"Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are."

Said President Trump, quoted in "Trump urges armistice at current battle lines in Ukraine after Zelensky meeting/The president said he wants both sides to stop where they are. Zelensky signaled openness to such a ceasefire as a starting point to talks" (WaPo)(free-access link).

Zelensky came to Washington seeking long-range U.S. missiles that could strike Moscow and beyond. Trump sounded receptive to the proposal earlier this week after a series of calls with the Ukrainian leader. His tone changed after speaking with Putin on Thursday....

“I would much rather have them not need Tomahawks. I would much rather have the war be over,” Trump said before a private lunch....

"I thank everyone who is helping."

We had a long and substantive conversation with @POTUS. We started with one-on-one talks before inviting European leaders to join us. This call lasted for more than an hour and a half, including about an hour of our bilateral conversation with President Trump.

Ukraine reaffirms… pic.twitter.com/64IPVhtFaB

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 16, 2025

Trump talks about the "land swapping" that he says will take place in ending the war in Ukraine.

 

From the transcript of his press briefing yesterday, Trump talks about the "land swapping" that he says will take place in ending the war in Ukraine:

We're going to change the lines, the battle lines. Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine. But they've taken some very prime territory. They've taken largely, in real estate we call it oceanfront property.

The most powerful man in the world — attempting to manage what he's just called "by far the worst that's happened since World War II" — seems comfortable reverting to real-estate mogul mode.

That's always the most valuable property. If you're on a lake, a river or an ocean, it's always the best property. Well, Ukraine, a lot of people don't know that Ukraine was largely a thousand miles of ocean. That's gone, other than one small area, Odessa, it's a small area. There's just a little bit of water left. So I'm going to go and see the parameters. Now, I may leave and say good luck, and that'll be the end. I may say this is not going to be settled. I mean, there are those that believe that Putin wanted all of Ukraine. I happen to be one of them, by the way. I think if it weren't for me, he would not be even talking to anybody else right now. But I'm going to meet with him. We're going to see what the parameters are, and then I'm going to call up President Zelensky and the European leaders.

ADDED: The very next headline I read was: "For Trump, Cities Like Washington Are Real Estate in Need of Fixing Up/'It’s a natural instinct as a real estate person,' he said in announcing his federal takeover of the capital’s police, despite falling crime" (NYT).

The conversation at St. Peter's.

Wow, @piersmorgan , this is absolutely incredible! 🌟📸 What an iconic moment captured in such a breathtaking location—St. Peter’s Basilica is pure majesty!

The image of Trump and Zelenskyy deep in conversation is so powerful, and I can only imagine the weight of that tough… pic.twitter.com/XOHMqyvqst

— Dan Western (@westerns1978) April 26, 2025

ADDED: For the annals of Things I Asked Grok: Isn't there some expression along the lines of "He would upstage the corpse at a funeral"?

(Oh! I see. The stock expression is "He could upstage the bride at her own wedding.")

IN THE COMMENTS: Hassayamper said: “I've heard ‘He's always got to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral’ to describe someone who can't resist being at the center of attention.” Yes! That’s what I was looking for. You beat Grok. 

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a new framework for a partial ceasefire with Russia on Tuesday..."

"... posting on X that Kyiv would be willing to release prisoners and agree to a truce that would ban long range attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure. The offer came after the Trump administration declared that Zelensky was not ready for peace and froze the U.S. military assistance that Ukraine has been relying on to battle the Russian invasion. 'Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the U.S. to agree a strong final deal,' Zelensky wrote. The post, which made no mention of halting ground operations on either side, came after President Donald Trump’s decision to pause aid sent shockwaves across Ukraine and Europe...."

WaPo reports.

The post:

I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace.

None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 4, 2025

"Designer Behind President Zelensky’s White House Outfit Defends the Choice."

A headline at Women's Wear Daily.

Who knew Zelensky had a designer?

I ran across that article looking for confirmation of something I happened to see — here — in The Washington Post: "Even after Zelensky refused a White House request to wear a suit, Trump praised his outfit, saying, 'I think he’s dressed beautifully.'"

Zelensky was asked — in advance?! — to wear a suit?! This is the first I'm seeing that.

From Women's Wear Daily: "Zelensky turned up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue wearing a three-button knitted long-sleeve polo shirt from [Elvira] Gasanova’s menswear label Damirli, as well as pants from the collection. She had made a special version for Zelensky with the emblem of a tryzub, a shield with a trident that is the coat of arms that Ukraine adopted in February 1991."

The above-linked WaPo column is "Zelensky must mend the breach with Trump — or resign/Zelensky's stubbornness has badly hurt Ukraine" by Marc A. Thiessen. Excerpt:

A staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world....

I'm reading "France’s prime minister tears into Trump’s attack on Zelenskyy as a staggering show of 'brutality'" (AP), which quotes French Prime Minister François Bayrou"

"On Friday night, in the Oval Office of the White House, a staggering scene unfurled before the lenses of the entire world, marked by brutality, a desire to humiliate, with the goal of making Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fold through threats. President Zelenskyy did not fold and I think we can show him our appreciation."

Meanwhile, at The Washington Post, "Washington now ‘largely aligns’ with Moscow’s vision, Kremlin says/Tension between the United States and Ukraine, laid bare in the Oval Office meeting of Trump and Zelensky, is seen in Moscow as a 'gift.'"

"It feels worth noting that in this moment, Zelensky decides to call the vice President JD, not Vice President Vance."

Observes Peter Baker in this morning's episode of the NYT "Daily" podcast — "The Fallout From Zelensky and Trump’s Oval Office Meltdown" (audio and transcript at Podscribe).

We hear the recording of Zelensky, with new focus on the dismissive "JD": "What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about? What? What you, what you, what do you mean?"

Baker continues: "Perhaps history will not note this as an important moment. I noted it."

Yes, the re-listen affected me.

"Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said Sunday that he would work with the leaders of Ukraine and France on a cease-fire plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine...."

"Mr. Starmer told the BBC on Sunday that he had spoken to President Trump by phone a day earlier. 'I’m clear in my mind he does want lasting peace, he does want an end to the fighting in Ukraine'.... The prime minister said that he, Mr. Zelensky and President Emmanuel Macron of France had agreed they 'would work on a plan for stopping the fighting and then discuss that plan with the U.S.' Any peace agreement 'is going to need a U.S. backstop,' Mr. Starmer added, saying that British and U.S. teams were discussing the idea.... Since Friday, European leaders have lined up behind Ukraine and lauded its embattled president. Mr. Zelensky is also set to meet King Charles III later on Sunday."

The NYT reports.

What will Zelensky wear for his audience with the King? He's met with the King twice before — February 8, 2023 and July 18, 2024 — and both times he wore those dark green "wartime" clothes and not a suit.  Zelensky has met with other European royalty —Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia (Sweden), King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Prince Haakon, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit (Norway), King Philippe (Belgium) — and each time, he wore the "wartime" outfit that he was called out for wearing in the Oval Office.

Of course, royalty is a game played through outfits. But Trump has his outfits too. Indeed, questioned about his military getup, Zelensky said that after the war, he could wear a "costume," and by "costume," he meant a suit: "I will wear a costume after this war will finish. Maybe something like yours, maybe something better."

But enough about clothing, what do we think about Europe stepping up to make the peace deal? Who will give Trump credit for making that happen and for, more generally, requiring Europe to take charge of the defense of Europe? Whether the Europeans can close a peace deal is another matter, but they concede in advance that any peace agreement "is going to need a U.S. backstop." Could they, instead, just flow endless money into Ukraine? They've counted on our money for so long. 

"To Trump's team, it was three strikes — and now officially out of favor — for Zelensky. "

"In their eyes, Zelensky already had two strikes against him when he sat down with Trump and Vance.... Strike 3 against Zelensky: He disagreed publicly with Vance, who accused Zelensky of trying to 'litigate' his case before the media.... Strike 2 came just before Friday's meeting, when Zelensky arrived at the White House without a suit or jacket, as requested.... Strike 1... came Feb. 15, when Zelensky publicly trashed a proposed mineral rights deal with Ukraine that he privately had discussed the day before in Munich with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The plan Friday was for Zelensky to sign a new version of the deal as part of a plan to end the war. That didn't happen.... The meeting was largely uneventful until Zelensky addressed Vance directly and asked how diplomacy would work with a lying killer like Putin. 'No one expected Zelensky to walk in there and act like such a petulant child, constantly frowning and shaking his head and DJT and JD had had enough,' one Republican close to the administration told Axios via text...."

From "'Three strikes': Inside the Trump-Vance fury with Zelensky" (Axios).

"Body-language and behavioral expert Darren Stanton said he thought Zelensky appeared 'quite angry from the outset' and got 'caught up in his own ego.'"

"At one point while Vance is talking, Zelensky moves from leaning forward to leaning back with his arms crossed, showing a 'dramatic change in inner emotion' that Stanton believed was the moment Zelensky realized 'he was going to leave.' 'He felt he wasn’t getting his points across or wasn’t allowed to,' Stanton said, adding that he also thought Trump was greatly frustrated by Zelensky, despite remaining stone-faced."

From "Body-language experts break down the dramatic Trump-Zelensky meeting/The row between Trump and Zelensky was heightened by the lack of an interpreter, the power imbalance, and the men’s TV backgrounds, body-language experts say" (WaPo).

The Zs and what they wore.

Yes, there was Zelensky, in his traditional wartime outfit, taunted by Trump and Vance for not wearing a suit, but there was also Zuckerberg, more forcibly eschewing the suit:

NEW: Mark Zuckerberg rips off his suit and starts performing in a blue jumpsuit at his wife's 40th birthday party.

What

The billionaire surprised his wife at her birthday party by wearing singer Benson Boone’s jumpsuit that he used during his 2025 Grammy performance of… pic.twitter.com/ompbHIW8mp

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 1, 2025

ADDED: Did Trump taunt Zelensky about his clothes? I was thinking about what he said when Zelensky first arrived — "Hey, you're all dressed up" — but I see that after Vance went hard on the clothing issue, Trump said: "And I do like your clothing, by the way":

Trump and Vance get remarkably intense with Zelensky.

ADDED: The scene is described by Peter Baker for the NYT: "Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance castigated Mr. Zelensky for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in its war with Russia and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal on whatever terms the Americans dictate. With voices raised and tempers flaring, Mr. Trump threatened to abandon Ukraine altogether if Mr. Zelensky did not go along. Talking over the Ukrainian leader, Mr. Vance told Mr. Zelensky that it was 'disrespectful' for him to come to the Oval Office and make his case in front of the American news media and demanded that he thank Mr. Trump for his leadership. Mr. Trump jumped in and told the Ukrainian leader, 'You’re not really in a good position right now” and that “you’re gambling with World War III.' 'You’re either going make a deal or we’re out,” Mr. Trump added. “And if we’re out, you’ll fight it out and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.' The exchange in front of television cameras was one of the most dramatic moments ever to play out in public in the Oval Office...."

AND: "This is gonna be great television — I'll tell you that."

"We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other. I have reason to believe that the American side started to better understand our positions."

Said Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, quoted in "U.S. and Russia Pursue Partnership in a Head-Spinning Shift in Relations/The two sides met in Saudi Arabia for their most extensive discussions in years. In addition to Ukraine, business ties were on the table" (NYT).

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, American officials did not dwell on Russia’s violation of international law in attacking Ukraine, its alleged war crimes or the three years of devastation that Russian shelling and bombardment had wrought in parts of Ukraine. Instead, they repeatedly lauded Mr. Trump for trying to stop the fighting by talking to Russia in a way that his predecessor did not.

“For three years,” Mr. Rubio said, “no one else has been able to bring something together like what we saw today, because Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that can.”... 

“We were not invited to this Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Zelensky said while on a visit to Turkey. “It was a surprise for us — I think for many others as well.”

"Somewhere in a Kyiv bunker a former comedian is quietly whimpering. But if the show that is unfolding will remain just a show, we will say 'thanks for the popcorn' and move on."

Said "an op-ed published by state-run news agency RIA Novosti, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s past as a TV personality."

Quoted in "The Russian guide to Trump’s Cabinet picks/Who’s good for Russia and who’s going to be a problem among Trump’s choices according to Russian commentators" (WaPo)(free-access link).

In other Ukraine news: "Biden admin urges Ukraine to lower draft age to conscript 18-year-olds/Ukraine already lowered draft age to 25 in April" (Fox News)(it "already" went all the way down... to 25).

And: "Overnight, Russia carried out a horrific aerial attack against Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities report that Russia launched nearly 200 missiles and drones against Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure, depriving Ukrainian civilians of access to electricity" (Statement from President Joe Biden on Russia’s Attack on Ukraine).

"President Zelensky has been pushing for this moment for months. When it finally came, he was a little coy."

"Strikes are not made with words, he said in his nightly address: 'Such things are not announced, missiles speak for themselves.' President Biden has given Ukraine permission to use long range missiles supplied by Washington to strike deep inside Russia."

BBC reports.

"It is certain that the war will end sooner with the policies of the team that will now lead the White House."

Said Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted in "Trump’s victory means war will end sooner, says Zelensky/Ukrainian president said he had had a ‘constructive’ conversation with the US president-elect and he had heard nothing ‘that goes against our position'" (London Times).

He added that Ukraine “must do everything so that this war ends next year, ends through diplomatic means.”

"President-elect Donald J. Trump spoke on Wednesday with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and during the call handed the phone to Elon Musk..."

Writes Maggie Haberman, in the NYT.

It is not clear what the three men discussed or whether they touched on any change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine in the wake of Mr. Trump’s election.

I'm going to guess it was a perfect phone call.

"Zelensky’s arms-factory visit reeks of partisan foreign-election interference."

Says the New York Post Editorial Board.

Zelensky got flown into battleground Pennsylvania aboard a USAF C-17 plane on Tuesday; he then toured the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant accompanied by Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Bob Casey, Rep. Matt Cartwright — the last two being active Democratic candidates. And it looks like no GOP candidates got invited — trapping a foreign head of state into apparently taking sides in US domestic politics....

"I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war...

"... that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families. Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity."

Wrote Donald Trump last evening (on Truth Social).

Zelenskyy, we're told, called Trump to congratulate him for his nomination, to "condemn[] the heinous assassination attempt," and to "remark[] about the American people coming together in the spirit of Unity."

The NYT report about the phone call says that it came "amid mounting concern in Kyiv that a second Trump administration would spell the end of American support in Ukraine’s fight against Russia." And: