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The Defense Forces of Ukraine have shot down 80 Russian drones, while 42 additional enemy UAVs were lost from tracking.

President Donald Trump has continued to defend accepting a Boeing 747 plane from Qatar amid criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg confirmed on Tuesday he's considering a possible 2028 presidential run and weighed on former President Biden's impact on the 2024 election. The big picture: Buttigieg was in Iowa on Tuesday, where he won a Democratic primary during his unsuccessful 2020 presidential run while mayor of South Bend, Indiana, which saw him make a splash and earned him a place in the Biden administration. --- * Reporters asked him after he headlined a town hall with veterans' group VoteVets Action Fund in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, if Democrats would've fared better in 2024 if Biden hadn't initially run for re-election against President Trump. * "Maybe," Buttigieg responded, per multiple reports. "Right now, with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that's the case." Zoom out: Ahead of the town hall, Buttigieg said during a Substack Live interview with independent journalist Anand Giridharadas he'll "assess what I bring to the table and how it's different than the others." * He noted "there are times I follow that process and decided to run, and there are times I followed that process and decided not to run — and the process can lead you to surprising places." Yes, but: Buttigieg said "any kind of decision process there is a long way off." Go deeper: Exclusive: Biden aides discussed wheelchair use if he were re-elected, new book says Editor's note: This article has been updated with more comment from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general is suing President Trump's administration over threats to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding if they don't follow his immigration enforcement polices. The big picture: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who's leading the two lawsuits, said at a Tuesday briefing threats to cut funds for emergency services and infrastructure maintenance represented "a blatantly illegal attempt to bully states" into enacting Trump's agenda. --- Driving the news: Trump signed executive orders last month directing federal agencies to document "sanctuary cities" that are not complying with his immigration agenda and the White House said those that failed to do so "may lose federal funding." * The conditions would affect projects state projects including disaster relief, flood mitigation, and railroad, bridge and airport construction, the states argue in the lawsuits that were filed on Tuesday. Zoom in: One lawsuit that names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and others, argues the Trump administration's conditions on funding are "unconstitutional." * They're also "beyond FEMA's legal authority because Congress appropriated the billions of federal dollars to help states prepare for, protect against, respond to and recover from catastrophic disasters," per a statement Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, one of the AGs suing the administration. * The other suit naming Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Department of Transportation makes a similar argument on the funding of critical infrastructure projects. * States signed onto the suit include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. What they're saying: "We are experiencing creeping authoritarianism in this country, and as a people we must continue to resist," said Peter Neronha, attorney general of Rhode Island, where the lawsuit was filed, in a statement. * "Using the safety of Americans as collateral, the Trump Administration is once again illegally subverting the Congress, bullying the states to relinquish their right, ensured by the Constitution, to enact policies and laws that best serve their residents." The other side: "Americans would all be better off if these Democrat attorneys general focused on prosecuting criminals and working with the Trump administration to address the toll of gangster illegal aliens on their communities instead of playing political games," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a media statement. * Representatives for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

In today’s newsletter: the Ukraine president’s call for Putin to meet him in person represents a huge gamble in the prospect of peace Good morning. Talks. Istanbul. Thursday. In the geopolitical equivalent of a playground challenge, the latest move in the back-and-forth brinkmanship between Russia and Ukraine has seen President Zelenskyy call Putin’s bluff. US politics | Donald Trump says he will lift sanctions on Syria and meet with the country’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his tour of the gulf states. Sharaa’s pitch to woo the US offered access to Syrian oil, reconstruction contracts and to build a Trump Tower in Damascus. UK news | Peter Sullivan, who has spent 38 years in jail, has had his murder conviction quashed in what is thought to be the longest-running miscarriage of justice in British history. Sullivan was wrongly convicted in 1987 for the frenzied murder of a florist and part-time pub worker, Diane Sindall, 21, in Merseyside. Conservatives | An MP has been charged with sexual assault over alleged incidents at London’s Groucho Club in 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. Patrick Spencer, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, was charged with two counts of sexual assault against two separate women, said the CPS. Assisted dying | Kim Leadbeater has urged MPs to back an amendment to the assisted dying bill which would commission a new assessment on the state of palliative care. It comes as the Scottish parliament votes to consider a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people for the first time. UK news | A man has been arrested in connection with a series of suspected arson attacks on property linked to Keir Starmer, Scotland Yard has said. The 21-year-old was arrested in the early hours on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and remained in custody, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...

The total combat losses of Russian troops from February 24, 2022, to May 14, 2025, in the war against Ukraine amounted to about 969,370 people, including 1,240 people over the past day.

Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations if it helps to achieve a just peace, but we will not give Russia any chance to deceive.

Operators of FPV drones of the Stalevyi Kordon brigade of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine destroyed three shelters and an ammunition depot of Russian invaders in the Sumy region.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House committee tasked with overhauling energy policy and Medicaid to achieve $880 billion in spending cuts on Tuesday began what was expected to be a long, grueling session with debate on dozens of amendments. Republicans on the panel argued during opening statements the proposed changes are necessary to realign several programs […]

US senator says Republicans must choose whether to back working Americans or rich corporate executives * US politics live – latest updates Josh Hawley, the influential US senator from Missouri, has warned that his Republican party is suffering from an “identity crisis” over whether it stands for working Americans or rich corporate executives, signaling a worsening split among Donald Trump’s congressional troops over the president’s plans for deep Medicaid cuts. In an opinion piece in the New York Times published on Monday, Hawley warned his fellow Republicans it would be “politically suicidal” to concede to huge cuts in the federal program that provides health insurance to more than 70 million low-income Americans. He derided what he called the “Wall Street wing” of his own party that he said favoured corporate giveaways at the price of “slashing health insurance for the working poor”. Continue reading...