| | | |  | | By Eric Bazail-Eimil and Nahal Toosi | | Presented by |  | | | | 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Feb. 28 2025. | Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA | With help from Veronika Melkozerova, Eli Stokols, Amy Mackinnon, Phelim Kine and Daniel Lippman Subscribe here | Email Robbie | Email Eric As Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY made his way down the streets of Washington, he had one simple objective for his meeting in the Oval Office: Use the critical minerals deal to get out of President DONALD TRUMP’s crosshairs. Ukraine wasn’t sweating the specific terms of an agreement they saw as satiating the White House while not really committing much in the immediate term. Addressing frustrated lawmakers in Ukraine’s parliament, who chafe that the government hadn’t shown them the terms of the agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister DENYS SHMYHAL insisted today that “this agreement is an agreement on a future agreement” and that the requisite steps under Ukrainian law would be taken to properly negotiate the final and specific deal. And per analysts and former officials, the thinking was that for Trump, a win’s a win. Giving him those political points would then prompt him to redirect his fire on Russia and embark on a renewed “maximum pressure” campaign against Moscow. “The way Trump works is he brings pressure on you. If you're smart, you don't punch him in the face, …. but eventually you get to the point where you make a deal with him,” said Retired Rear Adm. MARK MONTGOMERY, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank and former lead for U.S.-Ukraine military-to-military relations, ahead of the meeting. “Zelensky can control that completely. I do not think there's a wild card where Zelensky signs the deal, is appropriately thankful and Trump turns on him.” Then the Oval Office meeting happened. Even though Zelenskyy pulled out plenty of rhetorical flourishes — at one point simultaneously taking a shot at former President JOE BIDEN and praising Trump’s bold approach in the process to the end the war — Zelenskyy kept correcting Trump about the war. Vice President JD VANCE couldn’t resist attacking back. In a heated exchange between Vance and Zelenskyy, the vice president slammed the Ukrainian leader, saying it was “disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media” and a screaming match between Zelenskyy, Trump and Vance ensued. “With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don't have any cards. It'll be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have to change,” Trump closed. “Make a deal, or we’re out.” It was, to put it mildly, the worst possible outcome for the meeting. And the deal is dead. “I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations. I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.” European leaders are rallying around Zelenskyy, with many praising him for his “bravery” before Trump. But overall, the vibes are grim. There’s a sense that Zelenskyy overplayed his hand and miscalculated how to approach Trump and Vance. “Certainly Zelenskyy could have expressed more gratitude for U.S. support and more openness to pursuing a diplomatic resolution of the war,” said MICHAEL CARPENTER, who was Biden’s senior director for Europe on the National Security Council. Carpenter added that Zelenskyy is now in a much weaker spot than he was just a day ago specifically because of Trump and Vance’s comments: “Ukraine is desperately fighting for its survival, and now it’s just received a body blow from its biggest military supporter.” Read our own Eli Stokols’ piece summing up the volatile bilateral meeting.
| | | | A message from Saronic: The U.S. Navy has declared the need for a hybrid fleet – one that integrates vast numbers of unmanned systems operating alongside traditional manned ships. Achieving this will require a transformation in how the U.S. approaches shipbuilding and a dedicated focus on scaling the production of advanced technologies and autonomous warships. Defense technology company Saronic is ready to deliver on these needs. Learn more about what we are building at https://www.shipyardofthefuture.com/ | | | | | TAKING THEM TO TASS: Russian state media TASS was briefly able to join the pool covering the Trump and Zelenskyy meeting today, adding to the controversy over how the White House is managing media access. Reuters and The Associated Press, meanwhile, were excluded from coverage of the bilateral meeting. It was a shocking event, given not only the subject matter but also accusations from media and press freedom watchdogs that TASS is not editorially independent and its coverage is subject to the whims of the Kremlin. The White House quickly responded that the TASS reporter “was not on the approved list of media for today’s pool.” It added: “As soon as it came to the attention of press office staff that he was in the Oval, he was escorted out by the press secretary.” The TASS reporter will also not be on the approved list for the press conference, a White House official added. MEANWHILE IN BEIJING: Russian Security Council Secretary SERGEI SHOIGU’s warm reception in Beijing today couldn’t have been more different in tone and substance from the Zelenskyy-Trump fracas in the Oval Office. The timing of Shoigu’s meetings with China’s leader XI JINPING and Foreign Minister WANG YI looked suspiciously like counterprogramming targeting Zelenskyy’s Washington visit. And Chinese state media reporting suggests Shoigu returns home to Moscow with reassurance that Beijing’s alignment with Russia — which keeps its economy afloat and helps its army continue its war on Ukraine — remains rock solid. The readout’s declaration of China-Russia “good-neighborliness and friendship” looks aimed to scuttle speculation that Trump can peel Russia away from China in a “reverse Kissinger” move. Xi’s commitment to “comprehensive strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation” — outlined in the state media account of the meeting — suggests that Beijing will continue to supply Moscow with imports of dual use equipment needed to sustain Russia’s war machine in exchange for a flow of cheap oil and gas. More bad news for Ukraine: Shoigu’s separate meeting with Wang produced a plan for a new round of “strategic China-Russia security consultations” that may deepen their security ties, Chinese state media reported. BASE MENTALITY: Israel is trying to convince the Trump administration that Russia should be allowed to keep its military bases in Syria, Reuters’ Maya Gebeily and Humeyra Pamuk report. The push is part of a larger Israeli strategy that appears designed to keep Syria weak and decentralized, while limiting Turkey’s Middle East influence. Israel has a strong shot at shaping the Trump administration's thinking on Syria in part because the Arab country isn’t high on the White House’s priority list. The Israeli-Turkish relationship has for years been fraught, especially due to the war in Gaza. At the same time, the Israeli push could be boosted by Trump’s desire to improve ties with Russia. TRAIN WRECK PROTESTS: Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across Greece, often violently, to protest alleged government inaction two years after a horrific train collision. The Associated Press reported that some demonstrators hurled gasoline bombs. Dozens were arrested, and at least 20 people needed medical aid. The Feb. 28, 2023, train wreck, in which a passenger train struck a freight train head-on, killed 57 people. It exposed many problems in Greece’s railway system. The protests on the anniversary were prompted partly by criticism that politicians have not been held accountable. DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of the national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink. Today, we’re featuring our own GISELLE RUHIYYIH EWING, who as of last week is no longer producing our newsletter. Giselle, or Gigi as we know her in the newsroom, started a new job at POLITICO as a breaking news reporter, meaning you’ll still see her reporting in the newsletter. Gigi told us that now that she's no longer getting an adrenaline rush from racing against the clock to get out NatSec Daily on time (or something like that) every week, she has to find an extra energy boost for her Friday afternoons elsewhere. Her tried and true remedy: a vanilla latte with oat milk. Usually two espresso shots will do to keep up her spirits, but on particularly harrowing Fridays, she ups the dose. She'll let NatSec readers guess how many shots she's downing today. Never fear though. Our newsletter production will be back in the hands of our own EMILY LUSSIER, who in the recent past helped guide this newsletter through the doldrums of the editing process with aplomb. We wanted to know how Emily unwinds after a busy day (so we know what to give her when your NatSec Daily hosts inevitably test her patience). Emily told us her drink of choice is sangria. “It’s best when my mom makes it at home all the way in New Hampshire, but Easy Company Wine Bar is a close second,” Emily said. She added she enjoys Arnold Palmers too, on what she describes as a “(nearly) daily basis.” Cheers to you both, Gigi and Emily!
| | | | Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to reshape the federal government is consuming Washington. To track this seismic shift, we're relaunching one of our signature newsletters. Sign up to get West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government in your inbox. | | | | | IT’S FRIDAY! WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at rgramer@politico.com and ebazail@politico.com, and follow Robbie and Eric on X @RobbieGramer and @ebazaileimil. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s global security team: @dave_brown24,@HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @ak_mack, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary,@reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, and @johnnysaks130
| | SAY WHAT? Trump plans to sign an executive order that would — for the first time in U.S. history — make English the country’s official language, reports Meridith McGraw of The Wall Street Journal. The order reverses a Clinton administration mandate requiring government agencies to offer language assistance to people who don’t speak English, but such agencies can still provide documents and services in other tongues. The Trump initiative’s goal is “to promote unity, establish efficiency in the government and provide a pathway to civic engagement,” according to the Journal, which was shown a summary of the plan. ICYMI: Nahal has a story out on how Trump wants to shrink the State Department’s size, reach and focus, an effort that includes asking the Pentagon to rank embassies in order of importance.
| | USAID CYBER FALLOUT: The Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development are so vast that even an IBM cybersecurity contract has been cancelled, David Dimolfetta of Nextgov/FCW reports. The five-year $95 million contract, unveiled last year, was aimed at helping bolster the cybersecurity capabilities of several European and Eurasian nations, including Albania, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Such countries are especially vulnerable to Russian hackers. Under the agreement, IBM security security staff were to help “build out security operations centers, train security practitioners and enhance critical infrastructure defenses across the region,” according to the report.
| | BOMBS AWAY: Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH recently delivered a secret message from the White House to military commanders in the Middle East and Africa: You no longer have to ask for permission from the White House to bomb suspected terrorist leaders. The shift, a Trump administration official and a military official told our own Paul McLeary, is a return to the first Trump administration, when looser rules of engagement gave ground commanders more room to pick targets but raised the risk of harming civilians. The Biden administration had stricter rules, which commanders worried gave targets time to disappear. “We won’t tolerate Biden-era bureaucracy preventing our warfighters from doing their job,” National Security Council spokesperson BRIAN HUGHES said in a statement. The first strike under the new policy came Feb. 1, when U.S. warplanes hit several Islamic State leaders in the Golis mountains in northern Somalia. The military official said that area was mostly off-limits under the Biden administration but was now fair game. The Islamist armed group Al-Shabaab in Somalia and the Houthis in Yemen are likely to be the prime targets under the new policy, as well as Islamic State and al Qaeda militants in Syria and Iraq. The administration and military officials were granted anonymity to speak about a sensitive topic. Also, don’t miss Paul and Joe Gould’s article about Joint Chiefs chair nominee DAN ‘RAZIN’ CAINE and the legend of whether he wore a MAGA hat when meeting Trump.
| | SECDEFS SPEAK OUT: Five former defense secretaries are urging Congress to hold hearings and speak out against what they view as “purely partisan” firings of top U.S. generals, including the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. LLOYD AUSTIN, JIM MATTIS, LEON PANETTA, WILLIAM PERRY and CHUCK HAGEL made the unusual appeal in a letter first reported by The Associated Press. They warned that the dismissals raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military.”
| | CANADIAN RAGIN’: Ontario province Premier DOUG FORD isn’t done slamming Trump, even now that he and his party have won a third term in a snap election. “Donald Trump thinks he can break us,” Ford said during his victory speech. “He is underestimating the resilience of the Canadian people, the Canadian spirit. Make no mistake, Canada won’t start a fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win one.” Voter turnout was fairly low — around 45 percent. But attacking the current U.S. president, who wants to impose stiff tariffs on Canadian products, apparently is a high-return strategy.
| | | | A message from Saronic:  
| | | | | — KELLY CRAFT has joined the board of the ARC Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. Craft, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada and the United Nations in the first Trump administration, is also on the board of the Institute for the Study of War and a member of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Investment Committee — BEN WILLIAMSON has been named assistant director for public affairs at the FBI. He most recently was chief of staff for Rep. MICHAEL CLOUD (R-Texas) and served in the first Trump White House. — MATTHEW AXELROD is now a partner at Gibson Dunn and co-chair of its new sanctions and export enforcement practice group. He most recently was assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. — ADRIANA RIVERA will be director of government affairs and defense at the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International. She currently is military legislative assistant for Sen. MICHAEL BENNET (D-Colo.).
| | — Jennifer Kavanagh and Stephen Wertheim, Foreign Affairs: The Taiwan Fixation: American Strategy Shouldn’t Hinge on an Unwinnable War — Paul Caruana Galizia, Chris Cook, Susannah Savage, John Reed and Chloe Cornish, Financial Times: The Bangladeshi politician who built a shadowy global property empire — Matthew Luxmore and Dasl Yoon, The Wall Street Journal: Captured North Koreans Describe Fighting for Russia in a War They Didn’t Understand
| | — Atlantic Council, 10 a.m.: The ramifications of renewed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo — American-German Institute, 10 a.m.: Transatlantic Challenges for the Next German Government — Hudson Institute, 12 p.m.: Reshaping the Middle East — Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, 12:30 p.m.: UN, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean: A Life in Politics & Diplomacy — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, 5 p.m.: A discussion on "Engaging America: Ambassadorial Perspectives on Public Diplomacy Series" with Croatian Ambassador PJER ŠIMUNOVIĆ — Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, 5:30 p.m.: Iran and the U.S.: What Comes Next? — Politics and Prose Bookstore, 7 p.m.: A book discussion on "The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine." Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who gambles with the lives of millions every day. Thanks to our producer, Emily Lussier, whom we would go to war with anytime.
| | | | A message from Saronic: America's maritime industrial base has long been the backbone of the U.S. Navy, building the ships that won wars and maintained our maritime supremacy. But now, our adversaries are catching up in naval capability and have far surpassed us in shipbuilding capacity. It's time to launch the fleet of the future.
Just as American industry rapidly built naval ships in World War II, Saronic is building a new generation of autonomous warships to protect and defend the U.S. and our allies. We're revitalizing our maritime industrial base by creating the most advanced shipyard in the world to build Autonomous Surface Vessels at scale – from small tactical boats to large ships – quickly and affordably. To the growing chorus of voices across the nation that have called for a transformation in America's shipbuilding – it's time for action. Saronic is leading the way. https://www.shipyardofthefuture.com/ | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | |
