What The Hell America!

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a possible Russia-Ukraine cease-fire deal, a G-7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Canada, and new European investments in South Africa.

Truce Holdups

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed interest on Thursday in a U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal with Ukraine. “We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities,” Putin said after a meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, a close ally. “But we proceed from the fact that this cessation should be such that it would lead to long-term peace and would eliminate the original causes of this crisis.”

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a possible Russia-Ukraine cease-fire deal, a G-7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Canada, and new European investments in South Africa.

Truce Holdups

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed interest on Thursday in a U.S.-proposed cease-fire deal with Ukraine. “We agree with the proposals to cease hostilities,” Putin said after a meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, a close ally. “But we proceed from the fact that this cessation should be such that it would lead to long-term peace and would eliminate the original causes of this crisis.”

Under the proposed agreement, both Russia and Ukraine would enact a 30-day truce and immediately enter peace talks. Humanitarian relief efforts would be discussed during this time, and both sides would prioritize the release of civilian detainees, the exchange of prisoners, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children. Kyiv agreed to enact the deal on Tuesday during a high-level meeting with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia—but only if Moscow agrees to do the same.

“The ball is now in [Russia]’s court,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time, adding that if the Kremlin says no, “then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.”

But on Thursday, Putin said “there are issues that need to be discussed” before he could sign off on a 30-day truce. These include whether Ukraine can receive arms and personnel during this time, what happens to Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk, and who should monitor possible violations at the front. Putin added that he may need to “have a phone call with [U.S. President Donald] Trump” to sort out the details.

Putin’s comments came shortly before he was due to meet with the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who traveled to Moscow on Thursday to try to persuade the Kremlin to accept the deal. And Trump said Putin’s latest comments were “very promising” but not “complete,” adding that he would “love to meet with him or talk to him.”

But recent Russian battlefield advancements—just days after the United States agreed to lift its suspension on military aid deliveries and intelligence-sharing to Kyiv—could hinder the White House’s progress.

Russian troops claimed on Thursday to have driven Ukrainian forces out of Sudzha, the largest town in the occupied Kursk region; Ukrainian soldiers first pushed into Kursk last August in a surprise offensive meant to destabilize Moscow’s territorial ambitions. “Your task is to completely destroy the enemy, which has entrenched itself in the Kursk region and is still conducting warfare here, and fully liberate the Kursk region’s territory within the shortest possible time,” Putin said on Wednesday during a visit to the front.

According to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, some senior Kremlin officials believe that the U.S. truce proposal is “nothing but a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, nothing else.”

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its European allies remain wary of any truce deal that does not come with U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, something both Putin and Trump have pushed back against. This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes that Washington would take “strong steps” to pressure Moscow if it did not accept the cease-fire. “I don’t know the details yet, but we are talking about sanctions and strengthening Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters.

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Awkward meeting. G-7 foreign ministers convened in Quebec, Canada, on Thursday for a meeting expected to be heavily overshadowed by the United States’ increasingly aggressive trade tactics, its position on the Russia-Ukraine war, and its threats to annex Canada, among other issues.

“Under @POTUS’s leadership, we are going to use forums like the G7 to counter our adversaries and stand by our allies. America First!” Rubio posted on X as he arrived in Canada on Wednesday evening.

But many of those same allies, particularly Canada, have been on the receiving end of some of the Trump administration’s harshest policies. The G-7 meeting came one day after the U.S. president imposed sweeping duties on steel and aluminum imports, prompting immediate retaliatory measures by Canada and the European Union. And it also follows Trump threatening 200 percent tariffs on some European alcohol on Thursday if the European Union goes through with taxing U.S.-made whiskey.

Trump has also repeatedly called for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state, angering Canada’s leadership. Rubio insisted that this issue would not be a topic of discussion at the G-7 meeting, but it’s hard to imagine it not coming up, especially as Trump made such comments again on Thursday and referred to the U.S.-Canada border as “an artificial line.”

Also on the G-7’s agenda was a debriefing on Rubio’s recent meeting with senior Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia. The bloc is aiming to put out a joint statement on the Russia-Ukraine war that would show unity, but demands from Washington for softer language toward Moscow have so far thwarted the group’s ability to form a consensus.

Europe’s new focus. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted senior EU officials, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, in Cape Town on Thursday. This was their first EU-South Africa summit since 2018.

During the meeting, von der Leyen announced a $5.1 billion investment package to finance green energy projects in South Africa, improve vaccine production, and bolster the country’s infrastructure. “My message: Europe values its partnership with South Africa,” von der Leyen said before meeting Ramaphosa.

The summit aimed to pivot the EU’s focus from the United States to its biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa in a bid to “explore new avenues for economic, trade, and investment cooperation as well as address any challenges and trade irritants.” The Trump administration has singled out Pretoria in its escalatory trade measures and cut off aid to the country over its land redistribution policy, which the White House has called racist against South Africa’s minority white population.

Von der Leyen also used Thursday’s summit to pledge continued EU support for the G-20, which South Africa hosted this year and the United States was notably absent from to protest its land reform measures.

A temporary constitution. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration on Thursday that lays out a five-year transitional period for the new government. During this time, a transitional justice commission will be formed to determine accountability and provide justice for the victims of the former Assad regime, which Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebel group overthrew last December. Islamic jurisprudence will still be the primary source of legislation.

The declaration also protects women’s rights, such as the right to work and to education, as well as freedom of expression and the press. This is “a new history for Syria, where we replace oppression with justice … and suffering with mercy,” Sharaa said on Thursday. As part of his efforts to establish a new governing system, the declaration stipulates “absolute separation of powers,” with the only exception being the president’s ability to declare a state of emergency, according to Abdul Hamid al-Awak, a member of the drafting committee.

Odds and Ends

Chinese restaurant chain Haidilao has promised refunds to thousands of customers after a video emerged of an individual urinating into a hotpot filled with boiling broth at the restaurant. The company apologized for the incident on Wednesday and offered to reimburse more than 4,100 orders between Feb. 24 and March 8. Shanghai police said the two men suspected of peeing in the private dining room have been placed under “administrative detention.” Both individuals were 17 years old—and clearly need to learn better table manners.