Plus, Roberta Flack remembered. On Today’s Episode: U.S. and European Allies Split Sharply at the U.N. Over Ukraine, by Farnaz FassihiTrump and Macron Display Old Friendship but Split on the Ukraine War, by Peter BakerUkraine Nears a Deal to Give U.S. a Share of Its Mineral Wealth, by Constant MéheutJudge Questions Constitutionality of Musk’s Cost-Cutting Operation, by Alan FeuerOn Chinese Tuna Boats, North Koreans Trawl for Cash for Kim Jong-un, by Choe Sang-Hun and Muktita SuhartonoRoberta Flack, Virtuoso Singer-Pianist Who Ruled the Charts, Dies at 88, by Giovanni RussonelloTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [email protected].
Full Episode
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Tuesday, February 25th. Here's what we're covering.
The way we answer to the Russian aggression today, it will define our common future, the future of entire democratic world and the future of the UN.
At the United Nations yesterday, there was a diplomatic showdown between the U.S. and some of its closest allies over the war in Ukraine. Delegates were meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion, and Ukraine put forward a resolution condemning Russia's actions and calling on it to pull back its troops. It had the backing of countries like Britain and France, but the U.S.
refused to support it. Multiple resolutions of the General Assembly have failed to stop the war. It has now dragged on for far too long. Instead, American representatives pushed through a short resolution of their own that called for an end of the war without assigning blame and mourned the loss of life on both sides of the conflict.
European diplomats said they were furious that the U.S., their longtime ally, had sided against them. And as the U.S. and Europe split played out at the U.N., their growing rift was also on display at the White House. French President Emmanuel Macron met one-on-one with President Trump.
There were hugs and handshakes and compliments, but Macron also pushed back on Trump's framing of the war in Ukraine. In one exchange, Macron cut Trump off to fact-check his false claim that European countries were only helping Ukraine because they expected to be reimbursed. Macron's team had scrambled to organize the D.C. visit amid Trump's increasingly hostile stance towards Europe.
It came as other leaders are also rushing to Washington. Over the weekend, the Polish president attended the conservative convention CPAC to try and influence the new administration. The prime minister of Britain will visit the White House this Thursday. Meanwhile, The Times has learned that the U.S. and Ukraine are pushing forward on a massive new economic deal. It would give the U.S.
a large share of the profits from Ukraine's natural resources, like lithium. It was originally Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's idea. He wanted to trade the country's valuable natural resources for future U.S. military support. But Trump is pushing a very different deal.
Essentially, Donald Trump has turned the concept on its head and said that he wants the minerals and other natural resources such as oil and gas as compensation for past American aid with no thing in return for Ukraine.
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