxiously for the expected release tomorrow of the bodies of four captives held by Hamas. Israel: A military prosecutor charged five reservist soldiers with abuse of a Palestinian detainee. A statue of Pope John Paul II on Wednesday in front of the Rome hospital where Pope Francis is being treated for several health problems. Tiziana Fabi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Rumors swirl about the pope's health Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Friday, and on Tuesday he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs, according to the Vatican. But a dearth of official information has sent the rumor mill into overdrive, particularly given the Vatican's past record of obfuscation and opaqueness. Since Francis, 88, was hospitalized, the Vatican press office has issued two decidedly spare updates a day. An update last night said that Francis' blood tests had showed "slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices." The Vatican has said he is being given cortisone antibiotic therapy for a polymicrobial infection. Quotable: "Even if they put out two official bulletins a day, with clear information," said Fabio Marchese Ragona, a Vatican correspondent, "there would still be people who say: 'No, look, what the Vatican is saying is a lie. The truth is that he's already dead.'" MORE TOP NEWS Etna Walk, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Italy: Thousands of tourists have stormed the snowy slopes of Sicily's Mount Etna in recent weeks, aiming to catch a glimpse of its lava flows. Brazil: President Trump's media company accused a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who is considering whether to order Jair Bolsonaro's arrest of illegally censoring right-wing voices on social media. Panama: Migrants deported by the Trump administration were taken to a camp on the outskirts of the jungle where conditions are primitive, those taken there said. South Korea: Four officials were found guilty of abusing their power when they sent back two North Koreans who murdered 16 compatriots before they sought asylum in 2019. Germany: Alice Weidel leads the hard-right AfD, a nationalist, anti-immigrant party linked to neo-Nazis. Yet she is married to a Sri Lankan-born woman. Africa: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda both border the same lake. The shores in Rwanda offer recreation and leisure. In Congo, bodies wash up. Southern California: A slow-moving landslide has sped up, buckling roads and collapsing homes. We're tracking its movement with this map. Covid: A small number of vaccinated people developed a rare syndrome causing biological changes and reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus, a small study found. Tech: Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e, which will cost $599 and feature an artificial intelligence system it calls Apple Intelligence. SPORTS NEWS Cricket: India refused to play its Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan. Soccer: A strange, viral betting ploy used fake stories about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's sons. Tennis: Stars of tennis love to play golf for fun. But are any of them actually any good? Formula 1: The 2025 season officially began with the star-studded F1 75 Live event. Was it worth the hype? MORNING READ Thomas Cristofoletti for The New York Times Cambodia's national museum is facing a problem: About 300 stolen artifacts have been returned over the past six years, and space is getting a little cramped. Expansion and renovations are challenges, but so is designing galleries for sacred objects. Some Cambodian visitors don't see the pieces as cultural curiosities or works of art, but as divinities that hold their ancestors' souls. For them, this is more of a temple than a museum. Lives lived: Dickson Despommier, a microbiologist who proposed that cities should grow food in high-rises, popularizing the term "vertical farming," died earlier this month at 84. CONVERSATION STARTERS Small uninvited guests: Trillions of viruses live in your body. This A.I. project wants to find and study them. Royally revamped: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has announced that her cooking and lifestyle brand will now be called As Ever, leaning into the idyllic side of her life in California. Five more minutes: Do women really need more sleep than men? We asked the experts. Small tech, big implications: Microsoft now says it has created a new state of matter in its quest to create a quantum computer. But some academics are skeptical. ARTS AND IDEAS The Print Collector/Getty Images, Bridgeman Images, Thomas Lawrence The writers who influenced 'Pride and Prejudice' Was Jane Austen simply better than her peers? This was the assumption of Rebecca Romney, a rare books dealer, who had thought that Austen's rare spot in the canon must rest at least partly on the relative inferiority of other female writers of her time. On reading the novelist Frances Burney, however, Romney realized how many writers had not just influenced Austen but were great in their own right. In "Jane Austen's Bookshelf," she sets out to "investigate" a group of overlooked female writers — in the process giving glimpses into her own story. "In spite of my supposed professional curiosity, I realized I had missed something," she writes. "And it stung." Read more about the book. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Armando Rafael for The New York Times Cook: Here are 10 ways to transform a store-bought rotisserie chicken into a healthy dinner. Watch: "Pedro Páramo" is one of this month's best under-the-radar streaming picks. Listen: Our critic made a playlist inspired by Lucy Sante's latest book. Consider: It is safe to eat runny yolks? We asked experts. Compete: How many hidden book titles can you find in this puzzle? Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today's Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here. That's it for today's briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. 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