What The Hell America!

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at European proposals for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, new hurdles to maintaining an Israel-Hamas cease-fire, and violence at a key border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

‘Coalition of the Willing’

European powers called for continental unity on Monday following U.S. President Donald Trump’s explosive Oval Office meeting last Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Their proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war: a “coalition of the willing.”

“Not every nation will feel able to contribute, but that can’t mean that we sit back,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday while hosting 17 other leaders in London for talks on ending the conflict and ensuring the continent’s security. “Instead, those willing will intensify planning now with real urgency,” he added.

Starmer has prioritized four goals to improve burden-sharing in NATO and better support Kyiv in its war effort. These include continuing aid to Ukraine, maintaining economic pressure on Russia, ensuring that Kyiv has a seat at the negotiating table and is not forced to cede its sovereignty, and vowing to continue to arm Ukraine once the war is over in order to deter any future Russian attacks.

Alongside a coalition of the willing, French President Emmanuel Macron has floated a one-month pause in fighting to allow peace talks to begin. “Such a truce on air, sea, and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said.

The United Kingdom and France have also offered to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a cease-fire—so long as the United States provides security guarantees. “There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks,” Macron told Le Figaro on Sunday. “We want peace. We don’t want it at any price, without guarantees.”

Moscow, however, remains against such a deterrence force, and Trump appears willing to appease the Kremlin’s demands. On Monday, Trump criticized Zelensky for saying that an end to the war remains “very, very far away” in comments made the previous day.

“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the United States will not provide Europe with a security backstop. The White House is also reportedly drawing up plans to potentially relieve Russia from some U.S. sanctions, according to Reuters.

Foreign leaders have been quick to denounce Trump’s hostile treatment of Zelensky and apparent friendliness toward Moscow. Yet not all European heads of government are in agreement. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban thanked Trump on Friday for his aggressive stance toward Zelensky, and both Orban and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico have threatened to block statements of support for Ukraine at an European Union summit later this week if the bloc doesn’t call for an immediate cease-fire. Neither leader attended Sunday’s summit in London.

“We see that the collective West has partially begun to lose its collectivity, and a fragmentation of the collective West has begun,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she plans to inform member states on Tuesday of plans to strengthen the continent’s defense industry. And on Thursday, European leaders will convene in Brussels for a special session on how best to support Kyiv.

Today’s Most Read

The World This Week

Tuesday, March 4: The United States is set to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports as well as additional 20 percent duties on Chinese goods.

The League of Arab States holds an emergency summit on Trump’s Gaza relocation proposal.

Putin hosts Myanmar’s military junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing.

Micronesia holds legislative elections.

Wednesday, March 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testifies in a Tel Aviv court over allegations of fraud, breach of trust, and bribery.

Thursday, March 6: The European Council holds a special leaders’ summit in Brussels to discuss Ukraine’s security.

Friday, March 7: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosts Botswanan President Duma Boko.

Saturday, March 8: Western Australia holds state elections.

Sunday, March 9: Canada’s Liberal Party chooses a successor to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Monday, March 10: Zelensky visits Saudi Arabia.

What We’re Following

Cease-fire stalemate. Hamas officials accused Israel on Monday of pushing cease-fire talks back to “square zero.” The first of the agreement’s three planned stages expired on Saturday without consensus on how to move forward, and experts worry that continued delays could collapse the Gaza truce deal.

Netanyahu backed a U.S. proposal on Sunday that would extend the temporary truce during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover instead of pushing for the agreed-upon deal’s second phase, which is supposed to entail the creation of a permanent truce and require the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territory. Hamas said that it remains committed to the original deal.

However, several new hurdles also threaten progress. On Sunday, Israeli forces imposed a total blockade of all supplies entering Gaza, including essential aid such as food and fuel. Netanyahu said that the effort to halt truck deliveries was intended to prevent Hamas from stealing the supplies and using them “to finance its terror machine.” But the United Nations and Arab mediators were quick to condemn the move as a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the original cease-fire deal.

Israeli forces also killed at least two Palestinians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Monday and injured three others in the nearby city of Khan Younis. The attacks occurred around the same time that several people were stabbed at a bus station in the Israeli city of Haifa, killing at least one person. Local police said they were treating the stabbing as a militant attack; Hamas praised the assault but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

Border dispute. Afghan and Pakistani forces traded fire at the Torkham border crossing overnight on Monday, killing at least one Afghan security personnel and injuring two others; Pakistan said that its side also suffered casualties, though it did not provide a specific number. Kabul and Islamabad have blamed each other for initiating the attack.

The Torkham border is one of the countries’ two key crossings, accounting for millions of dollars in bilateral trade. But Pakistani authorities temporarily shut down the corridor last week over a dispute surrounding the construction of a new checkpoint on Afghanistan’s side. Since then, bilateral trade has reached a daily loss of roughly $3 million, according to Pakistani authorities.

Experts worry that Monday’s fighting on top of the corridor’s closure could exacerbate humanitarian crises in the region. According to the United Nations, nearly half of Afghanistan’s population is in need of critical assistance. Many of those in need may now have trouble accessing aid due to the incident stranding some 5,000 trucks filled with essential goods.

Spotlight on sovereignty. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Britain’s King Charles III met on Monday for talks at Sandringham, the king’s royal residence, following a whirlwind weekend in European diplomacy. Trudeau said the meeting would likely focus on defending Canada’s sovereignty, a nod to Trump’s previous declarations that the country should become the 51st U.S. state.

“I can tell you that nothing seems more important to Canadians than standing up for our sovereignty and our independence as a nation,” Trudeau told reporters ahead of the meeting.

Trudeau has previously said he does not believe Trump’s annexation threats are made in jest. Canada is a mining hub, and the Canadian leader has pointed to the country’s critical mineral riches as a potential explanation for Trump’s fixation. —FP’s Christina Lu

Odds and Ends

When Washington, D.C., weather reaches freezing, FP’s World Brief writer prefers to curl up with a blanket and a good book. Clearly, Czech swimmers have different preferred ways to deal with the cold. On Saturday, 2,461 people leapt into the Czech Republic’s Most Lake, breaking the world record for largest polar bear plunge. Participants had to be wearing bathing suits, be submerged waist deep at minimum, and remain in the water for at least one minute.