Nathalie Kittroweth

So I'm wondering how you are thinking about the larger stakes of what we're seeing play out here.

Anatoly, thank you.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the military had attacked a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean for the first time, an expansion of the attacks the administration has been carrying out on vessels in the Caribbean.

Hegseth said in a social media post that the strike killed two people on the boat, which he said was carrying drugs.

It was the eighth known boat attack since September, bringing the officially acknowledged death toll of the strikes to 34.

We'll be right back.

Here's what else you should know today.

On Wednesday, President Trump announced that he was imposing new sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, underscoring his frustration with President Vladimir Putin after a plan for the two leaders to meet fell apart.

Trump made his irritation with Putin clear on Wednesday, saying his conversations with the Russian leader were always good but never went anywhere.

The sanctions targeted Russia's two largest oil companies, and they're some of the most significant measures that the U.S.

has taken against the Russian energy sector since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

And President Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he was having the entire East Wing demolished to make way for his 90,000 square foot ballroom, an expansion of a project that is remaking the profile of one of the nation's most iconic buildings.

Trump also said the ballroom would cost $300 million, $100 million more than the original cost estimate given less than three months ago.

The president has said that he's raising tens of millions of dollars in private donations to fund the construction, sparking concerns from ethics experts who warn that it may just be another way for the wealthy to buy access to the president.

Today's episode was produced by Carlos Prieto and Michael Simon-Johnson.

It was edited by M.J.

Davis-Lynn and Paige Cowett.

Contains music by Diane Wong, Alishaba Etup, and Marion Lozano.

And was engineered by Chris Wood.

That's it for The Daily.